On completing the course, students will be able to:
• Critically examine academic literature in the discipline of communication and media studies
• Recall the genres of academic writing
• Write about concepts
• Write their research work sans plagiarism
• Organise and analyse data acquired from research
• Summarise and write effective abstracts of their research submission
• Edit their research work and present it in academic settings effectively
The course aims to help research scholars develop an appreciation for what goes into constructing and finishing an academic paper, beginning with understanding how to decode various types of academic texts to discern underlying structures and techniques, and going on to developing the skills to write such papers. The course will take a workshop approach, with short lectures followed by activities focused on building writing and critical reading abilities.
The course will be built around ten sessions, focusing on the following themes:
1. What goes into an academic paper?
2. Genres of academic writing—structure, form and purpose
3. Critical reading and writing of a literature review
4. Working with other people’s ideas and avoiding plagiarism
5. Writing about concepts
6. Writing with/around evidence – organizing and analyzing data
7. Constructing an argument – foregrounding the key findings
8. Summarising and abstracting
9. Editing your work—common pitfalls and how to avoid them
10. Making academic presentations
Continuous Assessment.
Assignments