WRITING AND READING ACADEMIC TEXT

Anna Pirri Valentini

Instructional goals

This 6-week seminar series enables students to acquire and refine academic skills through active experimentation. Students are expected to rapidly and critically read academic texts, use them to respond to a question, and write essays. They will also develop initial research skills such as gathering and selecting primary source material.

Prerequisites

None

Intended learning outcomes

Upon completion of this lab, students have: • the ability to review academic literature on a specified topic assigned; • to gather, assess and select academic and primary source material • the ability to make focused presentations and essays using empirical material and academic literature • the ability to develop a preliminary research proposal in line with the research question - a special attention will be deserved to qualitative methods - specifically case study method. This learning is extremely important for approaching the other courses and for designing and elaborating the final master thesis. Furthermore, this lab will help students become familiar with the perspective of the “engaged scholarship” and in particular with the necessity to apply rigorous methods for studying relevant problems. This will help students become better decision-makers in the future.

Course Contents

The course will cover topics related to the different components of reading, researching and writing academic texts.

Reference Books

Van De Ven, A. H. (2007) Engaged Scholarship. A guide for organizational and social research. Oxford University Press Inc., New York.

Teaching Methods

Classes will combine lectures, presentations, and discussions.

Assessment Method

Students will be actively involved throughout the workshop, with more structured presentations or in-class exercises

Thesis assignment criteria

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Week 1 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus

Reading academic texts in public policy, political science, and International Relations- how to rapidly cover lengthy texts. Extracting the main ideas of a text. Critically assessing academic texts.

Week 2 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus

Writing essays- engaging with the question and structuring the essay; using evidence - the literature and examples; structuring an essay; writing style; referencing

Week 3 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus

Searching for academic literature. Selecting academic material and engaging with it. Plagiarism and checking for originality

Week 4 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus

Searching for primary source material, assessing its nature and selecting and using it

Week 5 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus

What is a case study?

Week 6 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus

Developing and presenting a small research project; Developing and specifying a research question. Presenting research findings

Week 7 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus

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Week 8 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus

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Week 9 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus

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Week 10 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus

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Week 11 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus

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Week 12 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus

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