Undergraduate Course: Academic Writing (LLLG07152)
Course Outline
| School | Centre for Open Learning |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 7 (Year 1 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 0 |
ECTS Credits | 0 |
| Summary | In 'Academic Writing', you will have the opportunity to explore the practices, conventions and language features of successful writing in your specific discipline. You will finish the course with an enhanced awareness of what makes good writing in your subject area, and with the skills to successfully engage in your chosen postgraduate programme. |
| Course description |
Academic Writing is anchored around a number of threshold concepts chosen for their power to transform your understanding of what makes successful academic writing.
Through exploring these concepts, you will develop your awareness of specific practices and conventions for written genres in your subject area. The threshold concepts will also provide a framework through which you will develop your ability to write clearly and appropriately, using a wide range of language to achieve your purpose.
You will learn how to develop an appropriately structured argument for your audience, communicating your understanding of your subject area as you synthesise and critically evaluate content from sources.
Classes will explore the threshold concepts, using each concept to help you better understand expectations in your discipline. The threshold concepts will also provide a framework for developing your academic language, e.g. language for structure and organisation, for working with literature, and for communicating your critical voice.
The threshold concepts may include:
Audience and purpose
Argument and evidence
Academic style
Criticality
Collaboration
As you develop your awareness and skills, you will build up towards your final assessment, a Reading into Writing Task. This assessment also measures learning in 'Reading, Research and Enquiry', and there will often be links between the two courses.
You will attend interactive classes involving discussion and collaborative tasks. On some days, you will have small-group or individual tutorials to reflect on your learning.
You will also do homework tasks, including short pieces of writing, or tasks where you explore features of academic writing in your discipline.
You will receive regular feedback including through structured formative tasks that build up to your final assessment.
To make progress, you will need to engage fully and actively in all activities, including homework tasks, reflecting on and responding to feedback, and doing additional independent study, seeking advice from your teacher when necessary.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Please contact the School directly for a breakdown of Learning and Teaching Activities |
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Reading-into-Writing
1400-word piece of source-based academic writing; choice of questions appropriate to students disciplines. Students demonstrate their ability to combine reading and critically evaluating academic texts in their disciplines, with writing clearly and appropriately in genres common in their discipline, synthesizing and critically evaluating content from sources to create their argument. This assessment measures learning in both 'Academic Writing' and in 'Reading, Research and Enquiry'.
The Reading and Writing aspects of this integrated task will be assessed through discrete and equally weighted elements of the criteria, and separate scores for each skill will be reported. |
| Feedback |
Formative feedback loops including both reading and writing tasks are built into the writing process. Formative stages may include a draft plan and a sample paragraph, and a reading task in which students use a CRAAP analysis (Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, Purpose) of source texts to evaluate potential sources for the assignment. Individual and group tutorials are scheduled for discussion of formative feedback. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand and use threshold concepts in academic writing
- Write clearly and appropriately, using a wide range of grammar and vocabulary appropriate to the text and context
- Synthesise and critically evaluate content from sources to create¿an argument
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Reading List
All the materials used for delivery of the course are provided either electronically or in hard copy and there is no need for students to buy any books. We will also give you advice on useful online resources.
Recommended
You may find the following publications helpful as additional resources for your studies:
Paterson, K. 2013. Oxford Grammar for EAP. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Swales, J. and Feak, C. 2012. Academic Writing for Graduate Students. 3rd Ed. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
There is an explicit focus on the University's Graduate Attributes throughout the PGPEP Programme, encouraging the development of autonomy, criticality and reflexivity:
Enquiry and lifelong learning
Aspiration and personal development
Outlook and engagement
Research and enquiry
Personal and intellectual autonomy
Personal effectiveness
Communication |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Mr Thomas Pritchard
Tel: (0131 6)51 1189
Email: |
Course secretary | Mr John Ethcuit
Tel: (0131 6)50 3409
Email: |
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