UNSW@ADFA - Courses and Workshops

ALL Courses and Workshops

(Click here for Course electives in degree programs)

Non-award Courses and Workshops

During each Session the ALL Unit runs a range of short courses and workshops on different aspects of academic language and learning. The following workshops are being offered in Semester 1, 2010:

Semester One Timetable 2010

For Undergraduates - also open to other interested students:

Workshop Click on the workshop titles for more information	Location	Day	Date	Time
Planning, time management and the assignment writing process (TM)	LT05	Tuesday	March 9	2.30 – 4.30 pm
Critical thinking; preparing and structuring academic arguments (CT)	LT05	Tuesday	March16	2.30 – 4.30 pm
Critical reading (CR)	LT05	Tuesday	March 23	2.30 – 4.30 pm
Writing academic essays 1 (WAE1): Academic expectations	LT05	Tuesday	March 30	2.30 – 4.30 pm
Writing academic essays 2 (WAE2): The writing process and structuring assignments	LT05	Tuesday	April 13	2.30 – 4.30 pm
Writing academic essays (WAE3): Introductions and conclusions; coherence and cohesion	LT05	Tuesday	April 20	2.30 – 4.30 pm
Effective citing (EC)	LT05	Tuesday	April 27	2.30 – 4.30 pm
Avoiding unintentional plagiarism (AUP)	LT05	Tuesday	May 18	2.30 – 4.30 pm
Punctuation, grammar and style (PGS)	LT05	Tuesday	May 25	2.30 – 4.30 pm
Preparing for exams (PE)	LT05	Tuesday	June 8	2.30 – 4.30 pm

For Postgraduate Research students

Course	Location	Day	Date	Time
Advanced writing skills for PG research students (AWS) (10 sessions)	21-SL3	Wednesday	March 10 - June 2	10:00 am – 12:00 pm

For students from language backgrounds other than English

Course	Location	Day	Date	Time
Grammar workshop (GW) (10 sessions)	21-SL3	Monday	March 15 - June 7	10:00 am – 12:00 pm

Course/Workshop Registration

To register for any of these courses or workshops, email:

knowALL@adfa.edu.au

Course/Workshop Descriptions

FOR UNDERGRADUATES - ALSO OPEN TO OTHER INTERESTED STUDENTS:

Planning, time management and the assignment writing process (TM)

Workshop description
One of the keys to success at university is time management. This 2-hour workshop provides you with practical tips on how to plan your study time and use your study hours efficiently. It will review the stages in the process of writing an essay: the importance of analyzing the question, preparing an outline of your argument, supporting the argument with appropriate evidence and appropriately structuring the final essay. Although many students are familiar with how to write school essays, a good university level academic essay is more exacting and tightly structured. In this workshop you will review the key requirements of a good academic essay, and find out what your lecturer really wants you to do. Please bring the course guides and assignment task sheets for the courses in which you are enrolled, so that you can use them in the workshop to plan your own study program.

Workshop length: 2 hours
Day: Tuesday
Date: March 9
Time: 2.30-4.30 pm
Place: LT05 (Lecture Theatre North, Level 1)

Critical thinking; preparing and structuring academic arguments (CT)

Workshop description
The development of critical thinking skills is listed as one of the key graduate attributes of the University of New South Wales. But what is ‘critical thinking’ and what processes are involved? To illustrate their critical thinking and analysis skills, students are often expected to present academic arguments. But what form do these arguments take? How are they constructed? This workshop gives a basic introduction to critical thinking skills and helps students identify strengths and weaknesses of some arguments in different disciplines.

Workshop length: 2 hours
Day: Tuesday
Date: March 16
Time: 2.30-4.30 pm
Place: LT05 (Lecture Theatre North, Level 1)

Critical reading (CR)

Workshop description
In many university courses, you are required to read extensively. This workshop aims to help you read more efficiently and more critically, by introducing you to a number of important reading strategies. You will develop these strategies by reading several academic texts and by practising a number of useful techniques including skimming, predicting and evaluating.

Workshop length: 2 hours
Day: Tuesday
Date: March 23
Time: 2.30-4.30 pm
Place: LT05 (Lecture Theatre North, Level 1)

Writing academic essays 1 (WAE1): Assessment criteria and lecturer expectations

Workshop description
The ability to write a well organised and clearly argued essay is a major requirement for many courses at university. Although many students are familiar with how to write school essays, a good university level academic essay is more exacting and tightly structured. In this first workshop of three, you will review the key requirements of a good academic essay, and find out what your lecturer really wants you to do. We strongly advise that if you enrol in this workshop, you also enrol in the Critical thinking and preparing arguments workshop on March 16.

Workshop length: 2 hours
Day: Tuesday
Date: March 30
Time: 2.30-4.30 pm
Place: LT05 (Lecture Theatre North, Level 1)

Writing academic essays 2 (WAE2): The writing process and structuring assignments

Workshop description
This second workshop of three will review the stages in the process of writing an essay: the importance of analyzing the question, preparing an outline of your argument, supporting the argument with appropriate evidence and appropriately structuring the final essay.

Workshop length: 2 hours
Day: Tuesday
Date: April 13
Time: 2.30-4.30 pm
Place: LT05 (Lecture Theatre North, Level 1)

Writing academic essays (WAE3): Introductions and conclusions, coherence and cohesion

Workshop description
The introduction is a very important part of a written assignment. In this workshop, you will study some key features of both introductions and conclusions and practise incorporating these features into your own writing. You will also study techniques good writers use to present their arguments and to ensure their writing flows.

Workshop length: 2 hours
Day: Tuesday
Date: April 20
Time: 2.30-4.30 pm
Place: LT05 (Lecture Theatre North, Level 1)

Effective citing (EC)

Workshop description
One feature which distinguishes academic writing from other kinds of writing is the use of citations and references. In this workshop, you will review what citations are, why they are important and how they can be used to develop and strengthen an argument. You will learn to analyse the type of language used to integrate citations into sample academic texts and you will review the features of several different referencing styles used in different disciplines.

Workshop length: 2 hours
Day: Tuesday
Date: April 27
Time: 2.30-4.30 pm
Place: LT05 (Lecture Theatre North, Level 1)

Avoiding unintentional plagiarism (AUP)

Workshop description
Drawing on the work of other writers is an essential characteristic of academic writing. However, in attempting to do this, some students unintentionally plagiarise, even though they know that plagiarism is a form of academic misconduct and that the penalties for plagiarism can be severe. This workshop will look at the different forms plagiarism can take, and, by showing you how to improve your note-making and summary writing skills, will help you to avoid unintentional plagiarism.

Workshop length: 2 hours
Day:Tuesday
Date: May 18
Time: 2.30-4.30 pm
Place: LT05 (Lecture Theatre North, Level 1)

Punctuation, grammar and style (PGS)

Workshop description
‘Will you let me be? Yours, Pete.’ or ‘Will you let me be yours? Pete.’ It is particularly important to use punctuation accurately in academic writing as the same words with different punctuation can convey contrasting meanings. In this workshop you will review the rules of punctuation and will practise the use of those marks which cause the most confusion, including the troublesome apostrophe, the colon and the semicolon. This session will also examine some of the typical grammar problems in undergraduate writing, and review the issues of style raised in Writing Academic Essays 3.

Workshop length: 2 hours
Day: Tuesday
Date: May 25
Time: 2.30-4.30 pm
Place: LT05 (Lecture Theatre North, Level 1)

Preparing for exams (PE)

Workshop description
In this workshop, you will review the study skills required for revision before an examination, some time management tips, techniques to use during the examination as well as strategies to manage examination anxiety and stress.

Workshop length: 2 hours
Day: Tuesday
Date: June 8
Time: 2.30-4.30 pm
Place: LT05 (Lecture Theatre North, Level 1)

FOR POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH STUDENTS:

Advanced writing skills for postgraduate research students (AWS)

Course description
Although many postgraduate research students are experts in their particular field, they do not always feel confident about their academic writing ability. This is especially the case if English is not their first language. This course is designed to help you develop your academic writing skills in relation to your research. You will study the key linguistic features of particular genres such as the academic proposal, confirmation presentation, the abstract, the literature review and the thesis introduction and conclusion in different disciplines. You will also practise writing clear prose at the paragraph and sentence level and receive expert feedback on how to improve your writing style.

Course length: 10 weekly sessions of 2 hours each
Day: Wednesday
Dates: March 10 - June 2
Time: 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Place: 21-SL3

FOR STUDENTS FROM LANGUAGE BACKGROUNDS OTHER THAN ENGLISH:

Grammar workshop (GW)

Course description
Students from language backgrounds other than English need to continue working on their English proficiency during their studies. This weekly class focuses on the most common errors that LBOTE students struggle with, providing hands-on practice activities and grammar exercises to help you improve your academic writing and proof-reading skills.

Course length: 10 weekly sessions of 2 hours each
Day: Monday
Dates: March 15 - June 7
Time: 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Place: 21-SL3

Course electives in degree programs

FOR UNDERGRADUATES

ZINT2206: Academic and Professional Writing
UOC6 HPW3
Semester 2 On-campus
Staff Contact: Geoff Millar

The aim of this course is to develop students’ academic and professional writing and research skills. Students will critically analyse academic texts in order to learn about the ways in which academic writers communicate their arguments in different disciplines and for different audiences. They will research and write such different text types as a critical review or a report and an evaluative essay. They will use content from their own disciplines wherever possible, and apply appropriate strategies to improve their writing, strengthen their argument and express their meaning more clearly.

FOR POSTGRADUATES

ZINT8119: Academic Discourse: Analysis and Writing (for international students)
UOC6 HPW4
Semester 1 On-campus
Staff Contact: Harriet Searcy, Geoff Millar

Enrolment Requirements: All applicants will be required to attend the pre-semester Academic Preparation Course and to undertake a written test to evaluate their English language proficiency in order to enrol in this course.

Designed primarily for international students, this course aims to enable students to study academic discourse and to develop the language skills necessary to read effectively and write appropriately in an academic context. The course will develop critical reading, note-taking and summary writing skills. Students will critically evaluate a reading specific to their particular discipline, write a critical review and practise sentence and paragraph construction in order to develop their essay writing skills. Attention will be paid to grammatical features, identified in the diagnostic test, which enable writers to convey meaning with greater precision.

ZINT8105: Academic Practice: Critical Reading and Writing
UOC6 HPW2
Semester 2 Distance Ed
Staff Contact: Fiona Cotton

This course is designed for students who are new to the university context or who have been out of study for a significant period of time. The aim of the course is to enable these students to clarify expectations about academic culture, study academic discourse, review academic writing conventions in different disciplines and develop the appropriate skills to read critically and write appropriately in an academic context. Students will analyse the arguments and the linguistic features of readings specific to their particular disciplines and write both a critical review and an argument essay on a topic related to their studies. Grammatical features which enable writers to convey meaning with greater precision will also be studied.