3820 Fall 2004

English 3820 Scientific Writing

Assignments	Course Description	Course Objectives	Grades
Policies	Syllabus	Textbooks	TBA

Section 001 meets MWF in Bate 2018 at 9 o'clock

Tentative Syllabus for Fall Semester 2004

Date Topic Reading Remarks/Assignments

#1 Aug. 25-27 Introduction & Overview; Grades; Student Fact Sheets; Sentence Types

#2 Aug. 30-Sept. 1-3 Students Intros; Introduce Unit #1; Interviews WITS Preface & Ch 2 & 1 Scientific Disciplines (due 9/3); Sponge Bob Square Pants; Assignment #1 (due 9/27)

#3 Sept. 6-8-10 Disagreements in Science; Remembering 9/11 WITS Ch 1& Ch 10 (249-253) No Class Sept. 6 (State Holiday); Notes; periodicals; interviews

#4 Sept. 13-15-17 Forum Analysis; Planning Assignment #1 TBA Find and photograph an article; journal observations

#5 Sept. 20-22-24 Discuss Journals TBA Form Analysis draft due 9/22

#6 Sept. 27-29-Oct. 1 Introduce Unit #2: IMRAD Format WITS Ch 3 Assignment #1 (Forum Analysis) due; Assignment #2 Lit Review (due 10/25); Research Topics

#7 Oct. 4-6-8 Materials & Methods; Conferences/Research WITS Ch 4 Formulating a research topic and search terms

#8 Oct. 11-13-15 Results; research WITS (236-248) Presentation exercise;

#9 Oct. 18-20-22 Conferences/Research No Class Monday (Fall Break Day);

#10 Oct. 25-27-29 Introduce Unit #3; Audience WITS 8.2 (182-186); WITS 8.3-8.9 (189-199) Assignment #2 due; Assignment #3 Evaluative Report (due 11/22); Notes
#11 Nov. 1-3-5 Audience & Current Events TBA (Early Registration for Spring Semester 2005 continues); Notes

#12 Nov. 8-10-12 Document Analysis TBA Read USDA & Taubes examples; Notes; 228th Birthday of the USMC (Ooh Rah!)

#13 Nov. 15-17-19 Workshop/Conferences TBA Draft of Assignment #3 (due 11/22)

#14 Nov. 22-24-26 Introduce Unit #4 TBA Assignment #3 due; Assignment #4 Research Presentation (due 12/8); Notes; project proposals (due 11/29); No Class 24 & 26 (Thanksgiving Break)

#15 Nov. 29-Dec. 1-3 Project Proposals; Document Design TBA Situation, Content & Design; Project Rationale

#16 Dec. 6-8 Production Workshop TBA Assignment #4 due (12/8)

Dec. 15 (Wednesday) Final Exam 0800-1030 Section 001

Required Textbooks

Penrose, Ann M., and Stephen B. Katz. Writing in the Sciences: Exploring Conventions of Scientific Discourse. 2^nd ed. New York: St. Martin’s, 2004.

Assignments

General Remarks
Format Standards
Late Assignments
Submitting Assignments
Summary of Assignments

General Remarks

Please notice that your fees for this semester include a Computer & Technology Fee, which entitles you to any empty seat at most of the computer labs located around campus. Although some labs are restricted (the BVTE Lab is reserved for BVTE students, the Writing Lab is reserved for freshman composition students, etc.), most students use the lab in Austin. For an up-to-date list of lab locations, visit http://www.ecu.edu/itc/lab/.

Also, it's a pretty good idea to keep a backup copy of everything you write. You'll need a 3.5" DS/DD (720 KB) or DS/HD (1.44 MB) "floppy," and these are available at the bookstores.

Format Standards

A professional appearance establishes any writer's credibility and improves reader understanding; thus, all written work submitted for evaluation should follow the criteria below:

Use 20 lb., white, bond paper (or whatever paper is available for printers in the various campus writing labs)--avoid onion skin or erasable paper.
Maintain a 1-inch margin (top, bottom, left, and right margins).
Printed text should be dark and clear but without smears and smudges (if a dot matrix printer is used, make sure to print in the letter-quality mode).

If you should discover one or two typing errors (typos), neatly correct the mistake(s) by crossing out the error(s) and writing the correction(s) above (three or more errors require both correction and reprinting).

Late Assignments

There aren't any, but if an assignment is submitted after a deadline has passed, 10 points per class meeting will be deducted for the grade awarded.

Submitting Assignments

Assignments are submitted in either of two ways:

Turning it in at the end of the class when it is due, or

Delivering to the instructor (or his office) by the end of the day the assignment is due; actually if it's in the box by my door by the beginning of the next class day, that'll be okay, too (but remember that I get here around 7:00 a.m.).

Do NOT e-mail me an assignment. Under no circumstances will an assignment be accepted after it has been critiqued in class.

Table 1: Summary of Assignments & Percentage of Final Grade
Science in the Disciplines (Forum Analysis)	20%
Scientific Research Articles (Literary Review)	25%
Science in the World (Evaluative Report)	25%
Research Presentation	20%
Studentship	10%
Total	100%

Table 2: Grades and What They Mean

Letter Grade

What the Grade Means

A (100 - 90) Your boss would be impressed and remember you at promotion time.

B (89-80) Your boss would be satisfied with the job but not over impressed.

C (79-70) Your boss would be disappointed and ask you to revise before others saw it.

D (This grade is rarely given because your work is either acceptable or unacceptable.)

F (69-0) Your boss would start looking for someone to replace you!

Course Description

This is a course in writing for the sciences. You will learn to research, write, and revise several document types that are common in the sciences. You will be asked to identify scientific research topics that interest you, to read specialized scientific material on those topics, and to write about that material. You will also learn to use discipline-specific science resources and to master scientific communication techniques, including techniques of written and visual communication.

Policies

Attendance
Participation
Plagiarism

Attendance

Because this course is built on a building-block format, in which each assignment builds upon the one before and prepares students for the assignment to follow, attendance is essential.

Although "life's little problems" often come up at the darnednest times, students are expected to be in class on time, every time, for all the time allotted to this course because it is in the classroom that information essential for the successful completion of this course is presented. However, if circumstances require your presence elsewhere, you are still responsible for material presented in class. If you anticipate any absences, please see me before hand.

Students will be rewarded for their studentship, which includes appropriate attendance, meeting for conferences, and active participation.

Participation

Class participation is an important element of the learning process, and students are expected to feel free to freely and openly discuss the subject at hand. Since participation demonstrates (at least in part) your preparedness for each class, you are expected to:

Participate in class discussions and honor the Honor Code (read: Don't Plagiarize!).
Develop and maintain a sense of professionalism and decorum at all times (by now, students should be serious about developing some degree of professionalism).
Be honest--don't try to B. S. me.

Plagiarism

In the past, I have encouraged students to review their assignments as they prepare for future assignments. In order to do this, students necessarily have to have each assignment returned to them. Some students have allowed their friends (fellow members of clubs, fraternities, or sororities, not to mention those they are dating or their best bud) to make photocopies of their assignments (or worse yet) place their original, corrected copy in club/fraternity/sorority file).

Know this: such action violates the university's Honor Code and does a disservice to students who "copy the 'right' solution" from past assignments. Although former students have thought they'd help their friends, they have really harmed them (by robbing students of the opportunity to learn from their mistakes). The "real world" doesn't follow this unethical practice, and if I find that any of my students (either present or former) participate in this form of plagiarism (by either copying a completed assignment of a former students or by providing an assignment for you to copy) both students will be prosecuted to the fullest of my ability. This is not a warning; it's a promise.

Course Objectives

During this course, students will have the opportunity to:

Develop an understanding of common practices in a scientific discipline
Determine how scientific “articles” are organized and developed
Examine the impact of science in the modern world
Demonstrate mastery of grammar, rhetoric, and usage of the American English language

In order to do this, students are expected to acquire the ability to:

Research a specific scientific discipline (primary and secondary sources)
Intelligently set up, conduct, and report on a n interview of a scientific practitioner
Write a review of scientific articles on a scientific topic.
Present findings to an audience of peers
Master grammar, rhetoric, and usage of the American English language.

Created May 1, 2000
Updated Aug. 14 2004

*Date*	*Topic*	*Reading*	*Remarks/Assignments*
#1 Aug. 25-27	Introduction & Overview; Grades; Student Fact Sheets; Sentence Types
#2 Aug. 30-Sept. 1-3	Students Intros; Introduce Unit #1; Interviews	WITS Preface & Ch 2 & 1	Scientific Disciplines (due 9/3); Sponge Bob Square Pants; Assignment #1 (due 9/27)
#3 Sept. 6-8-10	Disagreements in Science; Remembering 9/11	WITS Ch 1& Ch 10 (249-253)	*No Class Sept. 6 (State Holiday)*; Notes; periodicals; interviews
#4 Sept. 13-15-17	Forum Analysis; Planning Assignment #1	TBA	Find and photograph an article; journal observations
#5 Sept. 20-22-24	Discuss Journals	TBA	Form Analysis draft due 9/22
#6 Sept. 27-29-Oct. 1	Introduce Unit #2: IMRAD Format	WITS Ch 3	Assignment #1 (Forum Analysis) due; Assignment #2 Lit Review (due 10/25); Research Topics
#7 Oct. 4-6-8	Materials & Methods; Conferences/Research	WITS Ch 4	Formulating a research topic and search terms
#8 Oct. 11-13-15	Results; research	WITS (236-248)	Presentation exercise;
#9 Oct. 18-20-22	Conferences/Research		*No Class Monday (Fall Break Day)*;
#10 Oct. 25-27-29	Introduce Unit #3; Audience	WITS 8.2 (182-186); WITS 8.3-8.9 (189-199)	Assignment #2 due; Assignment #3 Evaluative Report (due 11/22); Notes
#11 Nov. 1-3-5	Audience & Current Events	TBA	(Early Registration for Spring Semester 2005 continues); Notes
#12 Nov. 8-10-12	Document Analysis	TBA	Read USDA & Taubes examples; Notes; 228th Birthday of the USMC (Ooh Rah!)
#13 Nov. 15-17-19	Workshop/Conferences	TBA	Draft of Assignment #3 (due 11/22)
#14 Nov. 22-24-26	Introduce Unit #4	TBA	Assignment #3 due; Assignment #4 Research Presentation (due 12/8); Notes; project proposals (due 11/29); *No Class 24 & 26 (Thanksgiving Break)*
#15 Nov. 29-Dec. 1-3	Project Proposals; Document Design	TBA	Situation, Content & Design; Project Rationale
#16 Dec. 6-8	Production Workshop	TBA	Assignment #4 due (12/8)
Dec. 15 (Wednesday)	Final Exam		0800-1030 Section 001

Table 2: Grades and What They Mean
Letter Grade	What the Grade Means
A (100 - 90)	Your boss would be impressed and remember you at promotion time.
B (89-80)	Your boss would be satisfied with the job but not over impressed.
C (79-70)	Your boss would be disappointed and ask you to revise before others saw it.
D	(This grade is rarely given because your work is either acceptable or unacceptable.)
F (69-0)	Your boss would start looking for someone to replace you!