Course Description & Objectives

Course Description

This course is designed to benefit graduate students who are actively writing empirical journal articles, dissertations, and/or theses; as such, GRAD 6212/8212 is ideally suited for graduate students in social sciences and STEM disciplines, although graduate students in the humanities may also benefit from it. The course focuses equally on product (i.e., the text) and process (i.e., the steps necessary to complete a text). In terms of product, students will gain skills to help them more effectively produce key parts of an empirical paper: introduction, literature review, methodology, analysis, results, discussion and conclusion; students will also practice writing different genres relevant to their disciplines, which may include conference proposals, book reviews, and research articles. With respect to process, students will learn best practices for composing scholarly pieces of writing, from drafting through polishing text; they will also learn strategies for success in the academic writing process, such as planning a large writing project, developing a regular writing schedule, managing procrastination and perfectionism, and responding to critical feedback.

Course Objectives

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

• Determine the key features of part-genres (abstracts, introductions, etc.) in their respective disciplines

• Write part-genres more effectively

• Communicate with different audiences with greater ease

• Develop and deliver an academic presentation

• Establish—and learn how to maintain—strong writing habits

• Increase writing productivity

• Employ skills to develop ideas, produce drafts, and revise and edit their work

• Develop strategies to manage and overcome obstacles in the writing process, such as responding to critical feedback on writing

• Begin forming their identities as academic writers

• Locate appropriate writing-related resources on campus and online