Rhetorical and Language Features in the Parts of a Scientific Article: Academic Writing 2 (105)

15 November 2024

Dr Jeannette Regan

Purpose

This training course will help doctoral candidates identify the rhetorical ('move') structure in introductions and to address grammar (e.g. tense use) and lexical (e.g. specific vocabulary) questions related to various parts of an academic article. There will also be further work on paragraph development using topic sentences.

Target group

The course is aimed at doctoral candidates whose mother tongue is not 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 following tool based on the CEFR: ec.europa.eu.

Participants are strongly recommended to take The Basics of Academic Writing in English: Academic Writing 1 or an equivalent course before Rhetorical and Language Features in the Parts of a Scientific Article.

Learning objectives

The main aim of the course is to support the further development of the individual writer's skill, confidence, and ease when writing texts necessary to complete a doctoral program; by the end of the course, participants should be able to:

• identify the rhetorical ('move') structure in introductions,
• address grammar (e.g., tense use) and lexical (e.g., specific vocabulary) questions related to various parts of an academic article, and
• continue to form 'language friendships' with other CUSO students in order to improve their writing though reciprocal feedback.

Training content

Two areas will be included in the course: the rhetorical shape of an empirical research article and language issues related to the introduction, methods, results, and discussion sections.

Preparation for the training

Please use the template provided to prepare your writing sample, which consists of a brief description of your doctoral thesis or current writing project as well as an excerpt of up to two pages from your current writing project. Please include any problems you encounter as you write an academic article or text.
The description should be addressed to an interested reader not in the your field and written in two to three paragraphs using topic sentences and techniques for paragraph cohesion and coherence (presented in CUSO's The Basics of Academic Writing in English and other similar courses).

The excerpt should be introduced by providing a context in which to read it, that is, the subject and field of the text and whether this is a first, intermediate, or advanced draft.

Please use online or print tools to check your spelling and grammar before submitting your sample and excerpt.
In addition, please select what you consider to be a 'model article' (in English) in your specific field of research. Ideally, it should be an article from a high-impact international journal and the type of study should be similar to your own. The model article will be used as a source of stylistic and linguistic information during the course.

The writing sample (description and excerpt) and model article should be emailed to the instructor at the latest one week before the workshop. During the online course, you should have ready access to the writing sample (description, problems with academic writing, and excerpt) and model article that you submitted to the instructor.

Form of the training course

The training course will take two forms. Input will be followed by offline individual or online pair /trio opportunities for practical application, questions, and discussion. During the opportunities for individuals to work on their own or participants to work in pairs or trios, the instructor will speak with each participant concerning their specific questions about academic writing.

ONLINE!

Date: Friday, 15th November 2024

Schedule: 9:30 am to 18:00 with two hours and a half offline for lunch (from 12:30 to 15:00)

Location: Online

Trainer:

Dr. Jeannette Regan, freelance instructor, editor, and learning advisor to doctoral candidates and several Swiss doctoral programs (www.jeannette-regan.ch), formerly of the language centers at the Universities of Lausanne and Fribourg.

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