VB000Eng Introduction to Academic Writing

Faculty of Informatics
Autumn 2025
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 2 credit(s) (plus extra credits for completion). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
Rachel Louise Adams, MRes (lecturer)
Mgr. Eva Rudolfová (assistant)
Bc. Klára Hanzlíková (assistant)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Eva Rudolfová
Language Centre, Faculty of Informatics Division – Language Centre
Contact Person: Mgr. Eva Rudolfová
Supplier department: Language Centre, Faculty of Informatics Division – Language Centre
Timetable of Seminar Groups
VB000Eng/01: Tue 16. 9. to Tue 16. 12. Tue 16:00–17:50 S215, R. Adams
VB000Eng/02: Tue 16. 9. to Tue 16. 12. Tue 18:00–19:50 S215, R. Adams
VB000Eng/03: Wed 17. 9. to Wed 17. 12. Wed 16:00–17:50 S215, R. Adams
VB000Eng/04: Wed 17. 9. to Wed 17. 12. Wed 14:00–15:50 S215, R. Adams
Prerequisites
NOW( SBAPR Bachelor Thesis )
VB001.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 60 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 53/60, only registered: 0/60, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/60
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 6 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
The objective of this course is to improve students’ ability to analyse, critique, and produce academic writing in English. This course will teach students the core principles of academic writing, such as writing thesis statements, topic sentences, and coherent and cohesive paragraphs, in order to write their bachelor thesis (and future academic pieces). It will also explore how to find and cite literature, and use AI to develop their writing skills. Students will lean into the concepts of ‘the writer’ and ‘the reader’ to approach these topics from a more reflective perspective and begin to explore their writer identity. These concepts and foundational principles will be explored through in-class discussions, writing tasks, and peer feedback sessions.
The course is split into two key parts: the taught part and the feedback part. The taught part consists of six seminars where students develop the aforementioned skills. Following this is the feedback part. In this part, students submit two excerpts of their thesis across six weeks to get individualised written feedback.
While some grammatical aspects of English used in academia are explored in this course, (e.g. the passive voice), the course is not a language class and as such those not familiar with given grammar rules will need to improve their knowledge to a sufficient level (for class purposes) through external means.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
understand the foundational components of academic writing and how they distinguish from other forms of writing in English;
demonstrate a good understanding of academic writing concepts, strategies, and vocabulary in classroom based tasks and discussions;
analyse academic writing to identify key strategies used by the writer and compare the impact these strategies have on the reader to other forms of writing;
create pieces of academic writing in the form of paragraphs, short essays, and their own individual thesis.
Syllabus
  • Typesetting and organising academic writing
  • Using literature and referencing
  • Paragraphing, cohesion, coherence
  • Parallelism, nominalisations, passive and active voice
  • Data commentary
  • Introductions, conclusions, and abstracts
  • Revision of key concepts
Literature
    recommended literature
  • DAY, Trevor. Success in academic writing. Second edition. London: Palgrave, Macmillan international higher education, 2018, xiii, 228. ISBN 9781352002041. info
  • FOWLER, H. Ramsey and Jane E. AARON. The Little, Brown handbook. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Pearson, 2016, 921 stran. ISBN 9781292099477. info
  • BIZUP, Joseph and Joseph M. WILLIAMS. Style : lessons in clarity and grace. Eleventh edition, Pearson ne. Harlow, Essex: Pearson, 2014, ii, 226. ISBN 9781292039794. info
  • SWALES, John and Christine B. FEAK. Academic writing for graduate students : essential tasks and skills. 2nd ed. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2004, ix, 331. ISBN 0472088564. info
Teaching methods
Lectures, class discussions, writing tasks, peer feedback
Assessment methods
Attendance to all in-person teaching sessions
In-class reflective portfolio
An exposé for the student’s individual thesis
Short essay/literature review with a critique of the literature used
Two draft excerpts of the student’s thesis, with the second excerpt demonstrating improvement from the first
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2022, Autumn 2022, Spring 2023, Autumn 2023, Spring 2024, Autumn 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026.
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