EN123 WRIT assignments for 2014
Benefits of being in
a WRIT class:
You the EN123
student will be able to reference your passing EN123 as evidence that you're
meeting the Brown
University writing requirement.
You will receive individual writing criticism from Prof Daniels who
* won an award from the Wright Institute for his essay, "The Slow Corrosion
of Oedipus Robot," describing his life as a graduate student at UC Berkeley.
* won an award from the American Society for Engineering Education for his essay
on "Improving Digital Circuit Design Teaching."
* had
published by John Wiley & Sons a 615 page textbook, Digital Design From
Zero to One, which contains not one instance of the words "very"
or "interesting" or "easy" and only one instance of "difficult."
See what's on Prof. Daniels'
bookshelf...
FOR 2014! Prof Borton will mark up
some of the essays...
To qualify as a WRIT course every student who passes the course must have submitted at least two written works that were critiqued by the instructor and revised by the student.
Each WRIT assignment from you will be 2 pages double-spaced (about 500 words), on the topics below, or one of your own interest.
In 2014 we present you with 3 choices for writing assignment topics, described below. There is nothing about what you will write that requires you to be technically correct...you may be speculative, humorous, ironic...or you can if you wish be dryly correct in technical details.
In general, technical writing often describes a graphic--a figure caption as it were--of: a schematic, a picture of an apparatus, a graph of real data or a mathematical simulation, an equation, a video of dynamics, a SolidWorks 3D rendering, a drawing of a dissection, a chemical formula, or a listing of amino acids in a protein are examples.
In each essay you write I am interested to see at least one metaphor/simile/analogy. In particular, use the words "like" or "as" as they would appear in a simile. "It's like shaving with an axe" for example... Perhaps consult one of the writing books I have on my shelf, As One Mad With Wine And Other Similes, E. Sommer & M. Sommer (1991) Visible Ink Press, Detroit. Contains 8000 similes.
I am interested to see you think about the verbs you use, and how precisely they are conveying your thoughts...
Vague reference irritates
me.
it
that
they
that
this
without reference those and other pronouns are often vague
or confusing.
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/595/01/
Double space and print out your essay (giving it a title) and hand me a copy at your convenience. I will mark up your essay and return it to you for revision. At length revise your essay; print it out and hand me your revised copy; I will make (in most cases) a judgment about your revisions that will allow me to sign your scorecard and give you credit for the assignment. In a few cases I may conclude you misunderstood my crit and we can agree that you take into account a corrected view of my opinion of your writing.
For 2014, for ABET, I will want both your marked-up original and the revised essay.
Allow at least one day before you can expect markup of your writing.
Deadlines and submission rates: Submit only one WRIT per week. The first WRIT essay must be submitted before Halloween or attention will be drawn to the fact that you haven't done so. After Thanksgiving points for WRITs will be half of normal value.
You must hand in your WRIT to JDD or DB in person, double spaced for editing remarks. At the top of the first page put DRAFT. Basically you will want to fill up front and back of a page double spaced... We will hand your WRIT back to you in person, or leave it in a box on the black table in 095... You will receive credit for the WRIT when you return a (reasonable) revised version (marked REVISED), along with the marked up original.
If you write more than 2 double spaced pages, then keep going on to 4 pages! We will divide it into Part 1 and Part 2 and you will have submitted 2 WRITs by the back door...
Keep in mind that our portfolio here is to make suggestions for improving your writing, so even if you are one of the 5% of students who write well, we will "turn up the gain" and look for changes we think make sense...
[What
JDD reads every weekend: A column by Joe Queenan in the WSJ. Sometimes he comments
about technology, mostly he's entertaining, and shows good use of comparative
language. (example)
]
Topics and references:
(1) Out For Blood: Look over the Fortune
article below:
http://fortune.com/2014/06/12/theranos-blood-holmes/
Write about your reaction to the article. Questions you might consider: What--exactly--do you think their product is? What new technology have they developed? What is being sensed in blood by their device? Why have they attracted so many investors? Is it wise for Theranos to manufacture, or should they focus on marketing? What is a Wellness Center? What else can you learn from the theranos.com website?
(2) "Don't touch me there!" How safe and effective is robotic surgery?:
Check out some or all of the links below. Write an essay about surgical robots.
http://health.howstuffworks.com/medicine/modern-technology/robotic-surgery1.htm
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/344877283938482935/
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB20001424052702304886904579475162348072556
http://www.firstwordmedtech.com/node/969451?tsid=27
(3) Love of Gummy: Measuring Hypoglycemia:
Write about low blood sugar. How is hypoglycemia diagnosed? Is there a quantitative scale for hypoglycemia? In what circumstances is hypoglycemia a medical danger? Can you imagine a better, faster, less painful way to measure hypoglycemia than what is the "standard" now? Let's say money is no object...
WRIT Zilla: Otherwise, you may have come across, or worked on, some piece of biomedical instrumentation or technology that you would like to enlighten me about. Just think of a good title and 2 pages of writing, double spaced.