Introduction to Academic Skills II
Full course description
The transition from secondary to tertiary education is often experienced as a rather challenging one for students, especially considering the expectations at university regarding students’ academic skills, such as essay writing, argumentation, or critical and analytical thinking. It is therefore imperative to support and train students right from the start to take on a professional ethos with regard to their university studies and their personal and academic development.
The second course of the Introduction to Academic Skills is split over two periods. For this, in period 2 we will continue to explore study skills, fine-tune academic writing skills, and practise information literacy skills – in other words, continue to develop the academic skills needed for success at UCM. Then, students will come together in groups to set up their research and writing project that will be the main focus in period 3.
In period 3, students are expected to put into practice all the skills in the Introduction to Academic Skills trajectory and write an extensive research paper. The project is mainly based on peer-to-peer education; by writing a paper in a small, interdisciplinary group, students will be able to both share their skills and knowledge and learn from each other.
Course objectives
- To analyze and apply principles of academic writing at UCM.
- To apply information literacy skills, such as formulating a research question/thesis statement and conducting a systematic literature search, and to critically assess sources of information
- To be able to determine what makes a good argument at UCM and apply tools to construct these.
- To be a safe space where freshmen students can ask questions and compare notes on their experiences.
- To acquaint Liberal Arts & Sciences students with the process and practice of writing an interdisciplinary research paper.
- To familiarize students with working in an interdisciplinary group..
Prerequisites
This course is not open to exchange students.
Prerequisite
None.
SKI1008 Introduction to Academic Skills I
Note that this is a project of 7.5 ECTS and is considered the equivalent of one regular 1000 level skills training and one regular 1000 level project. It runs over one regular course period and one project period.
- A. Foster