Academic Writing

Description: The discipline contributes to the further development of undergraduates' skills to express and substantiate their thoughts through a sufficiently convincing scientific text (articles, dissertations, reviews, monographs, annotations) when carrying out their own research projects and programs in their field of activity and to provide the results in written form in accordance with the legal norms of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the international academic community in Kazakh, Russian, and English.

Amount of credits: 5

Пререквизиты:

• Foreign language (professional)

Course Workload:

Component: University component

Cycle: Base disciplines

Goal

• The aim of the course "Academic Writing" is to develop doctoral students' skills in structuring their ideas and the ability to create various types of scientific and scientific-informational texts, taking into account the specifics of academic discourse.

Learning outcome: knowledge and understanding

• Knowledge of the characteristics of the scientific style in written and oral texts, as well as the principles of organizing scientific texts.

Learning outcome: applying knowledge and understanding

• The ability to use English at a high level in communicative and professional activities.

Learning outcome: formation of judgments

• The ability to use studied language tools in communicative and professional activities for delivering presentations at international conferences, writing articles in English for subsequent publication, and conducting business negotiations with international partners

Learning outcome: communicative abilities

• The development of the ability for intercultural communication, taking into account the national and cultural specifics of linguistic phenomena and verbal behavior of English speakers, in comparison with the realities of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Learning outcome: learning skills or learning abilities

• The ability to create, edit, summarize, and systematize all types of texts in scientific and journalistic styles.

Assessment of the student's knowledge

Teacher oversees various tasks related to ongoing assessment and determines students' current performance twice during each academic period. Ratings 1 and 2 are formulated based on the outcomes of this ongoing assessment. The student's learning achievements are assessed using a 100-point scale, and the final grades P1 and P2 are calculated as the average of their ongoing performance evaluations. The teacher evaluates the student's work throughout the academic period in alignment with the assignment submission schedule for the discipline. The assessment system may incorporate a mix of written and oral, group and individual formats.

The evaluating policy of learning outcomes by work type

Evaluation form

The student's final grade in the course is calculated on a 100 point grading scale, it includes:

• 40% of the examination result;
• 60% of current control result.

The final grade is calculated by the formula:

 

Where Midterm 1, Midterm 2are digital equivalents of the grades of Midterm 1 and 2;

E is a digital equivalent of the exam grade.

Final alphabetical grade and its equivalent in points:

The letter grading system for students' academic achievements, corresponding to the numerical equivalent on a four-point scale:

Topics of lectures

• Introduction to Writing a Research Proposal
• Types of scientific publications
• Literature Search for Research
• Using information from academic sources
• Critical Writing Skills: Writing a Literature Review
• The format of an original manuscript
• Writing paragraphs, introduction and conclusion
• Issues in scientific writing (plagiarism, authorship, ghostwriting, reproducible research)
• How to do a peer review; and how to communicate with the lay public
• Scientific conferences
• How to write a research proposal
• Scientific fundraizing

Key reading

• Paul Dummett, Jon HirdOxford EAP (English for Academic Purposes) Pre-intermediate/B1. – Oxford University Press, 2015
• Academic English Website for International Students and EAP Teachers https://www.academic-englishuk.com/

Further reading

• Azar, Betty Schrampfer. Understanding and using English grammar: textbook / B.S.Azar. - NY : Longman, 2010. - 477 p