Spring 2010

Syllabus and Short Talk and Film Schedule

Syllabus Advanced Composition in Natural Science and Tech, English 302N12 and 302N13:
English 302N12, 302N13 (Tues/Wed, 7:20-10:00, Krug Hall 204, Thompson 117)

Short Talks and Films for English 302N12 and 30213

Bibliography and Notes Formats for All Students

• MLA Style (Modern Language Association): a list of entries with explanations (from Writers' Workshop).
• CBE Style (Council of Biology Editors): Chapter 6 of The CBE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers.
• APA Style (American Psychological Association): the Fifth Edition of the APA Publication Manual (from Writers' Workshop).

Learning to Write an Abstract for 302BN2

• Instructions
  
• Practice I
  
• Practice II

Student Models

• On "Richard Feynman's Definition of a Good Experiment"
• "Time and Space in the 17th Century:" on Dava Sobel's Longitude

• Proposal for Essay #1 on a musical instrument
• Proposal for Essay #2 memories of gardening and weeding
• Proposal for Essay #3 on financial models for hospitals

• "The Great American Scream Machine" and "The Golden Gate Bridge"
  
• The Moving Scala"
• "The Eiffel Tower"
• "A Tool of Instant Artwork"
  
• "From Dictaphone to Disc: The Beginnings of the In-Home Concert"
  

• "The Scientific Method: A Review of Darwin's The Voyage of the Beagle and Mark Ridley's Darwin Reader"
  
• "Feynman's Assessment of the Bureacratic Culture at NASA"
  
• "Living Life to the Fullest"
• "A Half Composed Puzzle"
  
• "Racism must go"
  
• "The Difficult Profession of Medicine"
  

• "Some Observations on the Orangutans," "The White-Tailed Deer"
  
• "The Hard Working Life of Cows: Making Diary Farms Make Money"
  
• "Night Life"
  
• "Observation of Colorful Trees in Autumn"
• "Still a Mystery: Ball Lightning"
  
• "The California Sea- Lion"
  
• "Deserts, Wind and Water"
  

• "Improving Life with Arthritis"
  
• The Uses of Leeches in Modern Medicine
  
• "The Promise of Regenerative Stem Cell Research"
  
• "Organ Trafficking"
  
• Mutilating Women for Life"
  
• "The Real Aftereffects of Abortion"
• "Caesarean Childbirth: The Real Cons as well as Pros"
  

  Alternative (Biographical Portrait Sketch) "Unravelling the Mystery"

• Mike Nichols' Wit: On the borders of decency
• Mike Nicols' Wit: A poignant film

Professional Online Materials: Advanced Composition on the Natural Sciences and Applied Technology

• For Richard Feynman
  • A short list of books by and on Richard Feynman
    
  • Michael Swaine, Four Feynman Books, "Programmer's Bookshelf", Electronic Review of Books
    
  • Peter Weiss, "Dr Feynman's Doodles: How one scientist's simple sketches transformed physics", first published in Science News, 168:3 [July 16, 2005]:40-42, 44.
  • William Deresiewicz, "Who profits from scientific research,", The Nation, March 16, 2009, pp. 23-28.
• For Jane Goodall
  • The Jane Goodall Institute
  • Bettyann Kevles, review of The Chimpanzees of Gombe, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, 8 (Literature Resources from Gale, 7 January 2010.
  • Barbara J. King, "Is Fieldwork Feminine", Women's Review of Books, 8:9 (June 1991):19-20
  • Sue E Simon, "Living with Close Relatives", The American Biology Teacher, 47: 5, Neurobiology and Behavior (May, 1985):267-269
  • Wikipedia article: use with caution
• For Steve Olson's Mapping Human History
  • Steve Olson's website
  • a short list of books and essays on archeaology, human genetic history, migration, language study, history, literature and memory
  • A NOVA Transcript: In Search of the First Language as aired by PBS
• For Atul Gawande's Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science:
  • Marcia Angell "The Body Hunters", New York Review of Books, 52:15, October 16, 2005. A review of book and film and researched essay on politics and the pharmaceutical industry.
  • Marcia Angel "Drug Companies and Doctors: A Story of Corruption", New York Review of Books, 56:1(January 15, 2009) The state of medicine in the US today
  • Marcia Angell, "Your Dangerous Drugstore", New York Review of Books, 53:10 (June 8, 2006).
  • Atul Gawande, The Bell Curve: What happens when patients find out how good their doctors really are?", The New Yorker, December 6, 2004.
    Atul Gawande, "Piecework: Medicine's Money Problem", The New Yorker, April 4, 2005.
    
  • Atul Gawande, "The Score: How childbirth went industrial", The New Yorker, October 9, 2006, 59-67.
    
  • Atul Gawande, "The Way We Age Now", The New Yorker, April 30, 2007
  • Atul Gawande, "Sick and Twisted", The New Yorker, July 23, 2007. A review of Michael Moore's documenary, Sicko
  • Atul Gawande, "Getting There from Here: How should Obama reform health care (alternate title: "How health-care reform really happens"), The New Yorker, January 26, 2009.
  • Atul Gawande, "Hellhole", an essay on medical and human rights about the torture of solitary confinement, The New Yorker, March 30, 2009
• A short list of books and essays on the science of medicine.