I hope it is more than that. So, although the focus of our writing will be on science, we will be talking mostly about the basic practice of putting words on paper and doing it well. The skills we discuss should apply as much to writing a letter to a friend as to writing a complicated feature on particle physics. One of the problems with writing about science or any other technical field is that, after a while, we tend to sound too much like the scientists we are writing about. Jargon slips into our writing.
Sentences get longer.
So, in this class, we will spend a lot of time talking about writing simply and clearly. We'll also spend several sessions talking about how to write leaner, meaner sentences and paragraphs. We'll talk about active voice, powerful verbs, and about how to cleanse our writing of needless words and cliches. We'll talk about story structure, techniques for simplifying complicated material, and using humor. Weekly writing assignments will be geared toward illustrating the week's lecture and forcing you to put the techniques discussed into practice.