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New online course to improve academic writing in two weeks
8 June 2020
Free course helps UG and PGT students improve their writing by helping them revise a piece of work using a set of tasks.
The course is hosted on UCL Reflect [UCL login required] and created by Dr Nick Grindle and Dr Silvia Colaiacomo, UCL Arena Centre.
The material activities are drawn from a bestselling book: Wendy Laura Belcher, 2019. 'Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks: A Guide to Academic Publishing Success.'
Course outline
The course is organised into ten days, and each day has a number of smaller Task Sets and Instruction Sets.
Students can work through the days at your own pace, with a maximum of three hours' work per day.
Topics covered:
- Designing your plan for writing
- Advancing your argument
- Abstracting your essay
- Refining your works cited
- Crafting your claims for significance
- Analysing your evidence
- Presenting your evidence
- Strengthening your structure
- Opening and concluding your essay
- Editing your sentences
Image shows a piece of Dr Grindle's own writing, using the same set of tasks for proofreading that is in the course. The activity involves using coloured pens.
Who is the course for?
This course is tailored to undergraduates and taught postgraduates who are writing essays and dissertations or projects.