Effective Essays

What makes some academic papers so dull and hard to follow? Often it is the lack of a well-structured argument. Insights and ideas that emerge from research and discussion have to be ordered in a logical way so that others can grasp them and respond to them. Clear and persuasive argumentation is a feature of all forms of academic writing, but nowhere more so than in the academic essay.

The academic essay is an opportunity for you to really connect with your subject and develop the confidence to contribute to academic discussion in your field. Rather than simply conveying information, an essay aims to make the case for a point of view that you believe in and that you can support with evidence.

By the end of this course you will understand how to
• create an effective outline for essays and other writing tasks
• write academic essays in different styles
• develop an effective thesis
• apply the linguistic and structural writing conventions of the essay genre
• locate additional resources that may help you to continue to improve your writing skills

What does the course involve?
By planning and writing two short academic essays, you will come to grips with the fundamentals of the essay genre and develop your writing skills in English. Through a combination of in-class exercises, writing tasks and peer review, you will learn how to develop an effective thesis, present well-structured arguments and anticipate and deal with counterarguments. You also will learn the basics of text and sentence structure, and you will have the opportunity to work on grammatical and vocabulary issues so that your writing comes across as professional.

Teacher
The instructor for this course will be Maud Beljon. Maud is a trainer at Radboud In’to Languages specializing in general and academic English. Besides this, she is also involved in language assessment. She studied General Linguistics at Radboud University. She teaches general English courses, tailormade courses and academic writing courses, which she enjoys very much. Maud knows how frustrating it is to get stuck on writing assignments and enjoys helping students developing an effective writing process and getting their point across. Her main motivation comes from seeing her students become more and more confident in their communication skills.

Schedule
The course consists of 4 sessions, which will take place on Thursday evenings from 18.00 to 20.00 hrs.

Thursday 15 February
Thursday 7 March
Thursday 18 April
Thursday 16 May

The course will take place on campus. The Honours Academy and Radboud in’to Languages believe that the best learning happens when we collaborate in the same workspace, so your physical presence is required! If you know that you cannot attend one or more sessions, pick a different course so you can get the most out of this experience with your fellow students.