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• Forthcoming

Course Description

Coaching for writing tasks (in English), in which the students are currently involved (e.g, thesis, journal article, conference abstract, report). Coaching will focus on English grammer and mechanics, but may also comment on organization, content, style, and structure.

Learning Outcome

At the end of this course, students will have gained practical experience in structuring, writing, and revising scientific texts in the English language.

Perspectives on Writing

The British poet Robert Graves once said, "there is no such thing as good writing, only good rewriting." Writing does not come easily to anyone, even in their native language. When you read a well-written book or paper,you are not reading a first draft, but a document that the author and often editors have revised, typically many times. The first step to being a better writer is recognizing that good writing is about revision, not the first draft.

Format

Coaching times will be individually arranged. Students must contact the instructor by e-mail and have a meeting with him by March 15th. During this meeting, we will discuss the students writing background and English experience, the writing tasks they are involved in this semester, and where they would like help. We will then map out a plan for improvement that involves: (1) providing a writing sample to the instructor, (2) meeting again with the instructor for individual coaching and to establish goals for improvement, (3) editing and revision of the writing sample by the student, (4) a final meeting to discuss the revised manuscript and identify opportunities for future improvement.

Grading

Final grades will be assigned as follows:

• 1 - Student meets with instructor, provides writing sample, and significantly improves spelling, punctuation, grammatical, and structural errors.
• 2 - Student meets with instructor, provides writing sample, and improves spelling, punctuation, grammatical, and structural errors.
• 3 - Student meets with instructor, provides writing sample, but minimally improves punctuation, grammatical, and structural errors.
• 4 - Student meets with instructor and provides writing sample, but revisions reflect minimal effort and show little to no improvement.
• 5 - Student does not meet with the instructor or provide a writing sample.