Skip to content
NTW2029 - Home

Schedule

1.1 - Tue 13 Aug 2024

  • EP and art topic: origins of evolutionary thought
  • Writing topic: university academic writing
Due: Thu 15 Aug 2024 🡕: Exercise 1 - introductions

1.2 - Fri 16 Aug 2024

  • EP and art topic: natural selection, sexual selection, and the gene’s eye view
  • Writing topic: academic writing as a conversation
    • Read (recommended):
      • TSIS refers to: Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. “They Say / I Say”: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. 3rd ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2014.
      • TSIS Preface - “Demystifying Academic Conversation”, xvi-xxvi
      • TSIS Introduction - “Entering the Conversation”, 1-15
      • TSIS 14 “What’s Motivating this Writer? Reading for the Conversation”, 174-183
Due Sun 18 Aug 2024 🡕: Exercise 2 - explain something

:x videos

Please watch the following. Remember that you can come back to these later in the course for review!

2.1 - Tue 20 Aug 2024

  • EP and art topic: niche construction theory & intro to Evolutionary Psychology (EP)
    • Read: Badcock, Christopher. Evolutionary Psychology: A Critical Introduction. Cambridge, England: Polity, 2000. 11-13 download 🡕
  • Writing topic: critical thinking
    • Read (recommended):
      • TSIS 1 “They Say - Starting with What Others Are Saying”, 19-29
      • TSIS 2, “Her Point Is - The Art of Summarizing”, 30-41
      • COR refers to: Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, Joseph Bizup, and William T. FitzGerald. The Craft of Research. 4th ed. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2016.
      • COR 6, “Engaging Sources”, (6.1-6.5 only, 85-94)
Due anytime (optional, ungraded): Evolution basics quiz 🡕

2.2 - Fri 23 Aug 2024

Due Sun 25 Aug 2024 🡕: Exercise 3 - explain Boyd reading intro

3.1 - Tue 27 Aug 2024

  • EP and art topic: criticisms of EP
    • Read: §2.7 “Methodological Objections” from Goldfinch, Andrew. Rethinking Evolutionary Psychology. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. 62-71 download 🡕, :discussion questions
  • Writing topic: close reading, keyterms, notetaking
    • Read (recommended): Harvey, Gordon. “A Brief Guide to the Elements of the Academic Essay.” Harvard Writing Project, 2009. download 🡕

:x goldfinch

  • What is the author’s attitude towards the arguments he presents? Can you tell if Goldfinch agrees with the arguments or not? How?
  • Each section of the reading contains a different argument challenging EP. Can you summarize each argument in one or two sentences?
  • Consider the EP arguments we have discussed so far in class. Are the arguments proposed in the readings effective challenges to these EP arguments?
Due anytime: (optional, ungraded) Evolution intermediate quiz 🡕

3.2 - Fri 30 Aug 2024

Due Sun 01 Sep 2024 🡕: Exercise 4 - explain Goldfinch section

4.1 - Tue 03 Sep 2024

:x pinker

  • Pinker discusses several topics that are not needed to answer the main question posed by this chapter, even though they are topically related to that question. What is the main question that Pinker aims to answer in this chapter?
  • Is Pinker aiming to explain one phenomenon or many sub-phenomena? What is the basis for your answer?
  • How are the sections on individual art forms related to Pinker’s main question and to each other?

4.2 - Fri 06 Sep 2024

  • EP and art topic: EP and art: art and sexual selection
    • Read: “Art and Human Self-Domestication”, in Dutton, Denis, The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, & Human Evolution. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Press, 2009. 135-63 (you can skim 135-144) download 🡕, :discussion questions
  • Writing topic: outlining, paragraph structure
    • Read (recommended):

:x dutton

  • On p. 139, there is a sentence beginning “It is human intelligence…” that contains the word “art”. Which of the two senses of “art” is Dutton using here?
  • How many sections are in this article? Can you summarize the main point of each section?
  • What is the main argument of this chapter? How does each section support that argument (if it does)? Do the sections depend on each other?
Due Sun 08 Sep 2024 🡕: Paper 1 outline (optional)

5.1 - Tue 10 Sep 2024

  • EP and art topic: EP and art: art and natural selection via cooperation
    • Read:
      • “The Evolution of Cooperation”, in Boyd, Brian, On the Origin of Stories: Evolution, Cognition, and Fiction. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009. 51-66 (reread, with focus on 55-66) download 🡕
  • Writing topic: structuring sentences clearly, qualifying claims
    • Read (recommended):

5.2 - Fri 13 Sep 2024

  • EP and art topic: cooperation and storytelling, and catch-up class
    • Read: “The Problem of Other People”, in Austin, Michael, Useful fictions: Evolution, anxiety, and the origins of literature. University of Nebraska Press. 81-99 (you can skim the section from the first strikeout sentence at the bottom of 84 to the second strikeout sentence at the top of 93) download 🡕
  • Writing topic: introductions - orienting your reader, using examples effectively
    • Read (recommended): COR, 16 “Introductions and Conclusions” 232-247
Due Sun 15 Sep 2024 🡕: Paper 1 draft

6.1 - Tue 17 Sep 2024

  • EP and art topic: no class meeting, student conferences
    • Read:
  • Writing topic:
    • Read (recommended):
Due day of conference 🡕: Exercise 5 - Paper 1 post-conference notes

6.2 - Fri 20 Sep 24

  • EP and art topic: no class meeting, student conferences
    • Read:
  • Writing topic:
    • Read (recommended):
Due Sun 22 Sep 2024 🡕: Paper 1 final
Due Mon 23 Sep 2024 🡕: Exercise 6 - Paper 1 self-evaluation

7.1 - Tue 01 Oct 2024

  • EP and art topic: EP and the multilevel mind
    • Read:
  • Writing topic: Paper 2 overview, writing for the academic conversation: primary vs secondary use of sources
    • Read (recommended):

7.2 - Fri 04 Oct 2024

:x ahn

to be posted

Due Sun 06 Oct 2024 🡕: Paper 2 general topic proposal
Due Sun 06 Oct Sep 2024 🡕: Exercise 7 - Class participation self-evaluation

8.1 - Tue 08 Oct 2024

  • Writing topic: introductions - framing your argument, creating and refining your thesis
    • Read (recommended):

8.2 - Fri 11 Oct 2024

  • Writing topic: finding sources, effective transitions, how to cite: reference lists
    • Read (recommended):
Due Sun 13 Oct 2024 🡕: Paper 2 academic conversation overview

9.1 - Tue 15 Oct 2024

  • Writing topic: writing with outlines and drafts, writing concisely
    • Read (recommended):

9.2 - Fri 18 Oct 2024

  • Writing topic: counterarguments and objections
    • Read (recommended):
Due Sun 20 Oct 2024 🡕: Paper 2 brief source summary and context

10.1 - Tue 22 Oct 2024

  • Writing topic: peer review, conclusions
    • Read (recommended): peer drafts
Due Wed 23 Oct 2024 🡕: Paper 2 source summary

10.2 - Fri 25 Oct 2024

  • Writing topic: peer review
    • Read (recommended): peer drafts
Due Sun 27 Oct 2024 🡕: Paper 2 proposal and draft outline

11.1 Tue 29 Oct 2024 — no class meeting; individual student conferences

  • sign up for conference times here [link to be posted]
Due day of conference 🡕: Exercise 8 - Paper 2 proposal conference summary

11.2 - Fri 01 Nov 24

  • no class meeting, Well-Being Day
Due Sun 03 Nov 2024 🡕: Paper 2 intro and full outline

12.1 - Tue 05 Nov 2024

  • Writing topic: peer review
    • Read (recommended): peer drafts

12.2 - Fri 8 Nov 2024

  • Last in-person class meeting
  • Writing topic: peer review
    • Read (recommended): peer drafts
Due Sun 10 Nov 2024 🡕: Paper 2 full draft

13.1 and 13.2 (12 Nov and 15 Nov) — no class meetings; individual student conferences

Due day of conference 🡕: Exercise 9 - Paper 2 draft conference summary
Due Sun, 17 Nov 2024 🡕: Paper 2 final
Due Mon, 18 Nov 2024 🡕: Exercise 10 - Workload report
Due Mon, 18 Nov 2024 🡕: Exercise 11 - Paper 2 self-evaluation