Academic Writing - OIBA2A133B

• Title: Academic Writing
• Guaranteed by: Katedra anglického jazyka a literatury (41-KAJL)
• Faculty: Faculty of Education
• Actual: from 2019
• Semester: summer
• E-Credits: 0
• Examination process: summer s.:
• Hours per week, examination: summer s.:0/2, C [HT]
• Capacity: unknown / unknown (unknown)
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: not taught
• Language: Czech
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Guarantor: PhDr. Tereza Topolovská, Ph.D.

Annotation

English

Last update: PhDr. Tereza Topolovská, Ph.D. (05.05.2019)

The seminars will focus on developing writing skills which fall into the realm key academic abilities. The content of the course reflects principal requirements put on any kind of text and an academic one in particular, i.e. accuracy of expression, adherence to formal stipulations, complexity of subject matters, their thorough treatment and structuring, and originality of authors’ own contributions.

Czech

Last update: PhDr. Tereza Topolovská, Ph.D. (05.05.2019)

Kurz se zaměřuje na rozvoj dovednosti psaní akademických prací, ať už kratšího či delšího rozsahu. Náplň kurzu a jeho požadavky odráží hlavní požadavky kladené na akademické texty - přesnost vyjadřování, formální požadavky, komplexnost témat, strukturu jejich pojednání a zároveň i originalitu.

Aim of the course

Last update: PhDr. Tereza Topolovská, Ph.D. (05.05.2019)

• to introduce students to academic writing in general, developing both receptive (reading and analysing the texts) and productive skills (interpretation and production of original academic texts)

• to enable students to master complex grammatical structures which allow them to express accurately

• to enable students to embrace the nature of academic writing in its complexity, including coherent and balanced structuring, adherence to MLA citation norm and different developmental stages of writing process

Literature

Last update: PhDr. Tereza Topolovská, Ph.D. (05.05.2019)

BAILEY, Stephen. Academic writing: a Handbook for International Students. Fourth edition. London: Routledge, 2015. ISBN 978-1-138-77850-4.

 

HAYOT, Eric. The Elements of Academic style: Writing for the Humanities. New York: Columbia University Press, 2014. ISBN 978-0-231-16801-4.

 

HUNTLEY, Helen. Essential Academic Vocabulary: Mastering the Complete Academic Word List. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, c2006. ISBN 978-0-618-44542-4.

 

MCCARTHY, Michael a Felicity O'DELL. Academic Vocabulary in Use: 50 units of Academic Vocabulary Reference and Practice : Self-study and Classroom Use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-521-68939-7.

 

ROSSEN-KNILL, Deborah F. a Tatyana BAKHMETYEVA. Including Students in Academic Conversations: Principles and Strategies for Teaching Theme-based Writing Courses across the Disciplines. New York: Hampton Press, 2011. ISBN 978-1-61289-015-9.

 

SCHMITT, Diane a Norbert SCHMITT. Focus on Vocabulary: Mastering the Academic Word List. 2. White Plains: Pearson Education, c2011. ISBN 978-0-13-137617-5.

 

+https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_formatting_and_style_guide.html

The course in Moodle: https://dl1.cuni.cz/course/view.php?id=5429

Syllabus

Last update: PhDr. Tereza Topolovská, Ph.D. (05.05.2019)

1. Course Introduction - Academic Writing in English

2. Writing process: Writing as a Process

3. The Nature of Academic Texts

4. Stages in the Process of Writing an Academic Text (General introduction of the stages, Primary vs. Secondary literature, Motivation and purpose)

5. Sources and Their Treatment - Citation Models – MLA Style Review

6. Paraphrasing and plagiarism

7. Essay structure: Inroduction, paragraphs, Topic and thesis statement

8. Academic Vocabulary: Argumentation (Essay Structure, Argumentation, Over/Generalisation, Emphasis)

9. Academic Essay Structure: Conclusions

10. Stages in the process of academic writing: peer correction, proofreading, editing

11. Essay submission

Course completion requirements

Last update: PhDr. Tereza Topolovská, Ph.D. (12.05.2019)

 1.     Attendance: Preparation for and active participation in weekly seminars (max. 3 absences). 

 

2.    An Essay. 

One 800-word MLA-style Term Paper (citations are not included in the total amount of words), in an appropriate academic style, written adhering to MLA citation norm (refer to the “KAJL Citation-Plagiarism Guidelines” and apply the MLA Style according to it), maximal amount of grammatical errors: 4. Your essay will feature at least 3 short and 2 longer citations taken from at least 4 different sources (at least 2 printed ones). Do not use Wikipedia or Wikipedia clones! Do not use anonymous websites!

Your essay will be assessed according to the following criteria: USE OF ENGLISH (accuracy - absence of grammatical, lexical, stylistic mistakes), variety and richness of expression, LOGIC (relevant choice of subject matter and means of expression), STRUCTURE (structuring and proportioning of individual parts of your essay), ADAPTABILITY (correct use of the MLA Style, variety and treatment of sources, ability to paraphrase), and ORIGINALITY of your contribution.

 

 

TOPIC ASSIGNEMENT: Topics will be assigned only after being accepted and selected by the teacher. Students should bring the essay proposal and a short abstract (min. 3 sentences) to the 5^th seminar. Unless s/he does so, s/he will be assigned an extra essay. Possible fields of interest include literature, linguistics, cultural studies, etc. 

 

ESSAY FORM: Keep to the traditional formal structure: indent paragraphs, make no spaces in between paragraphs. Use Ariel or Times New Roman type size 12, double-spaced. DO not use contractions or phrasal verbs in your academic essays.

 

ESSAY SUBMISSION: Essays should be submitted on the last seminar date at the latest. If you miss the deadline, you fail the course. Your essay should be signed. You submit your essay via Moodle ( https://dl1.cuni.cz/course/view.php?id=5429).