PERSUASIVE SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL WRITING, Dr. Eric Burger
This course has 2 primary goals: 1) to enhance your ability to make persuasive scientific/technical arguments for general readers, and 2) to enhance your ability to write for academic readers in your specific disciplines. To these ends, the course will be divided into 2 parts. In the first half of the course we’ll study Aristotelian principles of persuasion and focus on the challenges of doing scientific and technical writing for a lay audience that might not trust scientific and technical evidence as much as you do. This part of this course is topics-oriented and past foci have included energy policy, bioethics, NASA policy, and human health and welfare. In the second half of the course each student will research and rhetorically analyze the academic writing of his/her discipline, paying special attention to stylistic conventions and argumentative technique. We’ll conduct class in both discussion and workshop formats. Among other assignments, you will compose an in-class essay, two brief argument papers, an analysis of disciplinary rhetoric, and a proposal.
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THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF SCIENCE, Diane DeBella
To what degree is scientific reality socially constructed? Can the two possibly be examined separately, or are they so intertwined that they must be examined in light of each other? In this course we will examine the roles and practices of science within disciplinary, educational, corporate, and governmental institutions—the very institutions which form the cultural context in which scientific knowledge is produced. Course work will include written responses to essays concerning a variety of social and ethical issues, with special attention given to the analysis of differing values, perspectives, and audiences. Course work will also include three essays and an oral presentation.
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ISSUES IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, Charles Doersch
This course is designed to improve the critical reading and writing skills of students in the fields of science and technology. The class will be conducted as both seminar and workshop, further developing skills in textual analysis, rhetorical analysis, and cultural (or paradigm) analysis of a variety of texts pertaining to or deriving from issues in science. Coursework will entail written responses to essays concerning a variety of social and ethical issues, with special attention to the analysis of differing values, perspectives, and audiences. Coursework will include a minimum of three major papers.
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INNOVATION AND ETHICS, Don Eron
The purpose of this course is to intensify your critical thinking, writing and speaking skills, in the practice of argument and analysis, while applying your disciplinary expertise to social and public policy issues in science and technology. In addition to bi-weekly essays, we will have two or three major assignments in which you will identify a specific issue, stake out a supportable opinion on the issue, and develop your opinion over the course of the communication. The purpose of these communications will be rhetorical; in other words, your purpose will be to persuade, and to do so by conveying meaning through concise, precise, highly readable language. Successful rhetorical strategy is almost always dependent upon recognizing the assumptions and understandings of your audience; in this class we will presuppose an intelligent lay audience probably far more likely than you to be skeptical of technological claims.
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CROSS-CULTURAL WRITING FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS, Dr. Andrea Feldman
Cross-Cultural Writing for International Students is a section of WRTG 3020, 3030, and 3040 that is intended for non-native speakers of English who wish to enroll in an upper-division writing course. The course is taught as a rigorous writing workshop using advanced readings and materials, emphasizing critical thinking, analysis, and argumentative writing. Course readings focus on cross-cultural communication in the arts, business, and scientific fields. Assignments will be tailored to meet the needs and interests of individual students.
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THE RHETORIC OF SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATION, Dr. Andrea Feldman
As a future scientist, engineer, or researcher, you will be expected to write and speak clearly to people outside your field. The purpose of this course is to teach you techniques for writing analytical and argumentative essays, to develop critical thinking skills, and to examine ethical issues in science. To this end, the final project for this course is to create a document related to your field that can stand on its own in the real world.
The course includes interactive workshops and analysis of visual rhetorics, including podcasts, video clips, cartoons, and other visual media. The classroom allows students to form both large and small groups to workshop their papers using the laptop carts and screen projector to instantly critique and evaluate each others' papers.
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ISSUES IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, Lynn Gingrass
This course is designed to improve the reading and writing skills of students in the science and technology fields. The class will be conducted in both lecture and workshop formats, and we will place particular emphasis on clarity, organization, focused revision, proofreading, and the basics of grammar and mechanics. Coursework will entail written responses to essays concerning a variety of social and ethical issues, with special attention to the analysis of differing values, perspectives, and audiences. Many students majoring in engineering or the sciences think their writing inadequate; this course will demonstrate that the task of framing an issue and developing a position based on evidence and sound reasoning is not only well within their abilities, but that the effort can in fact be pleasurable. Coursework will include a minimum of three papers, and an oral presentation.
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EXPLORING SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATION, Sally Green
As a future scientist, engineer, or researcher, you will be expected to write and speak clearly to audiences both within and outside of your field. The purpose of this course is to teach you techniques for communicating analytically and argumentatively, to further develop your creative and critical thinking skills, to give you the opportunity to examine social and ethical issues in science, and to consider the relation of your field to other fields and the public at large. As a way of tangibly pursuing all of these objectives, class members will participate in a service learning project in which they will tutor Boulder at-risk high school students in mathematics for a total of 15 hours during the course of the semester. We will use this experience as a way to examine approaches to such subjects as the relationship between “doing” a field and teaching in it; sociological, political, and institutional factors shaping youth access to science education; and concepts surrounding numeracy and innumeracy. This service experience will be used as one of our resources for the major assignments in the course, which include a 3-4 page rhetorical analysis of a scientific text, a 2-3 page visual analysis, a 5-7 page persuasive essay, and a 15 minute persuasive oral presentation. In addition, you will write a number of shorter documents of various styles during the semester and we will analyze the characteristics of persuasive writing about science for a variety of audiences, through written and verbal examination of a broad spectrum of texts. The course will also familiarize you with career documents used in your field and rhetorical strategies for professional oral presentations. Distinguishing features of this class include the relative latitude students are given in topic choice for their assignments and its regular, high-intensity interaction, through textual workshop and class discussion.
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HUMANITY AND THE NATURAL WORLD, Dr. Ginger Knowlton
The focus of your writing will be an examination of the dynamic interchange between scientific and social philosophy. The thematic focus of the course will be an inquiry into human-nature relationships. A central course goal will be to identify the place of a scientist within a larger culture. We will use theories of relativity, theories of possibility and probability, Newtonian structures of thought, and the complementarity called to question therein as metaphorical platforms for thought and assertion. Students will learn to make and improve well-informed arguments concerning contemporary scientific-social ethics issues. Over the course of the term, each student will develop and present an individual definition of the role that science and ethics must have through a sequence of three long essays (philosophical investigation, ethical argument, and researched position papers), short response essays, and class presentations.
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ETHICS AND TECHNOLOGY, Tim Lyons
Using both fictional works and actual experiments, students will investigate the moral questions that arise in scientific and technical work. Students will learn to frame an issue, bring forth evidence, demonstrate its relevance, and respond to counter-arguments. Throughout, they will ask whether one should follow a course of action instead of merely whether one can do so. They will learn how to aim their writing at different audiences, distinguish between description and analysis, and shape their analysis into a well-formed argument. In order to sharpen their critical thinking skills, they will learn how to reduce abstractions in both writing and thinking. They will receive some instruction in basic grammar, and even more instruction in learning how to read their work as others will read it. Workload: 3 major papers (6-10 pages); 2-3 shorter papers (3-6 pages); miscellaneous short assignments.
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WRITING IN SCIENTIFIC GENRES, Nathan Pieplow
In this section of WRTG 3030 we will focus on joining a scientific discourse community by learning to write in the genres that people employed in scientific fields most often produce during their careers: research peer reviews, conference paper presentations, and proposals. We will look at scientific writing rhetorically, analyzing and then employing the strategies that scientists use to convince each other (and the lay public) of their claims. We will learn advanced secondary research skills and work with the visual and digital rhetoric of Powerpoint, Wordpress, and other technologies. Students with outside research projects in mind will be encouraged to pursue them via the course's culminating proposal.
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HOW DOES SCIENCE PERSUADE? Petger Schaberg
This section of Writing on Science and Society (WRTG 3030) will focus on developing the sophisticated rhetorical perspectives that will allow students to utilize a toolkit of strategies for the purpose of creating persuasive scientific writing for a range of important contemporary audiences. Selected readings from scientific journals, from the philosophy of science, from the politics of science, and from popular presentations of science in contemporary mass media will ground our investigation into the scientific method and supporting areas of observation, evidence, and experiment. Such an understanding is vital for practicing scientists, engineers, and corporate researchers, as well as for social scientists and those in humanities because of the complex ways that scientific thought makes its appeals to scientific audiences, to civic and policy-related audiences, to the business community, and to the broader target of popular culture. Upon fulfilling the course requirements, students will have developed an enhanced rhetorical awareness that will allow them to be skilful writers and interpreters both inside and outside the specific scientific disciplines that are so crucial to contemporary global society.
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COMMUNICATING IDEAS, Tory Tuttle
In your work you will be expected to communicate your ideas on science and technology to others both within and outside of your field. This course will help you improve your critical thinking, writing, and speaking skills so that you may communicate your ideas effectively. You will complete short assignments as you react to readings on current issues of science and technology. In addition, you will give an oral presentation and complete three major written assignments of analysis and argument. For each assignment, you will analyze the values and expectations of the audience, frame an issue, and develop a stance based on evidence and sound reasoning. Through revision and participation in workshop you will learn ways to communicate your ideas effectively in clear, highly readable language. You will not only gain familiarity with professional business documents, but also learn to apply your disciplinary expertise to broader social and ethical issues.
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SCIENTIFIC, TECHNICAL, AND LAY ARGUMENT, Don Wilkerson
As a semester-long project, you will write ONE of the following: an essay on science, technology and public policy; a preliminary draft of an honors thesis; a post-UROP paper; a UROP, Capstone or other research proposal; an engineering or product licensing proposal; a curriculum reform proposal. You will choose a topic and genre, and then compile an annotated bibliography. Midway through the semester you will begin drafting your paper. At the end of the term, you will convert your paper into a 10-minute PowerPoint presentation. While you are doing preliminary research for your project, you will write a brief essay on ONE of the following topics: research ethics, professional ethics, creativity in science or engineering, truth in science, the social effects of technology. This essay will prepare you for your term project by teaching you how to define terms, clarify unstated assumptions, present evidence in support of an assertion and respond to likely objections.
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BRINGING THE HUMANITIES INTO THE SCIENTIFIC WORLD, Dr. David Williams
Scientific and literary cultures have existed side-by-side but most often in parallel universes with little connection. This has led to the humanities proceeding as if Darwin never lived, DNA was not discovered, and Neuroscience never came to fruition. As E.O. Wilson states, this “polarization promotes . . . the perpetual recycling of the nature-nurture controversy, spinning off mostly sterile debates on gender, sexual preferences, ethnicity, and human nature itself.” From the social science’s denial of a “universal human nature” to theoretical theories spun from armchair speculation, the humanities have spun numerous webs that have little or no relation to empirical evidence. At the same time, many theorists in the humanities have tried to be “scientific,” from Jung, to Frye, to Chomsky (though failing), while others have denied the validity of science altogether.
This class will begin by examining the history of science and the humanities, while trying to find ways to bring them together. To do so, we will be exploring human evolution, evolutionary psychology, and neuroscience—utilizing these disciplines as a base from which to interpret literature.
In addition, we will examine how the pressing scientific issues of the day are often obscured because few scientists have developed effective communication skills. As a class, we will work to create rhetorical strategies that allow some of the recent findings of science to be heard by a public often ignorant of even the most basic scientific paradigms and findings.
Writing for this class will involve numerous genres for interpreting science and literature and for propelling scientific ideas through the art of writing.
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ELEMENTS OF EXPOSITION IN ARGUMENT (ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND ORGANIC AGRICULTURE), Dr. Matthew Wilsey-Cleveland
Via the thematic foci of Artificial Intelligence and Organic Agriculture, this course will explore the connections between exposition and argumentation. Exposition involves writing that explains, analyzes, describes, and/or informs. Argumentative writing explores differences in perspective (multiple viewpoints) in order to persuasively substantiate a claim or position. It is almost always the case that argumentative writing relies upon elements of exposition. In order to improve fluency and rhetorical awareness, students will learn to identify, evaluate, and employ specific elements of exposition in relation to above-mentioned science and technology topics. Grammar, mechanics, research, and rhetorical context will be covered; key emphases will be placed upon critical analysis and revision/editing skills. Class sessions will be highly interactive and will comprise lectures, seminar discussions, debates, and sundry group activities. Students should expect to carry out reading and writing assignments for every class session. Students should also (emotionally) prepare themselves to perform multiple revisions of their written work. Aside from the shorter weekly written assignments, students will complete two longer essays.
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WRITING PROPOSALS FOR SCIENCE AND SOCIETY, Dr. Rosalyn Zigmond
This course focuses on the research, writing, and critical thought comprising the process of writing proposals in various scientific fields and rhetorical situations. We will read and discuss a number of articles and critique samples proposals before writing our own proposals in class. Coursework includes short analytical papers of scientific articles and an emphasis on the documents that comprise a winning proposal, including an annotated bibliography, literature review, and capstone proposal. This course will sharpen your research, writing, analytical, evaluative, argumentative, and oral presentation skills in project topics of your choice.
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