Science Writing / JOUR 5812

Prof. Tom Yulsman

Class meets Mondays 12:00 - 2:30 in Armory Rm. 206A

Office Hourse: Tuesdays 1 - 2:30, Wednesdays 1:30 to 3, and by appointment

Syllabus: http://stripe.colorado.edu/~yulsman/5812syllabus.html

 

WEEK 1/AUGUST 25

Future assignment: Begin finding a topic for your enterprise story. By 9 a.m. on Monday, September 8 you will need to send me a short email message (no more than two paragraphs) describing the general subject of your proposed story and why it is newsworthy. On Monday, Sept. 20 query letters (to be discussed in a future class) describing the project in detail are due.

WEEK 2/SEPTEMBER 1

No class today. Labor Day

WEEK 3/SEPTEMBER 8

Reading for today:

Assignment due in class: Come to class with an example of a science or environmental news story and be prepared to analyze it. Why is it newsworthy? How is it structured? How thorough is the reporting? (Come with the URL to the story and we can look at on the screen in class.)

Assignment due 5 p.m. today: Send me an email (~ 500 words) describing the general subject you are thinking about for your final project. I will respond with some suggestions. You can also schedule a time to speak with me. In just a few weeks you need to have a focus and enough information to write a detailed proposal in the form of a query letter.

WEEK 4/SEPTEMBER 15

No class today because of field trip on Friday

WEEK 4/Friday, SEPTEMBER 19

Field trip with Tim Seastedt to Mountain Research Station west of Boulder. Details TBA

WEEK 5/SEPTEMBER 22

Reading due today: The Geology of Mankind, available online at http://stripe.colorado.edu/~yulsman/anthropocene.pdf

ASSIGNMENT DUE 9 a.m. today: (as an email attachment): Seastedt story

WEEK 6/SEPT 29

No class. (Jewish observance of Rosh Hashana)

Assignment due by 5 p.m.: Query letters pitching enterprise story, as an email attachment

WEEK 7/OCTOBER 6

Reading for today: Please check out this story,  http://www.thestar.com/article/246027, in the Toronto Star about a recent revision by NASA of its calculation of the hottest year on record in the United States. NASA previously said that 1998 was the hottest year, lending credence to the idea that our carbon dioxide emissions were leading to a significant ramp up of global warming. But a statistician and global warming skeptic named Steve McIntyre found a significant error in NASA's calculation. And now NASA admits that 1934 was the hottest year. Moreover, there were more hot years during that decade (of the Dust Bowl) than in the last decade. Climate experts like Rush Limbaugh picked up on this incident to cast doubt on climate science and poke fun at global warming "scaremongers." For our discussion today: What does all this mean, not just for global warming but for science, particularly on controversial environmental topics, and how we journalists should cover them? Think about it. I may call on you to lead the discussion.

WEEK 8/October 13

Reading due today: backgrounder on human domination of the nitrogen cycle and its environmental impacts, available online at http://earthtrends.wri.org/features/view_feature.php?theme=1&fid=1

Assignment due Wednesday October 15: Alan Townsend story due 9 a.m. as email attachment

WEEK 9/October 20

Reading for today: TBA

WEEK 10/October 27

Reading due today:

WEEK 11/Nov. 3

Reading due today:

WEEK 12/Nov. 10

Reading due today:

WEEK 13/Nov. 17

Assignment due today: First draft of enterprise stories by email attachment

WEEK 14/Nov. 24: NO CLASS -- FALL BREAK

WEEK 15/Dec. 1

Reading due today: New Yorker article on intelligent design, available at http://stripe.colorado.edu/~yulsman/nyorker_id.pdf

Week 16/Dec. 8

DEADLINE FOR FINAL DRAFT OF ENTERPRISE STORY TBA