88021 - Academic Writing Laboratory (A)

Learning outcomes

The purpose of the laboratory is to improve the ability to draw up documents of different types and degrees of specialization with particular attention to the formal and structural aspects of the paper, as well as to its communicative effectiveness and critical validity. At the end of the lectures, students are expected to acquire the skills to write executive summary of research reports, reviews, scientific divulgation texts, essays for specialized periodicals.

Course contents

The program includes a minimum of lectures and a series of exercises to be performed in the classroom.

The following topics will be developed during the lectures:

1) The argumentative text and its structure: title, premises, thesis, arguments and proofs, conclusion; style and method;

2) Writing techniques; paraphrase and synthesis; the writing of original argumentative texts. The different phases: ideal design, documentation, organization, writing, revision;

3) Writing of academic texts: writing of a short paper and / or a dissertation; identification of topics and collection / filing of sources; writing of the summary; drafting of the text; text revision;

4) The presentation of a text: images and graphics; Power-Point;

5) Grammar: the most frequent mistakes;

6) Punctuation: the main signs of integration and their meaning;

7) The syntax;

8) Bibliography and bibliographic research. The databases.

The exercises are intended to improve the ability of summarizing, the use of paraphrase, the writing of original texts.

Readings/Bibliography

 

 

Paola Italia, Scrivere all'Università. Manuale pratico con esercizi e antologia di testi, Le Monnier Università, 2014

Luca Serianni, ITALIANO. Grammatica, sintassi, dubbi, Garzanti, 1997

Teaching methods

The course consists of traditional lectures, classroom exercises and cooperative correction.

Assessment methods

Learning levels will be tested through the correction of classroom exercises. To achieve the final suitability it will be necessary to present a paper on a topic previously agreed.Paper is expected to be about 20.000 characters long, including spaces. It should contain a title, an abstract (10 lines), footnotes and a final bibliography.The general topic of such a paper will be the following: "Max Weber's sociology a hundred years after his death". 

Teaching tools

Projector and available personal computers.

Office hours

See the website of Leonardo Allodi