Content includes not only structure, grammar, and punctuation—all of which are critical for publication success—but also the theory of contrastive rhetoric and its implications for all native and non-native writers of English.

The goal of this course is to give European PhD students the analytical, contextual, structural, and stylistic writing tools for competing with native speakers of English for limited space in international journals. The course reveals the unwritten rules of English academic rhetoric and discusses them within the context of the different and unconscious expectations of both readers and writers within the English linguistic community. Covering the five major strategies for successful publication, the course helps participants to recognize and work with linguistic and organizational cues not readily apparent to the untrained eye, along with grammatical and stylistic tricks of the trade for achieving their publication goals.

Specifically, participants will enhance their English writing skills and hone their ability to produce concise, precise and specific academic work. These skills include how to structure academic writing and specific grammar and punctuation points that writers must adhere to. In addition, participants will learn Anglo-American argumentation including how to clearly establish purpose, how to organize and focus content effectively, and how to structure sentences and paragraphs for the greatest impact.

All sessions must be attended, unless prior consent is given by the lecturer in case a session needs to be missed.

Instructor delivers two 3.5-hour online lectures via Zoom to all participants, with both lectures entailing active participant involvement. The first lecture concentrates on “pruning” (getting rid of all unnecessary words) and self-editing (i.e., how to recognize and correct the most common grammar problems that lead to the most reader confusion). Pruning is critical in the English-writing culture, where the mark of the intellectual is the ability to tell the reader the most in the fewest possible words. The second lecture focuses on paragraphing (critical to success in English), typical grammatical and style problems and how to solve them, and the writing of revision response letters and other such documents. Meanwhile, the instructor edits and comments on the participants’ writing via Word track changes and sends the writing back for revision. The writings will be then discussed via Teams in one-on-one sessions.

Participants receive study documents from the instructor by mid-May, covering a great many topics, including the critical three journal analyses (overall target journal analysis, abstract analysis, and introduction analysis). Participants study these documents carefully, study their chosen target journal, and analyze their journal as instructed. Each participant is to deliver to the instructor the following documents: all three detailed analyses; a (re)written abstract, introduction, or both; information on target journal guidelines and choice of language (UK or US English); and three recent “typical” papers (based on the results of their journal analysis).

The places are primarily given to students who are writing their dissertation at the Institute for Accounting and Auditing.

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