Introduction to Academic Skills II

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The transition from secondary to tertiary education is often experienced as a rather challenging one for students, especially considering the expectations at university with regard to students’ academic skills, such as essay writing, critical and analytical thinking, or skills such as argumentation. 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 part of the Introduction to Academic Skills series will be less intense with regard to the amount of time spent in class, but will require more ‘academic intensity’ of the students. Whereas the focus of Introduction to Academic Skills I was on the notion of academia as an institution centered on ‘thinking’, with critical and analytical thinking and reflection as its most apparent skills, Introduction to Academic Skills II will expand on this academic skill of ‘thinking’ by examining how one can use writing as a tool to think. The theme or red thread of Introduction to Academic Skills II will therefore be ‘Thinking through Writing’, focusing on writing as a means to an end rather than an end in itself. The assignments of Introduction to Academic Skills II will focus on becoming acquainted with, and practice the (analytical) tools of describing and summarizing, comparing and contrasting, and assessing a theory by applying it to a relevant example. These three analytical tools are inherent to almost all written papers, both in the context of university but also of academia as a whole. The several assignments will be assessed on their level of compliance with the requirements set for the assignments, as well as English grammar and spelling, style and structure. Tutors will provide extensive feedback to the students with regard to their writing skills in order for students to reflect on and improve their academic writing skills.