Students will develop a critical understanding of science 
fiction as a narrative mode, learning the specific terms and 
concepts that best describe it. Students will engage in 
analysis of various science fiction texts, primarily novels and 
films, addressing their specific qualities as they differ from 
many other kinds of literary, and cinematic production.  
Students will produce twenty to twenty-five pages of writing.  
This requirement may take different forms from one term to the 
next: short essays followed by a long essay, medium-length mid-
term essays, annotated bibliographies, and other research 
projects.  These assignments may or may not be accompanied by 
final exams.  All writing assignments will encourage students 
to interpret science fiction in a critical manner specific to 
its particular qualities and sensitive to its implications for 
aesthetics, culture, ethics, and politics.

The choice of topics may vary from year to year, but will 
usually include most or all of the following:  the features of 
science fiction as a distinct narrative mode, its history from 
the mid-twentieth century onward, current developments in 
science fiction (both literary and cinematic), the specific 
ethical and political horizons of science fiction, and the 
implications of science-fictional aesthetics for mainstream 
literary and cinematic conventions.