Welcome to Academic Writing for Graduate Study, one of the many offerings by the Academic Writing Center at GRIPS. As you are well aware, an integral part of your study at GRIPS revolves around being able to present your work in clear, effective ways, both in oral and written form. As such, we offer both presentation courses and now this writing course.

The Basics ...

Academic Writing for Graduate Students syllabus

A small note, folks: I require polite email when students contact me. Lest you not know exactly what I want, please take a close look at how to write a polite e-mail.

 Our Fine AWC Textbook

To the right you'll see an image of our AWC textbook. Rest assured that countless hours have gone into this and it is — pardon my unseemly lack of humility — a most useful thing to have around.

First, ...

1. Introductory Class (October 8, 2014)

This will be a meeting of all students (some 100 of you) taking this course. As you will perhaps remember (or may well have forgotten), you'll have heard from the four instructors of this course.

 2. Research Fundamentals, Part 1 (October 15, 2014) 

In our first class meeting, we will be discussing the fundamentals of academic writing as well as salient points from the placement test.

As you'll recall (what a useful phrase), last week I used a PowerPoint to make several points. I truly hope you remember! If not, it's available here.

 3. Research Fundamentals, Part 2 (October 22, 2014) 

Good evening, everyone. In class I'll explain the purpose of that nifty QR code to the right — a most useful link, I suspect you'll discover.

In class this evening we'll be working more with the writing requirements you faced in the placement exam — a source of great excitement, I'm sure. Details at 6:20 or so.

In tonight's class you'll be participating in an activity in which we will use a test prompt from the past. The purpose is, of course, to ...

 Homework for next week 

 4. Finding Your Research Area (October 29, 2014) 

Our purpose this evening is to focus on selecting your research area and then narrowing the scope to allow you to conduct your research project without too much stress (or gray hair).

Homework

 5. Locating Sources (November 5, 2014) 

Although not necessarily profound or bear-like, locating and vetting sources are two important skills in academic writing. Our task this week is to enhance your already formidable skills in these areas.

Our second activity will be determining the relevance and credibility of sources. We have three topics from which to choose, and

Here is the handout on finding sources from tonight's class. Use it well, Good People.

 Homework for next week 

 6. Evaluating Sources (November 12, 2014) 

As you'll recall, ...

Homework:

 7. Formulating a Research Question (November 19, 2014) 

Much of our class this evening will be spend looking at and providing some minimal feedback on your research questions.

Homework:

 8. The Research Proposal: Guidelines (November 26, 2014) 

As you'll recall, ...

Homework:

 9. The Research Proposal 1: Stating the Problem (December 3, 2014 

Much of our class this evening will be devoted to working on your respective research proposals. Lest we not know (or remember), your deadlines are January 6 for Macroeconomic Policy (MET) students and somewhat later for Public Policy (MEP) 2-year students.

Having said that, you may spend your time doing one of several things: working on your research proposal, editing your colleague's paper using this form, asking questions of me, discussing your paper with colleagues, or something similar. A couple suggestions: while peer-editing, be strict with your classmates, and put yourself in my place (i.e., what would a professor say to a student?).

 Homework for this week:

 10. The Research Proposal (December 10, 2014) 

As you'll recall from class, we looked at some useful phrases in class this evening.

Homework:

 11. Vetting Your Research Proposal (December 17, 2014) 

Showtime! This evening we'll devote classtime to presentations for small groups. Not only would I like to see well-done presentations, but I would also like to hear insightful, thought-provoking questions and feedback.

Recall that I will be in my office in the Academic Writing Center both December 24th and 25th if you would like to consult with me.

Homework:

 12. Summarizing, Part 1 (January 7, 2015) 

Having enjoyed your winter holidays, let's embark on 2015! Welcome back, everyone, and I hope the holidays treated you all well.

Obviously, the purpose of our first two classes in 2015 is to work on summarizing, an important skill for academic work (and, I suspect, for non-academic work as well).

 13. Summarizing, Part 2 (January 14, 2015) 

In class this evening, we'll be working on several summarizing tasks, among which we will do some or perhaps all of the following.

 14. Writing Skills (January 21, 2015) 

Here, Gentle Students, are the various files we'll probably be using in tonight's class.

Please note that attendance next week is REQUIRED. Looking forward to seeing everyone's smiling face next week!

 15. Writing Skills (January 28, 2015) 

As you'll recall, ...

Writing

As you know from class, I require polite email. Recall, too, that if you send me a file, the filename has a certain form.

Here's an example of the report style that you should use.

Miscellaneous

This is just here so I have an example of the purple popups ... abstract is here Abstract
In 2008, Nicholas Carr published a provocative article titled �gIs Google making us stupid?�h in which he ponders the effect of the internet and electronic sources generally on the brain. This paper discusses one source specifically, e-books, and explores whether libraries are acting wisely by moving from print to electronic book collections. The topic is considered from the vantage point of the library and from that of the patron. Specifically, the prospect of an all or largely all e-book future is considered and whether that future means an end to traditional library collections and services. The potential problems for �gdeep reading�h are also considered, and, specifically, whether e-books can serve as an adequate substitute for patrons who will no longer be able to use electronic collections in the way they once used print. In short, this paper explores whether e-books are making us librarians and patrons stupid.
(mouseover to read it).