(in Polish) Academic writing 2500-PL-PS-FO-12
Course description:
The course is designed to present, practise and produce the basic skills required in an academic environment, with particular attention given to psychology as the area of students’ interest and study. The academic writing skills practised during the course will focus on students being able to communicate a clear, precise and cohesive message to their audience and will focus on utilising appropriate register and textual organisation. Students will work with a variety of texts and be able to identify and summarise the main ideas in their own work and in others’. Students are expected to be prepared for lessons, to participate actively in discussions and activities and to continue learning and improving their skills throughout the course.
Course content:
1 Course introduction. What makes writing effective?
2 Thinking about discourse: a beginning, a middle and an end. What is academic register?
3 The main idea in writing: thesis, topic sentence and paragraphing
4 Linking ideas: transitions and sequencing
5 Writing a summary/abstract (of a short academic article)
6 Capitalisation and punctuation: commas, semi colons, apostrophes
7 Articles, noun phrases, adjectival phrases
8 Avoiding plagiarism, making effective notes
9 Complex sentences (1): subordinate clauses / participle clauses
10 Complex sentences (2): relative clauses / cleft sentences
11 Using statistics and tabulated information
12 Cohesion and coherence in academic writing
13 APA style: bibliography, quotation, citation
14 Editing and error correction
15 Assessment: presentation based on academic essay/submission of essay
Methodology:
Students will read, analyse and discuss a range of different academic texts, including psychology articles and reports. Classes will include a variety of activities to heighten students’ awareness of academic vocabulary and develop their grammatical and stylistic competences in written academic language. Activities and tasks used during classes will employ critical thinking skills necessary in comprehending, summarising, paraphrasing and referencing written texts. Students will work individually, in pairs, in groups and as a whole class, interacting in a mature and constructive way with the instructor and their peers.
Prerequisites (description)
Learning outcomes
Students will become familiar with and competent in the use of academic discourse in their particular field of study. After extensive practice, they will have a clear understanding of academic register, the importance of academic integrity and the basic rules of APA style. Productive skills in English will be enhanced and students will find a more fluent and effective style for presenting their ideas in the English language.
Assessment criteria
Assessment:
Standard university rules on attendance and academic honesty apply. Students may not miss more than two classes without a clearly documented medical justification. Exceeding this limit will result in a student failing the course.
Final grades for the course:
5 (81+)
4+ (76-80%)
4 (71-75%)
3+ (66-70%)
3 (60-65%)
2 (below 60%).
Points for the course are awarded as follows:
a. Attendance/preparation/participation 30 pts
b. Summary of a text 20 pts (based on an academic article)
c. Academic essay (ca.1000 words) 50 pts
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: