Instructor: Jonathan Bass

Final Office Hour

Office Hours: MW 1.30-2.30 in Loree 010

Course Description and Policies

Week One

Wednesday, Jan. 21

Introduction: Who Is Mister A?

Accessing the Loree computer lab today remains uncertain so let's meet in the usual place (Hickman 205) and, if possible, go over to Loree.

In any event, look at the Online Source Review assignment before class (OSR)

If we don't get to use the special teaching lab, I'll go over the assignment and online sources in class. Then we'll invade the student computing room or library together and see what we can do there.

We'll be doing two or three online-based exercises, at least one of which will depend on a copy of the Science Times section; so have it (or at least some articles from it) with you in class and look it over before class.

Finally, we'll take a look at some of the many scientist home pages on the web. These are easily accessible and make great starting points for looking for ideas for possible science stories.

Assignment due: Rough draft of Online Source Review (bring THREE copies to class)

Peer-review workshop

Group Exercise: Making a User's Manual (procedural knowledge)

Wednesday, Feb. 4

Due: Final draft of online source review

Field Guide, chap. 14, "Writing Articles from Science Journals"

In Dawkins: Gorman, ""Finding a Wild ..." (67-71) and Overbye, "A New View of the Universe" (181-87)

Discussion: From Scientist's Research Report to Science News Story

We'll use Caitlin O'Connell-Rodwell's article as our main example of the former, so please bring to class.

In addition to Burdick's essay on O'Connell-Rodwell's research, we'll look at the news story "Stomp! Elephants' early warning system" by Mark Schwartz.

Week Four (News Brief; brief)

Monday, Feb. 9

Due: News brief rough draft (3 copies)

Find an article in a major research journal like Science or Scientific American on a recent scientific breakthrough and write a three paragraph news brief capturing the controversy and excitement of it all. Your article should start with a catchy opening phrase that will make people want to read the rest of the story, like

"Scientists have forgotten all they once knew about memory."

"In a world of cyberdreams, Dr. X is a living nightmare."

"Rutgers bio-geologist Dr. Y has discovered that men really are islands."

Look at other "catchy" openings in Dawkins.

Include bibliographical info for the article you select [author(s), title, journal name, volume, issue, page numbers] at the top of your news brief.

Both Science and Scientific American are accessible in electronic versions through IRIS.

Here's a shortcut to the online contents of the current issue of Science.

The articles in the "Reports" section of Science are typical of the kind of article on which you want to base your news brief.

That said, if you find nothing of interest in Science, look for similar reports/articles in other research journals in science-related disciplines (e.g., economics, statistics, archaeology, psychology) which interest you.

Rather than go directly to a journal, you might want to search for the latest research articles on a particular topic of interest to you via EBSCO or one of the other databases.

IMPORTANT: To access Science and Scientific American articles online (as well as library databases and many electronic journals) from off-campus you'll need to establish a proxy connection. To do so, follow these instructions.

Let me know if you have any trouble finding/accessing an article.

Wednesday, Feb. 11

Read in Dawkins: Angier, "Weighing the Grandma Factor" (1-6); Chapman and Harris, "A Skeptical Look at September 11th" (15-24)

Read in Field Guide, chap. 13, on "Coping with Statistics" (102-09)

Preparation for group presentations. Read assignment description.

Week Five

Monday, Feb. 16

Meet in Loree 23. Computer research session.

Due: News brief final draft

Discuss reading and representing quantitative data

Preparation for group presentations. Review the group presentation assignment.

Group One Michael Alexis Andrew Abigail	Group Two Rebekah Chris Erin Ananta Andoyo
Group Three Maidah Scott Nicole James	Group Four Samantha David Gladston Carlos Frank

Wednesday, Feb. 18

In-Class group preparation for presentations

Review "Coping with Statistics" in the Field Guide; especially the questions on p. 103; the key statistical terms (uncertainty; probability; power; bias; variability; hierarchy of studies); and the words of caution on pp. 106-08.

Some general advice on using visuals in your presentation.

Week Six (Group Presentations; 10 mins)

Monday, Feb. 23

Group Presentations

Here's a sample interview (from Scientific American): "The Future of String Theory: A Conversation with Brian Greene."

An interview with the biologist John Maynard Smith, from New Scientist: "Games and Theories".

Here's a short one (from Discover) with another senior biologist, Lord Robert May.

Interview with yet another biologist, this time Rod McKinnon.

I'll be putting up additional interviews over the next few days and we'll read at least two for Wednesday.

These interviews shd give you some ideas about kinds of questions to ask and responses to expect. Such interviews can appear in more or less transcript form, as with the above samples, or they may be transformed into interview stories, such as the Gorman piece on E. O. Wilson we read in Dawkins. The latter genre, the interview story, brings context, commentary, and narrative into the presentation of the interview, whereas the straight interview piece sticks mostly to the linear back and forth between interviewer and interviewee.

For the midterm assignment, you'll be transforming the interview you conduct with a Rutgers (or other) scientist into an interview story.

Wednesday, Feb. 25

Discuss interview assignment.

Assign interview workshop partners.

Read the above linked interviews with Green, Smith, and McKinnon. Bring copies of these to class.

Read this interview with the neuroscientist and medical engineer Gregg Suaning.

Look again at the Gorman story on Wilson (in Dawkins).

 

Week Seven

Monday, March 1

Research and read a recent publication by the faculty member you will interview.

Prepare (1) a set of questions for partner interview and (2) a preliminary set of questions for scientist interview; bring these to class.

For further reference and ideas on questions, see the extensive online archive of scientist interviews at the Australian Academy of Science. As you'll see, the archive contains transcripts of interviews in a wide range of fields.

Workshop: interview practice / partner interviews

Interview writing exercise (sample questions) and partner response

Wednesday, March 3

Revised set of interview questions (planning to use in actual interview) due along with short 3-5 sentence description of your scientist (on same page). This must be typed/printed.

John Franklin, Writing for Story, chap. IX, on "Polishing" your writing.

Read for discussion: Michael Joyce interview story. We'll also look at the Gorman story in Dawkins and anything else I can find.

Monday, March 8

Class Cancelled

Wednesday, March 10

Note: We're meeting today in the Writing Program Computer Lab (135 George Street 105)

Interview story and transcript due

Read assignments for News Summary (due 3/29); Book Review (RD 4/5. FD 4/12); and Feature Story (RD 4/26, FD 5/3)

Bring printed copies of the assignments to class

Tentative book choice due for the book review assignment. You'll need title, author, publisher, city and year of publication, and a short description of the book. This can be the book-jacket copy or publisher's blurb. Ideally, if you can, bring a copy of the book to class.

The book should be a recent book on any science or science-related topic that is also related to (or relatable to) the general topic of your Feature Story. For ideas, check the science or new book sections in a local bookstore or the new science and technology books in your local public library.

Bring book choice (specified information and, if possible, book itself) to class for approval.

(Spring Break: Saturday March, 13 - Sunday, March 21)

Week Nine

Monday, March 22

John Franklin (through chapter VI)

Example of non-article science writing from your local public library (or bookstore). Should be something you think works well at translating science for the public and/or getting non-scientists excited about science, some new discovery, science history, etc. Bring to class for show-and-tell.

Wednesday, March 24

John Franklin (chaps. VI-VIII)

Remarks on key elements of interview story: (1) strong opening image or scene; (2) clear presentation of the science and why it matters; (3) a clear and attractive sense of the individual scientist as person; his or her interests, beleifs, motivations, humor, etc.; (4) a sense of beginning, middle, and ending (story structure); (5) sentence-level fluency (i.e., throughly proofread).

Week Ten

Monday, March 29

Finish reading Franklin

Read Loftus, "Memory Faults and Fixes" (in Dawkins). How does Loftus structure her article (in Franklin's sense)? How does she construct a science story? Compare her article's structure to the "universal" model of story structure Franklin presents (as well as to Franklin's other remarks on writing).

In class, we'll read and discuss a short sample book review.

For other sample science-related book reviews, see the book review section in each issue of Science magazine (www.sciencemag.org). Over the next few days, I'll pick out a few good ones and list them here.

Wednesday, March 31

News Summary due (3-4 pp)

Research for the news summary will help you to contextualize your reading and evaluation for the book review.

Discussion: Referencing sources; in-text citation and bibliographical form.

Note: There will be a handout.

Group work on Feature Story idea.

Week Eleven

Monday, April 5

Class cancelled for Passover. However ...

Due (via email): One-paragraph proposal of Feature Story Idea. As specifically as possible, the paragraph should present

(1) the key story structure;
(2) what is new, different, previously unknown, and/or definitely interesting in the science and
(3) if possible, why the science [or findings or new technology] might matter to a particular community or to humanity at large

Due: a short paragraph describing/proposing your feature story. This should state the science or science-related issue on which you intend to focus and give a preliminary outline of your story's structure.

Read the Ted Williams "Coyote" story in Dawkins

Look over the sample papers published in The Rutgers Assayist.

We'll read Christina Henderson's "The Recipe for Life" (in Assayist 1) for Wednesday

Wednesday, April 21

Meet in the Computer Lab, in the Writing Program Building, George St.

Today's class will begin with a discussion of the reading, followed by a research session

Week Fourteen

Monday, April 26

Feature Story RD due; peer review session

Summary of class discussion of feature story genre (i.e., things I'll be looking for when reading your final papers):

(1) The feature story must present and "translate" some area of specialized science, health, or technology related knowledge for a non-expert (but interested) audience. This is a key feature of the genre, something any reader of a science story will expect to (want to) find. As we've been discussing in class, this knowledge may be (among other things):

(a) theoretical or abstract (like the particle physics in Matt Herron's "Strange Attractions");
(b) technical-descriptive (e.g., explaining how a car engine or particle accelerator works);
(c) procedural (or "know how": e.g., a step-by-step guide to building a car engine or particle accelerator or to anatomizing an insect); or
(d) experiential (e.g., describing what it feels like to work daily in a pathology lab or operating theater or to administer a large research facility).

(2) in particular: knowledge of the new: the feature must bring to your readers some knew discovery, problem, solution, field of study or practice (e.g., narrative medicine).

(3) the human element (connecting the above to people; stressing that connection).

(4) structure (in Jon Franklin's sense or after one of the models or types discussed in class). Minimally, your structure should involve an engaging opening and an ending which returns to or otherwise resonates with that opening.

(5) references: typically, in the feature story, the majority of the writer's sources are other people in interview. You're encouraged to draw on your midterm interview and, if possible, on the recommended second interview. Beyond these, draw on the book read for the book-review, the articles from the news summary, and any other research you find necessary.

Wednesday, April 28

Sample feature story RDs discussed

Week Fifteen (Feature Story; 6-7 pp)

Monday, May 3

Last Day of Class

Final Feature Story due