UC MERCED

WRI 116:  Writing in the Natural Sciences

Section 6

Hybrid Class

Monday Tuesday Wednesday

10:00 to 11:20

plus online time

COB 261

Name: Dr. Shirley Kahlert

Office Hours: Mondays 11:20 to  to 12:20

Office: COB 394 12

Email: skahlert@ucmerced.edu

Phone:  228 3022 Use email whenever possible.                 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Scientific discourse is a highly specialized means of communicating complex, often technical information. The Natural Sciences is an inclusive field that spans issues related to biology, medicine, epidemiology, psychiatry, nutrition, genetics, technology, chemistry, engineering,physics, and earth science, to name but a few. Some variation occurs across disciplines of the natural sciences, and this discourse is typically research-based and intended for publication in scholarly journals or for presentation at academic conferences. Its written format can include abstracts, research reviews, project proposals, technical reports, press releases and journal articles, each requiring a thorough understanding of stylistic and explanatory conventions within a discipline.

            This course provides intensive practice in the presentation of scientific subject matter in research and public policy. We will consider the range of audiences to which scientific communities respond, and explore respective variations in substance, style, focus, arrangement, logic, and rhetoric. Above all, we will explore means of communicating and applying specialized knowledge to a wider public. Thus, we will (1) identify the rhetorical principles and conventions of scientific writing; (2) consider representative texts from the field that represent a variety of styles and communities; (3) explore the rhetorical challenges that scientists face when communicating among themselves and with the public; and (4) practice common research reporting paradigms.

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES

Students will practice and refine their capacity, either through in-class interactions or online activities, to:

• synthesize and express complex ideas
• represent technical information in clear oral and written, including online, presentations
• understand scientific problems in current and historical contexts
• revise writing by incorporating relevant advice for improvements
• collaborate successfully on group tasks and class projects, including on line collaboration
• demonstrate information literacy and be able to work with evidence
• explore, articulate and apply scientific interests from college coursework

In short, you will learn to establish your credibility as a scientist by understanding the conventions of science writing ,to present your research to the public in a way that the public can understand, and demonstrate your ability to collaborate with others in your field.  

PORTFOLIOS

http://writing116writinginthenaturalsciences.pbworks.com/w/page/29749368/Portfolio-Guidlelines

How well you reach these outcomes will be measured by your achievements on individual assignments, class participation, and your e-portfolio.  Be sure that you understand you to present the evidence for your performance in your portfolio at the beginning of the semester, for it is your task to demonstrate that you've been successful in meeting the following outcomes:

• Ethics
• Craft
• Rhetoric
• Collaboration 

Your e-portfolio is a semester long account of your journey as a science writer, so be sure that you are working on it throughout the semester.  It is worth one fifth of your grade, so avoid unpleasant surprises by keeping track of your metadiscourse, of your insights, of your achievements throughout the semester. 

GRADES

Blogs                                                                      10% * (ten blogs each scored individually)

Assignment 1: Statement of Purpose                  10%

Assignment 2: Technical Explanation                 10%

Assignment 3: Annotated Bibliography               05%

Assignment 4: Research Review and matrix       15%

Assignment 5: Collaborative Prospectus             10% *

Assignment 6: Oral Presentations                       10%

Assignment 7: Portfolio                                      20%*

Class and group participation                             10%* 

*These assignments will have a heavy online component.

CLASSROOM

As a hybrid course, our class meets in-person and online via our course UCMCROPS website. That means that we have extended our classroom to include the digital UCMCROPS site. All aspects of the in-person and online learning for WRI 116 are designed to meet the previously specified student learning outcomes. Thus, you cannot neglect either the face-to-face classroom or the online classroom. You will find that we have crafted the individual and group assignments to take advantage of the in-person and online formats. These activities are not necessarily mutually exclusive, for example peer review may be done in an online format to allow time to reflect and offer complete feedback. That same peer review work may also carry over into the classroom to facilitate in-person commentary and discussion.

It is common for scientists to communicate and collaborate across electronic formats. The important stages of science writing (research, revision, publication, and interaction of ideas) are all digital and online, to varying degrees. It is incumbent on the future generation of scientists to know how to navigate effectively through digital and hardcopy formats.

There are some activities, such as collecting research, that are most amenable to an online format. Other activities, like oral presentations, are best accomplished live and in-person. Through our hybrid classroom model, we are able to take advantage of the ‘best of both worlds’ and incorporate the online classroom with our traditional classroom setting.

In respecting each other’s opinions, we will cultivate a classroom environment that fosters communal learning. Accordingly, please turn off your cell phones, keep off the Internet (unless instructed otherwise), stay focused on class discussions and activities, and recognize that your peers are also your partners in this learning community. You are required to bring a copy of the assigned reading that you have annotated for each class. If you choose to use a digital copy, bring your laptop and make sure that you have already annotated the reading.

CLASS PARTICIPATION

Please come to class prepared to share your ideas. Be assured that no question is necessarily a bad one, and that we need to ask questions to learn. Because this course subscribes to a workshop format, you cannot satisfy its requirements unless you attend regularly, are on time, and meet weekly online participation requirements. Your contributions shape your and other’s learning, so participation is 15% of your final grade. To this end, your instructor will keep track of attendance, and you will lose participation points for each absence that exceeds the allowable four unexcused absences. You are required to attend on time, in person, three days a week, and attend our online class activities each week between Thursday and Sunday. If you miss a class, it is your responsibility on your own time to find out what you’ve missed. It is especially important that you attend class for Workshop days (which will sometimes occur online), since your writing partner(s) will be depending on your feedback (on the quality of which you will also be graded).

            Class participation will also entail peer review, computing exercises, as well as virtual participation on our course site via UCMCROPS (see https://ucmcrops.ucmerced.edu/portal).

Online Class Participation

You are probably wondering how you “attend” online class. You are expected to spend 1 hour doing class activities online each week, and keep in mind that this is in addition to the 2 hours of prep work for each hour of class. So, from Thursday to Sunday you can expect to do 3 hours of class work.

There are three important things to remember each time you attend class online. First, there are still important deadlines that must be adhered to. Our online class meets between Thursday and Sunday each week. You should not wait until 11:57pm on Sunday night to try and post your weekly participation and other assignments. Every online post is time-stamped and no late assignments can be accepted.

Second, you need to read and respond substantively to online class discussion forums. The main way that you demonstrate attendance in an online class is to make posts and interact with your classmates online in the appropriate forums. A substantive response is typically around 100-200 words.

Lastly, the nature of your online participation is also important. You must be participating in the right amounts and ways so that your contributions to online discussions are building on what has already been said and contributing something new to the discussion. It is not enough to say “I agree” or “I do not think that is true”. You need to use the conventions of written English (including spell checking), a respectful tone, and be specific and substantive in your posts. The quality of your online participation, then, is just as important as the number of posts you make. More details about specific online assignments are provided in the Appendix.

INSTRUCTOR AVAILABILITY

      There are three primary ways to contact me with questions regarding your coursework or assignments: (1) in-person during class, (2) in-person during my office hours, and (3) in the online Discussion Forum “Questions” thread  or online on this PB works page comment box. Generally, if you have a question about an assignment, your peers will also benefit from the answer to your question. I will usually respond to questions sent to the Discussion Forum or PBWorks page within 48 hours of your posting. You should start a new thread within the “Questions” forum for each new question.

      If you have questions regarding your personal grade or other private matters regarding your coursework, or if you want to report an excused absence, you should contact me in-person during office hours or online via email to my personal email account: skahlert@ucmerced.edu. I will make every effort to respond to emails within 48 hours of receipt. When sending emails, be sure to use a formal format including: appropriate subject, proper salutation, complete sentences, and conventional English.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

      Plagiarism is an issue that is as complicated as linguistic expression is nuanced. For our purposes, plagiarism entails representing another’s work as your own. Note that plagiarism includes:

               • submitting work that is done in part by someone else

               • paraphrasing or summarizing any source without referencing it

               • copying any source without using quotation marks or block indentation

In sum, if you submit your own work with all outside sources or ideas properly documented, you will have maintained academic honesty.  If you have any questions about academic honesty, please feel encouraged to ask me or to consult www.library.ucla.edu/bruinsuccess, an interactive guide to avoiding plagiarism concerns. During the first week of class, we will discuss UC Merced’s Academic Honesty Policy.  Please refer to the appendix in Joseph Williams,  Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace, “Avoiding the Appearance of Plagiarism.”

TIME MANAGEMENT

For each hour of class, you should anticipate doing at least two hours of “homework.” Writing and thinking are processes, so dedicate some time each day to this course. Avoid procrastination. Although we will cover some study skills in class, ask your instructor about good scholarly habits.

With this being a hybrid course, one unit of class time will be conducted online.  This class-time will is task-oriented and asynchronous.  Bear in mind that as with face to face units of class-time, this one unit of online work includes an additional two hours of associated “homework.”

WRITING RESOURCES

If you would like further help with your writing—whether you’re experiencing difficulties or polishing up an essay—sign up for free consultations at the Student Advising and Learning Center (SALC) in Kolligian Library 172 (visit the center online at http://learning.ucmerced.edu). We also encourage you to come to office hours with any questions you have about assignments, to get feedback on your writing, or to discuss your progress in the course. If you cannot attend office hours, we can schedule an appointment for another time.

MATERIALS (you must have a copy of the reading with you in class)

1. Textbooks

          Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Penrose, Ann and Steven Katz, eds. Writing in the Sciences (2010)

Joseph Williams, Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace (2009)

2. Online Readings (as assigned and posted to UCMCROPS) and Word Press Blog page.

3. A comprehensive dictionary and thesaurus or use of an online dictionary.  The Oxford English Dictionary is available online via the Library.   You need to install the VPN Client on your computer to use this and other library resources off campus.