Academic Writing in English – Fall 1 (2014) AALBORG CAMPUS

This course for PhD students at the Faculty of Engineering and Science provides advanced training and coaching in the effective communication of complex ideas in accessible written English. We focus on the text you are currently working on in your research and help you to develop the skills you need to improve it. In other words, the benefits of the course are both immediate and long term.

Participants 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.

Goal:
The aim is to increase the participant's competence in writing complex material for academic audiences.


The course instructor:
Andrew Fish, lecturer and language consultant at AAU Language and Communication Services

Course description:
The course is divided into two sections. In part one (the first session), we focus briefly on the general theory of written communication, and we complete exercises focusing on particular challenges in writing.


Part two consists of workshops devoted to your own texts from your area of research (3 sessions).

The timetable for part two of the course is very different from part one because the course is divided into two groups that meet at different times for workshops. There is a considerable break between each workshop session; this should give you time to write and send your text to the instructor in good time. Note that there is no point in attending a workshop session if you have done no writing!


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 indicated in the schedule below. The workshop session will be devoted to commentary and redrafting in group sessions of 6-8 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. On the other hand, there is little reading in connection with what is, essentially, a 'hands on' approach to acquiring a practical skill.


Regular participation is equally important, as the quality of the workshop experience for each participant depends largely on interaction with fellow participants.


Times, dates & structure

Academic Writing in English – Course 1:

PART ONE
Session 1 Introduction/Theory: 13 August 2014, 08:15-12:15

This theoretical introduction for all participants is vital as it provides the basis for all work in the workshop sessions.

PART TWO
Soon after you register, you will be assigned to a workshop group for the rest of the course – either a, b or c.

Each workshop group meets three times as indicated below:

Text delivery deadline for workshop 1 is at 14:00 on 18 August 2014

26 August 2014, 09:00-12:00 (workshop 1, group a)

26 August 2014, 12:30-15:30 (workshop 1, group b)

27 August 2014, 12:30-15:30 (workshop 1, group c)

 

Text delivery deadline for workshop 2 is at 14:00 on 1 September 2014

5 September 2014, 09:00-12:00 (workshop 2, group a)

9 September 2014, 09:00-12:00 (workshop 2, group b)

9 September 2014, 12:30-15:30 (workshop 2, group c)

 

Text delivery deadline for workshop 3 is at 14:00 on 15 September 2014

23 September 2014, 09:00-12:00 (workshop 3, group a)

23 September 2014, 12:30-15:30 (workshop 3, group b)

24 September 2014, 13.00-16.00 (workshop 3, group c)

Place: Aalborg University

13 August 2014: Niels Jernes Vej 12A, 5-006

The locations for the remaining workshops will be as follows:

26 August 2014 and 05, 09, 23, 24 September 2014:

Niels Jernes Vej 12A, 6-104


27 August 2014:

Niels Jernes Vej 12A, 5-006

 

ECTS equivalents: 3

Max number of participants: 24

Deadline:
23 July, 2014