Academic Writing Course

Abstract

This course for MTEC master's students will focus on developing and refining students' English writing skills and their understanding of the requirements and conventions of academic writing.

Objective

The course develops a range of practical and transferrable writing skills. Its first aim is to improve the academic writing skills necessary for the successful completion of an MSc thesis. The course provides theoretical input, practical writing exercises, and detailed individual feedback. It is organized into an initial group lecture and four subsequent workshops in smaller tutorial groups. The group lecture raises awareness about academic conduct, especially with regard to plagiarism. Afterwards, students take placement tests so that the areas where they need improvement can be identified. The following workshops concentrate on these highlighted areas, and feedback on placement tests is integrated into the input and practice during these sessions. Students can use the skills developed on the course to improve the overall quality of their MSc theses and to produce their thesis more rapidly and efficiently. These skills can also be used beyond the MSc, whether students go on to complete a PhD or to produce reports and other documents in industry.

Content

Group lecture: an introduction to writing an MSc thesis in D-MTEC selecting topic and supervisor academic expectations avoiding plagiarism Workshop 1: the writing process reading, note taking and planning overview of the thesis structure building academic vocabulary Workshop 2: writing methods sections embedding figures and tables structuring sentences and paragraphs noun phrases and articles Workshop 3: introductions; results and discussion sections analysis v description writing critically relative clauses Workshop 4: abstracts and conclusions editing your own text punctuation, spelling, and grammar

Resources