90108 - Writing and Argumentation Laboratory (1) (F-N)

Learning outcomes

The aim of the workshop is to strengthen the writing skills of students, working on the logical construction of arguments and reasoning, on the consolidation of syntactic and semantic skills, and on the simplification and effectiveness of written Italian. At the end of the course students will be able to shape clear and well-argued written texts, and to make stylistic choices appropriate to the communicative situation.

Course contents

The course is intended exclusively for students of F-N group and will cover the following topics:

• The text and the different text types
• Preliminary aspects: identifying the objective, the addressee and the context
• The notion of adequacy
• The writing process: planning, drafting, editing
• Techniques for optimizing the writing process: outlines, maps, writing flow, checklists
• The relevance of the revision stage and the different levels of editing
• Linguistic correctness: lexical, syntactic and textual aspects
• Communicative effectiveness: lexical, syntactic and textual choices
• The punctuation
• Paragraphing and the different types of paragraphs
• Argumentative texts: formal and structural characteristics
• The argumentative path and its variants
• The argumentative text: from comprehension strategies to production
• Argumentative methods and logical articulation
• Elements of academic writing: citations and bibliography
• Focus: how to write a paper
  

Readings/Bibliography

• Dario Corno, Scrivere e comunicare. La scrittura in lingua italiana in teoria e in pratica, Milano, Pearson Education, 2019 (Unità 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25).

• Paola Italia, Scrivere all’università. Manuale pratico con esercizi e antologia di testi, Firenze, Le Monnier, 2014 (Capitoli 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).

• Edoardo A. D'Elia, Parlare. Strumenti e tecniche del discorso, Milano, Hoepli, 2020 (Prima parte, Principi e tecniche, tutta; seconda parte, Applicazioni, solo "Parlare all'università").

For non-attenders, the study of the following additional text is recommended:

• Luisa Carrada, Lavoro dunque scrivo. Creare testi che funzionano per carta e web, Bologna, Zanichelli, 2012.

Teaching methods

Given the theoretical-practical nature of the course, attendance is strongly recommended. During the workshop there will be alternating lectures - characterized, however, by a strong interactive component - and activities of writing, rewriting, analysis and collective discussion of texts.

Assessment methods

The examination will consist of a two-hour written test and will include four open-ended questions on the key topics of the course, the evaluation of which will be based on the correctness, relevance and comprehensiveness of the answer, and the production of a short documented argumentative text, which will be evaluated on linguistic correctness, argumentative soundness and communicative effectiveness. Each answer will be awarded 0 to 5 points, and the paper may be evaluated from 0 to 10 points.

Office hours

See the website of Edoardo Antonio D'Elia