Academic Writing

Course title: Academic Writing Full marks: 100

Course No.: Eng. Ed 335 (Elective) Pass marks:   35

Nature of the course: Theory Periods per week: 6

Level: B.Ed. Total periods: 150

Year: Third Time per period: 55 minutes

1. Course Description

This course aims at equipping the students with academic writing skills. It has four units. The first unit deals with the basics of academic writing. The second unit introduces the students to the process of academic writing and guides them to develop the academic writing texts. Likewise, the third unit discusses the ways of exploiting published sources for academic writing. Finally, the last unit exposes the students to different kinds of academic texts and encourages them to write similar texts.

2. Course Objectives

The general objectives of the course are as follows:

• To familiarize the students with the fundamentals of academic writing
• To engage the students in the academic writing process.
• To enable the students to utilize the published sources for academic writing.
• To expose the students to the varieties of academic writing.

3. Specific Objectives and Contents

Specific Objectives	Contents
Distinguish between academic writing and personal writing. Avoid plagiarism in writing. List and explain the elements of academic writing. Research for academic writing Offer and get feedback in academic writing. Use appropriate definition, vocabulary and maintain clarity in academic writing. Generalise facts in different contexts. Discuss the results and their relevance in writing.	Unit I: Academic Writing                                              (30) Distinction between academic and personal writing Plagiarism Elements of academic writing 1.3.1 Argument 1.3.2 Cause and effect 1.3.3 Cohesion 1.3.4 Comparison 1.3.5 Discussion 1.3.6 Examples 1.3.7 References and quotations 1.3.8 Style Researching and writing Fundamentals and feedback Definition, vocabulary and academic clarity Generalisations, facts and academic reality Results, discussion and academic relevance
Brainstorm ideas to start academic writing Produce the drafts and work on the improvement of the draft.	Unit II: Academic Writing Process and Strategies       (50) 2.1. Getting started 2.2. Getting to first draft 2.2.1 Getting ideas and starting to write 2.2.2 Preparing for a draft 2.2.3 Writing a first draft and getting feedback 2.3. Working with a draft 2.3.1 Focusing on main ideas 2.3.2 Developing and shaping ideas 2.3.3 Beginning and ending draft 2.4 Reworking the draft 2.4.1 Revising 2.4.2 Polishing the revised draft
Write summaries and paraphrases. Use quotations and citations appropriately.	Unit III: Use of Published Sources for Academic Writing (20) 3.1 Writing summaries 3.2 Writing paraphrases 3.3 Using quotations 3.4 Citations
Write CVs. Write reports and design surveys. Take specific ideas from various sources. Write journal and newspaper articles. Write research reports and book reviews.	Unit IV: Writing Models                                                   (50) 3.1 Writing CVs 3.2 Reporting and designing surveys 3.3 Taking ideas from sources 3.4 Writing journal articles 3.5 Writing newspaper articles 3.6 Writing a research report 3.7 Writing a book review

Note: The figures in the parentheses indicate the approximate periods for the respective units.

4. Instructional Techniques

The instructional techniques for this course are divided into two groups. The first group consists of general instructional techniques applicable to most of the units. The second group consists of specific instructional techniques applicable to specific units.

4.1. General Instructional Techniques

• Lecture and Discussion
• Explanation and Illustration

4.2. Specific Instructional Techniques

• Units II and IV: Project Works
• Unit IV: Group & Individual Assignments

5. Evaluation

This course is for one academic year. It carries 100 marks. Its marks distribution will be as follows.

Units             Marks               

I: Academic writing 25

II: Academic writing process and strategies 35

III: Using published sources for academic writing 15

IV: Writing models 25

This is a theory course. Hence, the learning of the students will be assessed through the annual examination held by the Office of the  Controller of Examinations. The types and number of questions in the annual examination are given in the following table:

Nature of questions	Total questions to be asked	Number of questions to be answered and marks allocated	Total Marks
Group A: Multiple choice items	20	20 x 1 mark	20
Group B: Short answer questions	8 with 3 ‘or’ questions	8 x 7 marks	56
Group C: Long answer questions	2 with 1 ‘or’ question	2 x 12 marks

6. Recommend Books and References

Recommend Books

Baily, S. (2006). Academic writing: A handbook for international students. New Delhi: Routledge. (For units I & IV)

Hamp-Lyons, L. & Heasley, B. (2007). Study writing: A course in writing skills for academic purposes. India: CUP. (For units I and IV)

Leki, I. (2007). Academic writing: Exploring processes and strategies. Cambridge: CUP. (For units II & III)

References

Brown, K. (2008). Essay writing step by step. New Delhi: Viva Books.

Canagarajah, A. S. (2007). A geopolitics of academic writing. New Delhi: Orient Longman.

Fry, R. (2001). Your first resume for students and anyone preparing to enter today's tough job market. Delhi: Pearson Education.

Lannon, J. M.  (1992). The writing process. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.

Seely, J. (1998). The Oxford guide to writing and speaking. New Delhi:  OUP.

Seely, J. (2004) .Writing reports. New Delhi: OUP.