WRITING SKILLS

6 ECTS credits

This course aims to prepare students to express their thoughts and ideas in English within the conventions of academic writing.   The course provides students with strategies to use when writing essays in a variety of situations related to their academic disciplines. Its approach emphasizes process, training and practice in writing and critical reading. Course objectives include: recognizing the value of varied sentence structures; demonstrating how to organize paragraphs using different patterns and strategies; planning and organizing an essay to support a thesis with a clear introduction, body and conclusion sections; establishing and developing a thesis to meet the purpose, audience and length requirements for an essay; understanding the composing process including drafting, revision and editing of an essay;  learning how to research and select substance to support the thesis; effectively paraphrasing and quoting from sources;  identifying and employing essay types for academic assignments;  knowing how to incorporate sources and avoid plagiarism; recognizing and relating course content to specific needs of academic disciplines; understanding the relationship between being a critical reader and an effective writer.