AN1002OMA, Skills Development: Writing and Composition
This course is the first one in a series that introduces the students to the skills and formats of academic writing in English, ultimately leading to the types of writing expected of university students. The Writing and Composition course develops students’ written language skills, with a focus on composing and editing a variety of texts, primarily descriptive and argumentative essays, across a wide range of topics. Apart from organisation in texts, students will also learn about internal sentence structure and different ways of combining sentences, as well as mechanics and the importance of unity, coherence, and cohesion in paragraphs and essay-length pieces of writing. In the form of self-study, some aspects of grammar are planned to be revised during the semester to further improve the linguistic quality of students’ essays. The course aims to provide students with insights useful not only for preparing for the writing component of the end-of-the-year EYE examination, but also for other future writing endeavours, such as the writing of (literary) research papers. By the end of the semester, students will have developed strategies for generating, supporting, and articulating their ideas. The ultimate goal of the course is to develop students’ ability to produce clear, coherent, and persuasive written texts that meet international academic standards.