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Academic Writing is essential when you have a fantastic idea for a paper or presentation in mind. Of course you are a fluent speaker and have written in English before, but scholarly papers and academic presentations are a different world altogether, with very specific requirements. If you don't play it by the rules, your audience will not take you seriously, and your ideas will not be heard.
This course helps you formulate and present your ideas to maximum advantage in an academic context. It focuses on writing essays and giving presentations. Vocabulary development is included, as well as dictionary use and giving feedback. Grammatical issues are addressed when necessary or appropriate. The topics on which you write and present range from language and literature to your content area and subjects of your own choice. This course supports and enhances your performance in every other course at University College.
Format
The class meets twice a week for two hours during the fifteen weeks of the semester. Each week one session is dedicated to writing, the other to presenting. However, these components are integrated as much as possible. The program allows for whole-group activities, small-group work and individual study. There is ample time for discussions about the course materials in class. You receive regular feedback on your performance from your group and the instructor.
Continuous assessment is used for this course. Marks are based on two 600-word essays (30%), a conference talk (20%), a guest lecture (15%), a short presentation (10%), a journal (15%) and class participation (10%). For the written work, a separate mark is given for two aspects: a) language and style, and b) structure (the design of the text). The results are averaged. Criteria for the assessment of your presentation skills include fluency, delivery, vocabulary and accuracy. As meeting deadlines is also an important academic skill, the mark for overdue work is lowered by a full letter grade per day.
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