BSc: Academic Research and Writing Culture

Academic Writing and Research Culture I (AWRC I)

• Course name: Academic Writing and Research Culture I
• Course number: N/A
• Subject area:

Course Characteristics

What should a student remember at the end of the course?

By the end of the course, the students should be able to remember and recognize

• the key features of research papers and theses as genres of academic writing;

• the key features of a good research question;

• how to search related literature and how to write up literature review;

• how to structure a research paper or a thesis;

• how to organize their own writing process;

• how to write effective sentences, paragraphs and arguments for research papers and theses.

What should a student be able to apply at the end of the course?

By the end of the course, the students should be able to

Course evaluation

Course grade breakdown

Task	Weight (%)	Task Details
Home assignments	30	Weekly revision and practice tasks
Assignment (1)	50	Literature Review and Related Works, thesis chapter draft submission
Assignment (2)	20	Structured Abstract, submission
Total	100

Resources and reference material

Textbook(s)

There is no single text book which covers the course content. Some useful resources for this course are:

1. Day, R. & Gastel, B., 2011, How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper, Greenwood, Oxford.

2. Zobel, J., 2014, Writing for Computer Science, Springer.

3. Hofmann, A.H., 2014, Scientific Writing and Communication: Papers, Proposals and Presentations, Second edition, OUP.

4. Glasman-Deal, H., 2010, Science Research Writing for Non-native Speakers of English, Imperial College Press.

5. Bolkner, J., 1998, Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day, Henry Holt and Company.

6. Wallwork, A., English for Academic Research: Writing Exercises, Springer.

7. Wallwork, A., English for Academic Research: Grammar Exercises, Springer.

8. Wallwork, A., English for Academic Research: Vocabulary Exercises, Springer.

9. Wallwork, A., English for Academic Research: Grammar, Usage and Style, Springer.

Reference Materials

1. Elsevier Researcher Academy https://researcheracademy.elsevier.com

2. IEEE Editorial Style Manual https://journals.ieeeauthorcenter.ieee.org/your-role-in-articleproduction/ieee-editorial-style-manual/

3. Purdue University Online Writing Lab https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/purdue_owl.html

4. Mark Davies’ text analysis tool based on Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) https://www.wordandphrase.info

5. Texts analysis tool https://writefull.com/researchers.html

6. Manchester University phrase bank http://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/introducing-work/

7. Scopus Content Coverage Guide https://www.elsevier.com/?a=69451

8. Google Scholar, top publication venues https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=top_venues&hl=en

9. Some search tools: https://www.sciencedirect.com; https://figshare.com; https://www.dimensions.ai/products/free/

10. Cambridge Dictionary Online https://dictionary.cambridge.org

11. Previous years Innopolis University students’ theses https://e.lanbook.com/vkrs?publisher=42

Computer Resources

Students should have laptops with a word processor, camera, microphone and presentation software and wireless internet access. Each student needs access to the LMS.

Laboratory Exercises

Students are expected to be engaged in writing and texts revising activities.

Laboratory Resources

Internet access, including access to Zoom and IU Moodle.

Late Submission Policy

The late submission policy will be strictly applied in this course. If a personal emergency should arise that affects your ability to turn in an assignment in a timely fashion, you must contact the course instructor BEFORE the deadline to get a “Special Late Submission Approval” from the course instructor. Without the “Special Late Submission Approval”, the submissions will be still accepted up to 48 hours late, but with a 50% penalty. No “Special Late Submission Approval” will be granted after the deadline.

Cooperation Policy and Quotations

We encourage vigorous discussion and cooperation in this class. You should feel free to discuss any aspects of the class with any classmates. However, we insist that any written material that is not specifically designated as a Team Deliverable to be done by you alone. This includes answers to reading questions, individual reports associated with assignments, and labs. We also insist that if you include verbatim text from any source, you clearly indicate it using standard conventions of quotation or indentation and a note to indicate the source.

Written assignments (Literature Review and Related Works chapter; Structured Abstract)

Band	Task fulfilment and content (30%)	Organization, cohesion and balance (20%)	Grammar and vocabulary (20%)	Communication and clarity (20%)	Style and register (10%)
A	Has responded to the task fully, using a wide range of ideas and developing them at least in part. Has concluded logically.	Sophisticated progression of ideas. Purpose of each paragraph clear. Good cohesion within paragraphs. Good balance of ideas.	Uses a wide range of language with some quite complex structures, if appropriate, and a wide range of appropriate vocabulary. Any errors will be non-impeding.	The reader has practically no difficulty understanding the writer’s ideas and any time. Extremely fluent.	The style is appropriate throughout.
B	Has responded to the task appropriately and included a good range of ideas, which are well supported.	Logical organization of ideas. Within the paragraphs reasonable cohesion. Use of signposts does not result in confusion. Reasonable balance of ideas.	Uses a good range of language. There will be errors, but they are nonimpeding. Uses pre-learnt phrases appropriately.	Communicates ideas with a good degree of fluency. No strain to the reader.	Only very occasional use of style that may not be considered entirely appropriate.
C	Has responded to the task, but there may be some repetition of the same ideas, or the ideas may be somewhat limited or irrelevant.	There may be a division of paragraphs, but ideas are muddled within the paragraphs. Confusing discourse markers.	Either has a rather poor level of accuracy in attempting to produce complex language or uses extremely simple language.	Struggles to communicate meaning successfully. A certain amount of strain to the reader.	Somewhat inappropriate style with personal pronouns, questions or inappropriate vocabulary.
D	Has either written something completely irrelevant or has extremely limited ideas.	Ideas follow no logical pattern. The arguments may be completely onesided.	Many inaccuracies, even very basic errors. Poor range of structures.	Considerable strain to the reader to understand the meaning.	Inappropriate style throughout.