AE4 (Academic Writing 2) Syllabus

Course books:
- University Foundation Study – ESSAY WRITING & RESEARCH AND REFERENCING
Output:
An evidence-based essay ( ~ 1000 words) supported by evidence drawn from appropriate
sources
Your essay will -

Discuss the effects of globalisation on (****** in) developing countries.

where the ****** could be any area in which you are interested, for example, automobile
industry, employment, education, marketing, health, technology, the media, indigenous
culture, the retail industry, architecture, diet, entertainment, law, etc.

Scheme of Work – 32 periods

Week Session 1 (Essay Writing) Session 2 (Research and Referencing)

1 Grammar review
Unit 1 Getting organised
At the end of this unit students will:
 understand more about the
requirements of writing an
academic essay;
 be able to produce a clear
outline
2 Ss brainstorm the topic of their essay, to
produce a schematic outline
Ss study the Scheme of Work, noting the
various stages of writing/research
3 Unit 2 Getting started
At the end of this unit students will:
 be better equipped to start
writing an essay;
 understand how to write a thesis
statement;
 have ideas on how to make the
introduction interesting for the
reader
Ss produce a draft introduction for their
essay
Features of academic writing style
Unit 1 Why research?
At the end of this unit students will:
 understand the need to refer to
other sources;
 be able to strengthen the
argument in their essays using
supporting points and evidence
Ss carry out a cursory search for online
publications (google scholar) related to
their essay topic and amend their
schematic outline accordingly
Unit 2 The research process
At the end of this unit students will:
 be aware of a range of sources of
information;
 be able to identify the strengths
and weaknesses of different
sources:
 be able to note down
bibliographical details for books
and Internet sites
Ss carry out a more detailed search for
reliable and authoritative sources related
to their topic (to include academic
sources, e.g. published journal articles)
Ss must print copies of their sources
 4 Unit 3 The body of the essay
At the end of this unit students will:
 have a clear idea how to
structure the main part of an
academic essay;
 know how to plan and write
effective paragraphs
Week 4 Ss produce draft topic sentences for their
Writing/Research essay
Workshops
45 mins each
5 Unit 4 Summaries and conclusions
At the end of this unit the students will:
 have a clear idea of how to finish
an academic essay with a
successful conclusion
Ss produce a draft conclusion for their
essay
6 Summary writing
At the end of this lesson students will:
 Have learnt and practiced
appropriate techniques for
summary writing
Ss summarise a selection of paragraphs
from their compiled sources, to use as
support
7 Unit 5 Academic style and register
At the end of this unit students will:
 be more familiar with the
language of essays and able to
identify some of the features of
academic style;
 have practised using formal,
objective language
Ss complete their draft essay – checking
for appropriate use of academic style
and register
8 Unit 6 Guidelines for the future
At the end of this unit the students will:
 understand the editing and
Unit 3 Writing a bibliography
At the end of this unit the students will:
 understand the purpose of a
bibliography;
 be able to produce a bibliography
using the APA system
Ss review their compiled sources, to
identify appropriate evidence to support
their topic sentences
For at least one of the sources they
intend to use, Ts should ensure that the
Ss have a) recorded appropriate
bibliographic data about the source, and
ii) highlighted (and, ideally, cut-and-
pasted e.g. into a Word document) some
of the key paragraphs/sentences they
intend to use as support in respective
paragraphs
Unit 4 Referring to other sources in your
essay
At the end of this unit students will:
 understand how to decide
between citing and quoting;
 be able to cite and quote;
 be able to acknowledge their
sources in the body of their
essays.
Ss review the key information they have
identified in their sources, to determine
which paragraphs/sentences to cite
(summarise/paraphrase) and which to
quote directly
Paraphrasing
At the end of this lesson students will:
 Have learnt and practiced
appropriate techniques for
summary writing
Ss paraphrase a selection of sentences
from their compiled sources, to use as
support
Unit 5 Plagiarism
At the end of this unit students will:
 understand what plagiarism is;
 understand how to use sources in
their writing;
 be able to recognise plagiarism in
a piece of writing
Ss check their draft essay for plagiarism
(using Turnitin) – and take appropriate
remedial action as required
Unit 6 Using supporting arguments
At the end of this unit students will:
 be able to select relevant
 redrafting processes in essay
writing;
 have a clearer understanding of
what lecturers expect from a
piece of academic writing
Ss carry out a final check through their
draft essay for common grammatical
errors
information from their research
notes;
 be able to support their
arguments;
 be able to acknowledge their
sources acceptably
Ss submit their final essay for marking,
using APA style template.
=> turnitin