PHYS 280 :: Physics Illinois :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Required Essay 1 (RE1)

Electronic submission due Wednesday Jan. 25 at 10pm; paper submission due Thursday Jan. 26 at 2pm

For RE1 you will revise an essay using the scenario and guidelines described below. Your RE1 will be graded by your writing lab TA, who will use this rubric. 

This essay has a number of problems, including factual errors, formatting errors, and issues with style.

Scenario

You are a writer for Scientific American, and your editor has assigned you to revise a brief report, written by a colleague, on the events related to the revocation of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s security clearance in 1954. Your colleague's report has a number of issues making it unacceptable for publication in Scientific American. Your editor is looking for substantive revision of the report, not just proofreading. The report should be a summary of these events written for a general audience, not an editorial or discussion of whether or not the case was decided correctly in your opinion. News reporting should remain objective and focused on the facts of the case. The report should be based on the following sources: 

1. “Letter on the Oppenheimer Affair,” reference [1]. 

2. “The Oppenheimer Case,” reference [2]. The article appeared in Physics Today 7(7) in 1954 (doi: 10.1063/1.3061714).

3. Material from the PBS Atomic Bomb documentary The Bomb, where applicable, reference [3].

Guidelines

• Revision is a critical skill to develop to become an effective writer. Here, we are looking for substantial revision of the essay. This will require more than proofreading the essay for mechanical errors and grammatical mistakes. We expect you to do a similar amount of revision on your future writing assignments.
• Please refer to the Resources page for more guidance on revision (e.g., Writers Workshop). Generally, you'll revise "higher-order Issues" such as completeness, organization, and accuracy before "lower-order issues" such as conciseness, word choice, and grammar.
• Follow all the specifications described in the Phys 280 Style and Format Guide.
• The title should adhere to the style of the news report genre (i.e., "Required Essay 1" is not appropriate) and should be in 12-point font.
• Your revision of the essay should be single-spaced and at least 0.75 pages in length and no longer than 1 page (not counting the writer's memo), when printed in the format specified in the Phys 280 Style and Format Guide, including the title, headers, and footers. 
• Audience: In revising this report, assume that your audience is generally curious about science and is familiar with scientific concepts at a high-school or early-college level. To get a sense of how Scientific American presents information and the style of its news and policy reporting, you should consult the following examples: article 1 and article 2. Writers for Scientific American use short sentences to create engaging and easily-read text. Avoid unnecessary words, especially adjectives and adverbs, as a news report should present the facts of the case concisely and clearly. A report of this length has no room for digression or repetition.
• Citation of sources: You do not need to give citations when the information you use is common knowledge. In deciding what is common knowledge, consider what could be known by a typical University of Illinois student (not enrolled in Phys 280) in 1954. If in doubt, include a citation. The sources you are to use in revising this report are clearly specified above. You may cite them simply by including the number of the source in brackets after a statement in need of citation, rather than a traditional citation. Example 1: This statement requires citation [3]. Example 2: “A direct quote from a source also requires a citation” [1]. Do not include a bibliography or a list of references.
• You will be graded on your revision's coverage of the news story, organization and clarity of content, and ability to conform to the writing style of Scientific American (see rubric).
• Don't forget to include the writer's memo (described below) for RE1.

Writer's Memo

In addition to your RE1 essay please submit a brief statement (~8-15 sentences) that includes:

• A paragraph describing your revision process for this essay. Be sure to explain how you went beyond proofreading.
• A paragraph that briefly answers the following questions:
  • What is your previous experience in technical writing? In non-technical writing?"
  • What do you consider your strengths in writing? Which writing skills would you like to improve?

Your writer's memo will help your writing lab TA to improve their response to your writing. Please see the Phys 280 Style and Format Guide for additional instructions on formatting the writer's memo.

Your submission must include:

1. Your RE1
2. Your writer's memo for RE1

n.b. For electronic submissions, submit the writer's memo and RE1 in the same file (do not upload separately), with the essay first and the writer's memo second.

Content Learning Goals:

1. Become familiar with the events related to the revocation of J. Robert Oppenheimer's security clearance in 1954.

Writing Learning Goals:

1. Develop your revision skills, by revising the linked MS word doc
2. Learn the Phys 280 style and formatting guidelines
3. Practice adapting to a new professional style (in this case, of a Scientific American news report) and genre (a news report for the general science-interested community)
4. Develop your ability to assume a professional role (in this case, of a science journalist)

© 1999-2024 Department of Physics :: Grainger College of Engineering :: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
If you have questions about this page, please e-mail the Undergraduate Office (undergrad@physics.illinois.edu).