ACADEMIC WRITING I. DESCRIPTION Academic Writing is designed to teach you research skills, to select references, to review the use and paraphrase of quotations, to summarize content, to organize a bibliography, and to complete a 1,500 word research essay. IE Writing I IE Writing II IE Writing III Academic Writing Paragraph writing Introduction Essay writing: Research Essay to the Essay quoting, paraphrasing, 1. Description and summarizing 1. Thesis development 2. Classification 1. Analysis 2. Research skill training 3. Comparison 2. Cause and effect 1. Persuasion 3. Cite references and contrast 2. Classification 4. Review MLA style 4. Analysis [Learning MLA style] 5. Word-processing 6. Create a bibliography The present course was developed from meetings and the suggestions of Academic Writing teachers from 1998 to 2006. The guide was written by Gregory Strong, with early contributions from Mike Bettridge, Jeff Bruce, Wayne Pounds, Alexandra Shiga, Joyce Taniguchi, and Spencer Weatherly. Joseph Dias, Ted O’Neill, Forrest Nelson, Dennis Riches, and Clark Richardson introduced a number of excellent websites for teaching the MLA Style, and Nadine Solanki contributed materials on plagiarism. We would like to thank students, Kuniyoshi Arai, Emiko Kobayashi, Miyako Moeko, Kei Tanabe, and Minako Yoshida for the use of their essays for our essay rating activity in the Appendix. Other student writers whose work appears are acknowledged in the text. Copyright, Aoyama Gakuin University Gregory Strong, August 1, 2007 3 ACADEMIC WRITING I.(a) ACADEMIC WRITING AND ACADEMIC SKILLS Academic Writing is a bridge between the writing you did in the IE Program and that which you will be doing in your junior and senior years at the Shibuya campus. During those years, you will be taking seminars in the English Department in the three areas of Literature, Linguistics, and Communications and writing academic essays. II. USING COMPUTERS We expect you to use a computer for your writing in this course and e-mail to communicate with your classmates. You should be able to use: (a) an internet browser to access online references and encyclopedias (b) the spelling and grammar checking functions of MS Word or other word processing programs (c) the library online catalogues and its periodicals and encyclopedias (d) the online tutorials for properly citing works using MLA style You should try to find references for your research essay among books in the university library as well as on the internet. Ask your teacher how to distinguish between personal sites and more reliable ones such as online encyclopedias and institutional websites. Your teacher may ask you to post your essay for other classmates to read and comment upon. III. THE PRESCRIBED TEXT The text for Academic Writing is Joseph Trimmer’s A Guide to MLA Documentation (6th ed., Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2004). This slender 46-page paperback explains how to write an essay and cite your references in both MLA (Modern Languages Association) and APA (American Psychological Association) styles. Therefore, the book also will be of use in your later years of study. A Guide to MLA Documentation will be used often in class. The text is organized into the following sections and it will be used for some classroom activities. Some topics may be familiar to you already from your experiences in IE III. 4 ACADEMIC WRITING A Guide to MLA Documentation 1. Preparing the List of Works Cited 2. Documenting Sources 3. Using Notes and Parenthetical References 4. Implications for Your Research and Composing 5. Sample Outline and Research Paper 6. Abbreviations for MLA Documents 7. Appendix on APA Style IV. COURSE GOALS There are three major goals in Academic Writing. You will review the writing process, to which you were introduced in IE Writing; learn about the use of evidence; and practice critical analysis. Learning objectives are associated with each one. Classroom activities will support these. 1. The Writing Process – Take your research essays through the stages of brainstorming, drafting, peer review, and revision. By the end of the course, you should: (a) understand and use the writing process including brainstorming, drafting, revising (b) identify problems in your writing (c) know how to evaluate other students' writing and comment upon it (d) be able to revise your writing according to the feedback given by other students and the teacher. In Academic Writing you will learn to write analytic essays. This is quite different than the traditional impressionistic Japanese essay, kishoutenketsu, which links ideas by association rather than by argument. In addition, you will have to use an appropriate register. This means writing in a more formal style. You will have to avoid using the first person and the overuse of anecdotes. 5 ACADEMIC WRITING 2. Evidence – You will learn how to illustrate your ideas with the use of evidence and examples. You will need to understand the importance of doing original work and citing sources. You should be able to recognize plagiarism and know how to avoid it. After completing the course, you should have the ability to: (a) locate reference materials in the library and on the internet, including encyclopedias, subject area books, journals, and newspapers (b) create a bibliography for a research essay in the MLA format (d) paraphrase material (e) use quotations from references (f) integrate quotations in an argument (g) summarize content from references (h) take notes from sources for later incorporation in an essay 3. Critical Thinking - You should learn how to read critically, distinguishing between facts and opinions. You should develop your ability to: take not(a) eouts online sour thec eors gaforni wzarittiionng ofpur anpos esessatya ke notes on sources for writing purposestake (b) analyze the logic in written arguments notes on sources for writing purposes (c) identify the perspective of an essay (d) explain their ideas in a short oral presentation V. SCOPE AND SEQUENCE You’ve probably never written an essay of 1,500-2000 words before, so the following description has been prepared for your reference. Your finished research paper should include the following: (a) a minimum of 1,500 words, word-processed, and spell-checked (b) an introductory paragraph which discusses the background to the question being addressed in the essay (c) an appropriate thesis statement and topic sentences (d) effective transitions between paragraphs, examples within paragraphs, and major sections of the essay (e) the use of quotations where appropriate, but an emphasis on paraphrasing quotations (f) summarizing content from references (g) varied sentence construction (h) a final draft of the essay with few grammatical errors blocking communication (i) a bibliography, which should include several books cited in the MLA Style: references 6 ACADEMIC WRITING such as books, encyclopedias, and journals in either English or Japanese (Note: Japanese sources should be noted in roman characters in the bibliography.) VI. THE SEQUENCE OF INSTRUCTION The following sequence of instruction represents the steps in our 12-14 week course. Steps may take one class or a few classes to complete. Some of the homework assignments will be marked and form part of your final grade. In preparing you for your junior and senior years, we hope to teach you how to participate in a seminar presentation. In Step 8, you must prepare a short talk on your essay for your classmates. STEP 1: - review the parts of an essay (handouts provided) HW Parts of a - distinguish between a simple essay and a research paper *list 2 or 3 Research - discussion of sample topics (See Appendix) potential topics, bring Paper - brainstorm for topics books Paper HW - identify several possible topics STEP 2: *make a practice - review a sample bibliography (See Appendix) and refer to the model Preparing bibliography using 3 bibliography in A Guide to MLA Documentation (35) the Library types of sources - learn the different types of MLA citations through the examples Tour in this guide and in the text - learn how to make bibliographic entries for newspapers and magazines; correct in groups - learn about types of note taking to keep track of references STEP 3: - library orientation activity (See Appendix) HW Library Tour - demonstration of the CD ROM catalogue search *take notes, find - try out the MLA format-checking website references st rd - identify some general references from the 1 and 3 floors for *prepare particular student topics preliminary - demonstration of internet search engines bibliography STEP 4: - developing a thesis by posing a question HW Refining - consider types of questions to be answered the Topic *create a thesis - examples provided by teacher, small group work statement STEP 5: - sample outlines shown in class (See Appendix) HW Outlining - think-pair-share activities *create a rough - “show-and-tell” references in small groups outline the Paper 7 ACADEMIC WRITING - use of comparisons, cause and effect, definitions, and analyses HW STEP 6: - board examples (handouts provided) *topic sentences Introduction - small group work, prepare topic sentences - review topic sentences and seek appropriate reference materials HW STEP 7 - find suitable quotations * begin first draft Identify - learn how quotations can be paraphrased * note pages from Quotations - class exercises in paraphrasing which references were - learn how quotations and authors’ names can be placed within texts taken (i.e., intext citation of quotes) in the MLA Style - in groups, students comment about one another’s essays STEP 8: HW st Progress * continue 1 draft STEP 9: - small group discussions HW - teacher joins groups * revisions, first Peers - emphasis on transitions, cohesion and variety draft for the teacher - papers returned for next draft HW STEP 10: - small group revision * 3rd, possibly 4th, Conferences - students prepare for their oral presentations through discussions in small draft of paper groups, possibly recording themselves * prepare for oral presentation - before handing in their final papers, students make oral presentations STEP 11: - preparations include using note cards Presentation VI.