Understanding Academic Writing in Context EDUC1119

  • Academic Session: 2024-25
  • School: Student Learning Development
  • Credits: 5
  • Level: Level 1 (SCQF level 7)
  • Typically Offered: Summer
  • Available to Visiting Students: Yes
  • Taught Wholly by Distance Learning: Yes
  • Collaborative Online International Learning: No

Short Description

This course encourages students to consider the rationale behind the expectations, practices, and conventions of academic writing. By investigating academic writing norms across genres, this course will explore how institutional and disciplinary contexts can influence academic writing, and how to identify these features through critical engagement with literature. Students on the programme will build their academic literacy, which is essential for clear communication in academic writing. Furthermore, students will gain a better understanding of clear communication in formal settings, and therefore gain a useful graduate attribute that enhances their employability.

Timetable

Five weeks (one lecture and one seminar per week)

Requirements of Entry

None

Excluded Courses

None

Co-requisites

None

Assessment

The summative assessment for the course is comprised of:

■ A reflective portfolio (1000 words) measuring the students' academic literacy, aligned to the weekly lecture and seminar discussion (70%)

A written assignment (500 words) in the form of a critical review of an academic article selected by the student (previous work excluded from word count) (30%)

Course Aims

This course will aim to:

■ Introduce students to the characteristics of academic writing as a genre

■ Encourage student awareness of disciplinary, institutional, and social contexts in academic writing

■ Provide students with a framework for critically engaging with literature in light of these contextual features

■ Give students an opportunity to develop their academic writing skills by building their communicative competence

Intended Learning Outcomes of Course

By the end of this course students will be able to:

1. Identify the features of academic writing as a genre and their purpose in communicating with an audience

2. Understand how the context of a written piece can influence its content, including being able to identify bias in writing.

3. Appraise their own academic writing and edit their work to communicate their arguments clearly

Minimum Requirement for Award of Credits

Students must submit 75 % of the course's summative assessment.