ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES

English for Academic Purposes
Lecturer: Dr. sc. Marijana Javornik Čubrić
Sessions: Monday 4-8 p.m.
Office hours: Tuesday 11:30-12:30, Gundulićeva 10, room no. 6
Contact: [e-mail]

Literature
R. R. Jordan, Academic Writing Course - Study Skills in English, Longman, Essex, 2004 (8th impression)
Units 1, 2, 4-8, 10-15

Topics
Introduction to English for Academic Purposes
Structure and Cohesion – Connectives and Paragraphs Description: Process and Procedure - The Stages of Writing an Essay
Narrative – The Development of Universities
Definitions (simple, academic and extended definitions)
Exemplification – What is Language?
Classification – State Schools in England and Wales
Comparison and Contrast
Generalisation, Qualification and Caution – A Survey of Unemployment
Interpretation of Data – Charts, Graphs, Diagrams and Tables
Discussion – "For" and "Against"
Introductions and Conclusions – Concluding from Tables
Academic Style – Informal and Formal; What is education?
Paraphrasing and Summarising

Sessions
March 18
March 25
April 8
April 22
April 29
May 6

Timetable
Session 1 – March 18
Introduction to English for Academic Purposes
Structure and Cohesion – Connectives and Paragraphs
Description: Process and Procedure – The Stages of Writing an Essay

Session 2 – March 25
Narrative – The Development of Universities
Definitions (simple, academic and extended)
Exemplification – What is Language?

Session 3 – April 8
Classification – State Schools in England and Wales
Comparison and Contrast
Generalisation, Qualification and Caution – A Survey of Unemployment

Session 4 – April 22
Interpretation of Data – Charts, Graphs, Diagrams and Tables
1st written assignment (interpretation)
Discussion – «For» and «Against»
Introductions and Conclusions

Session 5 – April 29
Academic Style – Informal and Formal
What is education?
Paraphrasing and Summarising
2nd written assignment (summary)

Session 6 – May 6
Revision
Analysis of papers
Signatures

Aims of the course
To enable students to express themselves coherently in writing
To provide samples of academic writing and practice material for students who need to write reports or essays in English

Examination
Three pieces of writing
(two in class, one as an assignment)
Interpretation of data
Summary
Essay

Essay topics
The development of education in social work
Challenges of the Bologna reform
The changing profession of social work
Deadline for submission: May 1, 2013

Introduction to academic writing
Writing involves starting, progressing and finishing a complicated combination of tasks
Writing is not just influenced by what we know and what we have discovered about something, but also by what we feel
Creative part of writing requires chaos; shaping or writing requires discipline

The paradoxes of academic writing
The starting v. finishing
The originality v. convention
The logic v. emotion
The easy v. difficult
The public v. private

1. Starting v. finishing
Skills associated with starting a writing project are different from the skills you need to activate to complete it
Projects we start, but do not finish – enthusiasm in the beginning, criticism and fears later

2. Originality v. convention
The differences between taking in information and putting forward or articulating ideas of your own
How can fresh ideas be incorporated into a writing style that tends to demand conformity?
Listen to voices of others, but write in your own

3. Logic v. emotion
Academic writers have to be objective, but it is impossible to ignore the emotional dimension
Emotional dimension is needed to be self-aware and reflective in what you write

4. Easy v. difficult
Writing can seem both easy and difficult at different stages in the process, or at the same time
Realisation that doing something with ease does not mean that it is simple or unchallenging

5. Public v. private
Privacy protects early writing efforts, but scholarship in general requires public scrutiny
A need to balance the public and private dimension of academic writing