Syllabus
Lesson 1 Course overview and policies
What is academic English?
Writing in an academic style: qualifying and hedging; using passive voice etc.
Use of articles
Lesson 2 Planning a thesis
Structure and signposting language
Writing: the thesis proposal
Lesson 3 Writing: the thesis proposal (text analysis; error correction; editing practice)
Critical thinking: writing logical arguments
Writing: the abstract
Lesson 4 Writing: the abstract (text analysis; error correction; editing practice)
Structuring paragraphs: topic and supporting sentences; developing and supporting claims with evidence
Conjunctions and sentence connectors, e.g. to express cause and effect
Writing: the introduction
Lesson 5 Writing: the introduction (text analysis; error correction; editing practice)
Punctuation: semicolons (;) and colons (:)
Summarizing, paraphrasing and quoting
Writing: a summary of an academic article (one paragraph)
Lesson 6: Writing: a summary of an academic article (text analysis; error correction; editing practice)
Synthesizing from source material
Reporting words
Writing: the literature review (one paragraph)
Lesson 7 Writing: the literature review (text analysis; error correction; editing practice)
Explaining methodology and rationale
Writing: the methodology section (one paragraph)
Lesson 8 Writing: the methodology section (text analysis; error correction; editing practice)
The results section part 1
Discussing and interpreting research and data
Writing: the results section (one paragraph)
Lesson 9 Writing: the results section (text analysis; error correction; editing practice)
The results section part 2
Discussing and interpreting data in figures, graphs and tables
Writing: a description of a figure, graph or table
Lesson 10 Writing: a description of a figure, graph or table (text analysis; error correction; editing practice)
Academic presentation skills: presenting a thesis in 5 minutes – “a spoken abstract”
Bullet points: effective use (spoken versus written English) and correct format
Lesson 11 Student thesis or research presentations and defence (5 minute presentations- “a spoken abstract”)
Summarizing
Writing: the conclusion
LESSON 12 Writing: the conclusion (text analysis; error correction; editing practice)
Student thesis presentations and defence (5 minutes presentations – “a spoken abstract”)
Review of key points
Annotation
The course is designed for students writing their thesis or interested in improving their English academic writing skills. The focus will be on academic English language use and structure since the methodological and thesis seminars deal with content. Students should have a B2 level of English.
The structure of the course is based on the parts of a thesis. Students who are currently writing a thesis will be encouraged to write in their topic area to develop their vocabulary and writing skills in their field of interest.