Academic Writing in English – Fall (2015)

Welcome to Academic Writing in English - Fall (2015)

Description: 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.

PART ONE Session 1 Introduction/Theory: 22 October 2015, 12:15-16:00

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

PART TWO Soon after deadline, 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:

Workshop round 1:

10 November 2015, 09:00-12:00 (group a)

10 November 2015, 12:30-15:30 (group b)

12 November 2015, 12:30-15:30 (group c)


Text delivery deadline for workshop 1 is at 14:00 on 3 November 2015


Workshop round 2:

09 December 2015, 09:00-12:00 (group a)

09 December 2015, 12:30-15:30 (group b)

10 December 2015, 12:30-15:30 (group c)


Text delivery deadline for workshop 2 is at 14:00 on 1 December 2015


Workshop round 3:

14 January 2016, 09:00-12:00 (group a)

14 January 2016, 12:30-15:30 (group b)

15 January 2016, 12:30-15:30 (group c)


Text delivery deadline for workshop 3 is at 14:00 on 6 January 2016

Place: Aalborg University

22 October 2015 Fibigerstræde 4.125

All other dates Fibigerstræde 3/31

Zip code: 9220

Number of Seats: 24

ECTS: 3

Deadline: 8 October 2015


Important information concerning PhD courses
We have over some time experienced problems with no-show for both project and general courses. It has now reached a point where we are forced to take action. Therefore, the Doctoral School has decided to introduce a no-show fee of DKK 5,000 for each course where the student does not show up. Cancellations are accepted no later than 2 weeks before start of the course. Registered illness is of course an acceptable reason for not showing up on those days. Furthermore, all courses open for registration approximately three months before start. This can hopefully also provide new students a chance to register for courses during the year. We look forward to your registrations.