Critical Reading: Authoritative Writing
Although all students can of course read, many find it challenging to grasp the essence of complex texts and put the new knowledge they extract from them into their own words. If you’d like to read more effectively and write more convincingly, you need strategies and skills which help you to engage with texts critically. In this course, you will not only develop a better game plan for reading, but you’ll also acquire tools to paraphrase without plagiarizing and summarize without simply regurgitating someone else’s ideas. The ultimate goal is to learn how to evaluate others’ research critically and to develop your own authoritative voice as an academic.
By the end of this course you will understand how to
- read and study more efficiently
- develop an effective research question to guide your reading and writing process
- quote and paraphrase accurately and without plagiarism
- identify a writer’s stance and evaluate their argumentation
- take your own stance and summarize others’ work authoritatively
What does the course involve?
During this course you will learn how to develop a strategy for reading which saves you time and results in more a more productive writing process. You’ll learn how to hone your research questions so that your reading is focused and your study time is more productive. You will use this question to critically investigate a number of articles from your field and write interesting summaries which express your insights and points of view on the original material. You will also develop the language skills needed to paraphrase more flexibly and put forward convincing academic arguments. We will evaluate the pros and cons of apps like chat GPT and online plagiarism checkers when creating effective summaries. The end product of the course will be a critical review of several articles in your field, on which you will receive both peer and teacher feedback.
Teacher
The instructor for this course will be Lorraine Faulds. Lorraine Faulds is a communication coach at in’to Languages specializing academic communication and bilingual education. She works with undergraduates and post graduates who need to write a thesis, publish work or communicate with a wider audience. She also provides training for teachers and lecturers in secondary schools, colleges and universities who teach in English and require support to make their lessons just as effective in English as they are in their native language. As both an experienced English teacher and student of other languages, she understands the challenges of communicating in a second language and enjoys supporting and motivating her students to take their communication skills to the next level.
Schedule
The course consists of 4 sessions which will take place on Wednesday evenings 18.30 - 20.30 hrs.
Wednesday 31 January
Wednesday 7 February
Wednesday 21 February
Wednesday 6 March
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.