CJVAPS Academic writing in English

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2021
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 4 credit(s). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Joseph Lennon, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
doc. Wei-lun Lu, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
Abigail Mokra, M.A. et M.A. (seminar tutor)
Mgr. Dana Plíšková (assistant)
Mgr. Martina Šindelářová Skupeňová (assistant)
Guaranteed by
Joseph Lennon, Ph.D.
Language Centre Faculty of Arts Division – Language Centre
Contact Person: Mgr. Dana Plíšková
Supplier department: Language Centre Faculty of Arts Division – Language Centre
Timetable of Seminar Groups
CJVAPS/01: Wed 18:00–19:40 L21, J. Lennon
CJVAPS/02: Fri 10:00–11:40 VP, W. Lu
Prerequisites
This course will require 10-20 pages of reading and 1-2 pages of writing in English every week. The class is designed for students with an English level of upper-intermediate or higher who already have some experience reading and writing in English and would like to be challenged further.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is offered to students of any study field.
The capacity limit for the course is 30 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 2/30, only registered: 0/30, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/30
Course objectives
In this course, you will:

-Discover that writing for academia can be much more interesting, useful, enjoyable, open, and challenging than you thought
-Expand and refine your ideas about what "academic writing" is
-Read many texts in English, covering a wide variety of styles, genres, and target audiences
-Develop a weekly practice of reading and writing in English
-Build an understanding of writing as a continuous process of revision
-Learn concepts and vocabulary for thinking about and talking about your own and others' writing process
-Design and implement your own unique writing project
Learning outcomes
By the end of the course, students will:

-be familiar with a great variety of ways of reading, conceiving, structuring, writing, and revising texts in English
-be able to identify several key techniques writers use to make their writing clear, concise, and engaging
-be well-practiced in adapting those techniques to their own writing
-have produced a polished text on a topic of their choice, in the genre of their choice, which has gone through three revisions and two rounds of constructive feedback from the teacher and their classmates
Syllabus
  • Here are some of the main questions (topics) we will take up in this course:
  • 1. What is the definition of "academic writing"?
  • 2. What is considered "good" writing style in English, and what are some practical ways to get better at doing this type of writing?
  • 2. How can I recognize "bad" writing in English, and how can I avoid doing it in my own writing?
  • 3. How can I think and write in ways that will help me reach my intended audience?
  • 3. What are some tricks and tips for revising my work?
  • 4. How can I incorporate others' ideas properly into my own writing, while also making my own contribution clear?
  • 5. How can I improve my reading skills in English?
  • 6. How can I talk about whether or not I like a piece of writing in English in an academically acceptable way (not just saying "I like it" or "It's boring")?
  • 7. Is good writing dangerous?
  • As the course goes on, I will expect you to bring your own questions to discuss.
Teaching methods
This course is taught in the form of seminar sessions, reading and writing assignments to do at home, and one-on-one consultations with the professor.
Assessment methods
Students will be assessed in three ways:
1. Attendance and active participation at the weekly seminars
2. Short weekly reading and writing assignments which will be submitted to the professor and/or shared with classmates
3. A writing project which each student will develop individually (with guidance from the professor), and which will be worked on in several stages over the course of the semester
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught each semester.
Information on course enrolment limitations: Nezbytná vstupní úroveň B2.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2017, Autumn 2017, Spring 2018, Autumn 2018, Spring 2019, Autumn 2019, Spring 2020, Autumn 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Autumn 2022, Spring 2023, Autumn 2023, Spring 2024, Autumn 2024, Spring 2025.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2021, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2021/CJVAPS