Who better to write about science than scientists, yet for years scientific writing has had a bad rap. It’s been accused of being convoluted, inaccessible, and dull. But as W.E.B Dubois (or Richard Feynman), E.O Wilson, Loren Eisley, and Stephen J. Gould have proven, this needn’t be the case: Scientific texts can be some of the most relevant, engaging, and thought provoking literary works on the shelf. In this course, young writers will emulate these more admirable models.
Through project-based research and interactive exercises, the students will explore science as it relates to social identity and power. Using popular science writing as a guide, the students will then focus on expressing these issues in clear, cogent prose. Rhetorical inquiry, critical thinking, and questions of aesthetics will be brought to bear in analyzing science writing that best exemplifies the clarity and lucidity that professional writing demands. Composition scholars have long acknowledged writing as thinking, and in this course students will have ample opportunity to develop both.
-- Geronimo Johnson--
