Week 1 (Aug. 25)	Week 2 (Aug. 30-Sep. 1)	Week 3 (Sep. 6-8)	Week 4 (Sep. 13-15)
Week 5 (Sep. 20-22)	Week 6 (Sep. 27-29)	Week 7 (Oct. 4-6)	Week 8 (Oct. 11-13)
Week 9 (Oct. 18-20)	Week 10 (Oct. 27)	Week 11 (Nov. 1-3)	Week 12 (Nov. 8-10)
Week 13 (Nov. 15-17)	(Thanksgiving Break)	Week 14 (Nov. 29-Dec. 1)	Week 15 (Dec. 6-8)
Procedures, Requirements, and Grading Policy Student Projects (samples from previous classes)

 

 

Thursday - Introduction

Tuesday

View online: "Cracking the Code of Life" (2 hour PBS special, Nova [2002])

Resource: Talking Glossary of Genetic Terms (prepared by the National Human Genome Research Institute [NHGRI])

Thursday

Gattaca (1997), Andrew Niccol, dir.

 

Tuesday

The President's Council on Bioethics, Human Cloning and Human Dignity:
An Ethical Inquiry (Washington, D.C., July 2002).

Executive Summary

Historical Aspects of Cloning

Scientific Background

Martha Nussbaum, "Little C," from Nussbaum and Sunstein, Clones and Clones (Reserve Room, Central Library)

Thursday

Read Aldous Huxley, Brave New World. Complete the first half of the novel.

Resource: Background for studying Brave New World

Tuesday

Read Aldous Huxley, Brave New World. Finish the novel.

Thursday

(No Class - Attend lecture at St. Thomas Hospital)

 

Tuesday -

Read Andrea Barrett, Ship Fever (1996), pp. 11-33, 80-102, 103-22.

 

Thursday

Roger McDonald, Mr. Darwin's Shooter. Read pp. 1-124.

Topics for Paper 1

Tuesday

Master and Commander (2003)

Read Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle, Ch. 10 (online text). Use any edition that reprints Darwin's final revisions (1860 or later), if you can find one. Otherwise use the 2nd edition (1845).

Resource: Brief discussion of Darwin's discoveries on the voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle by Ralph E. Taggart, Professor of Plant Biology, Michigan State University

 

Resource: A good collection of online secondary sources.

 

Thursday

Roger McDonald, Mr. Darwin's Shooter. Read pp. 125-228

Tuesday

Roger McDonald, Mr. Darwin's Shooter. Read pp. 276-end

First paper due, 4:00 p.m. - Post papers in Word to Blackboard. Name both the file on your disk and the title in Blackboard as follows: "Lastname, First Name - Paper 1". (Topics for Paper 1.)

Thursday

Read the first half of James D. Watson, The Double Helix

 

 

Tuesday

Finish James D. Watson, The Double Helix

Richard Dawkins, Ch. 3, The Blind Watchmaker (1986) - Reserve Room, Central Library

Thursday

Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake

Tuesday

Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake

Thursday

Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex (2002)

 

 

Tuesday

(No Class - Fall Break)

Thursday

Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex (2002)

 

Tuesday

Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex (2002)

Thursday

Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex (2002)

 

Tuesday

Read Simon Mawer, Mendel's Dwarf (1998). Read the first half of the novel.

Thursday

Read Simon Mawer, Mendel's Dwarf (1998). Finish the novel.

 

 

Tuesday

Zadie Smith, White Teeth (2000). Read first third of the novel.

Thursday

Zadie Smith, White Teeth (2000). Read second third of the novel.

Tuesday

Zadie Smith, White Teeth (2000). Finish the novel.

Topics for Paper 2

Thursday

Philip Kerr, A Philosophical Investigation (1992). Read first half.

 

Tuesday

Philip Kerr, A Philosophical Investigation (1992). Read first half.

Thursday

Presentation of digital media projects.

For digital projects, put materials on a CD or disk in my mailbox in Benson Hall (third floor).

Post papers in Word to Blackboard. Name the file on your disk and on Blackboard as follows: "Lastname, First Name - Paper 2". Topics for Paper 2

• Option 1:
  • Two 5-page papers. Each paper will count for 30% of the semester's grade.
    
    
    
• Option 2:
  • Digital media project. The project will count for 60% of the semester's grade.
    
    
• Option 3:
  • Research paper (15-20 pages) - 60% of the semester's grade.
    
    
• Regular reading quizzes will constitute 30% of the grade.
  
  
• Class discussion will count for 10% of the grade.
  
  
• Student Projects (samples from previous classes)

Jay Clayton

Vanderbilt University

Vanderbilt English