ENGLISH 121

Reading/Writing/Text


Please note: this is archived course information from 2021 for ENGLISH 121.

Description

English121/121G "Reading/Writing/Text" assists students in improving their essay writing and builds upon their existing ability. Weekly readings, textual analysis, critical thinking, and essay writing are central to this course

Successfully structuring and writing an academic essay is our focus.

English121/121G "Reading/Writing/Text" focuses on the mechanics of essay writing and the craft of academic writing. Copious reading, textual analysis, critical thinking, and essay writing are central to this course. Helping you to successfully write an academic essay while critically engaging with a range of texts is our focus. We also encourage you to think about different ways to approach essay writing and explore the relationship between reading and improved writing.

The course will help you to navigate academic writing with greater confidence, no matter what your degree and acquire transferable literacy skills that will assist you beyond university life. 

Course material

All texts are accessible online and are linked to sites or digitised through Talis. You do not need to purchase these texts or take them out of the library.

Learning outcomes

Techniques to construct essays are a key focus of ENGLISH 121/121G. We also teach: 

  • Detailed, incisive note-taking.
  • Sentence-structure and paragraphs
  • Planning and structuring an essay
  • Basic research
  • Rhetorical techniques for writing. 
  • How to manage referencing and citations. 

Questions of authorship, originality, plagiarism. and what it means to write "properly" while following the conventions of academic writing arise over the semester.  We also encourage you to think about the aim of academic writing and to become familiar with different styles of academic essay writing.

On successfully completing this course, you should improve your ability  

  • To understand the purpose of a text, its audience, and its central interest/argument
  • To read and respond to academic and non-academic texts that deal with a range of topics.
  • To identify and analyse shared ideas between texts.
  • To present your ideas in a logical sequence and to construct an argument.
  • To draft, proof-read, punctuate, and edit your writing.
  • To use a technical vocabulary and register associated with academic writing
  • To correctly cite and reference material. 

To evaluate and edit the work of others using constructive, informed feedback.

Note: You cannot pass this course without sitting the exam. Even if you have passed the coursework component, you must sit the exam. We do not accept any coursework submitted after the exam.

Assessment

Coursework + exam

Availability 2021

Summer School, repeated Semester 1 and 2

Lecturer(s)

Coordinator(s) Dr Anna Boswell
Sparkle Gibbs

Assessment

Coursework and exam

Points

ENGLISH 121: 15 points