Academic Writing

obligatory courses

Classroom

The course is devoted to the development of written academic expression, critical treatment of sources and scientific texts. Its main goal is to introduce students to writing a Master's thesis and research articles. During the classes, students will learn how to construct a text, get acquainted with the strategies of writing shorter and longer forms and receive feedback. They will also attempt to formulate constructive criticism of the works of other authors.

The course is aimed at practicing various skills crucial for writing academic essays, research reports, articles and dissertations as well as other types of academic writing. Apart from analysing the structure of the most typical academic texts, the participants will practise stylistic, lexical and grammatical measures characteristic of academic discourse, e.g. qualification, concession, hedging, expressing multifarious degrees of certainty. The classes will also be focused on training the editing and reviewing skills such as critical approach to the argumentation, hypotheses and findings of other authors and one’s own as well as attention to both linguistic and stylistic aspects of writing.

The course will revolve around the following topics:

● academic register and vocabulary,

● revision of punctuation rules the most useful grammatical structures,

● reviewing and editing one’s writing (the most common error types),

● style: unity and coherence, qualification and concession, degrees of certainty, hedging,

● structure and types of academic essays (process essay, cause and effect essay, comparison essay),

● structure of an academic article/ thesis, C.A.R.S. model,

● source selection and referencing (quotation, paraphrase, summary),

● citation and reference list formats,

● critical writing, argumentation, academic discourse, literature review,

● ethical issues in academic writing: plagiarism, political correctness, plain language.

Bailey, S. (2018). Academic Writing. A Handbook for International Students (5th ed.). Routledge.

Macpherson, R. (2003). Advanced Written English. Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.

Macpherson, R. (2004). English for Writers and Translators. Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.

McCarthy, M./ O’Dell, F. (2016). Academic Vocabulary in Use. Cambridge University Press.

Meyers, A. (2014). Longman Academic Writing Series. Level 5, Essays to Research Papers. Pearson Education.

Oshima A./ Hogue A. (2005). Writing Academic English. Longman.

Perry Jr, F. L. (2011). Research in Applied Linguistics: Becoming a Discerning Consumer. Routledge.

Ramage, J.D./ Bean, J.C./ Johnson, J. (2021) Writing Arguments. A Rhetoric with Readings (11th ed.). Pearson.

Savage, A./ Mayer P. (2012) Effective Academic Writing 2 and 3. Oxford University Press.

Skern, T. (2011) Writing Scientific English. A Workbook. Facultas WUV, UTB.

Swales, J.M./ Feak, C. (2012). Academic Writing for Graduate Students, 3rd Edition. Essential Tasks and Skills. University of Michigan Press.

Wallace, M./ Wray, A. (2011). Critical Reading and Writing for Postgraduates (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications.

Wallwork, A. (2016). English for Writing Research Papers. Springer.

Wyrick, J. (2016). Steps to Writing Well (10th ed.). Wadsworth Publishing.

Knowledge: the graduate knows and understands:

-at an advanced level the complex nature of language, its intricacy and changeability

-concepts and principles in the field of protection of individual property and copyright

Skills: the graduate is able to:

-prepare written works in the field of multilingualism and multiculturalism in English (including works bearing the features of a scientific text)

-search, analyse and utilise information using available sources

-recognize different genres of texts and conduct their in-depth analysis and interpretation using various methods

-argue substantively using the views of other authors and formulate conclusions

-integrate knowledge relevant to multilingualism and multiculturalism

Social competences: the graduate is ready to:

-recognise the importance of knowledge and seek expert advice when problems arise

-critically assess knowledge and skills in the field of multilingualism and multiculturalism

-recognise the principles of research ethics and to respect all participants in the research process

The final mark consists of the following components:

● continuous assessment (class attendance, active participation and being prepared for the classes);

● average of the grades for written home assignments and in-class writings.

The grades will be awarded on the basis of the following scale:

60%–69.9% = 3

70%–74.9% = 3.5

75%–84.9% = 4

85%–89.9% = 4.5

90%–100% = 5