English - Writing Academic Research Papers C2

This is a process writing course during which students will study effective organization of written academic English incorporating discourse markers, topic sentences, and good paragraphing; study effective use of rhetorical structures appropriate to academic English: e.g. theme and rheme, nominalisation, use of passive, as well as register and style appropriate to target audience; and choose a topic commensurate with their interests/area of study and produce an abstract, a presentation and an academic research paper with the support of peers and tutor.

To improve general written English as well as to identify and eradicate bad writing habits in areas of particular difficulty (e.g. refined use of verb tenses, more complex sentence structures, appropriate style and register).; To develop more effective writing and presentation skills for academic essays for publication (style & register, sentence structure/complexity, presentation of research); To develop general competence in the appropriate format for academic publications

Ability to begin work at at least the C1 level of the GER as evidenced by a score in the range of 60 – 80 percent on the placement test at www.moodle.tum.de. (Please check current announcements as the exact percentages may vary each semester.)

Students will:
a) Research a topic and gather information pertinent to a self-chosen thesis/research question
b) Prepare a presentation outlining their chosen research question or thesis which they will have to defend orally
c) Work on their chosen topic with tutor support and regular tutorials
The tutor will:
a) Give short input presentations with accompanying language based activities (pair work, group work) at the beginning of each sessions in the first half of the course
b) Give regular tutorial support

Powerpoint presentations (student and lecturer generated); Audio and visual recordings from a variety of sources; printed handouts.

Handouts and selected extracts from published sources will be used in the course. Key literature will be advised by the teacher and/ or listed in the course description.

Performance, testing the learning outcomes specified in the module description, is examined by a cumulative portfolio of competence and action-oriented tasks. These include a 350-word abstract for an academic research paper (15%); a 15-minute oral “academic-conference-style” presentation of research and findings (35%); and complete an academic research paper of up to 5,000 words including references (APA/MLA style, 50%), in which they demonstrate an ability to critically engage in academic discourse, making use of rhetorical devices and conventions appropriate for their audience. The major assignment is based on multiple iterations of the academic research paper on which critical feedback has been given by the instructor.