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This course will teach you how to write an academic essay in a practical way. We show you how to develop the academic skills required to be an effective academic writer. You will have the opportunity to interact with academic texts and see how some of the ideas in these texts are used by students in the construction of an academic essay. We address some of the academic writing challenges that these students face and provide you with the opportunity to practise and develop your own writing style. We centre our lessons for this course on a specific topic - the concept of identity - because it is such an important aspect of how we locate ourselves in an ever-changing global world. In another way, this course teaches academic writing skills by having you write and reflect on your understanding of identity.
Syllabus :
1. Starting to write: Understanding definitions of identity
- Writing your World: Finding yourself in the academic space
- Thinking about your essay
- Meet our student writers
- Through the looking glass: Who am I?
- Woodward on identity: I, me and the world
- Woodward on identity: Roots and routes
- How do definitions work?
- Definitions in context
- Drafting your definition
2. Developing an argument: shifting identities
- Recap on identity
- Identity and mobility through the ages
- Nelson Mandela: Terrorist or freedom fighter?
- Reading strategies
- Applying reading strategies: Sichone’s chapter
- Applying reading strategies: Blommaert’s chapter
- Understanding the course essay
- Drafting your introduction
- Relationship between the introduction and conclusion
3. Supporting the argument: situating identity within culture
- Recap on identity and mobility
- Case study of an international student
- Pool of abundance: Understanding culture
- Round table discussion on culture
- Writing paragraphs
- Quotes and paraphrasing
- In-text referencing
- Coherence and cohesion
- Student writers drafting their paragraphs
4. Starting to finish: writing the first draft
- Round table discussion: Reflection on the readings
- The essay building blocks
- Referencing and managing sources
