Introduction to Academic Writing: Analysis of Writing Style and Writing Strategies

This course is open only for NDPIA members.

When: Starts September 28th and continues until October 14th
Registration deadline: September 23rd
Where: Online
Class days: Monday and Wednesday
Class times: 15:00-16:30 (total of 9 class hours)
Course instructor: Hossein Ordoubadian from Accent Språkservice AB

Course summary

• Suggested ECTS credit: 1.5 ECTS (this must be discussed with your home university)
• This course is a complement to the Scientific Writing course offered by Nature MasterClass

Description:
This online course is an adapted version of an introduction writing course (https://accent-sweden.com/vara-tjanster/skrivkurs/) that has been taught in Sweden and Germany since 2004 and follows the same syllabus. The students will learn how fluent English readers read so they can diagnose the readability of their own writing. That is, we explore how fluent English readers actually read (based on recent developments in neuroscience and cognitive science) to analyze the differences between effective (and published) academic writing and less-than-effective academic writing. At first, our focus will be on phrase and sentence level analysis, but we will expand the discussions to include paragraph and section level analysis. This analysis is performed using a very concrete and simple method that doesn’t require extensive grammar knowledge. After learning how to analyze the effectiveness of phrases, clauses, sentences, and paragraphs, the students learn how to apply this knowledge to write more effective sentences and paragraphs using a set of very specific techniques. Although punctuation and grammar are not our main focus, students learn how to use standard punctuation and grammar to analyze and produce rhetorically effective academic writing. Throughout these discussions, we address how these analytical and revision techniques can be broadly and narrowly applied to prepare and organize an engaging journal article, grant application, or thesis (kappa).

On completion of the course, the student should be able to:

1. Understand the principles (not rules) of good writing.
2. Identify in your own writing where you ignore these principles, remembering these are only guidelines and at times should be ignored.
3. Revise your writing using very specific techniques that address these principles (i.e., the way readers actually read).
4. Use these analytical and revision techniques to help you clarify your own understanding of your ideas (i.e., epistemic writing).

How to register for the course

NDPIA pays tuition costs for each participant, except if a student registers and does not attend the course. In this exception, the supervisor will pay the registration fee. To ensure that supervisors are aware of this consequence, registration requires a letter signed by the student’s supervisor that states they are aware of the student’s participation in the course and the consequence if their student/postdoc does not attend the course. A form letter stating this information that requires a signature is found at this link: Letter to be signed by your supervisor

Once you have a pdf of the letter signed by your supervisor, go to the form below to register. You will be notified by email of your acceptance into the course.

Contact debra.l.milton@umu.se for questions.

Bookings