ENGL 299 D: Intermediate Interdisciplinary Writing - Natural Sciences

This course, a five credit writing seminar linked to PSYCH 202, introduces students to topics at the intersection of psychology, linguistics, and rhetoric by reading about contemporary scholarly debates in these fields.  Additionally, this course prepares students to compose academic research papers by working on a cumulative, quarter-long research project. How does your language affect your thought? How is language produced in the brain? How does knowing more than one language change your brain? How do scholars in various fields investigate these problems? These are just a few of the questions that this course will explore.

In addition to preparing students to read and write for academic audiences, this course also prepares them to design and execute research projects related to their own majors and introduces them to some of the core discussions about peer review, methodology, and data collection that inform the professional dialogue concerning academic research. To these ends, students will investigate what makes research in the sciences unique and how scientific writing includes its own set of linguistic and rhetorical resources and constraints. By the end of the quarter, students will have composed a research paper, enhanced their understanding of academic research conventions, and polished their academic prose style.