Academic writing in English - Group 2

Week 6: Oct. 24 - Writing devices, concepts and techniques...part 1

Journals

1. Following on the heels of our "hard sciences genres family" discussion, for this week's journal give the hard sciences theme a try; this "genre family" (i.e. biology, physics, chemistry, mathematics, logic, and statistics). Answer ONE of the following open-ended driving questions for your journal. Like last week, your journal can take any format you'd like (e.g. an essay segment, a short essay, an abstract, an article segment, unstructured prose, a poem, a video etc.), You don't have to write or justify your answer in a "hard scientific" way, but rather, the question(s) I've asked is one commonly studied among the hard sciences:

Are we, beings that inhabit planet Earth, alone in the universe?
What is consciousness, and where does it come from?
If energy cannot be created or destroyed, where does our energy go after our death? Where does energy come from for new life?
Are Asamov's laws of robotics really applicable to newly developing artificially intelligent robots? Who should his laws apply to?
How many dimensions are there? Would it be significant for humanity if we discovered more?
Is it possible to mathematically sequence a human brain, i.e. could we ever upload our consciousness into a super computer?

Optional readings:

When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer

Are writing skills important for STEM students?

Jack London's "The Human Drift"

Upload your journals to the journaling homework vault below, in the folder with your first and last name.

Homework vault:

Journals

2. There aren't any more MLQs! In place of working on this, work on your writing project proposal if you have not yet finished it. Be sure to upload your draft of this to the homework vault below:

Homework vault:

Project Proposals

Reading & Listening

3. Next week we're going to focus on writing concepts and techniques. Below I've linked a few different contrasting term explanations. Most are quite short, spanning only 2-3 pages. In class next week I want to hear, in your words, how you understand these terms, and see if we can come up with some examples.

3a. The first term comparison sets the tone for the remaining 4. It demonstrates the friction brought on by 2 contrasting ideas, terms, concepts, devices, etc.