Skills IV: Academic Writing
Full course description
The advanced writing course Skills IV succeeds the writing practicals of Skills III. Students will continue to further develop their writing skills by writing a complete critical review paper. Writing their first complete, individual paper is aimed to prepare them for writing their Bachelor’s thesis in year 3.
Under supervisors’ guidance, and supported by their peers, students formulate a critical research question related to a topic of their choice, and address the question with the help of several scientific articles. Emphasis is placed on developing a logical and compelling storyline, and extracting and comparing information from different sources, rather than just listing and summarising existing literature. Hence, Skills IV is not only an exercise in developing writing skills, but it also encourages the development of critical thinking. By peer-reviewing the paper of a fellow group member, students gain more insight into the process of writing and shaping an article, continue to expand their peer-reviewing and feedback skills, and benefit from additional feedback themselves.
At various stages of this process students will receive feedback.
The corresponding practicals for this course are: Information Literacy: Literature Search and EndNote, Practical: Portfolio Year 2 Part 1, Practical: Portfolio Year 2 Part 2
Course objectives
Students are able:
- to formulate a critical research question;
- to write a complete critical review paper on academic level;
- to argument logically by developing a logical and compelling storyline;
- to write in correct English (grammar and spelling);
- to extract and compare information from different sources;
- to apply APA-guidelines;
- to evaluate and criticize papers by peer-reviewing and providing feedback;
- to familiarize themselves with the Handbook Writing Skills (Havermans, Houben, Nievelstein & Van Doorn, 2018) and apply the principles to their own writing.
- F.E.R.M. Nievelstein