- Term offered: Fall and spring semesters
- Course times: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 – 10 a.m. ET
This course, which is designed for master's degree, PhD, and post-doc students throughout the University whose use English as a second language, primarily explores the expectations of academic writing in US higher education. Participants will explore features that make academic discourse and argumentation unique. This is done by analyzing sample texts, papers in the students' own disciplines, and the students' own writing. Second, through in-class and homework tasks, students practice language skills and specific academic research and writing skills, so that the features of academic writing become clearer. For the second half of the semester students meet with the instructor for one-on-one consultations and are given guidance on their own written work (grammar, clarity, coherence, etc.).
Grading
Weekly writing assignments are given throughout the first half of the term. These short assignments build upon the skills taught in class and students are free to adapt the topics to their own disciplines and areas of interest. During the second half of the term, the students choose a topic for their final writing project. They can combine this project with a paper that they are working on for another course. In the second half of the semester, work on the final paper will be the main focus of the class, which will take the form of individual conferences. The aim of the individual conferences is to negotiate meaning, rather than to simply edit the paper.
Registration
Students can register through Path@Penn and by contacting Kate Kinney at kinneym@sas.upenn.edu.
