363-1063-00L  Academic Writing Course

SemesterHerbstsemester 2016
DozierendeR. Mihalka, S. Milligan
Periodizitätjedes Semester wiederkehrende Veranstaltung
LehrspracheEnglisch
KommentarCompulsory for students who entered in Spring 2015 onwards.


KurzbeschreibungThis course for MTEC master's students will focus on developing and refining students' English writing skills and their understanding of the requirements and conventions of academic writing.
LernzielThe course develops a range of practical and transferrable writing skills. Its first aim is to improve the academic writing skills necessary for the successful completion of an MSc thesis. The course provides theoretical input, practical writing exercises, and detailed individual feedback. It is organized into an initial group lecture and four subsequent workshops in smaller tutorial groups.

The group lecture raises awareness about academic conduct, especially with regard to plagiarism. Afterwards, students take placement tests so that the areas where they need improvement can be identified. The following workshops concentrate on these highlighted areas, and feedback on placement tests is integrated into the input and practice during these sessions.

Students can use the skills developed on the course to improve the overall quality of their MSc theses and to produce their thesis more rapidly and efficiently. These skills can also be used beyond the MSc, whether students go on to complete a PhD or to produce reports and other documents in industry.
InhaltGroup lecture:
an introduction to writing an MSc thesis in D-MTEC
selecting topic and supervisor
academic expectations
avoiding plagiarism

Workshop 1:
the writing process
reading, note taking and planning
overview of the thesis structure
building academic vocabulary

Workshop 2:
writing methods sections
embedding figures and tables
structuring sentences and paragraphs
noun phrases and articles

Workshop 3:
introductions; results and discussion sections
analysis v description
writing critically
relative clauses

Workshop 4:
abstracts and conclusions
editing your own text
punctuation, spelling, and grammar
SkriptNotes will be available after registration.