Welcome to Academic Writing in English
Description:
This ‘hands-on’ course focuses on the text you are currently working on in your research and helps you develop the skills you need to improve it. In other words, the benefits of the course are both immediate and long term. In writing for publication and in international research networks, academics often need to use English to explain complex theoretical and methodological considerations, even though English is not their first language. This course provides advanced training and coaching in the effective communication of complex ideas in accessible written English. It should be noted that participants will need to be reasonably competent users of English to benefit from the workshops and coaching activities: the course is designed to activate, improve and optimise the resources you already have.
The aim is to increase the participant’s competence in writing complex material for academic and non-academic audiences.
The course is divided into two sections. In part one (the first session), we focus briefly on the general theory of written communication and complete exercises focusing on particular challenges in writing. Part two consists of workshops devoted to your own texts, from your area of research (4 sessions). Note that the timetable for part two of the course is very different from part one, as the session in part one lasts four hours whereas the sessions in part two last three hours – and because the course is divided into small groups meeting at different times for the workshops. For each of the workshop sessions you will be asked to produce two pages of your own writing. These texts must be sent to the instructor by the deadline announced in the schedule if you are to receive feedback. The workshop session will be devoted to commentary and redrafting in groups of 8 participants, allowing more time for your own writing. To deal with any particular recurring problem, you may be directed to selected web-pages where theory and exercises are available to enable self-study. For these reasons, a high degree of preparation for the workshops will be needed. The text that you send in must be your own writing in English, it must be ‘academic’ (either PhD standard or journal article), and it must be newly produced FOR the workshop session. Recycling of old material is not acceptable. Regular participation is equally important as the quality of the workshop experience for each participant depends largely on interaction with fellow participants. On the other hand, there is little reading in connection with what is, essentially, a ‘hands on’ approach to acquiring a practical skill.
Course schedule:
Theory: 20/9 2013: 12.00-16.00
Text delivery deadline 1: 24/9 2013 at 14.00
Workshop round 1:
Group 1a: 3/10, 9-12
Group 1b: 4/10, 9-12
Group 1c: 4/10, 12.30-15.30
Text delivery deadline 2: 8/10 2013 at 14.00
Workshop round 2:
Group 2a: 17/10, 9-12
Group 2b: 18/10, 9-12
Group 2c: 18/10, 12.30-15.30
Text delivery deadline 3: 22/10 2013 at 14.00
Workshop round 3:
Group 3a: 31/10, 9-12
Group 3b: 1/11, 9-12
Group 3c: 1/11, 12.30-15.30
Text delivery deadline 4: 5/11 2013 at 14.00
Workshop round 4:
Group 4a: 14/11, 9-12
Group 4b: 15/11, 9-12
Group 4c: 15/11, 12.30-15.30
For convenience, the dates for each workshop group are presented below: Workshop group A: 3/10 09.00-12.00; 17/10 09.00-12.00; 31/10 09.00-12.00; 14/11 09.00-12.00
Workshop group B: 4/10 09.00-12.00; 18/10 09.00-12.00; 1/11 09.00-12.00; 15/11 09.00-12.00
Workshop group C: 4/10 12.30-15.30; 18/10 12.30-15.30; 1/11 12.30-15.30; 15/11 12.30-15.30
Organizer:
Andrew James Fish
Lecturer:
Andrew James Fish
ECTS:
3.0
Time:
20th September 2013
+ 4 Workshop days: 3rd and 4th October, 17th and 18th October, 31st October and 1st November, and 14th and 15th November
Place:
Aalborg University
20/9: Kroghstræde 3, room 1.111
The locations for the remaining workshops will be as follows:
October 17 and 18, 2013: Kroghstræde 3, 1.121
October 31 and November 1, 2013: Kroghstræde 3, 2.117
November 14 and 15, 2013: Kroghstræde 3, 2.119
Zip code:
9220
City:
Aalborg
Number of seats:
24
Deadline:
August 30, 2013
- Teacher: Andrew James Fish