Course detail

Academic Writing

FAST-VYA002Acad. year: 2021/2022

An introduction to the canonical sections of a scientific paper of the type found in international journals and proceedings (IMRAD, etc.).
Explanations regarding how to structure a text and divide it up into paragraphs, as well as how to cite correctly and declare one's sources.
Practice in writing abstracts and short scientific papers.
Information on how to use academic vocabulary and phraseology precisely.

Language of instruction

Czech

Number of ECTS credits

2

Department

Institute of Social Sciences (SPV)

Learning outcomes of the course unit

The students will be familiar with the process of writing scientific texts in English and will have active command of the frequent phraseology used in English scientific texts.

Prerequisites

Knowledge of general English at the B1 level according to the CEFR.

Co-requisites

Not applicable.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Not applicable.

Assesment methods and criteria linked to learning outcomes

Not applicable.

Course curriculum

Not applicable.

Work placements

Not applicable.

Aims

Introducing students to the methods of scientific text in English (goals, methods, style), structure and referencing

Specification of controlled education, way of implementation and compensation for absences

Extent and forms are specified by guarantor’s regulation updated for every academic year.

Recommended optional programme components

Not applicable.

Prerequisites and corequisites

Not applicable.

Basic literature

Not applicable.

Recommended reading

Not applicable.

Type of course unit

 

Exercise

26 hours, compulsory

Teacher / Lecturer

Syllabus

1. CHARACTERISTICS AND TYPES OF ACADEMIC TEXTS Students’ experience with academic writing – characteristics and genres of academic writing – register and style – abbreviations, initialisms and acronyms 2. RESEARCH ARTICLES: FORMAT + WRITING PROCESS Format of typical research articles – the process of writing articles – phrases for defining – relative clauses 3. THE INTRODUCTION Characteristics of an Introduction section – past simple vs present perfect simple – phrases for classifying – phrases for describing cause and effect 4. THE LITERATURE REVIEW Characteristics of a literature review – phrases for being critical – phrases for giving examples – referencing, quoting and paraphrasing 5. VOCABULARY AND SPELLING Academic vocabulary – confusable words – UK vs US English – dictionaries and corpora 6. MATERIALS AND METHODS Characteristics of a Materials and Methods section – the passive voice – passive vs active in research articles 7. RESULTS Characteristics of a Results section – phrases for describing trends – visuals – phrases for comparing and contrasting 8. COHERENCE AND LINKING Giving a text coherence and clarity – summarizing and previewing sections – linking words and when not to use them – avoiding vagueness and confusion 9. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION Characteristics of Discussion and Conclusion sections – phrases for describing quantities – modal verbs for deduction – hedging 10. TITLES AND HEADINGS Titles, headings and subheadings – capitalization – the definite and indefinite article 11. ABSTRACTS Characteristics of an abstract – conciseness (avoiding wordiness) – gerunds vs infinitives 12. REVISING AND EDITING Revising and editing – punctuation – subject-verb agreement