The AG Introduction to Academic Writing will focus on academic writing in various disciplines and therefore serve as preparation for students who will write their bachelor's thesis in the current or following semester. Students will be encouraged to critically engage with original research and recognize quality criteria for academic texts. They will also be introduced to the importance of good academic practice and the consequences of academic fraud within and outside of WU.

In the course of five interactive sessions, the following subjects will be covered:

• Literature search and reference management
• Academic texts and academic writing
• Types of academic writing
• Good Academic Practice and Plagiarism
• Knowledge Management and successful thesis writing

Adopting a broad perspective, we will look at texts, writing and good academic practice in different disciplines.

After the course students will be able to

• select relevant sources for the use in their academic text.
• apply different reading strategies (scanning, extracting relevant information, goal-directed reading, etc.).
• summarize and synthesize research outcomes using their own words.
• choose and integrate citations appropriately.
• know different reference systems and apply them appropriately.
• write critical comments, relying on substantive arguments, sound argumentation and relevant examples.
• recognize plagiarism and know how to avoid it in their own work.

Regular attendance is expected and required. The attendance requirements are met if students are present for at least 80 % of the scheduled online sessions.

The course consists of five sessions: The first session is going to be a workshop on literature search and reference management. We will then focus on different aspects of academic writing in the following three sessions, which are going to be structured in inputs from the instructor and group work. During the group works you will focus on structural aspects of academic texts and writing techniques a bit more in detail. The last session is dedicated to excellent Bachelor theses that were supervised and presented at WU.

The course will be graded on a pass/fail basis. In order to pass, you will have to participate actively in the online classroom.

Three homework assignments have to be handed in on time: 

• formulation of a research question
• annotated bibliography
• summary based on several sources

In order to successfully complete the course, you will have to pass two out of three homework assignments.

For students who will write their bachelor's thesis in the current or following semester.

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IMPORTANT: This course will take place online.