Academic Writing I

21 February 2014

Dr Jeanette Regan

Purpose

Writing in English is required for many doctoral students today, but many students at the beginning of their doctoral work are not familiar with academic writing. This one-day academic writing workshop is designed to help non-native English speakers with little or no experience to improve their writing skills in academic English by focusing on a selection of its key features.

Target Group

The workshop is aimed at doctoral students at the CUSO universities whose mother tongue is not English, who have little or no writing experience in academic English, and who have reached the B2 level of the Common European Framework  of Reference for Languages (CEFR). To assess your level, please use the attached self-assessment grid based on the CEFR.

Students with some experience in writing in academic English should refer to the “Academic Writing II” workshop.

Learning Objectives

The main aim of the workshop is to support the development of the individual writer’s skill, confidence, and ease when writing texts necessary to complete a doctoral program. By the end of the workshop, participants should be able to:

• distinguish the main features of general academic writing from other kinds of language;
• target their writing to their specific audience;
• analyze basic paragraph structure by applying the principles of cohesion and coherence;
• understand and begin to apply the principles of text flow to their writing.

Content

Four topics will be included in the workshop:

• the importance in writing of audience, purpose, and tone;
• the key features of general academic style;
• coherence and cohesion in paragraph organization;
• the principles of text flow. 

Preparation for the Workshop

Participants will need provide a sample of their writing, a summary of their work and an example of what they consider to be 'model article' in advance of the workshop:

(1) Participants should use the template provided to prepare a brief written language biography and a one-page summary in English of their doctoral work or current research project. Texts should be provided well in advance, and at the latest one week before the workshop, i.e. 9 a.m., Friday 14th February (an email address will be provided to registered participants). Participants should also bring to the workshop their own copy of their text.

(2) Participants are also asked to provide a file of what they consider to be a ‘model article’ (in English) in their specific field of research. This should be an article from a high-impact international journal and the type of study should ideally be similar to their own. Participants should bring their own copy of this article with them to the workshop. They will be asked to use it as a source of stylistic and linguistic information during the workshop. 

Form of the Workshop

Input will be followed by brief opportunities for practical application, questions, and discussion.

Université de Neuchâtel COMPLET

Date: Friday, 21st February 2014

Schedule: 9:45 to 17:15

Location: Université de Neuchâtel

Trainer: Dr Jeannette Regan, Instructor and Learning Advisor to Adults, www.jeannette-regan.ch, and part-time instructor of academic English at the University of Fribourg's Language Center.

Participants are eligible for reimbursement of incurred travel expenses by train between the town of their university and the location of the workshop (half-fare card, 2nd class).

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