Aims and Fit of Module

This module is mandatory for postgraduate students admitted on the condition of attending the Presessional English course.  After completing the Presessional, they must register for and pass both LAN 901 and LAN 90.2


The main aim of the module is:  

  
a)	To improve students’ understanding of and ability to use discipline-specific academic conventions in speaking, reading and writing in preparation for writing and presenting their dissertation proposal.

Learning outcomes

A. Understand the genre of a dissertation proposal and presentation; 

B. Critically evaluate evidence and conclusions in academic texts;  

C. Write an annotated bibliography;  

D. Understand and use discipline-specific referencing systems;   

E. Design research questions.

F. To understand when plagiarism or collusion has occurred and how to avoid them;

Method of teaching and learning

The teaching sessions are 2, 2-hour seminars each week for 12 weeks. Students must attend at least 80% of the seminar hours (over 40 hours) before they will be permitted to submit their summative assessment portfolio. Students who fail (based on attendance or performance on their portfolio), will have the option to resit. As an hours-based course, students will need to have attended at least 50% of classes (25 hours) to qualify for the resit.
There will also be a 2 hour practical introduction session in the library or students can attend a two hour Writing Workshop of their choice. The types of written assignments required for the portfolio will depend on the genres used in the particular MA, MSc, MRes, MBA or MArch programmes. Throughout this module, the tutors will use a variety of communicative language teaching/learning strategies to reach all types of learners.  In addition to the 4 hours of seminars, tutors will reserve 2 additional hours each week for individual tutorials during which students can bring in any assignments to be reviewed for language issues.