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ES5002 

Graduate English Course (Advanced Level)
   2013/2014, Semester 1
   Non-Faculty-Based Departments (Ctr For English Language Communication)
Modular Credits: 0
  Tags: --

Learning Outcomes

TopThis course is designed to help international graduate students from non-English speaking countries develop skills for writing their theses.

Prerequisites

TopPrerequisite(s): Students need to complete ES5000 if required and ES5001A before taking ES5002. PhD candidates generally take ES5002 in the fourth year of their candidature when they are writing their thesis.

Teaching Modes

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  1. Tutorials: Eight tutorials will highlight important information on the structural and linguistic aspects of writingthe main sections of a  thesis: Introduction, Discussion/Conclusion and Abstract.
  2. Workshops: Four workshops are devoted to students’ analyses of research paper and thesis portions and one to class analysis of samples of abstracts of research articles and theses.
  3. Pre-writing: Two pre-writing sessions are arranged to discuss students’ outlines for the first two assignments (introduction sections) i.e. the writing of Context (the first assignment) and Review (the second assignment).
  4. Peer review: Peer review sessions allow the first draft of students’ assignments to be read and commented on by fellow classmates.
  5. Tutor feedback: In the tutor feedback sessions, students will be given ample opportunities to ask questions about teachers’ comments on their drafts and make revisions based on such comments.

Schedule

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Classes for the ES5002 module for the First Semester of AY2012/13 start on the week of Monday, 21 January 2013. 
 

Synopsis

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ES5002 is a writing intensive course, requiring students to write five assignments which will form different sections (i.e. introduction, conclusion) and abstract of their PhD thesis. Towards this end, students will be given instruction on the structural and linguistic features of various sections of PhD thesis and research paper genre. Besides teacher instruction, students will also get help from fellow students through collaborative peer review process. Throughout the semester, students will also be exposed to abundant thesis and research paper samples through teacher- or student-led workshops.

Syllabus

Top SYLLABUS

 ES5002 COURSE SCHEDULE FOR SEMESTER II AY2012/13

 Week
First session in the week Second session in the week
1 21Jan–
25Jan
Tutorial 1: Course Information
  • Thesis Structure, TOC and Structure of introductions (Mini lecture, ML)
  • Prepare Table of Contents for Thesis (HW)
  • All students to bring an extract  of the Context section of the introduction Chapter from a thesis
Tutorial 2: Presenting the Context/Review (ML)
  • Tasks and analysis of thesis Context
  • Analysis of Context/Review in  thesis extract
  • Students assigned to different workshop groups
  • Prepare Outline for Context
 
2 28 Jan–
1 Feb
  • Tutorial 2: : Cont’d Review
  • Tutorial 3: Cohesion in Context/Review
  • Students to prepare for Workshop 1
  • Submit TOC and Context Outline
  •  Workshop 1 (Group Discussion/presentation of analyses of thesis portions of Introduction
  • Prepare outline for Lit Review (HW)
 
3 4Feb–
8 Feb
Pre-writing 1: Discuss TOC and Context outline
  • Write Draft 1 of Context (laptop needed)
  • Submit outline for Lit Review
  • Peer Review 1: Draft 1 of Context
 
*4 11Feb–
15 Feb
Pre-writing 2: Discuss outline for Lit Review
  • Write Draft 1 of Lit Review (laptop needed)
  • Submit Draft 2 Context
  • Peer Review 2: Draft 1 of  Lit Review
  • Write Draft 2 Lit Review
 
*5 18 Feb–
22Feb
  • Submit Draft 2 Lit Review
  • Tutor Feedback 1 on Draft 2 Context
  •   Write Draft 3 Context
 Tutorial 4: Presenting Gaps and Purpose (in Review, Mini lecture)
  • Submit Drafts 1, 2 & 3 Context
 
*   Recess Week 25th Feb to 1st March  
6 4 Mar to 8 Mar  Tutorial 5: Presenting Aims and Significance
  • Write Draft 1 Gap & Purpose
  • Peer Review 3: Draft 1 Gap and Purpose
  • Write Draft 2 Gap and Purpose
 
 
7
11 Mar to 15 Mar
  • Tutor Feedback 2 on Draft 2 Lit Review
  • Write Draft 3 Lit Review
  • All students bring extracts of results portion of thesis for next tutorial
  • Submit Draft2 Gap and Purpose
  • Tutor Feedback 3 on Draft 2 Gap and Purpose
  • Write Draft 3 Gap and Purpose
  • Submit Drafts 1, 2 & 3 Lit Review
 
 8 18 Mar to 22 Mar Tutorial 6: Writing Results (Mini Lecture)
  • Students prepare for Workshop 2
  • Submit Drafts 1, 2 & 3 Gap and Purpose
  • Workshop 2: Analyses of thesis portions of Results
  • All students bring extracts of conclusion portion from thesis for next tutorial
 
9 25 Mar to 29 Mar
  • Tutorial 7: Writing Conclusions (Mini Lecture)
  • Students prepare for Workshop3
  • Workshop 3: Analyses of Conclusion (prepared by students)
  • Write Draft 1 of Conclusion
 
 10 1 April to 5 April
  • Peer Review 4: Draft 1 of Conclusion
  • Write Draft 2 Conclusion
 
 
Tutorial 8: Writing abstracts (Mini Lecture)
  • Workshop 4: Analyses of Abstracts
  • Submit Draft 2 Conclusions
  • Write Abstract Draft 1
 
11 8 April to 12 April
  • Tutor Feedback 4 on Draft 2 Conclusions
  • Write Draft 3 Conclusions
  • Submit Abstract Draft 1
  • Submit Draft 3 Conclusions
  • Tutor Feedback 5: Draft 1 Abstract
  • Write Draft 2 Abstract
 
12 15April to 19 April
  • Tutor Feedback 5: Final revisions of Introduction segments (Laptop needed)
  • Submission of all three drafts of Context, Review, Gap and Purpose
  • Submit Draft 2 Abstract
  • Tutor Feedback 6 Final revisions of Abstracts (D2) and Conclusions (D3)
  • (Laptop needed)
  • Submission of all drafts of Conclusions/Abstracts
 
           
*Public holidays during these weeks  

Assessment

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  Assessment (100% CA)
 

  • 70% based on assignments (five assignments for Introduction, Abstract & Conclusion)
  • 10% for analysis of selected portions of a thesis
  • 10% for providing constructive comments to peers when reviewing assignments
  • 10% for engagement and presence in class

 


Assignment Length Requirement

Details

CA%
Introduction (1) 500 words

Context (Outline and 3 drafts)

10%
Introduction (2) 750 – 900 words Review (Outline and 3 drafts) 20%
Introduction (3) 300 - 500 words Gap & Purpose (3 drafts) 10%
Conclusion (4) 800 - 900 words Conclusion (3 drafts) 20%
Abstracts (5) 500 words Abstracts (Two drafts) 10%
Peer reviews   Four peer reviews 10%
Analyses for Workshops 1, 2, and 3 Analysis of paper/thesis portions 10%
Participation in classes (Engagement and Presence) 10%

Bookmarks - Helpful resources

Top

Avoiding Plagiarism

Plagiarism and How You Can Avoid It by Christina Low, CDTL 
    http://www.cdtl.nus.edu.sg/success/sl7.htm  

 

Writing the Literature Review  

Writing the Literature Review by Kim Lie
    http://www.qmuc.ac.uk/psych/RTrek/study_notes/web/sn9.htm


Literature review
    http://www.flinders.edu.au/SLC/LitRev1.pdf

 

 

 

 

Collocations sampler

   

·   BYU Corpus of American English: http://www.americancorpus.org/


·   Cobuild Concordance and Collocations Sampler: http://www.collins.co.uk/corpus/CorpusSearch.aspx


·   British National Corpus: http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/

·   Hong Kong Virtual Language Center 's Web Concordancer: http://www.edict.com.hk/concordance/WWWConcappE.htm  

·   Online Concordancer: http://www.lextutor.ca/concordancers/concord_e.html

Preparation for Thesis Defence

Preparing for the PhD Vica Voce- David Twigg 
    http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Users/dt31/download/phdviva.pdf  


How to survive a thesis defence by Joe Wolfe 
    http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/viva.html  


Nasty PhD Viva Questions by Dr. Andrew Broad
    http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/cs/cs710/viva.html  


Useful Links

 http://emodule.nus.edu.sg/presentation-skills/part1/

http://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/cdtclo/internet/project/celc/module2/
 
http://www.nus.edu.sg/celc/writinghub/index.htm
 
http://www.nus.edu.sg/celc/resources/cwtuc/index.html


 

 

 

Workload

Top0-4-0-3-3

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