ENGL 281 A - Intermediate Expository Writing (Science Writing and Society)

Full syllabus lives here: ENGL281ACourseSyllabusSummer2021.docx

Objectives:

The primary objective of this course is to establish an interactive classroom community to engage recent scientific research papers and science reporting that have important consequences for contemporary social issues, including global health, the nature of aggression and warfare, genetic engineering, climate change and advances in medical research. As we do so we will practice--, whatever our majors and interests--the patterns of knowledge creation practiced in the natural sciences with emphasis on its, commitment to a systematic way of thinking, and allegiance to a way of building on existing knowledge and explaining the universe through testing and factual observation. We will also emphasize the critical role science writing and reporting play in the construction, spread and application of new t knowledge.

Reading List

“Commencement Address at the California Institute of Technology June, 2016,” ”The Science of Science Writing.”

“Contrasting Futures for Ocean and Society from Different Anthropogenic CO2 Emission Scenarios”

“The natural history of antibiotics”

“Understanding and overcoming antibiotic resistance”

“What counters antibiotic  resistance in nature?”

“Applications of CRISPR technologies in research and beyond”

“A CRISPR-Cas9 gene drive system targeting female reproduction in the malaria mosquito vector Anopheles gambiae”