Intro to Unit 1: Writing in the Natural Sciences

ENGL 105: Writing at the Research University, with Paul Blom

Section 004, Fall 2025

T, Th; 9:30am-10:45am

Phillips Hall, Room 222

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Tues. Aug. 26, 2025

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Log into our Canvas course site and then to go Modules>In-Class Activities.

Click the link to open today’s lesson plan slides (these slides).

You’ll need to have access to our daily lesson plan slides during every class session.

Open your materials for today; keep Canvas open also.

If you run into issues accessing our Canvas course site and/or our lesson plan for today, please let me know asap.

Sit with your group members (names listed on next slide).

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Student Working Groups

Make sure you sit with your group members at the start of every class:

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Announcements

• Remind Paul to begin recording (Zoom recording available after class).
• If you are still having trouble accessing Canvas or receiving my emails/announcements, please let me know ASAP via paulblom@live.unc.edu. Be sure to check Canvas>Announcements regularly.
• Anyone still experiencing issues with THWG? See http://go.unc.edu/thwg-access.
• You have to actually purchase the book soon, so you don’t lose access.
• You can download the app directly to your device, or you can access your bookshelf at vitalsource.com.
• Connect Carolina: Remember to verify your enrollment in my class and affirm your agreement with the Honor Code. Instructions for verifying enrollment can be found here.
• As you read and work, please feel free to contribute to the following Google Doc, “Suggested Readings or Other Content” (Link also at Canvas>Modules>In-Class Activities).
• See the extra credit assignment prompt on Writing in Business (Canvas>Files>Extra Credit - Writing in Business). Due by 11:59pm on Mon. Dec. 1.
• You’ve all been added as “authors” to our course website. (You should have received an email invitation from Wordpress that you need to accept.) See also “Instructions for Posting to the Course Website” (Canvas>Files>Course Website Resources).
• I’ve begun adding your bios and headshots to the page on our course website for student author profiles. As you begin adding work to the site, I’ll add links to your bios to connect your bio to your work. (If you haven’t submitted these, please do so asap.)
• First blog post reflection has been posted!

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Today’s Class

Last Class: Rhetorical contexts; the writing process; citations

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Today’s Class:

• Begin Unit 1: Writing in the Natural Sciences
• Unit 1 Assignment Prompt (Canvas>Files>Unit 1)
• Choose UP1 topics in class

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TODAY’S LEARNING OBJECTIVES - By the end of this class session, you will be able to:

• Articulate and describe the common fields, scholars, and genres in the natural sciences
• Articulate and explain the priorities, values, and methods of the writers in the natural sciences
• Explain how those values affect the conventions, genres, and methods for research and writing in the natural sciences
• Explain the basic expectations and process for the UP1 assignment
• Identify your specific topic for UP1

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Preparing for Today

Everyone should have already:

• Completed (and checked off) all of the tasks listed at Canvas>Modules>Start Here!
• Read the assignment prompt for the course reflection blog post (Canvas>Files>Course Website Resources), made a note of when your post is due, and confirmed your access to post to the course website.
• Read the two-page overview (the first two pages) of the Unit 1 Assignment Prompt (Canvas>Files>Unit 1), the instructions for Feeder 1.1, and brainstormed potential topics for UP1.
• Completed the following readings:
• Tar Heel Writing Guide (THWG) Ch. 2-1: “Writing in the Natural Sciences”
• UNC Writing Center, “Understanding Assignments”
• Completed the UNC Libraries Plagiarism Tutorial and Quiz and emailed me proof of your completion.
• I need this from everyone, no matter what, even if it’s too late to receive credit.
• Revisited the two handouts on the writing process (Canvas>Files>Helpful Handouts and Resources).
• Submitted your completed “Student Work Release Form” (Canvas>Files>Course Website Resources).
• I need this from everyone, even if it’s too late to get credit for it.
• Does anyone have hard copies to turn in?
• Submitted your headshot/profile pic and student-author bio for the course website.
• I need this from everyone.

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Course Website Demo

• Log in at https://wordpress.com/. Go to your “Dashboard.” All Posts>Add New Post or Edit Post.
• To adjust privacy settings on a post on our course website, find the “Status” button on the top-right to open up a drop-down menu with options.
• Username and Profile: Your Wordpress username will automatically be included in/attached to your post. For some of you, that might be a handle that is not easily recognizable as your name. If you want to, you can begin the text of your post with your actual name.
• In the top-right corner of the Dashboard, you should see an icon that will allow you to edit your profile, personal settings, and more. Click on this to add/change the photo associated with your Wordpress profile, to alter your display name, etc. Be sure to hit “Save profile details” when you’re done.
• (See also “Instructions for Posting to the Course Website” at Canvas>Files>Course Website Resources.)

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Writing in the Natural Sciences: The Fundamentals

• Make sure you’re sitting with your group members.
• If you haven’t already, quickly introduce yourselves to each other.
• The following questions refer to THWG Ch. 2-1, “Writing in the Natural Sciences.” Work as a group to answer the questions posed to your group below in the following slides (slides 8-11). Type your responses into the slides for your group.
• Remember to choose a “reporter” or “reporters” for your group, someone who will walk us through your answers when we regroup as a class.

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Group 1 - The Tarheel Thinkers (TTT): Fieldwork in the Natural Sciences

1. What are the four major fields in the natural sciences? For each, list two smaller fields or specialties that fall into that category.

• Biology: Botany and Microbiology
• Chemistry: Organic Chemistry and Zoology
• Physics: Astrophysics and Optics
• Earth Sciences: Ecology and Geology

2. Choose two of the fields or subfields you listed in the previous question and give an example for each of what someone working in that field might study or write about.

• Microbiology: Studying or testing the effects of various environmental conditions or drugs in vitro (outside a living organism, such as through cells, tissue, or bacterial cultures).
• Geology: Geology is the study of the Earth, so someone in this field might study rocks, topography, or the natural resources of the world.

3. Scholars don’t work in a vacuum, nor do they just write for the sake of writing. What is the general purpose or motivation for scholars in the natural sciences? What’s their goal?

• Scholars publish writing to inform, persuade, and argue their findings to readers. These readers can be the general public or more specific agencies or audiences, such as potential research funders or other scholars in their field. Understanding the natural world to make improvements or solve a problem.

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Group 2 – On the Move: Methodology in the Natural Sciences

1. On what kind of data/evidence do people working or writing in the natural sciences usually focus (what do they consider the “highest form of knowledge”)? Include a definition in your answer.

• Empirical evidence, which is evidence derived from sense experience, observation, computational modeling or experimentation because people and other scientists would accept this proven evidence rather than abstract reasoning.

2. What are the four main methods used to gather information in the natural sciences? Define each.

• Observational → gather info through our senses, measuring and recording findings
• Experiment → manipulating variables in a scenario to isolate properties of the world
• Modeling and Theorizing-models of phenomenon that can‘t be directly observed
• Computation → computer technology to test hypotheses

3. What kinds of sources are considered the most valid or reliable for those conducting research in the natural sciences (and really in most areas of research in general)? Why?

• Scholarly sources – written by professionals (academics, researchers, etc) and peer-reviewed → most reliable
• Popular sources – Blog post, website, or other digital media item intended for a popular audience
• Hybrid sources – Mix of professional/academic writing that is written toward a larger population

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Group 3 - The Brunch Club: Values/Priorities in the Natural Sciences

1. Why is objectivity important to people working and writing in the natural sciences?

• Research
• Accuracy
• reduce bias
• public trust
• factual data
• clear and concise

2. List other values or priorities of people working and writing in the natural sciences.

• Relevant (and timely) connections between topics
• Validity
• Research integrity
• Accessibility

3. How do you think the priorities of scholars in the natural sciences manifest themselves in their professional or academic writing? (Think about the typical characteristics of writing in the natural sciences. You might also think about the conventions of CSE citation format, typically used by those working in this discipline.) (Hint: They write in a particular way, with particular conventions or “rules.” Why? How do those “rules” showcase their research priorities?)

• Following a particular format/order; providing quantitative data
• Making sure the language is feasible for readers
• Ensuring the research can be repeated
• Using recent and relevant sources
• Explain the Scientific method applied in context of their natural science; process of experimenting and collecting data

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Group 4 – Ruof Puorg: The Writing Process

(Let’s shift gears to THWG Ch. 1-2: “The Writing Process.”)

1. List the basic writing process in four major steps and briefly define each.

• Generate Ideas: This is the first part of the writing process. This step involves choosing an interesting topic that fulfills the assignment criteria, identifying an audience, figuring out questions to answer, and freewriting ideas to get a general idea of which direction you will go in.
• Outline Draft: Creating an outline involves identifying your main argument and building a structure which your paper will follow. This involves choosing a primary claim and listing the premises of your argument or the points which you will touch on during your paper.
• Create Draft: This step builds on your outline through organizing research and data around the structure of your outline. The first draft should not be perfectly organized but should be a free-flowing way to put your thoughts on paper. Writing in sections and starting small can make the task less daunting.
• Review: The final stage of the writing process where the author revises and edits the work to craft a document that fully meets the audience’s needs.

2. Explain what a college-level argument is. How is this different from a “thesis”?

• A college-level argument is a statement that responds to existing claims that circulate in a discipline. Being different from a thesis, which is a concrete statement that explicitly conveys what one’s whole paper says, a college-level argument better addresses the main goal and extends current research in that field.

3. What are the three steps of reviewing your writing? Briefly define each. If time permits, add a strategy one might use for each step.

• Revision, editing, proofreading.
• Revision: think carefully about how to strengthen your ideas and make the writing more effective.
• Editing: focus on sentence-level concerns.
• Proofreading :polishing the composition into the best possible draft.

4. What was your biggest take-away (or a few) from “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott?

• The main purpose of first drafts is just dumping info onto it and not caring about whether it will make it to the final draft or is even useful, and the first draft ends up being twice as long as all other drafts. They’re used to make the first thought and helps get your mind going and doesn’t matter if it’s bad.

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Unit 1 Assignment Expectations

• Unit 1 Assignment Prompt
• Feeder 1.1 Preliminary Research Worksheet
• Both on Canvas at Files>Unit 1
• We will discuss secondary research and database research.
• We will spend a class session looking at model popular health articles (Canvas>Files>Unit 1).

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Choose Your Topic for Unit 1

Canvas>Discussions>Tues. Aug. 26: Choosing UP1 Topics

• Start by brainstorming potential topics and narrowing down to one specific topic:
• Name three current health or medical topics/controversies that interest you. What do you find interesting about them? BE SPECIFIC. Write a brief, bulleted list for each topic. BRIEFLY DISCUSS WITH YOUR GROUP.
• Based on that discussion, select one of those topics/controversies from above and state it here. This will be your specific topic for Unit 1 moving forward. (You don’t have to repeat your bulleted list; just make it clear which topic you’re choosing.) (Examples of specific topics might be “caramel color in soda,” “local food products used at Rise Donuts Carrboro,” etc., NOT something as broad as “breast cancer in young women.”)
• You don't have to attach a document; just post your response into the discussion board. Ideally, after you list potential topics, choose one and indicate your choice there.
• (Ultimately, you’ll be looking for a recent scientific study conducted about your topic. You’ll end up writing a popular health article in which you “translate” that scientific study for a non-expert audience.)
• Need some ideas?
• See the popular health articles/video essays by my Spring 2022 students: https://tarheels.live/writinginhealthandmedicinesp2022/category/medical-sciences/.
• Or see the popular health articles by my Spring 2024 students: https://writingattheresearchuniversityspring2024.wordpress.com/category/natural-sciences-popular-health-articles/.
• This could also be helpful: Make a mind map of your topic, https://search.credoreference.com/mindmap?qMindMap=parkinson%27s.
• UNC Libraries: https://library.unc.edu/
• You must post something before you leave today; look for my feedback/responses on your posts this evening.

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Homework

Next class, Thurs. Aug. 28: Database research; Library Day: meet for class in the Undergraduate Library (UL), Room 124

• The UL is located beside the Student Stores. Here’s a map.

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Homework due by 11:59pm Wed. Aug. 27:

• Next blog post: STUDENT NAME REDACTED (reflection on week 2, due Mon. Sept. 1 by 11:59pm)
• Catch up on reading/submitting any documents/chapters/assignments you missed.
• I need to have everyone’s bio and Student Work Release Form and Plagiarism Quiz results, no matter what.
• BEFORE YOU LEAVE, POST TO TODAY’S DISCUSSION BOARD: Your chosen topic and an informal, brief list of why you’re interested in it. You do NOT need to have chosen your specific study yet, just a topic in general.
• Look for my feedback on your discussion board posts (choosing UP1 topics). Tonight, I will read through them and reply to your posts if I see “red flags” for any selected topics.
• Accept my invitation as an author on the course website (check your email; if you don’t see an invitation, email me so I can resend it). Confirm that you can log in to Wordpress and have access to post to the website immediately so that you don’t run into submission issues when it’s time for you to post. (You don’t need to post anything; just test if you can.)
• See also “Instructions for Posting to the Course Website” and the instructional video on the same topic at Canvas>Files>Course Website Resources.
• Read the entire Unit 1 Assignment Prompt (at least all of the info on Feeder 1.1) and the Feeder 1.1 Preliminary Research Worksheet (both at Canvas>Files>Unit 1). (Rough draft of Feeder 1.1 due Mon. Sept. 1.)
• Complete the following reading and come to class prepared to discuss: Tar Heel Writing Guide (THWG) Chapter 1-3: “Conducting Your Research”
• Watch the following brief video from the NC State University Libraries: “Peer Review in 3 Minutes” video
• Remember to meet for class this Thursday, Aug. 28 in Room 124 (the instructional lab) of the Undergraduate Library (UL). An instructional librarian will lead our class session. Come to class with any questions/advice you’d like to solicit regarding using the libraries, conducting research, etc. You’ll also practice database research on your chosen UP1 topic during that class session.

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Looking Ahead

• Take a look at the Course Schedule in our Course Syllabus (Canvas>Files) and make note of upcoming readings, deadlines, etc. Plan ahead accordingly for when things look like they will be busy. Consider reading/working ahead as needed.
• Your rough draft of Feeder 1.1 is due Mon. Sept. 1 for us to workshop in class on Tues. Sept. 2. Start thinking about your approach to Feeder 1.1; you may even want to begin working on a draft. The final draft will be due for a grade on Wed. Sept. 3.
• You may want to go ahead and download and read “Instructions for Formatting Assignments in ENGL 105” (Canvas>Files>Helpful Handouts and Resources), which explains how to format final drafts of your graded assignments, etc. You should read this document before you submit your final draft of Feeder 1.1 for a grade (due via Canvas>Assignments by 11:59pm on Wed. Sept. 3).

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Any final questions?

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After Class

• If you have other questions or concerns that arise after class, please feel free to email me (paulblom@live.unc.edu), visit me (in Greenlaw 509) during my office hours (Tues, Thurs, 12:30pm-2:00pm est), or schedule a time to meet with me virtually [ZOOM LINK REDACTED FOR PUBLIC SHARING] outside of office hours. (Download Zoom at https://unc.zoom.us/.)
• A few hours after this class session has ended, I will post the recording of this class session to Canvas at Modules>Class Recordings. You may want to revisit the recording, especially if you missed the class. Each recording will be accompanied by a real-time automatically-generated transcript as well as automatically-generated closed captions. You can stream these online or download these to your own devices.
• These recordings are captured through Zoom and are only available to watch/download for 30 days after the recording date.
• These recordings are solely for the purpose of reviewing class material and should not be shared with people outside of our class. (See also our course syllabus: Course Policies>Technology>Recordings of Class Sessions.)
• See also “Using Lecture Recordings: A Guide for Students” (Canvas>Modules>Class Recordings).

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