Students all across campus will soon begin the task of choosing the courses that will occupy the majority of their time and efforts next semester. For some, choosing their next “adventure” can be exciting.

For others, it can be absolutely dreadful.

However, a new course that will be available as one of the spring 2012 courses may catch the attention of a variety of students. The course is “CSI: Ames Crime Fiction and Forensic Science” and will be within the English department. The course also will incorporate “guest experts on forensic science, criminal justice, criminal psychology and fiction writing.”

“This course is exciting because it has its feet planted in both the humanities and the sciences,” said Matthew Sivils, associate professor of English who will be teaching the course. “Too often the humanities and the sciences are viewed as somehow irreconcilably separate, but as this course will demonstrate, we are often after the same truths. Like the detectives and forensic scientists of the stories we will read, we too will take on the role of sleuths, seeking clues to the inner workings and mysterious appeal of crime fiction.”

During the semester, students will discuss the work of authors such as Edgar Allen Poe, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Thomas Harris, Jeff Lindsay, as well as several other British and American crime novels. The class will also view a few films and an “old-time radio detective show.”

Sivils, who has been teaching at Iowa State since fall 2008, got the idea for the course from his colleague, Dr. Deborah Mitchell, while he was still teaching at Westminster College in Pennsylvania.

“When I got to ISU, I soon realized we have among our faculty a gold mine of forensics experts and criminal psychologists, so it made good sense to teach a course in the spirit of Dr. Mitchell’s but that took advantage of ISU’s wealth of faculty experts,” he said.

The guest experts consist of several ISU professors that will have the opportunity to share their research to enhance the course.

“In talking about the actual science involved, our guest speakers will give us some key points of comparison between fact and fictio n… each of these guest experts will help us appreciate the complexities within the literature we read,” Sivils said.

Stephanie Madon, associate professor of psychology who will be a guest expert, is excited to share the results of her research, which “gives insight into some of the reasons why suspects may falsely confess to crimes.” Other guest experts include professors Gary Wells, David Baldwin, Matt DeLisi and Steve Pett.

“I think a course such as this is a good idea because it combines multiple interests so you learn more in one setting,” said Mikayla Rhoades, sophomore in environmental studies. “I would be interested in taking a class like this because it involves so many different areas of study, but sticks to one central topic.”

Sivils hopes that students will “learn to better appreciate the actual science that forms such a key part of these stories. Whether on the page, stage, radio or screen, over the last century and a half we’ve spent a lot of time and money losing ourselves in tales of crime and detection. This course will help us investigate why.”

The course will be  Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30 to 10:50 a.m. The course should appear in the 2012 course catalog as ENGL 205, though this does appear as a different course in the 2011 catalog. For more information, students are encouraged to ask their adviser or speak with Sivils.