Writing for Academic Purposes

obligatory courses

The goal of the course is to teach and practise skills needed for writing an academic/a research paper. These include selecting materials, choosing a topic, gathering and organizing material, formulating a thesis statement, writing an outline, writing a draft, revising the draft, preparing the final copy, writing an abstract, documenting sources/referencing, editing the final paper.

The aim of the course is: to teach and practise skills needed for writing an academic/reseach paper. These include selecting materials, choosing a topic, gathering and organizing materiall, formulating a thesis statement, writing an outline, writing a draft, revising the draft, preparing the final copy, writing an abstract, documentiing sources/referencing, editing the final paper.

Class-work will include readiiing and analysiing selected academic papers, constructing a preliminary and a formal (topic/sentence) outline, studying conventions for preparing a manuscript, writing bibliography (MLA / APA styles), writing content notes, producing an abstract. Additional work will include practising other preliminary skills necessary for research: paraphrasing and summarising as well as revising the rules of punctuatioon with special emphasis on the use of the comma and the semi-colon.

Barnet, Sylvan, William E. Cain. A Short Guide to Writing about Literature. Longman 2002.

Baugh, L. Sue. How to Write Term Papers and Reports. NTC Publishing Group 1997.

Frank, Marcella. Writing as Thinking. Prentice Hall 1990.

Leki, Ivona. Academic Writing. Cambridge University Press 1999.

Merriwether, Nell W. 12 Easy Steps to Successful Research Papers, NTC Publishing Group 1997.

MHRA Style Book (1991) London. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. Modern Language Association of America 1984.

Shoemaker, Connie. Write in the Corner Where You Are, Holt, Reinehart and Winstoon, Inc. 1985.

Swales, John M., Christine B. Feak. Academic Writing for Graduate Students, The University of Michigan Press 1997.

Trzeciak, John, S. E. Mackay. Study Skills for Academic Writing, Prentice Hall International Ltd. 1994.

Students are able to write a research-type paper according to relevant formal and linguistic conventions mentioned above.

Code reference: K_U01.2,3,4,5,7,8,9,10,11,17

The student:

K_U01 is able to use basic terminology of linguistics, literary and cultural studies.

K_U02 is able to use basic methodology of linguistics, literary and cultural studies.

K_U03 is able to express himself/herself in English correctly, with precision and coherence, adjusting language forms to the communicational context.

K_U04 is able to present the aquired knowledge in a clear and logical way in the oral and written form.

K_U05 is able to monitor and diagnose the correctness of the Polish and English languages in use.

K_U07 is able to interpret, analyse, prioritise and synthesize various ideas, facts and phenomena concerning language, culture, society, history and economy.

K_U08 is able to select and apply relevant knowledge referring to English studies for the purpose of communication, didactics and research.

K_U10 has basic abilities to analyse other people's research, formulate a problem and determine the suitable research method.

K_U11 is able to appreciate the diversity of opinions presented in assigned reading and class discussions, using them as a source of inspiration rather than a threat to his/her own value system.

K_U17 knows English at least at the C1 level according to the European framework of reference for languages.

Requirements: Students are required to produce a research-type paper (of between 2000-3000 words) on a subject related to their own particular interests (literature/cultural studies/linguistics). Every student will be given the opportunity to discuss his/her project individually with the teacher: the title, thesis, outline and a bibliography of at least five critical items. The draft of the paper (with suitable quotations, reference and content notes) should be handed in at mid-term. The drafts will be discussed individually and by the end of the term students will be required to produce a final version and an abstract to go with the paper.