University Writing Seminar
The University Writing Seminar introduces students to the power of writing as a means of communication and a process of thinking and understanding. It is the centerpiece of the First-Year Experience, which welcomes students into the rich intellectual life of the university.
Spring 2021 Courses | FAQ
In the UWS, students are offered a selection of topic-driven seminars that challenge them to formulate meaningful ideas, support them with evidence and analysis and convey them clearly and persuasively. Every seminar teaches transferable writing skills that students will use across the Brandeis curriculum and beyond. Students select and complete a UWS during their first year at Brandeis.
The UWS curriculum consists of two major units: a comparative analysis and an extended unit on research. The comparative analysis unit consists of a close reading predraft assignment, a comparative analysis essay and a comparative genre analysis assignment. The CGA asks students to read writing from varying disciplines and work independently and in groups to identify how writing across the disciplines varies and is similar in content, style, and organization. The research unit consists of an extensive research proposal and a research essay.
As part of the University Writing Seminar, students attend one or more Critical Conversations in which faculty from different departments meet to discuss a topic chosen for that academic year; for 2020-2021 the topic is "Identity." This part of the course brings first-year students into direct contact with scholarly discourse and the variety of ways in which Brandeis faculty engage with each other and the world.
Students are invited to continue the conversations in follow-up, small-group discussions. Each University Writing Seminar also assigns an experiential-learning activity to expand the boundaries of the conventional classroom.
Spring 2021 Course Descriptions
Remote = instruction is entirely online; In-person = meets in a classroom on campus; Hybrid = combination of in-person and remote sessions.
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Among animals, individuals choose mates based on biologically informative features such as long colorful tail feathers, large canines, or a red, swollen posterior. We typically assume that human attraction (and love) is much more nuanced and complex ... but is it? Many features that humans find beautiful or attractive, such as small waists, curvy hips, and large eyes, can be tied to biological explanations. Even behavioral features, such as nurturing behaviors, may be attractive for adaptive reasons. In this course, we will explore and write about biological explanations for these and many other aspects of human attraction. Using an evolutionary perspective, we will examine global patterns of attraction and challenge stereotypes of beauty. Do nice guys really finish last? Do traditionally attractive features in western cultures—such as low body weight—actually provide an evolutionary benefit, or might some preferences be culturally derived? For the final essay, students will supplement library research with data collection to produce an interdisciplinary research paper.
Elissa Jacobs
Instruction offered remotely.
The Hippocratic Oath is a guiding principle amongst doctors: “First, do no harm.” But what if your patient is a potential mass murderer? Does the doctor’s obligation lie first with the patient or with society at large? We will explore these questions and others across a variety of genres, including the acclaimed medical mystery television series House and other forms of social media such as Ted talks and Instagram posts. In addition, students will have the opportunity to research a case study on a topic of their choice ranging from designer babies to anti-vaxers. This course will foster the development of incisive analysis and sophisticated academic writing as well as an understanding of disciplinary differences through the exploration of bioethical dilemmas.
Lisa Rourke
Instruction offered in person.
Whether you cheer on a sports team, or go wild at a concert; whether you wait in line for the latest blockbuster, or binge all the episodes of a hit show overnight, popular culture plays a huge role in our lives. But while we might proudly wear the jersey of our favorite team or post selfies from the crowd of a music festival, some of the pop cultural things we enjoy we do so in secret as though they are "guilty pleasures." But what makes something a guilty pleasure? How does shame play into our consumption of culture? Why are we embarrassed about the things we love? This course will use the work of prominent cultural critics to establish an understanding of popular culture in relation to more dominant cultures and hierarchies of taste. We will examine the material manifestations of popular culture in the form of fan productions, and question what our consumption patterns reveal about the workings of social, economic, and gender hegemonies. Students in this course will have the freedom to focus their research on a pop cultural object of their choice.
Bofang Li
Instruction will be offered remotely.
In 2018, the nation’s first ever Federal Domestic Workers Bill of Rights was proposed. If successful, this legislation will be the culmination of years of lobbying to address the forces of classism, racism, and sexism that have contributed to the subjugation and devaluing of domestic workers and the labor they perform, including but not limited to: housekeeping, cooking, and childcare. Students will examine and develop arguments about the social, cultural, and economic conditions and systems that underpin the pervasive exploitation of domestic labor in the U.S. and abroad. By thinking about how domestic labor is imagined in literature, television, and film, students will unpack paradigms of privilege and power, and carefully consider the intersections of class, gender, and race.
Courtney Pina Miller
Instruction is offered remotely.
Sex Sells! It’s the immortal truism of the advertising industry. But how does sex sell? For decades, advertisers have used hot bods and innuendo to suggest that power and pleasure can be bought. In the 1970s, the battle cry, “You’ve come a long way, Baby!” pushed cigarettes as the hip accessories of feminism and the sexual revolution. Today, brands blend consumerism with gender activism, invite LGBTQ to the mainstream marketplace, and tempt millennials with new promises of sex and success. In this course, students find and write about advertising that delights, infuriates, and perplexes them. In the first essay, they dissect their choice of pornographic food commercials, Budweiser bromances, and Calvin Klein billboards that titillate consumers and reshape social constructs of masculinity and femininity. The research paper challenges students to locate and comprehend recent studies of sex and gender in advertising and apply them to a defined set of ads or a major campaign of their choice.
Doug Kirshen
Instruction offered in-person.
In 2009, a woman was found murdered in rural Louisiana. There were no witnesses, but seeming evidence led police to suspect undocumented immigrants. The victim’s DNA, however, did not match any of the Mexican suspects. Years later a new forensic technology generated a portrait of the killer – a blonde male of Northern European ancestry, and an arrest was made. Forensic science has not only helped to identify the dead, to solve crimes, and to bring culprits to justice. Forensic techniques, accepted at the time but later discredited, have also led to false convictions, as in the case of a man found guilty of rape who spent decades in prison before DNA tests confirmed his innocence, or in the case of an arsonist who was exonerated by the State of Texas in 2011 but had been executed years earlier. This course invites students to explore the achievements and shortcomings of forensic science. We will investigate the work of forensic anthropologists, take a look at real-life cases to learn about the history and effectiveness of investigative techniques, and analyze how forensic science has been portrayed (and transformed) in popular television series such as Bones, CSI, or Crossing Jordan.
Katrin Fischer
Instruction offered remotely
A thick accent, bunch of grammar errors, jumble of different languages, and so on: it feels embarrassing to speak “bad” English. We casually hear or say, “you speak very good English!” Is it a compliment or insult? What do we assume as “bad” and what counts as “good”? In this seminar, we will look into how different forms of English are represented and consumed in literature, film, video, and visual art, starting with the film Lost in Translation. Students are welcomed to bring in and share their own experiences on issues including “foreignness,” migration, language learning, and translation, to name but few. By focusing on how multiple Englishes meet and clash in fictional and real environments, we will try to rethink the hierarchies of language and culture. Our ultimate goal is to reflect on how this conversation could influence both our class environment and daily lives.
Nai Kim
Instruction offered in person.
Our focus will be on black voices in twentieth century American culture, ranging from the essays of W. E. B. DuBois to contemporary film. We will discuss a range of literary and historical movements such as the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Arts Movement, and black feminism. We will explore questions of identity, sociology, history, culture, and aesthetics. This course will encourage us to think about questions including: How does a minority voice make itself heard by an often indifferent cultural majority? How does one politically persuade an often hostile audience? How is one’s personal history and sense of identity influenced by historical, political, and cultural circumstances? What happens at the intersections of gender and race? In this class we will grow as readers and writers as we listen to the voices that have already discussed these issues, and as we craft our own responses to these questions.
Ryan Hitchcock
Instruction offered remotely.
Introduces students to the power of writing as a means of communication and a process of thinking and understanding. As students complete a series of writing assignments, they will engage in a process of reading, drafting, reviewing and revising, working in peer groups and individually with their instructors. Why are we fascinated and intrigued by outer space? What moved the United States to engage in the “space race” in the 1960s, and why is Elon Musk now intent on colonizing mars? To begin our exploration of the universe we will study Carl Sagan’s 1977 PBS series Cosmos. Sagan famously observes, “we are made of star stuff,” because the material produced by stellar explosions many years ago is the same material out of which we are made. The final research project gives students the opportunity to choose from a variety of films, documentaries, and stories such as Star Wars, The Martian, and Battlestar Galactica to make their own argument about what our interest in the stars reveals about who we are as a people.
Yi He
Instruction offered remotely.
The topic of this course is contemporary notions of “truth value.” As students complete a series of writing assignments, they will engage in a process of reading, drafting, reviewing and revising, working in peer groups and individually with their instructors. “Truth, Even unto Its Innermost Parts”—Whose truth, which parts? What’s behind the contemporary notion that “the truth” can’t be known because—in truth—only “truths” are there? Is it quantum physics and an undead cat? Internet deceit? Postmodern hangover? Through a wind-whirl reading tour (excerpts, in ordered sequence) we’ll use our exploration of commentary new and old to sharpen academic reading, writing, and critical reasoning skills in exercises ranging from “unpacking” arguments, to pre-writing, brainstorming, graphic-organizing, speed-drafting, reverse outlining, line editing and big-picture revision. Readings on our theme include philosophy—Plato, Sartre (bad faith), Simon Blackburn (Truth: A Guide for the Perplexed), Sissela Bok (Lying), Richard Rorty (relativism), Stephen Colbert (truthiness); science, psychology and neurology—David Hume—impossibility of empirical knowledge claims; Karl Popper—falsifiability theory of knowledge; Darwin—epistemological status of consensual agreement about knowledge claims; history—Tolstoy’s “confluence of infinitesimals” notion; Wittgenstein limits of ladder language, and literature—Sally Rooney’s Normal People.
Gordon Ruesch
Instruction offered remotely.
What is Boston? Boston is best known for baked beans, Fenway Park, The Boston Marathon, and over 50 colleges and universities that attract nearly 200,000 students in the Greater Metropolitan area. In the 1700’s, Boston was called the “Athens of America” because of its literate and engaged citizenry, wisdom, knowledge and education. Boston is a city of FIRSTS: the first public park, Boston Common, in 1634; the first public school, Boston Latin, in 1635; the first street-car subway system in the nation in 1897. In 2017, Boston ranked fifth in the world for innovations including cultural assets, education centers, transportation, and biking/walking accessibility. From the Esplanade on the Charles River, the Back Bay, Fens and Boston Common to the newer 15-acre Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, the beauty of Boston is unsurpassed. In this section of UWS, we will be using material on the City of Boston and its neighborhoods, with readings that focus on the historical, sociological, literary and contemporary beat of the city. The main goal for UWS is to further develop your academic research and writing skills , and this course will utilize the City of Boston as a textbook, enabling you to “experience” Boston, close to where you have chosen to spend your college years.
Marsha Nourse
Instruction offered in person.
Humans often consider themselves to be "the moral animal," distinguished from other animals by our complex and socially derived systems of morality, characterized by empathy and cooperation. However, when comparing humans with the rest of the animal world, are we really so different? In this course, we will examine through discussion and writing the degree to which human morality is grounded in our evolutionary past. We will explore the development of human morality during childhood and adulthood through the lens of evolution and will look at classic scientific tests of morality/ethics (e.g., the trolley problem). Additionally, we will engage with evidence for morality in non-human species and probe the degree to which our primate relatives engage in altruistic, empathetic, and moral behaviors. During the final paper, students will have the freedom to choose their own topic and to utilize interdisciplinary literature in their exploration of the nature and nurture of morality. Usually offered every year.
Elissa Jacobs
Instruction offered remotely.
Storytelling plays a crucial role in our lives. We draw on stories to make meaning of ourselves and others, to shed light on our experiences, and to express who we are or would like to be. The same holds true for businesses. Storytelling is not only a core competency of business leaders but an indispensable component of functional organizations. Successful companies take pride in compelling stories; troubled companies tend to lack institutional stories and a culture of storytelling. Capable business leaders are effective storytellers, and strategic storytelling has been a proven means of initiating change and of turning companies around. This course invites students to investigate the power of stories and storytelling in business contexts. By analyzing texts from various media, we will discuss questions such as: What characterizes effective stories? What is the importance of storytelling and story-making in companies? How can storytelling bring about organizational change? Which traits do storytellers and business leaders share? What is the connection between storytelling and leadership?
Katrin Fischer
Instruction offered remotely.
How do we define our relationship with animals: which we keep as livestock, which we keep as pets, and which we keep in zoos? Human-animal interactions have developed over hundreds of thousands of years; in that time, animals have had a significant impact on human behavior and on the development of human societies. In this class, we will explore the deep history of the relationship between humans and animals. We will consider how different cultures and subsistence strategies cultivate different interspecies dynamics, and particularly how domestication changes the way we perceive animals and their place in the world. To explore these questions, we will use multiple lines of evidence, including ethnographic data, material culture, and scientific analyses of faunal remains. Students will have the opportunity to research and write about the relationship between humans and animals in a wide variety of ancient and modern cultures.
Catherine Scott
Instruction offered remotely.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Yes and no. On the one hand, each writing seminar has the same types of assignments and course policies. On the other hand, each seminar uses a different topic. For details, see fall 2019 and spring 2020 courses on the registrar's website. For descriptions, click the course numbers on the far left of those pages.
Both options are viable, but students who take UWS in the fall can then apply what they’ve learned to their spring courses. Consult academic advising if you have further questions.
UWS is a full-credit course. It counts as one of the 32 courses required for graduation.
UWS instructors work closely with their students, providing one-on-one tutorials, sustained attention to individual development and extensive comments on drafts. With larger classes, instructors could not give this kind of individualized attention.
Depending on availability, students may change their UWS to another in the same semester at the registrar's office.
UWS is a first-year requirement. If you do not fulfill it during your first year, you may be placed on academic probation.
An online writing assessment, taken in the spring before entering Brandeis, helps the Writing Program reach out to students who might most benefit from what COMP has to offer. (Students wishing to enroll directly into COMP without taking the online assessment may do so.)
International students must take UWS in their first or second semester at Brandeis. Nonnative English writers are strongly encouraged to sign up for free tutoring in the English Language Programs.
The Writing Center offers support for all students, including those enrolled in UWS, with 30- and 60-minute one-on-one tutorials available by appointment. The Writing Center also offers workshops on each of the major UWS assignments, including the lens paper and research paper.