72641 - Academic Writings

Learning outcomes

Students will learn: editing and written self-assessment skills; mastery of essential matters of format and style in academic writing (such as with citation and documentation); and important strategies for writing effective academic prose controlled by a clear purpose and supported with sufficient, well-organized content for a particular audience. Moreover, they will improve skills in controlling tone, register, style, accuracy, vocabulary, and structure in the practical use of English in formal academic writing.

Course contents

Methodology Course, Part I: Academic Writing and Research Skills

 

The course introduces the main principles of written academic communication and covers the following topics: editing and written self-assessment; essential matters of format and style in academic writing (citation and documentation); important strategies for writing effective academic prose for a particular audience; and controlling tone, register, style, accuracy, vocabulary, and structure in the practical use of English in formal academic writing. Research skills to be improved will include primary and secondary sources and, especially, the formulation of initial research questions (i.e. what constitutes a properly academic inquiry? what is a research question? does the question identify an issue and provide focus on a situation? etc.). This course prepares students for further study in research problems and methodologies, in which skills for executing full research proposals and an introduction to prominent methodological approaches are taught.

Readings/Bibliography

Each student will be assigned several articles directly related to the topic selected for their research proposal.

Teaching methods

Teaching methods for the course include: lectures; prepared readings; full class and small group discussions; in-class writing and learning exercises; peer-review exercises.

Assessment methods

Each students will be encouraged to write, present and discuss a short research proposal. In particular the research proposals will aim at defining a research question that can guide a research for a master thesis dissertation.

In particular, each student will address the following questions

What is your research question? Is the question new? Is it a “classic” one? If it is a classic one, why it is important to revisit it? What kind of contribution do you intend to give (Theoretical, empirical, both? Policy oriented)? Is there anything counter-intuitive in your research?

How many cases? Which case selection has been used (most similar, most different, crucial, least likely)? Why is the case significant (is it representative of a universe or a sample?).

Which research method? (quality, quantitative? Which type?)What kind of secondary sources would you use? What kind of primary sources this paper would require? Would you need interviews? Who would you interview?

Office hours

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