AJ43001 Academic Writing

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2012
Extent and Intensity
0/0/0. 7 credit(s) (plus 2 credits for an exam). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Andrew James Mulhall, B.A. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Supplier department: Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
each odd Friday 12:30–14:05 G32
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The overall aim of the course is to enable students to write acceptable texts in English to fulfil a range of academic purposes. That is, to enable students to write texts which are clearly-expressed, grammatically correct, correctly punctuated, well-structured and logically coherent. Subsidiary aims of the course are: 1. to raise students' awareness of the semantic and syntactic pitfalls of trying to 'sound academic'; 2. to emphasize the virtues of simplicity, explicitness and directness when attempting to express complex ideas; 3. to encourage students to remember the connection between speaking and writing - that is, to ask "Would I say this?" when considering the naturalness of the structures and sentences they choose.
Syllabus
  • The Writing Process–purpose, plan, draft, redraft, edit; The students experience of writing; Differences between English and Czech academic texts; The issue of coherence; Paragraph structure-single theme and topic sentence; Punctuation-commas, semicolons and colons; Writing a project statement; Paragraph Structure-topic sentences and links; Paragraph Coherence–using transitions; Paragraph Coherence–Order of Ideas; Paragraph Unity–Digression; Paragraph ‘smoothing’; Writing essays; Paragraph Unity–Unrelated Information; Thesis statements; Parallelism: a) Using parallelism to increase coherence, b) Non-parallel sentence elements; Writing a formal letter of application; Using Generalisations; Editorial issues-italicization; Dangling Modifiers; Punctuation-question marks, quotation marks, and apostrophes;
Literature
  • AARON, Jane E. The little, brown essential handbook for writers. 3rd ed. New York: Longman, 1999, viii, 247. ISBN 0-321-04970-5. info
  • ALEXANDER, L. G. Sixty Steps to Précis. 9. vyd. London: Longmans, 1965, 135 s. info
  • COOPER, Charles R. and Rise B. AXELROD. The St. Martins guide to writing. 2nd ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1988, xxvi, 726. ISBN 0-312-00283-1. info
  • ČMEJRKOVÁ, Světla, František DANEŠ and Jindra SVĚTLÁ. Jak napsat odborný text. Vydání první. Praha: Leda, 1999, 255 stran. ISBN 8085927691. info
  • FOWLER, Henry Ramsey. The little, brown handbook. Edited by Jane E. Aaron - Daniel Anderson. 8th ed. New York: Longman, 2000, xxviii, 96. ISBN 0-321-07507-2. info
  • LAAKEN, M. van der, R. E. LANKAMP and M. Sharwood SMITH. Writing better English :a multi-purpose model for advanced speakers. 3., herziene druk. Bussum: Uitgeverij Coutinho, 2001, 82 s. ISBN 90-6283-276-8. info
  • ŠESTÁK, Zdeněk. Jak psát a přednášet o vědě. Illustrated by Hana Kymrová. Vyd. 1. Praha: Academia, 1999, 204 s. ISBN 8020007555. info
Teaching methods
lectures, peer correction of assignments, completetion of written exercises in class, homework assignments, whole-class analysis of written assignments, analysis of model texts
Assessment methods
To complete the course students must submit four written homework assignments and take a final written examination. The final examination takes the form of a timed essay. They must also achieve a high level of attendance. To pass the course they must achieve an average score of 67% (40 pts) for the four homework assignments and the final exam. The maximum number of points for each component is as follows: Homework 1 - Summary.............. 6 pts (10%) Homework 2 - Project Statement.... 9 pts (15%) Homework 3 - Essay 1.............. 15 pts (25%) Homework 4 - Formal Letter........ 12 pts (20%) Final Exam - Essay 2...............18 pts (30%) ______ TOTAL: 60 pts
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Information on the extent and intensity of the course: 5x2.
Teacher's information
http://www.phil.muni.cz/elf/course/category.php?id=1
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2005, Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Autumn 2015, Autumn 2016, Autumn 2017, Autumn 2018, Spring 2019.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2012, recent)
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