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Community Short Courses

Community Short Courses

AWARE is happy to announce that it is offering the following 12-hour short course this summer. 

Intensive Introduction to Academic Writing (B1 Intermediate and above)

Dates: June 7-17 (Sunday – Wednesday: 8 X 1hr. 30 min. sessions over 2 weeks) 

Time: 5pm - 6.30pm 

Instructor: Mr. Owen Connor

Course Fee (including course materials): 990 QAR

 

If you are unsure of your level and/ or suitability for any of the courses, please contact Mr. Owen Connor at oconnor@hbku.edu.qa

 

Instructor bio can be found here.

Course Description

This short course aims to provide you with a comprehensive overview of academic writing conventions and expectations. As an intensive introduction/ refresher course, it meets the needs of a diverse range of students and prospective students at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Whether you are entering university for the first time or returning after a long period away from formal study, this course will provide you the thorough grounding in academic writing that you need.

Each session  will be centred on an AWARE Writing Centre presentation accompanied by one or more AWARE Writing Centre handouts and activities. Please note that as this course aims to cover significant ground in a limited period, you are encouraged, both during and after the course, to read further and deeper on each of the session topics using the handouts and other materials provided. In addition to the materials provided during the sessions, you will be introduced to the AWARE Writing Centre LibGuide, our online writing portal. 

Course Aims

Overall, you will develop your knowledge of the academic writing process, and better understand its benefits when applied to academic writing assignments. More specifically, you will

be made aware of the basic conventions of academic writing and different academic writing assignment types.
understand the importance of pre-writing tasks such as task/ question analysis, brainstorming, and outlining.
explore and develop your knowledge of structural issues at sentence, paragraph, and assignment levels.
examine the concept of plagiarism and learn how to avoid it through appropriate use of quotation, paraphrase and citation/ referencing.
learn about the importance of redrafting (for content), editing (for language), and proofreading (for surface errors) in delivering the final polished product.
become more self-sufficient in managing and developing your academic writing and research skills (through your introduction to the AWARE Writing Centre LibGuide). 

Course Outline

Session Overview

1. An Introduction to Academic Writing Style
  • Introduce the basic conventions of academic writing (being objective, succinct, cautious etc.).
  • Highlight how the use of specific language can help students apply these conventions in their writing.
  • Discuss how the use of these conventions/ language may vary between disciplines.

2. The Writing Process (1): Pre-writing​
  • Discuss how to analyze assignment tasks/ choose and narrow down topics.
  • Introduce different brainstorming techniques.
  • Underline and demonstrate the importance of planning (outlining) an assignment.
  • Compare some common assignment types to illustrate differences in structure/ expectations.

3. Sentence Structure and Transitions
  • Introduce common sentence structures: Simple, compound, and complex.
  • Show how ideas at the sentence and paragraph level are linked using transitional words, phrases, and sentences.

4. Paragraphing: Introductions and Conclusions
  • Provide opportunities for students to discover how introduction and conclusion paragraphs are structured and how they function.
  • Demonstrate how these paragraphs/ sections may differ depending on genre/ assignment type.

5. Paragraphing: Topic Sentences and Body Paragraphs
  • Compare and contrast the function of topic, supporting, and concluding sentences (in body paragraphs).
  • Illustrate the structure and function of body paragraphs.

6. Avoiding plagiarism: Quoting and Paraphrasing
  • Provide examples of different types of plagiarism and discuss why it must be avoided.
  • Show how plagiarism can be avoided by using quoting and paraphrasing, with appropriate citation.
  • Illustrate different quotation techniques and how they should be integrated into texts. 

7. APA (7th Ed.) Referencing
  • Introduce the basics of APA style for in-text citations and end of text referencing.
  • Use authentic APA texts to exemplify how APA style is used.

8. The Writing Process (2): Redrafting, Editing, and Proofreading
  • Discuss the importance of redrafting (focus on content) in the writing/ research process, and how reverse outlining can assist in this step.
  • Emphasise how proper editing (focus on language) and proofreading (focus on surface errors) can ensure that a document is comprehensible, coherent and professional.
  • Discuss common language errors in academic texts.
  •  

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