Many of our doctoral fellows write their thesis in English. Most of them do not, however, belong to the discipline of English Studies and, for many, English is not their native tongue. If this description fits you, you may recognise how it can be challenging to give your writing a linguistic form which effectively and accurately communicates your intended message, all the while that it is grammatically correct, stylistically appropriate and in conformity with what is conventional in your specific discipline. This writing course focuses on the task of achieving an appropriate linguistic form of academic English. The course comprises four 2-hour sessions which can be attended independently of each other.
Session 1 (19 October. Location: P.A.Munchs hus, seminarrrom 1. 10:15-12:00)
General topic: Common errors. For example errors relating to “lefthanded” sentences, nominalisation, sentence length, voice, pronominal reference, order of adverbial elements, jargon.
Session 2 (26 October. Location: Georg Sverdrups hus, undervisningsrom 2. 10:15-12:00)
General topic: Common errors: concord, dangling modifiers, sentence fragments, verbosity, register, person. Ways to emphasise: clefting, fronting, integral vs non-integral referencing.
Session 3 (2 November. Location: Georg Sverdrups hus, grupperom 1. 10:15-12.00)
General topic: Characteristics of a thesis’s conventional sections. Linguistic characteristics of an introduction, discussion, literature, and other sections. Types of texts: general-to-specific, process.
Strength of claim. Description of tabular data.
Session 4 (9 November. Location: Georg Sverdrups hus, grupperom 1. 10:15-12:00)
General topic: To be decided based on feedback from the previous sessions. Loose ends. Requests.
For further information, please contact the instructor at jacob.thaisen@ilos.uio.no
Suggested reading:
- Lysvåg, P. and G. F. Stenbrenden. 2014. Academic Writing in English. A practical handbook. Oslo: Cappelen Damm Akademisk.
Useful reference work:
- Turabian, K. L. 2013. A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers. 8th ed. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.