ADVANCED ENGLISH WRITING

This course is designed for students who have experience writing in English at the paragraph-level. It will focus on guiding these students through the processes involved in creating coherent, organized, and well-supported multi-paragraph compositions. Students will learn some key academic writing skills, including a variety of patterns of organization, which they will be able to apply in a broad range of writing contexts. In addition, students will be encouraged to view writing as a collaborative and recursive process, with feedback and revision being central to the production of effective compositions.

The purpose of this course is to improve the students' confidence in their ability to write in English. It will also improve their vocabulary and their understanding of essay structure. The students will learn to write clear, well-supported essays with appropriate thesis statements, supporting paragraphs, and concluding paragraphs. By the end of this course, the students should be able to write a short essay using a variety of methods of organization. A competent reader of English should be able to perceive an introduction to the topic, the development of relevant and related content, and a conclusion. They will also become more skilled at recognising errors in their own work and that of others. The content should flow in a way that makes sense to the reader. Students will also come to realize that writing is not a solitary, but a collaborative effort, and the value of working together to produce a written text.

Students are expected to play an active role in the class and to cooperate with both the instructor and each other. Attendance and punctuality are also expected. In terms of workload, students are expected to prepare for each class by doing assigned readings, homework, and assignments on time. Late work will not be accepted unless the instructor judges that the student in question has a valid excuse. Most importantly, assignments must be a student's own work. Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Plagiarism is taking someone else's work and presenting it as your own. One instance of plagiarism will result in the loss of a full letter grade for the student. Two instances will result in the student failing the class. Students will also be required to keep a writing folder consisting of all assignments, handouts, and assessments, which will serve as a portfolio of each student's work during semester

Students should already be familiar with the basics of English academic writing. They should feel relatively comfortable in expressing themselves in paragraph-level written English. The course could prove challenging for those with limited familiarity of expressing themselves in written English.

Students will be able to apply their learning to the writing of effective academic essays that are well organized and adequately developed. The styles of essays that will be taught are also the type of essays that frequently occur on TOEFL writing tests. Students will also feel comfortable using a variety of organizational patterns, which will allow them to express themselves more effectively in written English. They will also be more proficient in the detection and correction or errors and will come to understand the importance of collaboration for the effective production of text.