Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE LIN1063

 
TITLE Academic Reading and Writing in English

 
UM LEVEL 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course

 
MQF LEVEL 5

 
ECTS CREDITS 2

 
DEPARTMENT Institute of Linguistics and Language Technology

 
DESCRIPTION Objectives:

The study-unit sets out to improve participants' awareness of and familiarity with the most important skills involved in successful academic reading and writing, with the focus falling mainly on writing. Wherever possible, students will be grouped according to their respective areas of study.

Content:

Participants will be exercised in strategies for efficient and effective critical reading and the seamless utilisation of material from a variety of sources. Reference will also be made to the most important library resources in their field/s of study.

The writing component will pay particular attention to the principles and mechanics of good text structure, on the basis of analyses of academic texts. The subskills involved in successful summarisation and paraphrasing from written sources will also be emphasised. Great stress will be placed on good quotation/citation/referencing skills and the paramount necessity of avoiding plagiarism.

General references:

- American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
- Bazerman, C. (1994). The informed writer: Using sources in the disciplines (5th ed.). Retrieved from http://writing.colostate.edu/textbooks/informedwriter/informedwriter.pdf
- Greetham, B. (2008). How to write better essays (2nd ed.). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Pears, R., & Shields, G. (2010). Cite them right: The essential referencing guide (8th ed.). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Ramage, J. D., Bean, J. C., & Johnson, J. (2010). The Allyn & Bacon guide to writing (6th ed.). London: Longman.
- Rose, M., & Kiniry, M. (1997). Critical strategies for academic thinking and writing (3rd ed.). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

Chemistry & Biology:

- Coghill, A. M., & Garson, L. R. (Eds.). (2006). The ACS style guide: Effective communication of scientific information (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: American Chemical Society
- Gustavii, B. (2008). How to write and illustrate a scientific paper (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Kanare, H. M. (1985). Writing the laboratory notebook. Washington, DC: American Chemical Society.
- Maimon, E. P., Peritz, J. H., & Yancey, K. B. (2007). A writer’s resource: A handbook for writing and research (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
- Matthews, J. R., & Matthews, R. W. (2008). Successful scientific writing: A step by step guide for the biological and medical sciences (3rd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Robinson, M. S., Stoller, F. L., Costanza-Robinson, & M. S., Jones, J. K. (2008). Write like a chemist. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Russey, W. E., Ebel, H. F., & Bliefert, C. (2006). How to write a successful science thesis: The concise guide for students. Weinheim: Wiley-VCH.

Midwifery:

- Gimenez, J. (2007). Writing for nursing and midwifery students. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Social Work & Social Policy:

- Szuchman, L.T., & Thomlison, B. (2007). Writing with style: APA style for social work (3rd ed.). Ontario: Brooks Cole.

 
RULES/CONDITIONS In TAKING THIS UNIT YOU CANNOT TAKE LLT1910

 
ADDITIONAL NOTES Students wishing to take this study-unit as an Optional or Elective, should fill in the form provided  here.

Visiting students for whom English is not a first language should be aware that the course assumes a proficiency in English that enables them to handle academic texts and their discussion in English. This would roughly be in the range of 6 IELTS (for TOFL equivalent see http://www.eurogates.nl/en-TOEFL-IELTS-score-conversion/). Students who feel their proficiency might not yet have reached a sufficiently high level are advised not to take the course since they may not be able to follow it with profit.

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Assignment See note below Yes 25%
Examination (1 Hour and 15 Minutes) See note below Yes 75%
Note: Assessment due will vary according to the study-unit availability.

 
LECTURER/S Conrad Aquilina
Arthur Bezzina
Marlene Ellul
Paul A. Falzon
Natalie Schembri
John Paul Vella

 

 
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

https://www.um.edu.mt/course/studyunit