授業科目の内容

Introduction to Academic Essays:

Writing a lot is the best practice to improve academic writing skills. This course addresses academic essays and aims to improve students' academic writing skills. In Japan, many students seem to have some mental barriers against academic writing. To remove such barriers, students undertake free writing at the beginning of every class (approximately 10 minutes). Then we move on to a series of activities in the textbooks. The first three classes address paragraph organization. The rest focuses on how to organize academic essays and introduces the types of essays used in academic settings. Students learn the following types of essays: (i) classification essay, (ii) cause-and-effect essay, (iii) comparison essays, and (iv) problem-solution essays. Also, this class provides students with an opportunity to peer-review their term papers. Notice that this class does not cover grammar and vocabulary, unless they are directly relevant to the class's activities. For students who lack confidence in their vocabulary or grammar, feel free to let the lecturer know in the first class. Also, notice that the schedule below is tentative. It depends on students' English proficiency. To complete this course, students must submit their term paper (i.e., essay) on a topic provided by the lecturer. This class is conducted in English. When the lecturer considers it inappropriate to teach in English, however, the language is switched to Japanese.

第1回講義内容
Class 1: Introduction

第2回講義内容
Class 2: Unit 1 Paragraphs

第3回講義内容
Class 3: Unit 2: Features of Good Writing

第4回講義内容
Class 4: Unit 3: Types of Paragraphs

第5回講義内容
Class 5: Unit 4: Classification Essays: Moving from Paragraph to Essay (1)

第6回講義内容
Class 6: Unit 4: Classification Essays: Moving from Paragraph to Essay (2)

第7回講義内容
Class 7: Academic Integrity: Avoiding Plagiarism and Fabrication

第8回講義内容
Class 8: Unit 5: Cause-Effect Essays (1)

第9回講義内容
Class 9: Unit 5: Cause-Effect Essays (2)

第10回講義内容
Class 10: Unit 6: Comparison Essays (1)

第11回講義内容
Class 11: Unit 6: Comparison Essays (2)

第12回講義内容
Class 12: Workshop: Peer-review Session

その他の学習内容
　　・課題・レポート
　　・Activities in the textbook are assigned as homework. Students are required to complete them before each class.

成績評価方法

In-class Activities: 25%
Homework: 25%
Term Paper: 50%

テキスト（教科書）※教科書は変更となる可能性がございます。

The Great Writing Level 3: From Great Paragraphs to Great Essay (Fifth Edition)./Folse, Keith S. et al. Cengage Learning. 2020.

参考文献

Academic Vocabulary in Use./McCarthy, Michael, and Felicity O'Dell. 2008. Cambridge University Press.

受講上の要望、または受講上の前提条件

- This course expects students to have English skills at the high school level.
- Bring a dictionary (including electronic ones) to every class.
- Activities in the textbook are assigned as homework. Students are required to complete them before each class. It takes approximately 1-2 hours to complete the homework for each class.
- To earn credit for this class, students must participate in more than two-thirds of the classes.
- Generally, this class prohibits using AI agents and the like. Using them without the teacher's permission is regarded as cheating, and in such cases, students cannot earn credit for this class. A detailed explanation is provided in the first class.
- The term paper must be submitted in both MS Word and PDF formats. For students who feel uncertain about using computers, feel free to let the lecturer know in the first class.