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To fulfill the College of Arts & Sciences Core Curriculum writing requirements,
all Biology Majors must complete:
- At least two (2) Biology courses numbered 3000 or higher that have been
designated as Writing Enriched and
- Senior Seminar (
BIO 5100
)
The preceding requirements relate to other Core Curriculum writing requirements
in two ways:
First, Biology majors must complete a total of at least five (5) Writing Enriched
courses, instead of the general requirement of four (4) listed in the Villanova
University Catalog; two (2) of these must be Biology courses (one of the others
will be Ethics (
ETH 2050
),
normally taken Sophomore or Junior year; the other two are ‘unrestricted’ and could
include additional Biology courses that most students take in the major anyway).
Second, Biology majors need not complete a Writing Intensive course in their
major as described under the general description of the Core requirements in the
Enchiridion; indeed, no such course in Biology is offered currently. Only three
(3) Writing Intensive courses are therefore mandatory for Biology majors: the Augustine and Culture
Seminars (
ACS 1000
/
ACS 1001
,
2 semesters, Freshman year) and The Literary Experience (
ENG 1050
,
1 semester, Sophomore year).
Members of the Biology faculty consider gaining proficiency in scientific writing
to be an integral element of successful completion of the major. Indeed, writing
skills are frequently mentioned by prospective employers and by graduate and professional
schools as major factors in selecting among candidates. For these reasons, we intend
to offer a wide range of biology courses as Writing Enriched (with components defined
by the College’s Core Curriculum), in order to give students maximal flexibility
in fulfilling the writing requirements, while providing enough instruction to assist
students in honing their writing skills. The courses offered as Writing Enriched
for each semester will be listed in the Master Schedule; courses that currently
are structured as such are indicated in the Course Descriptions section of this
handbook (these courses will usually, though not always, be offered as Writing Enriched).
Senior Thesis students will also receive credit for one Writing Enriched course
upon successful completion of their written thesis (
BIO 6409
).
Writing Enriched courses
in Biology
This list changes from time to time, so check here frequently
for current information;
see also the Master Schedule in NOVASIS for additional adjustments on a
semester-by-semester basis.
Students should understand that written assignments are central to most upper-level
Biology courses, not just those offered as Writing Enriched. In other courses,
instructors may expect a level of writing proficiency that you can develop only
with practice. In Writing Enriched courses, writing skills are given some degree
of special emphasis, and students have the opportunity to revise and resubmit
at least one assignment in response to feedback from their instructor. We therefore
encourage Biology majors to begin taking Writing Enriched courses in the major
as early as possible; the training should pay dividends in other advanced courses.
However, students should take most of their Writing Enriched courses in Biology
after completing (or concurrent with) The Literary Experience (
ENG 1050
),
the third required Writing Intensive course in the Core Curriculum; instructors
of the Writing Enriched courses in Biology will assume students have previously
mastered basic rules of grammar and standards of composition (e.g., logical
organization, paragraph construction), so that the emphasis in Biology courses
can be on structural, stylistic, and rhetorical aspects of writing that are
specific to the discipline.
Biology majors may benefit from a variety of additional sources of help with
their writing. Staff at the University’s Writing Center (Dalton Room, Old Falvey;
519-4604) can work with students (at no cost or obligation) to bring written
assignments up to expected standards of organization, grammar, and structure
prior to submission, or during the revision stage. (These folks are not, in
general, trained to help with the biological content of class assignments–but
often the presentation needs as much work as the content.)
In addition, we urge all incoming students to purchase A Short Guide to Writing About Biology,
6th edition, by J. Pechenik (Longmans, 2007); this brief but
helpful book is used in all Biology Writing Enriched courses and can be bought
at the Villanova Shop, listed as a text for General Biology. Other recommended
sources of help include the book Writing to Learn Biology by R. Moore (Saunders,
1992).
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