Academic Writing

Lecturer: Lorraine Mannion (certified translator/interpreter for the Berlin notaries and courts and regularly)
Date: September 25-26, 2018
Venue: Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) – Member of the Leibniz Association, Kleine Maerkerstrasse 8, 06108 Halle (Saale), Germany, conference room (ground floor)
Registration: until August 31, 2018 via email: annett.hartung@iwh-halle.de. The course is designed for at most 25 participants.

Announcement: pdf

Aims and Scope
In this course, PhD students working on scholarly papers, research proposals, theses or dissertation projects will have the opportunity to strengthen their command of written English using published materials in their own disciplines.

This seminar will focus on various components of scholarly writing using sample articles, abstracts and proposals. Participants are strongly advised to take along excerpts of personally written articles for discussion and analysis.

Content
– planning and organising a piece of academic text
– the importance of introductions and conclusions
– paragraph structure
– writing a topic sentence
– developing ideas and arguments
– academic vocabulary
– summarising and paraphrasing
– student presentations on September 26

Recommended Texts/Materials
Hogue, A. (2003): Essentials of English: A Writer’s Handbook. Pearson Education: White Plains, NY.
Oshima, A.; Hogue, A. (2006): Writing Academic English (4th Ed.). Pearson Education: White Plains, NY.
Zwier, L. (2002): Building Academic Vocabulary. The University of Michigan Press: Ann Arbor, MI.

A good English/English dictionary, such as the Collins COBUILD Dictionary.

Detailed Program

September 25, 2018

10:00–10:20 Introductions, Aims, Expectations
10:20–11:30  Grammar Review for Academic Purposes
11:30–11:45   Short Break
11:45–13:00   Abstracts: Traditional Structure, Sample Abstracts
13:00–14:00  Lunch Break
14:00–15:30  Research Design:  Writing the Introduction; Paragraphing
15:30–15:45   Short Break
15:45–17:00   Punctuation

September 26, 2018

10:00–10:45 Characteristics of Good Presenting
10:45–11:30  Verbal Delivery
11:30–11:45   Short Break
11:45–12:45   Slide Design
12:45–13:45   Lunch Break
13:45–14:30   Signposting/Transitional Language
14:30–15:15    Individual Presentations
15:15–15:30    Short Break
15:30–16:45    Individual Presentations Cont’d
16:45–17:00   Debriefing