Writing in an Academic Context: Improving Argumentation and Style

Full course description

This course is designed to help students polish their academic writing skills. Since an important aspect of good writing is the ability to convey ideas as clearly as possible to the reader, we will examine the nuts and bolts of writing that are essential to this. This may include rules of syntax and how to make your writing more accessible, paragraphing and overall coherence, a closer look at the structural parts of an academic paper, and how to improve conciseness and coherence in your paper. Furthermore, we will practice using proofreading tools such as the reverse outline and creating a personal checklist. 

During the course, we will look beyond the general ideas of academic articles and papers to see the mechanisms of how these papers work, especially on a technical level. This will be done in the form of weekly exercises that you will prepare in advance and discuss in class, and by giving in-depth feedback to your peer’s writing during  in-class evaluations. Additionally, you will put what we discuss in class into practice by revieweing an your own paper and critiquing other students’ papers.

It is safe to say this course is interactive and writing intensive and that you will be reading and writing both inside and outside of class. Although sharing your writing with others can seem intimidating, rest assured that this writing course is a safe space for you to work, make mistakes, and improve your writing.