ENGL 193Communication in the Sciences
- Units
- 0.50
- Faculty
- Arts
- Subject
- English
- Cross-listed
- COMMST 193
When it runs
- F24
- W25
- S25
- F25
- W26
- S26
- F26
- W27
- S27
Ran in 7 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: scheduled, 18 lecture sections. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.
In this course students will enhance oral and written communication competencies in contexts relevant to the life sciences and physical sciences.
Prerequisites
- Complete 1 of the following
- Enrolled in H-Science & Financial Management
- Enrolled in a Bachelor of Science program in the Faculty of Science
Antirequisites
None listed.
Notes
- For add/drop consent, consult the Science Undergraduate Office who administers this course.
Leads to
No course lists it as a requisite.
Fall 2026 sections
| Section | Class | Enrolled | Meets |
|---|---|---|---|
| LEC 002 | 3580 | 23 / 25 | TTh 16:00–17:20 |
| LEC 003 | 3581 | 25 / 25 | TTh 10:00–11:20 |
| LEC 004 | 3866 | 20 / 25 | TTh 11:30–12:50 |
| LEC 005 | 3582 | 23 / 25 | MW 10:00–11:20 |
| LEC 006 | 3583 | 23 / 25 | MW 10:00–11:20 |
| LEC 007 | 3584 | 18 / 25 | MW 08:30–09:50 |
| LEC 008 | 3585 | 20 / 25 | MW 10:00–11:20 |
| LEC 009 | 3587 | 24 / 25 | TTh 11:30–12:50 |
| LEC 010 | 4354 | 24 / 25 | TTh 14:30–15:50 |
| LEC 011 | 4355 | 25 / 25 | TTh 10:00–11:20 |
Winter 2027 sections
| Section | Class | Enrolled | Meets |
|---|---|---|---|
| LEC 001 | 3482 | 0 / 25 | TTh 13:00–14:20 |
| LEC 002 | 3483 | 0 / 25 | MW 08:30–09:50 |
| LEC 003 | 3484 | 0 / 25 | MW 11:30–12:50 |
| LEC 004 | 3485 | 0 / 25 | TTh 16:00–17:20 |
| LEC 005 | 3486 | 0 / 25 | TTh 13:00–14:20 |
| LEC 006 | 3487 | 0 / 25 | TTh 11:30–12:50 |
| LEC 007 | 3488 | 0 / 25 | TTh 10:00–11:20 |
| LEC 008 | 3490 | 0 / 25 | TTh 14:30–15:50 |
| LEC 009 | 3491 | 0 / 25 | TTh 08:30–09:50 |
| LEC 010 | 3492 | 0 / 25 | TTh 11:30–12:50 |
| LEC 011 | 3493 | 0 / 25 | TTh 10:00–11:20 |
| LEC 012 | 3494 | 0 / 25 | TTh 14:30–15:50 |
| LEC 013 | 3495 | 0 / 25 | TTh 16:00–17:20 |
| LEC 015 | 3574 | 0 / 25 | TTh 10:00–11:20 |
| LEC 016 | 3575 | 0 / 25 | TTh 11:30–12:50 |
| LEC 017 | 7948 | 0 / 25 | MW 13:00–14:20 |
| LEC 701 | 1692 | 308 / 9999 | Online or by arrangement |
| LEC 702 | 1693 | 58 / 9999 | Online or by arrangement |
Reviewed on UW Flow
70% liked it73% easy59% useful
From 188 ratings and 42 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.
This course is actually so troll. Like it's completely useless and I don't think I learned anything of importance that I'll take with me in the future. Prof had adhd or something because he would always go on tangents and we'd never cover anything in class. And if we did, he wouldn't make it obvious. Like there were so many times where he'd pull up a slide show and just start talking, but you wouldn't know that was the lesson until he referred to it as a lecture later on. He's a nice dude and he knows what he's doing, but he just can't manage time well and he kept cancelling things that we were supposed to do in class because we ran out of time. That was fine with me because less work, but…
May 2023 · didn’t like it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this
This course required us to buy a textbook just for a few articles that the professor definitely could have found online for free (and provided us with the links). If these articles were not available for free online, the professor should have chosen articles that were freely available. Some links were included in the syllabus but these never led directly to articles, only databases of articles (and as a result were not helpful).
Overall, I very much did not enjoy this class, nor did I feel that I learned much from it. The disorganized, chaotic, and vague nature of the course materials and instructions caused me a great deal of stress particularly about completing assignments to a…Mar 2022 · didn’t like it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this
I had Dr. Van de Kemp. She is a very sweet professor (although I never made to her office hours since I have a course when her office hours are hosted). She gives thoughtful feedback on major assignments (25% each, with a total 3 of them) and quite a bit of free marks (up to 25% if you attend classes regularly). As a person not the best with English, I think I got an okay mark with it (in fact, it was the lowest grade over all of my 1A courses, alongside with CS 114). Regardless, if you take the course with Dr. V, you would NOT see stuff like "analyze this scientific article", but more like job-application and communication-focused content. For the term I took it (Fall 2025), the three…
Jul 2026 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this
So prof dependent omg, very small class size meant to bond with people in your program (they cohort you)
May 2026 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this
Thought this would be an easy course to score a 90+ in so I didn't take my transfer credit, but looking back I probably should have. The class content did not feel very important to me, just about you should use "rhetoric" in your writing. Basically just an english class about scientific issues. The problem I had with this course for why its hard is because even if you follow the rubric there will be many marks taken off from your TA because there is an obvious gap in expectations between the Prof and TA. I had a group where none of them had a grade above 90% despite what the professor said at the start of class saying "this will be your easiest course and you can expect a 90%", this proved…
Apr 2026 · didn’t like itOn UW FlowRemove this
Discussed on r/uwaterloo
36 posts and comments in 27 threads mention ENGL 193, July 2019 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.
Fall 2024
Best professor for ENGL 193/COMMST 193? 1 point, 7 comments
u/Pleasant-Bluebird648: “… I have to take either ENGL 193 or COMMST 193. I looked up on Quest, and there are a lot of different sections with a lot of different professors. Does anyone know which professor would be the best? I'm hoping for an easy prof who also cares about the class/is nice. …”
u/rangosinhaler: “I had Carter Neal for ENGL 193 in my 1A term, best prof ever. Super chill, easy to talk to prof, assignments were also pretty straight forward. In my third year now and he still says hi when he sees me walking around campus.”
Spring 2024
Bird Electives 1 point, 1 comment
“Are there electives that are completely online in style of CLAS 104, CLAS 202, ECON 101?”
u/em69420ma: “math 106, ENGL 193, CHEM 266, MATH 228, uhhhh. i liked math 106 & engl. if ur ok enough at math n ur interested in lin alg it's a bird.”
Winter 2024
ENGL193 Textbook: Science and Society 1 point, 0 comments
ENGL193 Textbook: Science and Society 1 point, 2 comments
u/yanet_726: “Science and Society: An Anthology for Readers and Writers ISBN: 9781554811922 If anyone has an online copy of the textbook, please message m! I've looked everywhere and on every website and I can't find a copy.”
Transferring into Eng and math 128 4 points, 9 comments
u/Routine_Zone985: “… (Please help the add/drop period ends tmrw night 😭) For reference I am currently taking BIOL 273, PHYS 111, CHEM 123, PSYCH 101, ENGL 193. I think my semester is heavy enough otherwise I would’ve taken Math 128 as a sixth course. …”
Fall 2023
ENGL 193 1 point, 15 comments
u/CordialFlame: “I was wondering if anyone got recommendations for profs for ENGL 193, especially since English was hard during high school for me, so a nice and easy marking prof would be nice. If you got any recommendations outside the poll let me know in the comments. View Poll”
Course selection 2 points, 1 comment
u/dietcoke1L: “… My second semester is ENGL 193, MATH 127, BIOL 239 and CHEM123 with one elective. I am a first year biomed student and I already fucking hate it so next semester I would like to take a bird course but am unsure with what to take. …”
Spring 2023
Pharmacy School? 1 point, 2 comments
“hi everyone! i'm interested in applying to pharmacy school at waterloo in the future and i was wondering whether english is a requirement to apply for the pharmd program at waterloo since then i can …”
u/MysteriousAura: “I took SCCOM 100 (which appears to be called COMMST 193/ENGL 193 now) back in Winter 2019 to satisfy the English requirement. This was during my 1B term as that was the recommended course sequence for my program (biomed). …”
Fall 2022
I feel like I just wasted an entire term and I don't know what to do 13 points, 4 comments
u/HikoryStix: “… This term I had PHYS 121/121L, CHEM 120/120L, ENGL 193, CS 114 (which I dropped to try and take next term), and MATH 127. This was hell. The only relatively easy classes were ENGL 193 and PHYS 121L, which I both passed. …”
Winter 2022
Is anyone in physics and astronomy? 3 points, 7 comments
“Hi, I'm a 11'th grader planning on pursuing a degree in physics and astronomy. Yes I know that it's hard and that I'd have to do a PHD but I'm ok with that. …”
u/kalashnikovgobrrrr: “… ENGL193 - The bane of my existence, but I'm biased because I hate english. Honestly I didn't pay much attention to this course since it was quite boring, but you basically go through some scientific papers with others and analyze some strategies and methods used to write them. …”
Fall 2021
asking for general advice about courses for w22 0 points, 9 comments
[deleted]: “… \- ECON 101 (online w Van de Waal) Originally wanted to take in person but I got placed online w this prof - heard its bird tho so im not too concerned \- ENGL 193 (Benjamin Woodford) Once again, based on what was said on RateMyProf, im a touch concerned? …”
u/-Leviathan-: “… ENGL 193 was previously SCCOM 100. Not 'hard' per se, but you will probably need to try a bit harder on the papers to make it hard for the prof to take random marks off (it happens in English courses due to how subjective it is). …”
Help!! 2 points, 10 comments
u/card_board_cat: “… I took 7 courses (math127, Cs114, chem120 and 120L, phys121 and 121L and engl193) and I've been wondering if this is normal. …”
u/IEEE0752: “… For me personally I would drop Engl193 and chem 120L since I feel like dropping other courses may screw up the pre-req chains for your winter semester… I encourage you to go talk to one of the science advisors about this and you should do it soon (before the drop deadline).”
u/card_board_cat: “Did just that! Hopefully I can at least drop the chem lab. Engl 193 seems pretty useful tho, I've learned a lot of things about academic articles and journals so far”
Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026
- Undergraduate Calendar, 2026–27The official entry
- Requirements for Fall 2026Waterloo’s requisite checker
- Schedule of Classes, Fall 2026Instructors, rooms, live seats
- Quest Class SearchWhere you enrol
- Course outlinesSyllabi from past terms (UW login)
- UW FlowStudent ratings and reviews
- WClassesPast sections back to 2004, and who taught them