The Advanced Academic Writing course is designed for PhD students who write their dissertation in English. The course addresses different aspects of the writing process, such as becoming aware of disciplinary requirements, improving text coherence, writing effective sentences, using punctuation effectively, using varied vocabulary and improving the overall style of writing.
N.B. You should participate in this course about 6 months into your PhD project or longer, preferably when you are writing the pilot study.
The course focuses on writing effective, well-structured and coherent academic texts in English. It introduces strategies to improve the overall writing process, such as planning, outlining and becoming aware of disciplinary requirements. Other important course themes include writing effective and varied sentences, using punctuation marks effectively, improving text coherence and working with different techniques to improve the overall style of the text. Because the course participants typically use English as a second language (ESL), the course also pays attention to certain language issues that might arise at the level of vocabulary, sentence structure, punctuation and grammar. Throughout the course, the participants will work towards laying the foundation of one of the chapters of their dissertation (or an academic article/pilot study) and will write a considerable part of this text. They will receive detailed and extensive feedback on their writing from the course instructor, who will also use the participants’ texts as a basis for the course material.
Tuesdays 13:00-15:30
Offered online. The next on campus course starts 27 March 2024, see the other course item for registration.
Dates: 6 February, 13 February, 27 February, 12 March, 19 March, 26 March, 2 April, 16 April.
It is no longer possible to register for the online Advanced Academic Writing course.
Please sign up for the waiting list if you are still interested, and we might organise a second online installment of this course soon.
Wednesdays 9:30 - 12:00
Offered on campus only. The next online course starts 6 February 2024, see the other course item for registration.
Dates: 27 March, 3 April, 10 April, 17 April, 1 May, 15 May, 22 May, 29 May
To be able to complete the course successfully, the participants have to attend all classes. They should also submit at least two writing samples for feedback (1000-1200 words & 2500 words).
Native speaker of English?
Although this is very much a writing course and most classes focus on different aspects of the writing process, improving style, different writing practices and so on, many participants write in English as a second language, so certain themes or questions that are particularly relevant for non-native speakers of English are also addressed. If English is your native language, then a quick Zoom intake meeting can be scheduled to discuss whether you would like to attend all classes or perhaps only a selection. Please note that the group does usually consist of a mix of native and non-native speakers and that, on the whole, the native speakers typically do attend all/most classes.
Have you started with the writing process?
Because this is a writing course, it is strongly recommend that you join the course once you've actually started with the writing process (chapter, article, pilot study). If you've just started with your PhD project, it might be better to join the course a bit later (this course is offered once in the fall semester and twice in the spring semester). Throughout the course you can submit various writing samples for feedback and participants find the combination of the group sessions and individual feedback particularly valuable.
The course will be taught by Lotte Tavecchio. Lotte holds a PhD in English Linguistics and has a special interest in sentence structure, punctuation, matters of style and contrastive linguistics. She works as a lecturer at Amsterdam University College (AUC) and is the owner of b-eloquent (www.b-eloquent.nl).
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