English - Intensive Thesis Writers' Workshop C2

This course is aimed at students currently writing theses or dissertations. It combines group seminars with individual consultations. The group sessions go beyond mere questions of “correct” grammar and word choice and emphasize instead stylistic guidelines for forceful and clear English writing at a high academic level. Discussions have a slight emphasis on strategies for German speakers but are appropriate to students from any language background. The individual sessions are tailored to the needs of each student. The course grants 3 ECTS points on a pass/fail basis.

After completion of this module, students will be able to express themselves with greater clarity and precision in written English. They will become more familiar with strategies for effective academic writing in English specifically, while gaining a sense for potential contrasts with their own native languages. Students will develop techniques to implement compelling sentence constructions, create cohesion within and between sentences, and render paragraphs coherent through specific semantic and syntactic choices.

For students currently writing theses or dissertations in English. Ability to begin work at the upper C1 or C2 level of the GER, as demonstrated by a score above 75% on the English placement test at www.moodle.tum.de. Basic understanding of grammatical terms (e.g., parts of speech, subject, verb, object, active, passive, nominalization).

Seminars adopt a communicative and skills-oriented approach through group discussion, case studies, presentations, group work, etc. Individual sessions use students’ texts as the primary learning materials.

Handouts, presentations, audio-visual material, students’ own texts.

Joseph Williams: Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace

Students’ thesis-writing ability will be assessed based on active participation during the course, supplemented by a minimum of two individual consultations with the instructor. To receive ECTS points, a student must demonstrate clear improvements over the course of the workshop, showing that an effort has been made to implement the suggestions of the instructor.