The course aims at developing your academic writing skills through the teaching of different types of writing such as:
- summary writing (the processes involved in summary writing and the end product)
- evaluation of different summaries according to specific criteria
- paragraph writing according to the elements of paragraph coherence, unity and adequate development
- report writing
- synthesizing information from a longer text and from the analysis of specific graphs into a final piece of writing
- comparing and contrasting different arguments on an issue
- analyzing and evaluating arguments
These types of writing will be based on the study and analysis of a wide range of texts such as articles published in newspapers, in journals, on the Internet, book excerpts etc.
In the book "Writing for Academic Purposes in English" the writing processes in relation to each type of writing are examined in detail and specific suggestions to help you plan, organize and revise your writing are offered.
Furthermore, several learning strategies are presented and practiced through specific tasks. These strategies aim at helping you:
- trace your existing knowledge in relation to the topic
- approach and comprehend the reading passage
- focus on the characteristics/structure of certain types of writing
- apply a similar structure in your own writing
- manage your writing processes (through the planning, composing and revising stages)
- evaluate the final written product
