Actualités et agenda
Nos formations
Présentation
None
This course is intended to teach you basic academic writing skills and show you how they are used in the social sciences. You will need to use those skills to write up your dissertation as well as all other papers in this programme and others. Because research and writing skills are highly transferable, they will also be useful in your professional life to write things like policy papers, reports, and any type of analysis. Written assignments and coursework are an important part of the learning process in ESPOL and are often the main way that ESPOL students are assessed. While some assignments place more emphasis on writing for an academic audience, others involve writing tasks that relate to policy and practice. Regardless of the type of assignment, it is important to ensure that any assignment you submit is written correctly, is your own work and is well referenced.
This course is composed of 6 sessions of two hours each, taught by a team of ESPOL lecturers. Attendance to all sessions, which are to be taught in class this year, is compulsory (see: Rules of Study).
Session 1 - The writing process: Planning and organizing your assignment - Camille Kelbel
Session 2 - Reading: finding sources, critical reading and note-taking - Felix von Nostitz
Session 3 - Vocabulary for academic writing - Michael Holmes
Session 4 - Elements of writing: argumentation and discussion - Sabine Weiland
Session 5 - Citing and avoiding plagiarism - Sabine Weiland
Session 6 - Finalizing the assignment: intro & conclusion, structure, proofreading - Giulia Sandri
Modalités
Evaluation
The evaluation method for this class is a dictionary entry of a key theory/concept or event for political science. In case you choose to write on an event/events, you need to write about “political” causes and consequences of the event. The dictionary entry should mainly be analytical rather than descriptive.
Each entry should:
· Cover a theory/concept or event relevant to the student’s research interest
· Be 300-500 words and include a critical discussion of minimum two key scientific texts on the topic
· Include a bibliography and a list of selected further readings (around five) for more in-depth research on the topic (not included in the word count)
For examples of dictionary entry, see the “Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics” or “Political Concepts: A Reader and Guide”.
The course work and evaluation mode will be explained in more detail in Session 1.