Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Target Participants
Though open to participants at all stages in their studies (Bachelor, Master, Doctorate and post-doc. fee applicable for doctoral students and post-docs.), this course focuses on familiarisation with, and/or revision of, basic academic writing skills. It is thus aimed at participants whose present writing skills in this area may be described as modest.
Aims
This course aims to familiarise students with the basic requirements and conventions of academic writing in English. It does not focus primarily on improving participants general English language skills, such as grammar, though common problems that are of particular relevance to academic writing, such as relative clauses, passive structures, and punctuation are addressed. Attention is also paid to aspects of vocabulary and register that are considered appropriate to an academic context.
Materials
We will use the course book "Academic Writing, a Handbook for International Students by Stephen Bailey.
Basic Academic Writing Skills Arts, Humanities and Social Science Anna Ekert
B2 www.sprachenzentrum.uzh.ch
Gradesheet for .
points awarded1
Criteria Grouping Vocabulary accuracy of general vocabulary register and precision of vocabulary collocation and use of discipline-specific terms Grammar use of articles and formation of noun phrases verb system agreement of determiners, dependent prepositions, subject-verb, etc. construction and use of relative and other subordinate clauses Clarity and Coherence sentence length basic sentence structure: SVO adverb placing distribution of familiar and new information within sentences delivery of subject and verb within sentence front-loading, etc. complex and compound sentences, enumerations, etc. Organisation and Cohesion use of basic topic progression devices (repetition, pronouns, condensed noun phrases, etc.) use of more advanced topic progression devices (changes to parts of speech, hyperonyms, metonyms, etc.) use of sentence adverbs and adverbials paragraph structuring devices use of topic sentences, preview sentences, etc. paragraph formation (argumentation, breaking text into digestible pieces) and length coordination between paragraphs Global Achievement use of advanced stylistic resources (rhetorical questions, etc.) presentation of complex ideas, especially to non-specialist readers likely effect on specialist readers likely effect on general scientific readers development of writing between assignments responses to comments and feedbacks as improvements to second drafts Total points: Final grade: General comment: ___ Next steps:___
0 1 2 3 4
For each criteria grouping, 0 = no evidence; 1 = not adequate; 2 = mostly adequate, but substantial work still to do in this area; 3 = clearly adequate, although still some room for improvement; 4 = excellent. Basic Academic Writing Skills Arts, Humanities and Social Science Anna Ekert B2 www.sprachenzentrum.uzh.ch
Week 1
Date
20.09 Vocab: register 2.10 Style (pp150153) Vocab general academic vocabulary: AWL exercises + Formality in verbs (p182)
4 5
precision online resources, 3.11 Synonyms (pp222-225); Abstract nouns (p201-202) Vocab: collocation and use of discipline-specific terms online resources, collocations Verb system: revision of verb tenses 3.15 Verbs tenses (pp241-245) Verb system: passive vs. active forms 3.13 Verbs - passives
Sentences, paragraphs and texts Basic paragraph structure 1.10 Organizing paragraphs (pp77-80) topic sentences, from general/abstract to specific, developing argument, concluding and linking to another paragraph Basic sentence structure: SVO main and subordinate clauses; compound and complex sentences Sentence length, sentence variety 3 Practice B (p93); Varying sentence length (pp156-157) Text flow: given-new pattern of information; front-loading Topic progression basic devices: repetition, pronouns, condensed noun phrases, etc. 2.3 Cohesion (pp115118), Reading abstracts (p22) condensed NPs; Topic progression advanced techniques: changes to parts of speech, hyperonyms, metonyms, etc. 2.9 Problems and solutions (p145); 3.6 Nouns and adjectives (pp198201); Providing evidence (p107) synonyms, terminology Coordination within paragraphs (coordinating conjunctions, subordinate clauses and sentence adverbs) 3.5 Conjunctions (pp192195), 2 Practice A (pp91-92) as a rewrite exercise Coordination between paragraphs (coordinate and subordinate relationships between paragraphs)
Self-study Writing in paragraphs (p9) Most common mistakes: Proof-reading & Confusing pairs (pp93-97) Avoiding repetition and redundancy (pp154-155) Simple and complex sentences (p8)
deadline paragraph A
deadline 2 paragraphs
1.11
Agreement of determiners and dependent prepositions, subject-verb: complex subjects & SVA, etc. 3.10 Singular or plural? (pp215-221); 3.8 Prepositions (pp207-211) Modification: relative clauses, misplaced modification
DependentPrepositionPatterns.pdf
2 paragraphs checked
8.11
1.4 From understanding titles to planning (pp36-42) + any of the below if applicable: 4.3 Reports, case studies and literature reviews (pp257-266), 4.4 Designing
Basic Academic Writing Skills Arts, Humanities and Social Science Anna Ekert
B2 www.sprachenzentrum.uzh.ch
3/4
10
11 12
6.12
13
Introductions: generalizations, definitions and examples 1.11 Introductions and conclusions (pp8387), Building on generalizations (p138), 2.5 Definitions (pp126-129), 2.6 Examples (pp130-133) Introductions: generalizations, definitions and examples 1.11 Introductions and conclusions (pp8387), Building on generalizations (p138), 2.5 Definitions (pp126-129), 2.6 Examples (pp130-133) Conclusions Conclusions (pp8889) Paraphrasing and summarizing 1.6 Paraphrasing, 1.7 Summarizing (pp5061); Degrees of plagiarism (p32), Avoiding plagiarism by summarizing and paraphrasing (p33-35); Taking a critical approach (pp73-76) Cautious language 3.4 Caution (pp188-189); 2.7 Generalizations (pp134-136)
and reporting surveys (pp267-272), 4.5 Writing longer essays (pp273-281), 2.11 Visual information (pp158-165) 2.1 Argument and discussion (pp101108)
outline essay
deadline essay
14
Basic Academic Writing Skills Arts, Humanities and Social Science Anna Ekert
B2 www.sprachenzentrum.uzh.ch
4/4