XPX_ACAD Academic writing

Faculty of Economics and Administration
Autumn 2019
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 8 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Daniel Gerrard, M.A. (seminar tutor)
Guaranteed by
Ing. Petr Smutný, Ph.D.
Faculty of Economics and Administration
Contact Person: Mgr. Jana Nesvadbová
Supplier department: Faculty of Economics and Administration
Timetable
Tue 10:00–11:50 S301
Prerequisites
The minimum level of English is B2 CEFR level, some academic skills, ability to actively participate in class discussions, basic experience in academic writing.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 25 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/25, only registered: 0/25
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
There is an increasing need among MA students to engage with a wider range of academic, professional and public audiences through writing. Writing an MA thesis in English is a requirement in programmes taught through the medium of English. The goal of this course is to familiarize MA students with different approaches to academic writing, take their academic writing skills in English to a higher level and offer them a range of tools to address their target readers at specific, multi-disciplinary and general levels. The course addresses firstly the context of academic writing to situate the styles of writing that MA students are working with. It will discuss aspects of clear and concise writing style, and lexical and discourse relationship patterns in academic text, along with functional perspectives for positioning and structuring information and argument in the wider scope of an MA thesis. The course structure takes the participants through different stages of the preparation and writing of an academic paper (of different types) with the aim to increase their chances of being successful in writing their MA thesis in English in the future.
Learning outcomes
Upon successful completion of the course, the participant will be able to: 1. understand and use both generic and subject specific academic vocabulary,
2. read and evaluate texts in appropriate ways to make use of them in writing,
3. understand different text styles / structures,
4. know how to write successful titles, abstracts, paragraphs, and individual sections of an academic paper or thesis (such as introduction, methods, literary review, results, discussion, conclusion, acknowledgements and contents sections),
5. evaluate strengths/weaknesses of written work.
Syllabus
  • Through input, in-class and out-of-the-class discussions and writing activities, the course participants will practice the following aspects of academic writing in English:
  • 1. general characteristics and types of writing,
  • 2. complex structure of academic writing,
  • 3. academic writing style,
  • 4. titles,
  • 5. academic vocabulary and sentence structure
  • 6. abstracts (structure and style)
  • 7. paragraph, its composition, length and cohesion,
  • 8. academic text types (e.g. definitions, examples,
  • classification, comparing and contrasting, cause and effect),
  • 9. individual sections of an academic paper (introduction,
  • methods, results, conclusion),
  • 10. individual sections of a thesis (e.g. introduction, methods, literary review, results, discussion, conclusion, acknowledgements and contents sections),
  • 11. plagiarism and referencing, quoting, paraphrasing and summarising,
  • 12. feedback giving and receiving (strengths/weaknesses of written work),
  • 13. peer-review strategies.
Literature
  • ŠTĚPÁNEK, Libor. ACADEMIC WRITING. 2013. info
  • SWALES, John and Christine B. FEAK. Academic writing for graduate students : essential tasks and skills. 3rd ed. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 2012, xiv, 418. ISBN 9780472034758. info
  • BAILEY, Stephen. Academic writing : a handbook for international students. 3rd ed. New York: Routledge, 2011, xx, 293. ISBN 9780415595803. info
Teaching methods
The course will consist of weekly seminars that will be organised around group and individual writing tasks, problem-solving and discussion activities. It will also include online activities, peer review and consultations on writing.
Assessment methods
portfolio, i.e. collection of texts written during the course and submitted for evaluation.
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Listed among pre-requisites of other courses
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2020, Autumn 2020, Spring 2021, Autumn 2021, Spring 2022, Autumn 2022, Spring 2023.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2019, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/econ/autumn2019/XPX_ACAD