Objectivity, clarity, precision – these are THE key terms in English for Academic Purposes (EAP). Considering the great significance of English in today’s research world, the ability to use language as a tool for effective scientific communication in a variety of conventional forms and contexts is one of the crucial prerequisites for academic success. In this course we will take a detailed look at English as a means to express and clarify ideas within different forms of academic discourse. Students will learn how to use the language effectively to present arguments and thoughts in term papers and oral presentations. After a brief overview of basic theoretical concepts in EAP, we will concentrate on practical aspects, such as planning your paper or talk, information structuring techniques, the writing process, and referencing. We will also look at a selection of stylistic and grammatical problems in EAP, as well as discourse features that may help you structure your paragraphs. For a Schein, students are required to actively participate on a regular basis, to give a short oral presentation, and to hand in several small written assignments which will be used as a basis for discussions of the individual problems that may occur throughout the writing process.
The first part of the class will take place weekly, the second will be a two-day seminar.
| date | topic | student presentations 1 | student presentations 2
| 30/10/06 | text types | J. Schwabe_Term Paper | A. Groß_Presentation
| 06/11/06 | the writing process | Z. Novotna_Academic Essay | R. Kucerova_Writing Process
| 13/11/06 | text structuring | E. Ayan_Text Structuring | G. Yenidogan_Analysis, Summary
| 20/11/06 | tools: corpora & dictionaries | Y. Wang_Corpus Linguistics |
| 27/11/06 | cohesion & coherence | E. Wießner_Cohesion | R. Dag_Coherence
| 04/12/06 | no class | |
| 11/12/06 | quoting & plagiarism | Nadine Rohr
| |