Course syllabus

 

ENGLISH 121/G: Reading/Writing/Text
SEMESTER 2, 2018

15 points

NOTE:

This course is available as ENGLISH 121 in the Arts Schedule OR as ENGLISH 121G in the General Education Open Schedule.

Course Convenor and Teacher  : 

Dr Briar Wood, briar.wood@auckland.ac.nz

Course delivery format:

1 hour of lectures per week

1 hour of workshop per week

and 1 hour of tutorial per week (Weeks 2-11)

(Timetable and room details can be viewed on Student Services Online)

 Summary of Course Description:              

A course developing university-wide skills of reading, writing and analysis. Addresses the needs of students in English and other disciplines where both writing and reading have an important role in learning. The course fosters personal writing skills and also introduces writing as a subject of study in itself.

 

Course Overview

ENGLISH 121/121G aims to help improve your ability to read, write, and think, no matter what your major or degree. The course targets and strengthens literacy skills that are important for academic success, equipping you with the ability to read and write more effectively and to navigate the university environment with greater confidence. The course also focuses on transferable literacy skills that will assist you in workplace, digital, and professional communications.

Readings include academic publications, online journalism, blogs, multimedia texts, literary texts and visual texts. We also read and discuss the underlying narratives around us socially, and reflect on how to interpret the communications, resources and tasks associated with university courses. Techniques for taking notes and writing essays and paragraphs are a key focus of ENGLISH 121/121G. We also deal specifically with grammar and punctuation, and with how to manage referencing and citations. Questions of authorship, originality, plagiarism and what it means to write "properly" lead us to consider conditions and rules of writing in the contemporary world, and the particular conventions of academic, public, and online communication.

Coursework tasks invite you to respond to different text-types and genres. An essay asks you to read and engage critically with selected texts, and to identify and address cultural and social issues posed by specific modes of writing. Smaller writing activities invite you to experiment with different forms of written expression such as paragraphs and bullet points, and provide you with practical and creative skills in composition, peer reviewing and editing. A final exam asks you to put your reading, writing and thinking skills into action.

 

Course Outcomes

By the end of the course, you should have improved your ability:

• to recognise different text-types and genres;
• to grasp the purpose of a text, its audience and the case it makes;
• to read and respond to academic and non-academic texts that deal with a range of topics;
• to understand the effects produced by different types of grammatical and stylistic expression within your own writing and the writing of others;
• to construct, shape and deliver writing that is appropriate to a set task;
• to mobilise a technical vocabulary associated with writing;
• to cite and reference in a manner appropriate to the genre of writing; and, 
• to evaluate and edit the work of others using constructive, informed feedback.

Note: This course is offered as a Stage One ENGLISH course and as ENGLISH 121G in the Open Schedule for General Education.

 

 Assessment Summary:

Weighting of assignments and due dates if available, eg:

25% Case Study due Week 5

25% Essay due Week 11

30%  2 hour exam

10% Participation

10% Weekly Activity. Collected in Tutorial. 

 

Weekly Topics:

 WEEK 1:
Lecture: Introduction
Workshop: Making notes

WEEK 2:
Lecture: Text-types
Workshop: Genres and Citations

WEEK 3:
Lecture: Reading Processes
Workshop: Entry points and reading paths

WEEK 4:
Lecture: Language Structures
Workshop: Metaphors

WEEK 5:
Lecture: Point of view
Workshop: Sentences and paragraphs

WEEK 6:
Lecture: Audience and purpose – Whose language?
Workshop: Tone

WEEK 7:
Lecture: Language Matters
Workshop: Vocabulary and word-worlds

WEEK 8:
Lecture: Art of the essay
Workshop: Thesis statements

WEEK 9:
Lecture: Arguments and evidence
Workshop: Reading patterns

WEEK 10:
Lecture: Writing processes
Workshop: Review working drafts of essays

WEEK 11:
Lecture: Citation/sources
Workshop: About the Exam

WEEK 12:
Lecture: Exam writing
Drop in Exam Clinic

 

Prescribed Texts:

 Prescribed texts:
Short weekly readings will be available as PDF files for downloading or printing via the Reading List for this course.

 

 Workload and deadlines for submission of coursework:           

The University of Auckland's expectation is that students spend 10 hours per week on a 15-point course, including time in class and personal study. Students should manage their academic workload and other commitments accordingly. Deadlines for coursework are set by course convenors and will be advertised in course material. You should submit your work on time. In extreme circumstances, such as illness, you may seek an extension but you may be required to provide supporting information before the assignment is due. Late assignments without a pre-approved extension may be penalised by loss of marks – check course information for details.