| Unit name | Academic Writing |
|---|---|
| Unit code | LANG00006 |
| Credit points | 30 |
| Level of study | QCA-3 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24) |
| Unit director | Ms. Vanttinen-Newton |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
IELTS: minimum 5.5 overall; minimum 5.0 in Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing components or equivalent. |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
LANG00010 Text Response |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
LANG00023 Accelerated Academic Language and Literacy LANG00017 Language and Communication Studies |
| School/department | Centre for Academic Language and Development |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Why is this unit important?
Academic Writing will introduce you to the key concepts and elements of academic writing at university. Over the course you will explore a range of written social and cognitive genres and gain valuable experience of writing within these genres. Your tutor and peers will provide regular feedback for you to feed forward to each writing task and by the end of the unit you will have a greater sense of confidence and essential writing literacy and skills to take forward to your undergraduate degree.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study?
Academic Writing complements the unit Text Response (LANG00010). The purpose of these two units is to provide the foundations of academic language and literacy skills required for undergraduate study. Learning on these two units will be applied across your IFP subject units helping you to develop essay and report writing, presentation and seminar skills, and listening and reading strategies.
An overview of content
Academic Writing is a 30-credit unit within the International Foundation Programme, which is designed to prepare international students for undergraduate study in the UK. It is one of a number of complementary units whose overall aims are to improve the language, academic literacy and subject knowledge required to succeed at a British university. Academic Writing aims to introduce and practise the process of planning, drafting, evaluating and editing written academic work. It explores a range of academic functions, features of academic style and organisation, and academic grammar and vocabulary in order to improve your overall academic literacy.
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit
Academic Writing will provide you with the experience of writing different types of academic texts and during the course you will write individually and collaboratively with your peers. You will leave the course with the skills and tools necessary to succeed in your writing in your undergraduate degree.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the unit, students will be able to:
Learning is facilitated in weekly small group sessions with both individual and group-based work. In addition to a range of authentic texts, appropriate e-learning technologies will be used for self-study and self-assessment as well as work in class.
Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative):
Formative assessments:
Summative assessments:
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
Developmental e-portfolio consisting of 4 pieces of writing (100%):
When assessment does not go to plan
Any student registered on the International Foundation Programme will be offered a conditional place on an undergraduate degree at the University of Bristol. Students must meet the entry requirements to be admitted onto an undergraduate degree at the University of Bristol. Different degree programmes may have different entry requirements. The IFP Board will review the mark profiles of all students who are close to attaining the entry requirements but are outside the previously agreed near miss criteria and may agree to admit them to a degree programme. If not admitted, students may be offered a further opportunity (i.e. two attempts in total) to meet the entry requirements for their intended degree programme at the University of Bristol by re-taking a relevant assessment. Marks are not capped for this purpose. If a student is absent or their performance in assessment is significantly affected due to exceptional circumstances, they may re-take the relevant assessment at the next appropriate time, without penalty.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. LANG00006).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
