MPhil General Research Methodology Oct 2010 - Academic Writing Course Plan

(Following is the syllabus/course plan that I developed for the section on Academic Writing in the General Research Methodology Course for the MPhil Students of Christ University. The course is taught from 11 to 26 Oct 2010 in 6 sessions of two hours each


You can download a pdf version of the syllabus by clicking here or here. To access other syllabi developed by me, please click here)


Course Instructor: Anil Pinto, Dept of Media Studies

1.     Introduction to Academic Writing (Sessions 1 and 2)

a.     Research and writing - Issues

b.     Difference between academic writing and other forms of writing

c.      Kinds of academic writings, abstract, research paper, thesis, dissertation, book review, synopsis, proposal, book

2.     Structure of Academic Writing (Sessions 3 and 4)

a.     Thesis statement, Introduction, body, conclusion, paragraphs, topic sentence

b.     Literature Review, summary, paraphrasing  

c.      Visual structuring of the report: Page layout, font, line space, highlighting

d.     Collaborative writing

e.      Structures of a research paper and dissertation

3.     Reading for Research     (Session 4)

a.     Identifying the thesis statement, argument and evidence building, counter argument, finding gaps, conclusion

4.     Academic Styles   (Session 5)

a.     MLA and APA

b.     In text citation

c.      Citing works used: single author, multiple authors,  journal, book, online, digital,  audio, video, lectures, painting, photograph, and performances

d.     Footnote/endnotes

5.     Plagiarism (Session 6)

a.     Issues, consequences, types

b.     How to avoid plagiarism

6.     Publication (Sessions 6)

a.     Print: refereed, non-refereed

b.     Digital: digital repositories

c.      Copyright issues, open access

d.     Impact factor

e.      Self-publication

7.     Online Resources (Sessions 6)

a.     Writing labs, websites

b.     Citation tools