Module Information
Course Delivery
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Assignment 1 Portfolio including: a) question and topic analysis; b) critical paraphrase of key issue from reference material (500 words) | 25% |
| Semester Assessment | Assignment 2 Essay or Report 1,500 words | 75% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Supplementary Assessment Failed assignments must be retaken if the student's combined final falls below 40 % (to a maximum of 2,000 words) | 100% |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this module, students should be able to:
1. analyse and appropriately interpret writing assignments in their own academic discipline;
2. display a critical awareness of the features of academic discourse;
3. identify how critical features of discourse can be used to inform own writing development;
4. organise a logical and coherent argument within a recommended format for an appropriate academic assignment.
Brief description
This module covers initial aspects of planning and drafting academic essays. Week by week students engage in classroom activities and discussion through which they identify key issues for writing in their own subject fields. Over the ten weeks, students adapt aspects of their own writing styles into the formal requirements of writing subject-specific essays.
Aims
This module aims to develop a critical understanding of the processes involved in writing an academic essay. It works towards identification of appropriate argumentation, interpretation of essay questions, structural planning and appropriate use of published source material. It encourages students to identify and work within styles recommended by their academic departments, towards the development of effective critical writing.
Content
The specialist nature of academic communication: introduction to discourse community.
Types of argument in academic communication.
Seminar 2 The writer and reader interaction process: shared background knowledge.
The notion of problem and topic analysis techniques. How the problem influences the type of argumentation.
Seminar 3 Working with essay questions, pararaphrasing questions and defining key concepts.
Developing focus and structure in essays.
Seminar 4 Working with essay questions paraphrasing questions and defining key concepts.
Developing focus and structure in essays.
Seminar 5 Issues in paraphrasing.
Choices in structuring the main body of the essay - choosing a structure in relation to problem, aims and intended pattern of argument.
Seminar 6 Using references and writing a bibliography.
Seminar 7 Concise writing and paragraph structure - the argument of fact.
How argument of fact works across paragraphs to ensure continuity and focus throughout extended text.
Seminar 8 The nature of argument: planning structure according to strategies for argument
Seminar 9 Drawing conclusions and writing conclusions.
Seminar 10 Revision strategies and writing under exam conditions.
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 4