21W.035 | Spring 2018 | Undergraduate

Science Writing and New Media: Science Writing for the Public

Assignments

Please see the Readings page for detailed information and full citation of readings.

Class #1: Class Overview and Introductions, Writing for a General Audience

Assignment #1: Write an Introduction Letter

Write a letter to me introducing yourself to me as a writer: What’s your relationship to writing? What are your hopes (and fears?) for this class? What happened with you and writing in high school, or elsewhere? Anything else about you & writing you want to tell me?—e.g., is English your second language, writing you’ve done on your own, what you like to read… 1 page, word processed, single-spaced with space between paragraphs (i.e., letter format).

Readings:

  • William Zinsser’s “Science, Technology and Nature,” a chapter from his popular book On Writing Well (now in its 7th printing). Zinsser has been a journalist, nonfiction writer, and writing teacher. He writes about writing well from the point of view of a journalist, not an academician.
  • The first three entries in the Steven Strogatz “On Math” series (you may, of course, read more!). A former MIT professor, Strogatz now teaches at Cornell. Strogatz demonstrates how even abstract topics can be written about in a lively way.
  • Dennis Overbye’s “Gravitational Waves Detected, Confirming Einstein’s Theory,” a news story from the New York Times written a few days after the event. This article is given as a web link because it contains a cool embedded video, plus a sound link.

For class discussion: We’ll take time to look at the main ideas and the writing in each reading, as well as the examples Zinsser uses. Notice how Strogatz engages you, and how you respond. How does Overbye present complex theory? That is, read actively. Read these and all homework assignments actively—that is: Notice who wrote it, and her or his background. Think about what the title means. Mark passages you like, that puzzle you, and that you think contain the essay’s core ideas. Notice how the essay or article is put together. Ask questions in the margin, summarize points, and talk back to the writer. Leave time to read each assignment thoroughly—and ideally, more than once.

Class #2: The Pleasures and Challenges of Science Writing; The Importance of Metaphors in Science Writing; Describing and Explaining: Clarity, Liveliness

Assignment #2: Idea for The Science of Everyday Life

Write a one short paragraph proposal for The Science of Everyday Life—what would you like to write about? Why? We’ll discuss in class.

Readings:

  • Rinku Patel’s “Bugged,” which appeared in Popular Science in the summer of 2015.
  • From the NY Times, “How Layers in a Latte Form.”

Read actively! Make comments and ask questions in the margins; take notes. Notice how these writers explain their various subjects; mark passages that you think are especially effective.

For class discussion: While these essays are different in subject matter and approach, all exemplify the range of possibilities of essays on topics in science or technology. We’ll look especially at descriptions and structure: how does each writer tell the story? How do they create a clear focus? And we’ll think about audience: How do they engage readers?

Class #3: Focus, Accuracy, and Making it Fresh; A Writer’s Voice

Assignment #3: The Science of Everyday Life 

No Assigned Readings

Class #4: Workshop on Essay 1

Assignment #4: Workshop Essays, Book Talk

Re-read and critique your workshop partners’ The Science of Everyday Life essays. Select a book for your book talk. Feel free to ask me questions about the books.

Readings:

  • Kevin Patterson’s “The Patient Predator.” Patterson is a physician and writer with a quiet but powerful voice.
  • Atul Gawande’s “The Pain Perplex.” Gawande is a surgeon at Brigham & Women’s hospital and a best-selling writer on medical topics.
  • The 1st chapter of Elise Hancock’s Ideas into Words, and skim the 2nd chapter.We’ll discuss these chapters in class.

For class discussion: Besides being interesting, both of these essays on medical topics are very well put together. Be prepared to talk about strategies Patterson and Gawande used to organize their materials. For example, note metaphors they use both to describe something and help shape their essays. Also be prepared to note examples of what you consider to be good writing, and say what makes them good.

Class #5: Attitudes Towards Writing; What Do We Mean by Revision? 

Assignment #5: Revise The Science of Everyday Life

Readings:

As you read these stories, note what they have in common: what kinds of things do the writers do? Where does certain information, such as where a study is published, go? What do the introductions—or “leads,” as journalists call them—do? What is the take-away message—the biggest point—for each of these stories? Do the stories make it clear why this point matters? How is technical complexity handled? Do you notice images or analogies that the writers use to make the concepts more easily understood? We’ll spend most of class discussing news writing and these readings.  

Class #6: Elements of News Writing; Reading a Scientific Journal, Pt. 1

Assignment #6: Proposal for Profile article

Write a proposal for the profile article. Select 2 possible profile subjects and explain their areas of expertise and why you want to write about them. 

Readings:

You should make notes about what you read—what do you notice about the way the writers put their articles together? Begin making a list of elements that make up a good profile-type article.

For class discussion: What do these articles have in common? Be prepared to point to specific passages that capture the spirit or personality of the person being profiled, as well as passages that do a good job of explaining the science. 

Class #7: The Profile: Writing about Science by Writing

Assignment #7: Sketch News Story

Write a preliminary sketch of a news story for one of these articles. 

Readings:

  • “Map the Gap” from the journal Public Health Action. “Map the Gap” is a standard journal article; journal articles follow roughly the same format from journal to journal and field to field.
  • “The Trouble with Negative Emissions” from Science appears under a heading “Perspectives.” This is an article by scientists, with plentiful citations, but it does not describe original research; rather, it presents an analysis of a climate change issue.

Either one of these articles could furnish material for a news story in a general interest publication.

Class #8: From Research to News

Assignment #8: Write News Story

No Assigned Readings

Class #9: Workshop News Stories

Assignment #9: Discuss Profile Article Proposals (In Class)

Come to class prepared to discuss your proposal for the profile article.

Readings:

  • Robert Stickgold’s Scientific American essay, “Sleep On It!” which summarizes recent findings in neuroscience about why we need to sleep. Stickgold is on the faculty at the Harvard Medical School’s Sleep and Cognition lab.
  • Tom Levenson’s Boston Globe “Ideas” section essay about the growing problems arising from overuse of antibiotics. While Levenson’s essay also summarizes findings, it is clearly intended to be persuasive. Levenson is on the faculty of MIT’s Graduate Program in Science Writing; he has written several books and created documentaries on science topics.

For class discussion: Let’s discuss these reading in two ways. First, what are your reactions as a reader—what is news to you, what is convincing or intriguing, and why? Second, let’s think about them as good models for the investigative essay. How would you describe the way Stickgold and Levenson put their essays together? How are they shaped? What kind of evidence do they use? How do they use it? How do they keep “the human element” in sight?

Class #10: Stickgold & Levenson: Elements of a Research-Based Essay; The Research Process: Note Taking

Assignment #10: Progress Report for Profile Subjects (In Class)

Come to class prepared to give a progress report on your profile article subjects.

Readings:

  • Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Engineer’s Lament.” Gladwell is a New Yorker writer who has written several best-selling books in recent years, including The Tipping Point and Outliers. He has a distinctive voice and way of structuring his articles. In this essay, he aims to help us see how engineers approach the issue of auto safety.

For class discussion: We’ll save some class time to discuss your reactions to the essay. But we’ll start by considering it structurally, looking at the “pieces” that Gladwell assembles to make a coherent and powerful essay, and how he brings them together. Besides looking at structure, consider the sources Gladwell consulted in writing this essay: whether or not sources are cited (they often are not cited in essays and articles published in magazines), try to imagine what kind of sources these must have been—that is, imagine you were Gladwell: what sources would you need to consult to write this essay?

Class #11: Gladwell: Describing How Engineers Think; Incorporating Many Kinds of Evidence

Assignment #11: Write a Summary of Schultz’s “The Really Big One”

Write a 200–250-word summary of Schulz’s article. A good summary should:

  • Accurately represent the key ideas and concerns of the original text.
  • Highlight/emphasize/prioritize the main ideas and writer’s moves of the piece.
    • Note: this means you probably won’t follow the same sequence as the article.
  • Include key terms.
  • Avoid your own judgment—i.e., in a summary you are aiming to transparently represent another writer’s thinking.
  • Be coherent—it should read logically, sentence to sentence. (That is, it should make sense on its own.)

Readings:

  • Kathryn Schulz’s “The Really Big One,” which appeared in the New Yorker July 20, 2015. Schulz, a New Yorker staff writer, won a Pulitzer Prize (one of the highest awards in journalism) for this article, which details the risk of a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in the Pacific Northwest.

For class discussion: I’d like to focus on Schulz’s strategies in putting this long piece together, the level and amount of detail she includes, and on examples of good writing: so think about these things before coming to class. We’ll also reserve a little time to talk about our responses to the ideas in the article.

Class #12: Complex Issues: Keeping Readers with You; Getting at the Bigger Picture; The Research Process: Why We Cite

Assignment #12: Write Proposal for Investigative Essay

Write a short 1 paragraph proposal for your investigative essay.

Readings:

Class #13: Library Session

Assignment #13: Write Profile Article

No Assigned Readings

Class #14: Workshop Profile

Assignment #14: Revise Proposal for Investigative Essay

Write a revised proposal for the investigative essay, including an annotated bibliography. Additionally, write 1-2 solid paragraphs of response to each of your profile article workshop partners and post on the class website. 

No Assigned Readings

Class #15: The Research Process: Citing, Quoting, and Paraphrasing; Writing and Structure; Reading a Scientific Journal Article, Pt. 2

Assignment #15: Brainstorm Investigative Essay

Look for sources, do some reading, take some notes, and do some thinking for your investigative essay.

Readings:

  • Hancock, Chapters 4 and 7. 

Chapter 4 provides some ways to think about structure. Chapter 7 has a lot of good ideas for when you’re feeling stuck. We will discuss these in class. If you haven’t read earlier chapters in Hancock, now would be a good time to skim them.

Class #16: Organizing a Longer Article; Incorporating Sources and Voices

Assignment #16: Revise Profile Article

Readings:

  • “My Great-Great-Aunt Discovered Francium. And It Killed Her,” by Veronique Greenwood. This essay appeared in the New York Times Magazine in 2014. Greenwood is a science writer whose work has appeared in The Atlantic and Discover. 

For class discussion: Besides being a compelling story, the essay is a good example of how to handle scientific detail, so we’ll spend some time discussing that. What kinds of sources do you think Greenwood used to put this story together?

Class #17: Presenting Controversy: For Our Consideration: Earth or Mars?

Assignment #17: Pre-Write for Investigative Essay

No Assigned Readings

Class #18: Workshop Essays

Assignment #18: Investigative Essay

Write your draft for the investigative essay and then prepare to workshop the essay in class.

No Assigned Readings

Class #19: Workshop Essays

Assignment #19: Critique Essays

Critique and respond to your workshop group members’ drafts of their investigative essays.

Readings:

The readings for our next class are a selection of book reviews from the NY Times Book Review. The book review-essay is a hybrid genre (as the hyphen indicates)—in which the reviewer uses the opportunity of the review to develop an idea. That is, the book under consideration becomes the focal point for a discussion of an idea related to the book’s themes. Most of the essay describes the book, but the reviewer does so in a way that makes the book part of a wider conversation about some issue.

Note: Some of the reviews are more review than essay, and some are more essay than review. All should give you ideas about possible ways to think about your book talk. The reviews we’ll be reading and discussing are:

  • “Nor Any Drop to Drink? Why the Great Lakes Face a Murky Future,” Robert Moor’s review of Dan Egan’s book The Death and Life of the Great Lakes.
  • “Dreaming in Code” by Adam Frank, a review of Michio Kaku’s The Future of the Mind.
  • The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf, reviewed by Colin Thubron.
  • “Science’s Invisible Women,” Dava Sobel’s review of A Lab of One’s Own by Patricia Fara, and Broad Band by Claire L Evans.

For class discussion: What do you notice about these reviews? How do the reviewers express judgments? How do they describe the books? How do they add something of their own perspective to the reviews? What kinds of themes do they emphasize? We’ll also take some time to discuss the ideas the reviews raise, according to what interests you as readers. 

Class #20: The Book Review: A Useful Genre!

Assignment #20: Revise Profile Article

No Assigned Readings

Class #21: Revision Issues

Assignment #21: Revise Investigative Essay

No Assigned Readings

Class #22: Revision Issues

Assignment #22: Revise Investigative Essay

No Assigned Readings

Class #23: Other Media: Radio & Video

Assignment #23: Book Talk

No Assigned Readings

Class #24: Work on Revision Issues

Assignment #24: Book Talk

No Assigned Readings

Class #25: Book Talks

Assignment #25: Portfolio

Assemble your portfolio, including re-revisions.

No Assigned Readings

Class #26: Final Class

For our final class meeting, we will celebrate the craft of science writing. Please bring to class:

  • 1–2 pages of your own writing that you are especially pleased with.
  • If you’d like to, you may also bring a paragraph or two from any of our readings, or the book you read for your book talk, that you think is excellent, and be prepared to say why it’s good. We will share these.

Your oral presentation for this class will be a book talk. You’ll select a book from the reading list, read the book and report on the book to the class. Approximately 5 minutes per speaker, plus 3–4 minutes of Q&A. Your main task will be to clearly describe the book and interest your audience in it.

Timeline

  • Class #5: Book Selection Due
  • Class #25: Present Book Talk

Instructions

Basics:

  • You have 5–6 minutes for your talk—which you should fill—and 4–5 minutes for Q&A.
  • Your audience will ask questions of curiosity and also questions to test whether you read your book carefully.
  • Presenters may sit at their desks or, if they prefer, they may stand in front of the class.
  • Presenters may have the book with them when they speak, or they may type up a handful of quotes from which to read.
  • Your goals:
    • to describe your book clearly and accurately;
    • at the same time, to interest your audience in the book; and
    • to speak clearly and articulately, in complete sentences.

A book talk should:

  • Identify the author (including, very briefly, significant biographical/bibliographical facts), publisher, and publication date.
  • Represent the book accurately.
  • Include a very succinct—1–2 sentence—description of the book as a whole and its key features.
  • Tell us:
    • What the book is like (perhaps including how it’s shaped).
    • What it’s good for.
    • Who would especially like it or find it useful.
    • Is it enjoyable to read? What, especially, interested you in this book?
    • Does it meet the reader’s expectations? (Note: These expectations should be formed by what the author sets out in his or her Foreword or Introduction.)
  • Give us some of the flavor of the book—the author’s own words.

The Listeners’ Role:

  • All listeners are meant to really listen.
  • For each presenter, two listeners will be designated to fill out an evaluation form. The instructor will evaluate each presenter, too. These forms will be skimmed by the instructor and then given to the presenters.
  • All listeners are encouraged to ask questions of meaning, questions that dig deeper into the book’s content and style, and questions that stem from their own interests and curiosity. 

Book Talk Questions

Include the book title, publisher, and publication date along with your answers.

  1. Describe the book in 1–2 sentences.
  2. Why did the author write this book?
  3. Briefly describe how your book is structured. Don’t spend a lot of time on this in your talk; just be clear about it. (Structure will be more significant for some books, and less so for others.)
  4. What interested you in this book, i.e., why did you choose it?
  5. What do you plan to emphasize in your talk?
    • A theme, some examples of the way the author thinks about things, the book’s overall argument…
  6. Who would you recommend this book to, and why?
  7. What (short) passages do you want to read to give your audience a sense of the writer’s voice, the “flavor” of the book?

Requirements:

Revision is the heart and soul of this class. On first drafts, you’ll receive ample comments from me as well as comments from classmates. Each essay will be revised, and second drafts will receive more concise comments. Keep these points in mind as you respond to your classmates’ essays.

The Science of Everyday Life

Re-read your workshop partners’ essays. Write a two paragraph response to each workshop partner and post it on the class website. After workshopping a few essays and doing more reading, you may have new thoughts in addition to the ones when you first read the essay in class. That’s good! Please be specific in your comments—point to specific places in the draft. In your response, please include:

  • What you enjoyed most about this essay.
  • Where the writer does a good job of engaging readers.
  • What you think is the strongest point (or image) in this essay.
  • Where the writer could do a better job describing or explaining; where the writing is too dense, too detailed, or missing a key element or step.
  • Anything else you want to comment on, or to ask the writer.

Profile Articles

Write 1–2 solid paragraphs of response to each of your profile article workshop partners and post on the class website. Comment on both macro scale issues and a couple of sentence level issues. You may make suggestions, of the “What if…?” or “You might want to…” kind. And you may ask questions, perhaps new questions that didn’t occur to you on a first reading. Here are some suggestions for issues you might address:

  • Can you “see” the person being profiled?
  • Is the significance of their work clear to you?
  • Is the work itself—the science or technology—clear?
  • Does the profile have a focus, or does it feel like random bits & pieces?
  • Could the parts of the profile be arranged more effectively?
  • Is there something you think would be a good addition to the profile?

Investigative Essays

Respond on the course website to your workshop group members’ drafts of their investigative essays. Please write three solid paragraphs: ask questions, make suggestions, note what isn’t clear, think about how the structure is serving the main idea/thesis. Is the human element strong in the draft? How might it be stronger? How are sources used—are key sources identified? Do the sources seem solid?

An essay that investigates an aspect of science, medicine, or technology of your choosing. This essay should not merely inform and explain but should aim to answer a question that motivates the essay. It should situate the topic in a context and make it clear to readers why the topic matters. Readers will expect to hear your own thoughts on your topic.

Timeline

  • Class #13: Proposal Due
  • Class #15: Revised Proposal and Annotated Bibliography Due
  • Class #18: First Draft Due, Workshop
  • Class #19: Workshop
  • Class #23: Revised Essay Due

Requirements

  • 8–10 pp. double-spaced (2500–3000 words).
  • At least 8 sources, at least 2 of which must be books, and one must be a journal article. (Most papers will use in the range of 8–12 sources.).
  • A title and 3–4 section headings (NOT “Introduction” or “Conclusion”—those are for technical reports).
  • For all drafts, all sources must be noted in Nature style and a list of References must accompany the paper.
  • For the first draft: Hand in at least 6 pages of coherent work. This may be the first 6 pages of your essay, or it may be 8 pages with [to come: a couple of ¶s on X] inserted along the way.

Proposal

Write a one paragraph proposal for your long essay. The topic is of your choosing. Keep in mind that this won’t simply be an explanatory or informative essay/article; it should explore an issue and develop your own point of view. It should aim to answer a question. It need not be persuasive, but it may be.

Your proposal should include the following:

  • Name your topic as precisely as you can.
  • Why does this topic interest you?
  • What do you hope to learn through your research and writing?
  • Write the main question you want to answer. Note: Your main question should not simply be a question of information (“What is X?”). It should be a question that requires some interpretation.
  • Why do you think your article will interest readers? Do you have any particular readers in mind?

Revised Proposal and Annotated Bibliography

For the Revised Proposal:

Re-state your main Inquiry Question (that’s a question—not a thesis), and write a short paragraph stating what you hope to learn by your researching and writing, and why you think this will interest readers. Your Inquiry Questions may have changed; that’s fine.

Number and kinds of sources needed:

  • You will probably use around 8–12 sources for this essay; 8 sources is the absolute minimum.
  • Your sources should include at least 2 books, and 1–2 journal articles. 
  • Remember that the New York Times and/or general interest science magazines (New Scientist, Scientific American, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, etc.) can provide useful context for most of your topics.

For the Annotated Bibliography:

Make a list of your six best sources thus far, including:

  • At least 2 books.
  • At least 1 journal article.
  1. List sources thus:
    • For books: Smith, Perry. A Short History of The Cosmos. NY: Utopia Press, 2001.
    • For articles from an anthology, a journal, a magazine or newspaper: Chang, Judy. “Sleep and Depression.” The New Mental Health Reader. Boston: Utopia Press, 2010.
    • For sources from the Web: Author, title, condensed URL, and date accessed.
  2. And then: Describe each source in a sentence, followed by 1–2 sentences that tell why this source will be useful for your project. NOTE: This is the “annotation” part of the assignment. You will not get credit for the assignment without annotation.

A complete list of sources must accompany each draft. Keep track of page numbers of your source material, even though it may not appear in your citation list.

Pre-Writing

You will need to do some more reading and thinking before you attempt the pre-writing. You can use this list as a template and type your material under each bullet point. You don’t need to attempt to do these things in this order, though starting with a title (even if you change it more than once) might be useful.

  • Make a stab at a title—try 3 or 4, even—anything to get you thinking about the focus of your essay.
  • Make a simple outline: Your main inquiry question followed by 3–4 main section headings and a couple of sentences on what would go under each heading.
  • What might be your “opener” (Hancock)—that is, how do you imagine opening your Introduction?
  • What is the context for your inquiry; how will you frame the exploration? (Another way of saying this: What in our common life does your topic relate to? How might it affect or at least interest readers?)
  • What background do you imagine you will need in order to set up the meat of your discussion?
  • Sketch out a thesis.

Essay Draft

Write an essay that investigates an aspect of science, medicine, or technology of your choosing. This essay should not merely inform and explain but should aim to answer a question that motivates the essay.

  • It should situate the topic in a context and make it clear to readers why the topic matters.
  • It should provide sufficient good evidence. When there are differences of opinion among sources, it should put those sources in conversation with each other.
  • Approach this essay as if it were a magazine-style article like the ones we’ve read by Gawande (“The Pain Perplex”) and Greenwood (“My Great-Great Aunt,”) and others we have read: that is, write in a vivid, engaging way for an audience of “the educated curious.” And do more than inform: let readers know what you think.

Readers will expect to hear your own thoughts on your topic. You do this partly by the way you arrange your discussion, what you emphasize, what you ask readers to “note,” and how you link ideas in transitions (e.g., “While this poses a challenge, most researchers seem to believe that the challenge is well worth solving. Says Pollan, …”).

  • You don’t say, “I think…”—but you include a thesis statement, either at the beginning or toward the end of your essay (the answer to the question).

Your paper may be either exploratory or persuasive but it must answer the question you pose or imply in your introduction. Note: your answer does not need to be a yes or no, thumbs up or down, kind of answer. It may re-frame the issue, and/or pose new questions, as a result of the reading, writing and thinking you have done, as a way of moving the discussion of this topic forward.

Workshop

Read your classmates’ drafts. Print them out and comment on the draft itself.

  • Underline what looks like the thesis.
  • Indicate sentences or passages that are working well, that capture your interest, that make good points.
  • Indicate where you are having trouble connecting the dots, or understanding the purpose of a passage.
  • Indicate if you think something needs to be cited, or cited differently (you don’t have to do this for every single citation, but if something stands out).
  • List 3 questions you have for the writer.

In class: Use your comments to start your conversation.

  • Begin with what you found most interesting, & what is working well.
  • Make sure to include the questions you have for the writer.
  • Make sure to make it a conversation, not one person giving all their comments and then the other.
  • Leave time for the writer to ask questions.

Revised Essay

This should be a significant revision—a true “re-seeing” of your essay’s purpose, shape, and relationship to readers. Before you hand it in, make sure that it:

  • Has a clear target audience, and engages the audience. 
  • Has a clear thesis.
  • Has a shape that effectively supports your thesis.
  • Has enough trustworthy sources.
  • Has 3–4 section headings and numbered pages.
  • Reflects on evidence and examples, so readers can see “you” in the essay.
  • Uses Nature style for citations within the text and References.
  • Introduces key authors and/or sources (e.g., journal or magazine titles) in the text.

Include the following questions and answers with your revision.

  1. What is your thesis?
  2. Why does your thesis matter? I.e., what’s at stake in this essay?
  3. Who’s your target audience? Why them, especially?
  4. Is there something that needs to get into this essay that isn’t yet there?

A story written as if for a general audience, based on one of the two assigned readings. 

  1. Anderson, Kevin and Glen Peters. “The Trouble with Negative Emissions.” Science 354, no. 6309 (2016): 182–193.
  2. Yuen, C.M., C.A. Rodrigues, et al. “Map the Gap.” Public Health Action 5, no. 1 (2015): 45–58.

Timeline

  • Class #8: Preliminary Sketch Due
  • Class #9: Essay Due, Workshop

Preliminary Sketch

Write a rough sketch of a news story for one of these articles—your choice. Include:

  • Why this story—why does it seem important? Why do you think readers will or should care about it?
  • What seems to be the essence of the story—the most important thing?
  • List the authors, their affiliation, and when and where the article was published. We’ll work with these in class.

Instructions

Write a news story for a general audience based on 1 of the 2 designated readings.

  • The story should be clear and accurate.
  • Its significance should be clear and convincing.
  • The story should contain the key elements we discussed in class last week.
  • As a news story, it should not contain personal opinion.

The Challenge:

In condensing the original material, you will have to be selective. It will help to first determine how you want to describe its significance, and for whom. What’s new or unusual will also be important.

Research:

You should be able to glean what you need to know from the article itself. If there are unfamiliar terms, by all means look them up. If you want to know a little more about the context for the article, you can do a little research, but I suggest focusing your effort on reading carefully and understanding the terms.

Citing:

As with The Science of Everyday Life, use superscripts for sources and include a list of sources at the end. After the bottom line of your name/date/word count, put in parentheses and italics the name of the publication for which you are imagining writing your story, like this: (Boston Globe).

Requirements

  • 1½ pp. (500–600 words)

At our final class meeting or no later than noon the next day, I’ll collect your work in a portfolio, including drafts and homework writing, and a cover letter described below.

Timeline

  • Class #25: Portfolio Due

Portfolio Cover Letter

The purpose of the Portfolio is to give you and me an opportunity to reflect on your work this term. To aid in this reflection, please address the following questions in your cover letter, which should be 1 to 1–1/2 pages:

  • What has changed in your writing and/or your approach to writing this term?
  • Has anything changed in your reading practice?
  • Which of your essays do you like best? Explain.
  • Name the 2–3 most valuable things you learned about writing a research-based paper.
  • Anything else you want to comment on regarding your writing? (You will have an opportunity to comment on the course itself elsewhere.)

What and How

In a simple 2-pocket folder, please arrange your drafts and cover sheets as follows:

  • In the left-hand pocket, put your homework, including your first letter to me, your pitch, summary, proposals, and Book Talk pre-writing (if you have a hard copy) with your Portfolio Cover Letter on top.
  • In the right-hand pocket, put drafts of essays.
  • Include the version of each draft that was marked by me along with cover sheets. Put newest drafts on top.
  • Your Portfolio MUST include a re-revision of your Investigative Essay, and the essay must include correct in-text citations plus a list of References. Include the cover worksheet for Re-Revisions. Please use a Post-it or some other way of bringing to my attention re-revisions of The Science of Everyday Life, and/or the Profile article, which are optional.
  • Do NOT print out clean drafts of essays—the ones that are marked up tell the story best. 

Re-Revision Cover Sheet

This cover sheet should accompany ALL re-revisions you hand in with your portfolio. Include your name and the assignment name.

  1. What has changed in this draft? Please be specific.
  2. What’s the thesis—the main idea—of this essay? Articulate it as clearly as you can in 1–2 complete sentences.
  3. Where do you see yourself growing as a writer with this sequence of drafts?

Write about some aspect of science or technology by interviewing and writing a profile of someone working in the field—a graduate student or post-doc who’s running a lab, or a professor (not one whose class you’re currently taking).

Timeline

  • Class #8: Proposal Due
  • Class #11: Progress Report: i.e., you should have set up your interview by now and/or done background reading (the progress report will be oral, not written)
  • Class #14: First Draft Due, Workshop
  • Class #21: Revision Due

Instructions

Write about some aspect of science or technology by writing a profile of someone in the field—most likely a post-doc who’s running a lab, a grad student, or a professor. You will conduct an in-person interview. Your interview will not appear in Q & A form but, rather, be integrated into a story that has a clearly defined focus.

Think of your assignment as similar to a feature article in a newspaper such as the New York Times, or in a news magazine. Review the principles of interviewing that we read in Hancock’s Ideas into Words.

Workshop

We will workshop as a whole class as we did with the previous assignments, and then in groups.

Print out, read, and comment/ask questions on your partners’ drafts before class. Choose 2–3 things to focus on to get the workshop started. For example:

  • Do the character and personality of the person being profiled come through?
  • Are the subject’s research interests and/or career path clear?
  • Is the research or other work explained clearly and with some depth?
  • Are terms and concepts explained for non-specialists?
  • Does the science get too dense in places?
  • Does the profile have an overall focus? Does it feel unified?
  • Is the writing clear at the sentence level?
  • Do sentences and paragraphs link well?
  • Is there something you’d like to hear more about?

Revision

Make sure to include a Sources list, including the interview itself with the date of the interview (even if that’s your only source). As you revise, especially consider:

  • What’s the story I’m telling?
  • Does the balance of parts feel right?
  • Can readers “see” the person I interviewed?
  • Have I left key parts of the science or technology unexplained?

When you hand in your new draft, please include a cover sheet answering these questions along with the first draft with my comments.

  1. What has changed in this draft? Please be specific.
  2. What do you think is the most interesting thing about the story you’re telling? Why?
  3. What was most challenging about writing this article?

Requirements

  • 3½–4 pp. double-spaced (1000–1250 words)

This short, informal essay gives you a chance to satisfy your curiosity about the science of something close at hand, while at the same time practicing writing clear explanations and engaging your audience.

Timeline

  • Class #3: Proposal Due
  • Class #4: Rough Draft Due, Workshop
  • Class #5: Group Member Responses Due
  • Class #7: Revised Essay Due

Instructions

Here’s an opportunity to satisfy your curiosity about the science of something close at hand, something we encounter every day but to which most of us are blissfully oblivious. Write a short essay on an aspect of “everyday” science or technology that you would enjoy sharing with readers. Though you will have to do some research, this is not meant to be written as a research essay. You will keep quotes to a minimum and mostly summarize or paraphrase your sources, just as if you were writing for a general interest magazine.

Some possible topics:

  • How my guitar or cello makes music…
  • How my bicycle, DVR, or contact lenses work…
  • Chemistry of making bread, or grilling steak…
  • Why my dog likes to play catch; why my canary sings…
  • Materials engineering or physics of my tennis racket, Razor scooter, skateboard…
  • Why hurricanes or tornadoes occur when & where they do…
  • A scientific principle…

This essay must be accurate and clear, but that’s just the beginning. You aren’t writing a technical manual but, rather, an informal essay. So you must fascinate your reader, keep her or him reading, convince them that your topic matters. Some suggestions:

  • Begin by choosing a topic that genuinely interests you. If you aren’t interested, your reader won’t be, either.
  • Form a question or a series of questions about your topic to make your research efficient and to give your essay a shape. For example, Why does barbecued meat taste so good? What makes it taste different than meat cooked on a stove? or What allows my watch to tell time accurately? What makes it waterproof? Why are there so many puffy white clouds on summer days?
  • Note that you aren’t writing a history of the science or technology involved—you are explaining how something works.
  • As you write your essay, aim to present your information in a way that makes it easy for the reader to follow.
  • To make your subject easier to grasp and to interest readers, you’ll probably want to begin your essay with an anecdote or a problem from personal experience. You may continue to use personal experience in your essay if it helps you relate your ideas to readers. You may also find metaphors or analogies useful in explaining your topic.

Using sources: When you draw on sources for your essay, you must use your own language, not theirs. If you cannot summarize or paraphrase (i.e., significantly change the wording) then use quotation marks and name the source in your text. For example: As the Engineering Handbook notes, tensile strength “is best defined as…” DO NOT, however, use lengthy quotations—they will spoil the tone and rhythm of your essay.

Revising Your Essay

  1. Re-read all the comments you’ve received on your Science of Everyday Life essay, from classmates & instructor, and any notes you made.
  2. Re-read your essay, with the notes in mind.
  3. Consider: To revise means literally (etymologically) to “re-see”—to take stock of your essay’s meaning and its possibilities, and to do what it takes to achieve meaning for yourself, and meaning and pleasure in reading for your audience. So aim to re-see your essay and its potential. Don’t limit yourself to making line edits (copy editing): by itself, that’s not revision.
  4. Think especially about shaping your essay, so that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. And about clarity: that’s key to the success of this kind of essay.

Make sure to hand in your first drafts—the ones with comments—along with your new one. Also respond to these questions and hand in with your draft:

  1. What has changed in this draft? Please point to specific things.
  2. What’s the main focus in this draft?
  3. What do you like best about this essay?

Requirements

  • 3–4 pp. double-spaced (1000–1250 words)

Course Info

Instructor
Departments
As Taught In
Spring 2018
Level
Undergraduate
Topics
Learning Resource Types
Written Assignments
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