CURRENT COURSES
Fall 2008
Writing 20: Personal Hygiene during Drought Conditions
We are well informed of the importance of hand washing to reduce the spread of disease. But since the recent drought in North Carolina, water-free hand cleaners are now showing up in Duke University bathrooms beside the sinks. Are such cleaners as effective as good old soap and water? Are they better? Should the Duke community stop using water for hand washing altogether? To find out, we need to consider two issues: How do the options compare in eliminating the most important pathogens under ideal conditions? And how likely are we to use each method appropriately? In this health-science-oriented Writing 20 course, we will take on these questions and others as we investigate the science of low-water-use hygiene.
The course will begin with an emphasis on research skills focusing on learning to locate and select the most relevant scientific sources. Next, using selected principles of health science research and statistical data analysis, students will practice careful, skeptical reading as they draft and revise reviews of scientific research reports. Then, building on (and citing) the prior work of their classmates, students will craft scholarly scientific essays on the relative merits and risks of various hand washing options. Audiences for student writing will include both classmates and professional health-science practitioners and researchers. Note: this course involves a considerable amount of collaborative work; students should plan to work extensively with classmates outside of class time.
