Text: The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2020
Week #1- September 5th-11th
Quizzes
Readings:
Introduction by Michio Kaku
Ross Andersen. A Journey into the Animal Mind
From The Atlantic
Week #2- September 12th-18th
Quizzes
Grammar and Punctuation
Readings:
Kelly Clancy. Sleep No More
From Wired
Danielle Duane. What Remains
From The California Sunday Magazine
Week #3- September 19th-25th
Summary and Critical Response due
Quizzes
Topic Sentences
Readings:
David H. Freedman. With a Simple Twist, a “Magic” Material Now the Big Thing in Physics
From Quanta Magazine
Rivka Galchen. The Eighth Continent
From The New Yorker
Week #4- September 26th - October 2nd
Quizzes
Evidence
Readings:
Bahar Gholipour. The Tumultuous History of a Mysterious Brain Signal That Questioned Free Will
From The Atlantic
Adam Gopnik. Younger Longer
From The New Yorker
Week #5- October 3rd-9th
Quizzes
Transitions
Readings:
Sara Harrison. Right Under Our Noses
From Wired
Patrick House. I, Language Robot
From Los Angeles Review of Books
Week #6- October 10th-16th
Summary and Critical Response due
Quizzes
MLA Formatting
Readings:
Ferris Jabr. Beauty of the Beasts
From The New York Times Magazine
Sarah Kaplan. Ghosts of the Future
From The Washington Post
Week #7- October 17th-23rd
Quizzes
Process Writing
Readings:
Adam Mann. Intelligent Ways to Search for Extraterrestrials
From The New Yorker
Beanna Csomo McCool. Total Eclipse
From Aeon
Week #8-October 24th- 30th
Quote Log due
Quizzes
Thesis Statements
Readings:
Jon Mooallem. “We Have Fire Everywhere”
From The New York Times Magazine
Melinda Wenner Moyer. Vaccines Reimagined
From Scientific American
Week #9- October 31st-November 6th
Quizzes
Thesis Statements
Readings:
Siddhartha Mukherjee. New Blood
From The New Yorker
Douglas Preston. The Day the Dinosaurs Died
From The New Yorker
Week #10-November 7th-13th
Critical Response first draft due
Quizzes
Grammar and Punctuation
Readings:
Tim Requarth. The Final Five Percent
From Longreads
John Seabrook. The Next Word
From The New Yorker
Week #11-November 14th-20th
Quizzes
Drafting
Readings:
Joshua Sokol. Troubled Treasure
From Science Magazine
Joshua Sokol. The Hidden Heroines of Chaos
From Quanta Magazine
Week #12-November 21st-27th
Quizzes
Proofreading, Editing and Revising
Readings:
Shannon Stirone. The Hunt for Planet Nine
From Longreads
Natalie Wolchover. A Different Kind of Theory of Everything
From The New Yorker
Week # 13-November 28th-December 4th
Final Draft of Critical Response due
Quizzes
Vocabulary
Readings:
Andrew Zaleski. The Brain That Remade Itself
From OneZero