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Syllabus

EN IT

Prerequisites

No formal pre-requisites

Program

The course programme is divided into four inter-related parts as follows:

1)Pre Writing

2)Essay Writing, Theory, and Structure

3)Essay Types

4)Research Databases, Resources and Citation.

During each lecture, the lecturer presents the planned content with the aid of power point
presentations and invites students to critical reflection and dialogue.

Topics

WEEK 1
• Course introduction. The academic context of the essay. What is an essay?
• The art of the essay: Basic form and historical development. Why is it important?
• Orality vs writing research.
• Power of language + words as sings.
• Research question and thesis and intro to structure.

WEEK 2
• Rules, structure, and form of the academic paragraph.
• The act of prewriting and the writing process.
• Unity and coherence: the five body and the five body by extension.
• Ethics.


WEEK 3
• Research methods: from personal narrative to process essays and taxonomies and the ‘economics of an essay’.

WEEK 4
• Dilemma and ambivalence. Compare and contrast and cause-effect relationships.
• Addressing continuity within research.

WEEK 5
• Writing research, bibliographies, annotations styles and citation.

WEEK 6
• Argumentative strategies, editing and polishing.

WEEK 7
• Argumentative strategies, editing and polishing (continued). Re-establishing the controlling idea.
• Dissecting the essays of others.

WEEK 8, 9, 10
• Dissecting the essays of others (continued). + Annotated bibliography vs literature review.

Books

Attending students:
1. Slides of the course.
2. Reading material distributed by the lecturers

Non attending students (below 80% attendance): will study ONE of the following textbooks for the oral exam:

They Say, I Say (Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein) WW Norton
Writing Academic English (Ann Hogue, Oshima A.) Longman/Pearson

Bibliography

Major textbooks:

They Say, I Say (Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein) WW Norton
Writing Academic English (Ann Hogue, Oshima A.) Longman/Pearson
Models for Writers (Alfred Rosa, Paul Eschholz) Bedford
How to Write a Thesis (Umberto Eco) MIT Press
American Psychological Association. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 7th ed., American Psychological Association, 2020.

Modern Language Association of America. MLA Handbook. 9th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2021.

University of Chicago Press Editorial Staff. The Chicago Manual of Style. 18th ed., U of Chicago P, 2024
Secondary

Fowler, H. Ramsey, and Jane E. Aaron. The Little, Brown Handbook. 14th ed., Pearson, 2018.

Hacker, Diana, and Nancy Sommers. The Bedford Handbook. 12th ed., Bedford/St. Martin's, 2020.

Williams, Joseph M., and Joseph Bizup. Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace. 13th ed., Pearson, 2020.

Zinsser, William. On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction. 30th Anniversary ed., Harper Perennial, 2006.

Ballenger, Bruce. The Curious Researcher: A Guide to Writing Research Papers. 9th ed., Pearson, 2018.

Booth, Wayne C., et al. The Craft of Research. 4th ed., U of Chicago P, 2016.

Ede, Lisa. The Academic Writer: A Brief Guide. 5th ed., Bedford/St. Martin's, 2020.

Fahnestock, Jeanne, and Marie Secor. A Rhetoric of Argument: Brief Edition. 3rd ed., McGraw-Hill, 2004.

Harris, Joseph. Rewriting: How to Do Things with Texts. 2nd ed., Utah State UP, 2017.

Lunsford, Andrea A., and John J. Ruszkiewicz. Everything's an Argument. 9th ed., Bedford/St. Martin's, 2021.

Modern Language Association of America. MLA Handbook. 9th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2021.

Rosenwasser, David, and Jill Stephen. Writing Analytically. 8th ed., Cengage Learning, 2018.

Swales, John M., and Christine B. Feak. Academic Writing for Graduate Students: Essential Tasks and Skills. 3rd ed., U of Michigan P, 2012.

Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers. Revised by Wayne C. Booth et al., 9th ed., U of Chicago P, 2018.

Williams, Joseph M., and Joseph Bizup. Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace. 13th ed., Pearson, 2020.

Teaching methods

The course combines different teaching methods: lectures and, where possible, writing labs. Lectures will provide students with the necessary information and
theoretical and practical guidance on the subject matter; segments of each class will be dedicated to critically engaging students with the knowledge they have acquired through discussions and presentations. Students are required to attend each class, come prepared, and participate in discussions.

Essay prompts will be discussed during the course.

Exam Rules

Course assessment
The (default )verification of learning is achieved through two exams. A written midterm essay and a final oral examination.

In particular, the examination assesses the student's overall preparation, ability to integrate
knowledge of the different parts of the programme, consequentiality of reasoning, analytical
ability and autonomy of judgement. In addition, ownership of language and clarity of
exposition are assessed, in adherence with the Dublin descriptors.

After listening to the presentations, the lecturers communicate the results to the students
registered for the examination via the Delphi system.
Students must take the examination on all available dates.

The examination will be assessed according to the following criteria:

•
FAIL: important deficiencies and/or inaccuracies in the knowledge and understanding of
the topics; limited ability to analyse and synthesise, frequent generalisations and limited
critical and judgemental skills, the topics are set out inconsistently and with inappropriate
language;
•
PASS:

Comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the topics; considerable capacity
for analysis and synthesis. Good autonomy of judgement. Arguments presented in a
rigorous manner and with appropriate/technical language

Excellent level of knowledge and thorough understanding of topics. Excellent
analytical and synthetic skills and independent judgement. Arguments expressed in an
original manner and with appropriate technical language.

Course evaluation for attending students:

Essay 50%; Final Oral Exam 50%.

The final exam is an oral test with questions from slides.

Course evaluation for non-attending students:

Essay 50%; Final Oral Exam 50%

The final exam is an oral test with questions from the textboook assigned for the course.

Attendance Rules

Attendance is required from the very first lesson and it is necessary to attend at least 75% of the course to be considered an attending student.