COR160 Essential Academic Writing Skills Study Guide (2.5 CU)Course Development Team Head of Programme : Dr Regina Lee Course Developer : Fazilah Mohamed Ismail Production : Educational Technology & Production Team © 2017 SIM University. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the Educational Technology & Production, SIM University. Educational Technology & Production SIM University 461 Clementi Road Singapore 599491 Release V1.4CONTENTS SECTION 1: COURSE GUIDE 1.1 Introduction.....................................................................................................1 1.2 Course Description and Aims.......................................................................2 1.3 Learning Outcomes ........................................................................................3 1.4 Overall Assessment ........................................................................................4 1.5 Learning Materials..........................................................................................5 SECTION 2: STUDY UNITS STUDY UNIT 1: The Nature of Academic Writing Learning Outcomes ··················································································· SU1-1 Overview····································································································· SU1-1 Chapter 1: The Nature of Academic Writing········································· SU1-2 Topic 1 Writing What is Academic Writing? Writing as a Process Topic 2 Reading Critically Topic 3 Working with Multiple Sources STUDY UNIT 2: Academic Writing Genres Learning Outcomes ··················································································· SU2-1 Overview····································································································· SU2-1 Chapter 1: Preparing Students for Academic Writing Genres·········································································································· SU2-2 Topic 1 Summarising, Paraphrasing and Quoting Topic 2 Synthesising STUDY UNIT 3: Argumentative Writing Learning Outcomes ··················································································· SU3-1 Overview····································································································· SU3-1 Chapter 1: Preparing Students for Argumentative Writing ··············· SU3-2 Topic 1 Writing a Persuasive Argumentative Essay Topic 2 Understanding FallaciesCOR160 Essential Academic Writing Skills COURSE GUIDECOR160 COURSE GUIDE 1 SECTION 1: COURSE GUIDE 1.1 Introduction Welcome to your study of COR160 Essential Academic Writing Skills, a 2.5 credit unit (CU) course. This Study Guide is divided into two sections – the Course Guide and Study Units. The Course Guide provides a structure for the entire course. As the phrase implies, the Course Guide aims to guide you through the learning experience. In other words, it may be seen as a roadmap through which you are introduced to the different topics within the broader subject. This Guide has been prepared to help you understand the aims and learning outcomes of the course. In addition, it explains how the various materials and resources are organised and how they may be used, how your learning will be assessed, and how to get help if you need it. Course Schedule To help monitor your study progress, you should pay special attention to your Course Schedule. It contains study unit related activities including Assignment, selfevaluations, and examinations. Please refer to the Course Timetable in the Student Portal for the updated Course Schedule. NOTE: You should always make it a point to check the Student Portal for any announcements and latest updates. You need to ensure you fully understand the contents of each Study Unit listed in the Course Schedule. You are expected to complete the suggested activities either independently and/or in groups. It is imperative that you read through your Assignment questions and submission instructions before embarking on your Assignment. It is also important you comprehend the Overall Assessment Weighting of your course. This is listed in Section 1.4 of this Guide. Manage your time well so you can meet given deadlines and do regular revisions after completing each unit of study. They will help you retain the knowledge garnered and prepare you for any required formal assessment. If your course requires an end-of-semester examination, do look through the Specimen or Past Year Exam Paper which is available on MyUniSIM. Although flexible learning – learning at your own pace, space and time – is a hallmark at UniSIM, you are encouraged to engage your instructor and fellow students in online discussion forums. A sharing of ideas through meaningful debates will help broaden your learning and crystallise your thinking.COR160 COURSE GUIDE 2 1.2 Course Description and Aims This University core course offers the essential writing skills required by undergraduates in a university to help them function effectively in an academic environment and beyond. The course introduces students to the basic principles of critical reading and writing skills, such as summarising, paraphrasing, quoting and synthesising information from different texts, critically evaluating information for use in project papers, selecting and incorporating information from other sources in a text as well as accurately documenting such information within and at the end of a text following referencing conventions. These skills are generic and transferable to other disciplines and students can apply them immediately in their class work, assignments, project papers and examinations. It aims to develop:  core competencies in academic writing such as critical reading, analysis of texts and argumentative/persuasive writing  ability to read an extended text critically and summarise its main points  ability to make informed judgement about what they read and challenge assumptions  ability to compare and contrast different perspectives on issues and give compelling personal responses to them  ability to synthesise information from different sources to complete a task  ability to document information within and at the end of a text accurately  ability to apply what they have learned to other disciplinesCOR160 COURSE GUIDE 3 1.3 Learning Outcomes Knowledge & Understanding (Theory Component) At the end of this course, student should be able to:  Demonstrate an understanding of the key concepts and principles underlying academic writing skills. Key Skills (Practical Component) Reading & Writing (for Knowledge & Understanding) Students should be able to:  Evaluate information critically from various sources to respond to a task  Use information from various sources in their writing in response to a given task  Develop a rhetorical structure of an essay  Apply persuasive argumentative writing strategies in response to a given task  Cite sources in their writing using the proper citation and referencing styleCOR160 COURSE GUIDE 4 1.4 Overall Assessment The overall assessment weighting for this course is as follows: Assessment Description Weight Allocation Assignment 1 This assesses the student's ability to write an academic essay on an issue in about 750 words. Specifically, it will test the student's ability to gather, analyse interpret and use the information purposefully to write the paper. It will also test the student's ability to use proper referencing conventions. 45% Assignment 2 This assesses the student's ability to write a persuasive argumentative essay defending a position in order to argue for a particular stance on an issue in about 1000 words. It tests the student's ability to gather, analyse, interpret, and use the information purposefully in addition to anticipating objections and providing counterarguments to write the paper. It will also test the student's ability to use proper referencing conventions. 45% Assignment 3 Reading Programme Quiz 10% TOTAL 100% The assessment strategy for this course consists of three (3) assignments that make up the overall course assessment score. Both assignments are equally weighted. All assignments are compulsory. Your overall rank score is the weighted average of the three (3) assignments.COR160 COURSE GUIDE 5 1.5 Learning Materials The following is a list of the required learning materials to complete this course. Required Textbooks Authors Last name, First name Title Year Publisher "Essential Academic Writing Skills" – a custom textbook comprising selected chapters from the following texts : 2013 Pearson Publication 1) Behrens, L. & Rosen, L. J. A Sequence for Academic Writing. (3rd Ed.). 2007 New Jersey: Pearson Publication 2) Diestler, S. Becoming a Critical Thinker: A User-Friendly Manual. (6th Ed.). 2012 New Jersey: Pearson Publication 3) Inch, E. S. & Warnick, B. Critical Thinking and Communication: The Use of Reason in Argument. (6th Ed.). 2011 Boston: Pearson Publication 4) Mulvaney, M. K. & Joliffe, D. A. Academic Writing: Genres, Samples and Resources. 2005 New York: Pearson Publication 5) Pirozzi, R., Starks-Martin, G. & Dziewisz, J. Critical Reading, Critical Thinking: Focusing on Contemporary Issues. (4th Ed.). 2012 New York: Pearson Publication 6) Rosen, L. J. The Academic Writer's Handbook. (2nd Ed.). 2009 New York: Pearson Publication 7) Rosen, L. J. The Academic Writer's Handbook. (3rd Ed.). 2012 New York: Pearson Publication 8) Wilhoit, S. A Brief Guide to Writing Academic Arguments. 2009 New York: Pearson Publication 9) Wilhoit, S. A Brief Guide to Writing from Readings. (5th Ed.) 2010 New Jersey: Pearson Publication 10) Wilhoit, S. A Brief Guide to Writing from Readings. (6th Ed.) 2012 New Jersey: Pearson PublicationCOR160 Essential Academic Writing Skills STUDY UNIT 1 The Nature of Academic WritingCOR160 STUDY UNIT 1 SU1-1 LEARNING OUTCOMES At the end of these units, you are expected to:  demonstrate an understanding of critical reading, the writing process and features of academic writing including appropriate documentation  be able to write in different genres specifically synthesis writing and persuasive argumentative writing OVERVIEW This University core course offers the essential writing skills required by undergraduates in a university to help them function effectively in an academic environment and beyond. The course introduces students to the basic principles of critical reading and writing skills, such as summarising, paraphrasing, quoting and synthesising information from different texts, critically evaluating information for use in project papers, selecting and incorporating information from other sources in a text as well as accurately documenting such information within and at the end of a text following referencing conventions. These skills are generic and transferable to other disciplines and students can apply them immediately in their class work, assignments, project papers and examinations.COR160 STUDY UNIT 1 SU1-2 CHAPTER 1: THE NATURE OF ACADEMIC WRITING This chapter aims to give students an understanding of critical reading, the writing process and features of academic writing including appropriate documentation. As a student at an institution of higher learning, the ability to write academic essays is the expectation. To be able to write such academic essays, a student needs to be a critical reader and one who understands the writing process, specifically, the process involved in the genre of academic writing. In addition, it is crucial that the student is equipped with the knowledge on how to cite sources in-text as well as end-of-text so as not to plagiarise the works of others. The course begins with the following topics in this study unit that give a clear understanding of the requirements of writing at the tertiary level. TOPIC 1 WRITING What is Academic Writing? Academic writing is writing that is informed, logical, clear, well structured, and based on evidence.  Academic writers enter into a conversation through their writing. They collaborate, review, and constructively criticise one another's work.  Academic writers build support for their conclusions through the use of logic and evidence. Evidence consists of information found in original research and in information and interpretations found in the work of others.  Academic writers acknowledge all sources they use, both in the text portions of their papers and in specially labelled sections at the ends of their papers.  Academic writers maintain a serious, formal tone. Writing as a Process The writing process can be broken into several steps to make it into something more manageable. The steps involved in the writing process are:  Understanding the task  Gathering data  Invention  Drafting  Revision  EditingCOR160 STUDY UNIT 1 SU1-3 At the end of this study topic, students will be able to: 1) Identify the characteristics of academic writing 2) Demonstrate an understanding of the taxonomy of rubrics associated with academic writing 3) Plan an essay 4) Construct a rhetorical structure of an essay 5) Compose the argument of a text 6) Use evidence to support a thesis 7) Use a variety of sources to enrich their argument 8) Write for an audience by understanding attributes, needs and expectations of the audience READ: Pages 1 – 45 of the COR160 Textbook, 2013. ACTIVITY 1: Work on MyWritingLab:  Writing and the Writing Process – Working through the Stages of the Writing Process Tutorial  Writing with Different Rhetorical Strategies ACTIVITY 2: Complete Exercise 2.1: Analyse an Example Assignment on page 12 of the COR160 Textbook, 2013. TOPIC 2 READING CRITICALLY A critical reader knows that the meaning of a text resides in the interaction between the reader and the words on the page: to understand a text, a reader must be aware of how his/her own knowledge, feelings, and experience influence his/her interpretation of the words on the page. For the critical reader, reading is a rather dynamic, fluid process: s/he reads through a text sceptically, assesses the author's words and ideas in light of his/her own knowledge and experience, jots down some notes that capture his/her questions and responses, rereads the text after s/he has had some time to consider what the author had to say, then moves on. Viewing reading as an interactive process can help you better understand the complex nature of writing from sources and the need to be an active, critical reader. At the end of this study topic, students will be able to: 1) Identify the context, intended audience, purpose and tone 2) Identify the author's major claim or thesis and supporting arguments/evidenceCOR160 STUDY UNIT 1 SU1-4 3) Analyse the rhetorical structure of a text 4) Infer from a text 5) Summarise the main points of the text 6) Interpret assumptions behind the text 7) Distinguish between facts and opinions 8) Question a writer's claims by analysing the argument, identifying fallacies in the argument, and formulating a counter-argument READ: Pages 47 – 153 of the COR160 Textbook, 2013. ACTIVITY 1: Complete Activity 3: Distinguishing between Facts and Opinions on page 94 of the COR160 Textbook, 2013. ACTIVITY 2: Complete Activity 7: 1 GPS Tracking Devices – Teens vs. Parents, Law Enforcement vs. Invasion of Privacy on page 98 (Comprehension Questions 1 - 5 of the COR160 Textbook, 2013. ACTIVITY 3: Complete Mastery Test 6 - 1 on pages 146 – 148 of the COR160 Textbook, 2013. TOPIC 3 WORKING WITH MULTIPLE SOURCES One of the earlier topics in this study unit has highlighted the fact that academic writing is evidence-based and that one category of evidence is in information and interpretations found in the work of others. Such sources of information are used in various types of academic writing like research papers, literature reviews, etc; and even workplace writing like reports, market analyses, etc. Summaries, critiques, and analyses are generally based on only one or two sources. Syntheses, by contrast (and by definition), are based on multiple sources. But whatever you call the final product, the quality of your paper will be directly related to your success in locating and using a sufficient quantity of relevant, significant, reliable, and up-to-date sources. Research involves many of the skills we have been discussing in this study unit and will be discussing in the subsequent study unit. It requires you to: (1) locate and take notes on relevant sources; (2) organise your findings;COR160 STUDY UNIT 1 SU1-5 (3) summarise, paraphrase, or quote these sources accurately and ethically; (4) critically evaluate them for their value and relevance to your subject; (5) synthesise information and ideas from several sources that best support your own critical viewpoint; and (6) analyse subjects for meaning and significance. At the end of this study topic, students will be able to: 1) Describe the aspects of proper documentation including proper citation and referencing 2) Explain plagiarism, its severity and how to avoid it 3) Apply the APA system of documentation READ: Pages 223 – 272 of the COR160 Textbook, 2013. ACTIVITY 1: Work on MyWritingLab:  Conducting Research and Documenting Sources:  Recognising a Research Paper  Planning Research  Finding Sources  Evaluating Sources  Avoiding Plagiarism  Integrating sources  Citing Sources Using APA ACTIVITY 2: Complete Exercise 9.3: Exploring Electronic Sources on page 235 of the COR160 Textbook, 2013.COR160 Essential Academic Writing Skills STUDY UNIT 2 Academic Writing GenresCOR160 STUDY UNIT 2 SU2-1 LEARNING OUTCOMES At the end of these units, you are expected to:  demonstrate an understanding of critical reading, the writing process and features of academic writing including appropriate documentation  be able to write in different genres specifically synthesis writing and persuasive argumentative writing OVERVIEW This University core course offers the essential writing skills required by undergraduates in a university to help them function effectively in an academic environment and beyond. The course introduces students to the basic principles of critical reading and writing skills, such as summarising, paraphrasing, quoting and synthesising information from different texts, critically evaluating information for use in project papers, selecting and incorporating information from other sources in a text as well as accurately documenting such information within and at the end of a text following referencing conventions. These skills are generic and transferable to other disciplines and students can apply them immediately in their class work, assignments, project papers and examinations.COR160 STUDY UNIT 2 SU2-2 CHAPTER 1: PREPARING STUDENTS FOR ACADEMIC WRITING GENRES This chapter aims to prepare students to write in different genres, specifically, summarising, paraphrasing, quoting and synthesising. The earlier study unit has shown the need to use sources of information published by other writers within a student's academic essay. The academic essay writer can summarise, paraphrase and quote relevant parts of other source texts and incorporate these within his/her essays. The academic essay writer needs to also weave such summaries, paraphrases and quotes together with their own original ideas within their essay text. What the academic essay writer is doing is what is called synthesising. In order to write a good synthesis, the academic essay writer needs to:  consider varied sources, including his/her own thoughts and opinions;  critically read and analyse each source;  combine or blend the varied sources, including his/her own ideas; and  credit all sources of borrowed material to avoid plagiarism. The following topics of this study unit details the strategies required to be able to develop the skills of summarising, paraphrasing, quoting and synthesising. TOPIC 1 SUMMARISING, PARAPHRASING AND QUOTING The ability to summarise, paraphrase and quote is fundamental to academic, source-based writing. Summarising a reading involves two separate processes: (1) identifying the important material in the text and (2) restating the material in your own words. Paraphrasing a passage requires you to express an author's arguments, findings, or ideas in your own words. Unlike a summary, which will always be shorter than the original passage, a paraphrase can be longer than the original source text. Quoting a source text is when you use someone else's words in your paper and clearly marking out these words from the author in double quotation marks. Whether you are summarising, paraphrasing or quoting texts, you must provide proper documentation, as covered in Study Unit 1, to tell your reader that these are not your words but they are those belonging to another author and where the reader can find them. The material in this study topic will clearly detail how you can summarise, paraphrase and quote your source texts. At the end of this study topic, students will be able to: 1) Identify main and subordinate points of a given text 2) Summarise texts 3) Produce paraphrases of textsCOR160 STUDY UNIT 2 SU2-3 4) Quote texts 5) Demonstrate an understanding of plagiarism by fairly crediting all borrowed material 6) Demonstrate expectations for organisation, style, punctuation and grammar in their writing 7) Use the mechanics for making a text coherent, e.g. use of cohesive devices such as transitionals and other signposting techniques READ: Pages 155 – 205 and 216 – 222 of the COR160 Textbook, 2013. ACTIVITY 1: Complete Exercise 7.3: Summarising and Paraphrasing on page 190 of the COR160 Textbook, 2013. ACTIVITY 2: Complete Something to talk about . . . on page 331 of the COR160 Textbook, 2013. For this activity, use the Sample Reading "Regular Exercise and Weight Management: Myths and Reality" by Steven Jonas to examine which of the three ways he uses quoted material in his article to advance his argument. READ: Pages 427 – 444 of the COR160 Textbook, 2013. ACTIVITY 3: Work on MyWritingLab:  Understanding Basic Grammar  Composing Clear and Effective Sentences  Using Punctuation, Mechanics, and Spelling  Improving Language Usage and Style TOPIC 2 SYNTHESISING When writing academic papers, you are frequently required to analyse multiple sources simultaneously to incorporate in your writing. To be able to do that requires the skill of synthesising. When you synthesise, you will be blending and combining multiple sources with your own thoughts and opinions to create something new: a new argument to defend, a new approach to a dilemma, a newCOR160 STUDY UNIT 2 SU2-4 explanation of some phenomenon, and so forth, based on your own ideas and on your analysis of each source. At the end of this study topic, students will be able to: 1) Review multiple sources, including your own thoughts and opinions 2) Analyse critically each source 3) Integrate the varied sources 4) Create an end result that's distinct from any one of the sources evaluated singly 5) Demonstrate an understanding of plagiarism by fairly crediting all borrowed material READ: Pages 206 – 215 of the COR160 Textbook, 2013.COR160 Essential Academic Writing Skills STUDY UNIT 3 Argumentative WritingCOR160 STUDY UNIT 3 SU3-1 LEARNING OUTCOMES At the end of these units, you are expected to:  demonstrate an understanding of critical reading, the writing process and features of academic writing including appropriate documentation  be able to write in different genres specifically synthesis writing and persuasive argumentative writing OVERVIEW This University core course offers the essential writing skills required by undergraduates in a university to help them function effectively in an academic environment and beyond. The course introduces students to the basic principles of critical reading and writing skills, such as summarising, paraphrasing, quoting and synthesising information from different texts, critically evaluating information for use in project papers, selecting and incorporating information from other sources in a text as well as accurately documenting such information within and at the end of a text following referencing conventions. These skills are generic and transferable to other disciplines and students can apply them immediately in their class work, assignments, project papers and examinations.COR160 STUDY UNIT 3 SU3-2 CHAPTER 1: PREPARING STUDENTS FOR ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING This chapter aims to prepare students to write a persuasive argumentative essay and to understand fallacies in arguments. The persuasive argumentative essay is the focus of this study unit and the ability to write one requires the student to draw on the knowledge and skills covered in the earlier study units. The persuasive argumentative essay is a specific type of academic essay, other than the summary, explanation, analysis and critique types of essays. In a persuasive argumentative essay, the student academic writer makes a claim and provides supporting evidence. The student must also anticipate objections to his/her claim by stating these and providing counterarguments to further his/her claim. It is important that the student balances his/her ethical (ethos), logical (logos) and emotional (pathos) appeals to his/her readers so as to present a moderated voice in his/her essay. Critical in the process of writing the persuasive argumentative essay, the student must take great care to avoid reasoning errors in his/her arguments which can destroy the student's claim in his/her essay. In order to do that, the student must first understand what the types of fallacies in arguments are that can occur. The following topics in this study unit will expound the requirements to help the student write a persuasive argumentative essay, with a voice of moderation and free from reasoning errors. TOPIC 1 WRITING A PERSUASIVE ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY In academic settings, people engage in academic arguments to accomplish one of three goals: (1) to explain positions or ideas to readers; (2) to persuade readers to change what they think, what they believe, or how they act; or (3) to help mediate or reconcile disputes that exist among readers, positions or ideas. To achieve these ends, writers offer a series of claims, reasons, evidence, and appeals in their arguments. It is also important to note that effective academic arguments are properly qualified and address opposing points of view. To qualify a claim is to recognise its limitations. Qualified claims tend to be more difficult to refute than unqualified, sweeping claims and are more credible among academic readers. Acknowledging and rebutting opposing points of view in your argument also improves your credibility. At the end of this study topic, students will be able to: 1) Demonstrate an understanding of the organisational structure of an argumentative essay 2) Identify the features of an argumentative essayCOR160 STUDY UNIT 3 SU3-3 3) Produce support for claims using the persuasive appeals of ethos, pathos and logos 4) Demonstrate an understanding of the need to anticipate possible objections 5) Demonstrate an understanding of the need to state counterarguments to objections 6) Demonstrate expectations for organisation, style, punctuation and grammar in their writing 7) Use the mechanics for making a text coherent, e.g. use of cohesive devices such as transitionals and other signposting techniques READ: Pages 296 – 337 of the COR160 Textbook, 2013. ACTIVITY 1: Work on MyWritingLab:  Writing Arguments TOPIC 2 UNDERSTANDING FALLACIES Logicians and rhetoricians have identified certain types of claims as false or misleading. These logical fallacies usually involve questionable links between claims and grounds. Avoiding such logos-related fallacies will strengthen the arguments you write. There are also lines of fallacious reasoning associated with emotional appeals and employing these pathos-related fallacies in your arguments will damage your credibility. Certain types of reasoning errors are particularly damaging to a writer's efforts to establish his or her authority or credibility. Avoiding them will help increase your ethos when writing academic arguments. Although logos, pathos and ethos have been dealt with individually in the earlier topic in this study unit, all three work frequently together in academic arguments to make your writing persuasive. Sound reasoning helps you appeal to your readers' intellect; careful attention to pathos helps you appeal to their emotions, needs and desires; and establishing your credibility and authority as a writer increases their confidence in your argument. At the end of this study topic, students will be able to: 1) Identify the various types of fallacies 2) Demonstrate an understanding of what fallacious arguments are 3) Demonstrate an understanding of how to avoid fallacies in their argumentsCOR160 STUDY UNIT 3 SU3-4 READ: Pages 338 – 393 of the COR160 Textbook, 2013. ACTIVITY 2: Complete Checkup Questions 1 - 10 on page 388 of the COR160 Textbook, 2013.