Institute of Continuing Education: Academic Writing Courses

ADTIS is running two courses on academic writing on the International Summer Programmes in 2016:

An introduction to Academic Writing

This introductory course is aimed at those new to academic writing or those who would like to refresh themselves of the 'basics'. It would be particularly useful for those who do not have English as a first language and who have never written an essay in English before. The two-week course can be taken alone or as a preparation for the more detailed and demanding Advanced Academic Writing course.

The course will look at academic writing in terms of both the final product that the writer is aiming for and the process that he/she should go through in order to create it. It will therefore look at English language rhetorical style and associated aspects of organisation: introductions, conclusions and main-body paragraphs. It will also look at the style of language used in academic writing and will examine techniques for improving cohesion.

Students will practice writing a summary. (This work is not part of the evaluation process relating to the submission of written work after the end of the course, which is optional.)

The summary writing, which forms an integral part of the course, will be based on a passage given by the Course Director. Students will be given peer feedback on these summaries.

Advanced Academic Writing

This advanced course is aimed at those, whether native or non-native speakers of English, who already have a good grounding in the 'nuts and bolts' of academic writing, but who wish to refine further their skills set with guided hands-on practice.

The focus of this two-week course will be on the participants’ own writing and writing practices and so participants are therefore encouraged to bring along either an essay they are working on, or a previous essay that they would like to further strengthen. (Please note: this cannot be a piece which is going to be submitted for any other course on the International Summer Programmes.)

We will be looking at academic writing as a process – from the initial drafting out of the structure and the contents, through the writing of the first draft (as well as the second and third), to the final editing polishing stages.

In addition to the various stages within the academic writing process, we will also be looking at key features of academic writing – such as argumentation, voice and stance, and critical evaluation – as well as key features of academic English – such as the writer-responsible nature of English and the implications of this for how we write, as well as how we achieve cohesion and use paragraphing.

 

These courses are run as part of the University's Summer Schools Programme.

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Beijing Foreign Studies University

In July 2015 ADTIS will be hosting 12 postgraduate students from BFSU, who are coming to Cambridge to take part in an intensive Academic Writing Skills training programme designed by ADTIS.

The focus of the course will be on effective cross-cultural communication skills in various academic and workplace contexts as such will form part of a pilot project at BFSU to improve postgraduate critical thinking and communication skills in English.

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