The purpose of this course is to acquaint students with samples of significant writing on science, technology, and society, sharpen skills in identifying the theses and the major supporting elements in these works, while making judgments on their contributions. When students make a judgment, they must provide specific reasons why the author's arguments are (or are not) convincing. Furthermore, students will be expected to demonstrate their capacity to write more than summaries, but rather distillations of assigned readings that they relate to the topic and to one another.
Students are expected to demonstrate that they have carefully read all of the assigned readings and succinctly expressed the essence of all of the works. By having these "conversations" with the authors, each student is expected to reveal his or her ability to comprehend, connect, and assess, while expressing his or her own unique voice. In addition, students will be asked to relate the assigned readings to a current issue using reliable documented sources.
All or portions of the following texts will be assigned: