Study Guide

Objective

Students will know how to write in the academic style. Students will know the elements of academic writing. Students will know how to paraphrase articles and provide sources and make citations. Students will produce academic texts during the course. Students will know and manage phases of the information seeking process. Students will know various information sources and information seeking tools. Students will master the basic techniques of information seeking and know how to form search sentences. Students will be able to assess the search results and, if necessary, edit searches. Students will be able to critically assess the sources and know what peer review of scientific publications means.

Content

- The difference between academic writing and normal writing
- The importance of referencing
- The skills needed to write a paraphrase
- Information seeking process and search techniques
- Information types
- Information sources
- Periodicals and journals as information sources
- Critical evaluation of sources

Materials

- material assigned by the teacher

Teaching methods

Lectures
Writing tasks
Independent study
Online studies

Student workload

- total workload 80 hours

realization.localizedApproveRejectDescription

Professional Writing Skills:
Pass: Students can produce complex, academic texts. Plagiarism is not found in the texts. Students can write citations and create a bibliography. Few mistakes in style, grammar and tone. Vocabulary is at high level.
Fail: Students are not capable of producing academic texts. Plagiarism is found in the texts. Students are not able to write in the academic style. Citations and bibliography formats are not followed. Students produce simple texts. Many mistakes in style, grammar and tone. Limited vocabulary.

Information seeking:
Pass: Students can perform searches using versatile search strategies and appropriate sources. Search results are relevant and they contain research articles.
Fail: Students are not capable of describing their information needs by adequate search terms and performing the search in a proper way. Search results are poor and they are not relevant. Information sources used are not appropriate.

Content scheduling

The course consists of two modules: Professional Writing Skills (2 cr) and Information Seeking (1 cr). The goal is that the different parts of the course support each other.

Evaluation scale

Passed/failed

Assessment criteria, approved/failed

Pass: Students can produce complex, academic texts. Plagiarism is not found in the texts. Students can write citations and create a bibliography. Few mistakes in style, grammar, and tone. Vocabulary is at a high level. Students can perform searches using versatile search strategies and appropriate sources. Search results are relevant and they contain professional publications as well as research articles.

Fail: Students are not capable of producing academic texts. Plagiarism is found in the texts. Students are not able to write in an academic style. Citations and bibliography formats are not followed. Students produce simple texts. Many mistakes in style, grammar, and tone. Limited vocabulary. Students are not capable of describing their information needs by adequate search terms and performing the search in a proper way. Search results are poor and they are not relevant. The information sources used are not appropriate.

Assessment methods and criteria

Professional Writing Skills: Assessment is based on the following: written assignments
Information seeking: Assessment is based on written assignments and tests

Qualifications

No prerequisites