Writing in the Sciences

Course Description

Instructor Jan Cooper

Office King 139-D

Open Office Hours Mondays 10-11:30 am, Tuesdays 1:30-3pm; feel free to schedule an appointment at other times

Phone 440/775-8613

Email Jan.Cooper@oberlin.edu Jan.Cooper@oberlin.edu (I'm happy to receive messages anytime--I check my email frequently every weekday and often during the weekends.)

Course website http://www.oberlin.edu/~jcooper/wtg4sci.htm

Class Time & Place Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 9-9:50 am, King 235; individual appointments with instructor (approximately every two weeks) and small group meetings to be arranged

Texts Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace, 6th ed., by Joseph M. Williams (Addison-Wesley, 2000); photocopies to be handed out in class, student texts to be circulated via email, internet websites to be linked through the course website

Other Materials Needed a folder to store all materials collected for the course

What is this course about?

This course is designed to teach you how to apply skills of rhetorical analysis and composing to various situations in which you write about scientific subjects. We will be examining and creating writing for both professional scientific and general audiences. It will be a course about paradigms and conventions--not laws--of good writing. Most of all it will be about the practices of excellent writing.

I have anticipated that two sorts of students will be attracted to this course: science majors who want to improve their technical writing skills and non-science majors who are interested in writing about scientific subjects for readers not trained in science. You probably fall somewhere in between those two extremes. My assumption is that even students who fall into one or the other category can benefit from learning the skills of the other--scientists are frequently called upon to interpret scientific data or concepts in public debates or personal crises and general science writers must understand technical language to interpret science issues accurately.

In the first module we'll begin by looking at the characteristics of technical writing in specific scientific fields, chosing those fields on the basis of the experience and interests of the students enrolled in the class. In the second module we'll look at how similar subjects can be written about for non-technical science readers. It may seem a bit odd to use this structure--most readers assume that technical writing is harder to produce because it is harder for a general reader to understand. I suspect, however, that you find that fully understanding then communicating technical issues for the uninitiated reader is at least as difficult task if done well. We will test that hypothesis through the structure of this course.

Throughout the course we will work on revision skills that you'll find helpful in any kind of writing. Among those skills are:

• developing a functional, reasonably comfortable composing process that works for you
• honing your ability to edit writing for exactness and conciseness
• learning to write in collaboration with others
• distinguishing whatever special skills are required by electronic or hypertext communication and research

Course Requirements

To pass this course you will need to:

• Arrive promptly and attend all classes for the full time allotted (do not schedule other appointments at this time!). Missing more than 2 classes during the semester without an official excuse immediately puts you in danger of failing the course. If you are absent it is your responsibility to contact me as soon as possible to find out what you missed and hand in any make-up work.
• Meet with the instructor or tutors when there are scheduled appointment times.
• Participate in class discussions and out-of-class group sessions.
• Hand in all assignments as an emailed attachment in Word by 6pm on the scheduled due days.
• Save all notes, false starts, writings, hand-outs, class comments, etc. that you've collected during the semester for an evaluation folder due at midterm (Friday, March 24) and the end of Reading Period (Tuesday, May 16). Folders are due at my office in King 139D by noon on the deadline days.

Grading All writing courses in the Expository Writing Program are graded Credit/No Entry. Because this course emphasizes revision, I also do not letter grade single pieces of writing. Instead I will give you written or oral responses to specific pieces of your writing to help you determine how best to improve them. At midterm, however, I will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the writing in your folder with you in individual appointments. If at any time you have questions concerning the progress you're making, please make an appointment to discuss your work with me.

A Cautionary Word about the Writing Requirement

The Expository Writing Program intends for this course to give students writing instruction that will enable them to achieve certification in this or other Writing Intensive or Writing Certification courses. It is possible that you might demonstrate sufficient skill in academic writing to earn certification in this course, but passing EXWR 201 does not automatically entitle you to it. Unless you are taking it in sequence with Basic Writing (EXWR 100) or an Expository Writing Colloquium course for First and Second Year Students (EXWR 111-119), you should not assume that this course will fulfill one of your two Writing Certification requirements.

If you have any questions about this or any particularly strong reasons for wanting to earn certification through this course, please talk to me about them as soon as possible.