Struggling with writing an academic text? This MOOC will ease the pain – and make your writing shine. This MOOC takes you through the basics of academic writing step by step. From structuring and organising an academic text to avoiding common pitfalls that can negatively affect your credibility, this 6-week course offers a guide for those who want to improve their writing.

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It looks at various components that will make your academic writing stand out for all the right reasons, including paragraphing, style, tone, paraphrasing and punctuation. Using samples of student writing it also gives you tips on what to avoid and explains why. Each week is comprised of video lessons, followed by exercises and peer-review tasks, taking you through various aspects of academic writing.

What you'll learn:

- to understand the basic tenets of academic writing

- to identify the different genres and the expectations of each one

- to overcome writer's block

- to stucture your ideas cohesively

- to write reader-friendly sentences

- to use appropriate tone to gain credibility

- to avoid plagiarism and

- to ensure your text respects the rules of general punctuation in English.

Syllabus

The MOOC “Academic Writing Made Easy” covers the following topics to help you improve your writing:

Week 1 Rhetorical Preferences: Meeting the expectations of your target group

Week 2 Genre: Differentiating between types of scholarly texts

The Writing Process: Overcoming writer's block

Week 3 Cohesion: Making your ideas flow logically

Week 4 Sentences: Writing reader-friendly sentences

Week 5 Credibility: Convincing your peers to accept and believe what you write

Week 6 Punctuation: Polishing your text

Putting it all together: Overcoming the last hurdles