MCD6010 : Academic Writing

Week One: Introduction to the unit & Academic Culture

1
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I’d like to begin by
acknowledging the
Traditional Owners of
the land on which we
meet today. I would
also like to pay my
respects to Elders
past and present.
By the end of this
lecture, you will …

• Know your unit lecturer and some of your

friends
• Understand what is “academic writing”
• Understand what is “academic culture”
• Know how you will be assessed in this unit
and what you need to do to pass
• Learn about MOODLE and your unit
materials
Unit lecturer and tutors

Unit leader/lecturer/tutor

• Mr Rajesh Krishnamuti

Unit tutors

• Dr Harry Zhang & Ms Helen Johnpillai

Getting to know me - My
contact details
• My name: Mr. Rajesh Krishnamuti

• My email address:
[email protected]

• How can you address me in class?

• You can call me Mr. Rajesh or Rajesh or

Sir or Teacher. I’ll leave you to decide
how you want to address me.
How to contact me?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Send me an Please use In your email, Create a short Begin your Keep your Sign off with
email your student please be subject for email with email short “Regards” and
email address. polite. your email “Dear Rajesh” then your
If you write to or “Hi Rajesh” name and
me from your student
personal number
email, I will
not reply.
 Attendance
● Attendance in this unit at lectures and tutorials is COMPULSORY!
● Attending classes is important because:
○ Learn new content (lectures)
○ Apply content in activities (tutorials)
○ Opportunity to listen to English being spoken
○ Opportunity to speak to other students in English (even though you’re from the
same country).
○ Regardless of what your plans are after graduating, this is a great opportunity to
learn a new language.
● Please email your tutors if you cannot attend your classes.
 Punctuality and classroom etiquette
● If you’re late, please wait the door. Don’t just walk in while a lecture is
going on.

● Wait for the lecturer or tutor to signal you before entering.

● Find the nearest seat, walk quickly to your seat, get ready. Do not distract
other students and the lecturer.
Go to menti.com and key in the code below
Academic Writing and Writing are not the same

Academic
Academic Writing
Writing

Let’s explore the terms in detail

 Academic
Writing

Audience Purpose Context

‘who’ ‘why’ ‘how & where’
 Audience – ‘who’
• For a certain audience
• University professors
• Lecturers

• For experts in your field (i.e., discipline or destination degree)

• E.g., psychology, sociology, education etc

• Other scholars interested in your topic

 Context – ‘where’
• The context refers to ‘where’ you write your ideas and ‘how’ you do it.

• At university, you normally write the following assignments:

• Critical analysis (essay)

• Essay plan

• Research essay

• Each of those assignments have ‘rules’ that you must follow.

• The ‘rules’ help define the academic style that you should follow.

• In today’s lecture, we will learn about the term ‘academic style’

 Purpose – ‘why’
• We write academic essays in university for different reasons.
• They are:
• To analyse or ‘breakdown’ a text
• To argue a position or stand.
• To create a plan
• To summarise a text
 Purpose – ‘why’
• At university (and in this unit), you will write many assignments.

• It is important to know why you are writing those assignments.

• It is also important to know what your lecturers want you to learn

from writing assignments.
• Why do we write assignments in university?
 Academic Writing is to …

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

Write using a
Write in a particular Write using Write by conducting S______R__
S____ E_______ R_______ A_______

Structured
style evidence research
argument
 Characteristics of academic writing?

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

Write using a
Write in a particular Write using Write by conducting S______R__
S____ E_______ R_______ A_______

STRUCTURED
STYLE EVIDENCE RESEARCH
ARGUMENT
 Academic
Writing

Research Structure Style Evidence

 Learning to how to
Learning how to communicate
communicate information
information in a style.
effectively

Academic Writing

Learning how to communicate Academic writing has its own

to a specific audience. style, structure, focus.
 Writing vs Academic Writing

Two students have written a short response to the question:

What is academic culture. Can you spot the differences?
According to Brick (2016),
I think that academic culture is academic culture refers to the
about how people who work and “attitudes, values and ways of
study in a university think, act behaving that are shared by Academic
writing and behave. Like people from people who work or study in writing
different cultures around the universities” (p. 2). People who
world, there is a different way of work and study in university are
doing things such as reading and lecturers, researchers and
writing essays. students.
 So what is academic culture?

According to Brick (2016), academic In other words, it a

culture refers to the “attitudes, values and common
understanding of the
ways of behaving that are shared by beliefs, attitudes and
people who work or study in universities” values that are shared
(p. 2). People who work and study in by people who work and
university are lecturers, researchers and study at university.
students.
 Academic Culture in Australia
• Studying in Australia is different to studying in your home country.
• The style of teaching & learning in Australia is quite different. In
Australia,
• The teacher does not always do all the talking
• Many classroom activities (e.g., short tasks, presentations etc)
• Critical thinking is expected
• Many questions and discussions
• Active participation
• It would a good idea to prepare yourself for a different academic
cultural experience.
 Attitudes
What is
Academic
Culture? Ways of
behaving
Values

The
Academy
or
University
Ways of
reading,
listening, Beliefs
speaking, &
writing

Habits &
practices What are some
values, attitudes and
ways of behaving at
university?
 Importance of “Acknowledgment” in Academic
Culture

• The two aspects of how

acknowledgement is
important is in how:

• we acknowledge the
original custodians of
the land we call
Australia.
• we acknowledge
research.
ThisThis
Photo
Photo
by Unknown
by Unknown
Author
Author
is licensed
is licensed
under
under
CC BY-SA-NC
CC BY-SA
 What is an Acknowledgment of Country?
An Acknowledgement of Country is an opportunity for anyone to show respect for
Traditional Owners and the continuing connection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander peoples to Country. It can be given by both non-Indigenous people and
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. There are no set protocols or wording for an
Acknowledgement of Country, though often a statement may take the following forms.
“I’d like to begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the land
on which we meet today. I would also like to pay my respects to Elders
past and present”.
Unit structure
• One 2-hour lectorial
• Lectorial = Lecture + tutorial
• Content (knowledge, information)
delivery Lectorials Tutorials
• Small activities
• Two 90-minute tutorials
• Consolidate (firm up) knowledge
learnt in lectures
• Smaller groups (20 – 25)
• Task-based and activity focused
• COMPULSORY!
Assessments
• Assessments
• Four Assessments
• No examinations
Assessments for the
unit

• There are a total of 4 assessments for this

unit.
• The 4 assessments are labelled A1, A2, A3
and A4.
• They are:
• A1: Weekly quizzes & activities
• A2: Opinion Piece Analysis
• A3: Essay Plan
• A4: Research Essay
• In order to pass this unit, you must achieve
50% of higher for your overall mark.
A1: Weekly Activities – 25%
• Throughout the Trimester, there are 5 tasks to complete for this
assessment:
Activity Week
(Each activity is worth 5%) (Each activity will be completed in
class)
Referencing quiz 3

TQAM introduction quiz 5

Academic reliability quiz 7

Unit overview quiz 9

Essay drafts 10 and 11

 Word count 850 - 1000 words
A2: Opinion Piece (<1000 words!)

Analysis Due date End of Week 4

Weighting 20%

Task Analyse a short

instructions opinion piece on a
topic using the
knowledge that you
will learn in the
lectures, tutorials and
readings from Week
1-4
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
 Word count 750 words

A3: Essay Plan

Due date End of Week 7

Weighting 25%

Task Complete an essay

instructions plan for one of the
essay topics for the
Research Essay (A4)

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

 Word count 1350 words - 1500
A4: Research words
(< 1500 words!)
Essay Due date End of Week 12

Weighting 30%

Task Based on the

instructions feedback provided on
your Essay Plan (A3),
write an academic
essay on the same
topic.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC

MOODLE

• MOODLE is your learning management

site or ‘home’ where all the important
information about your units is stored.
• You MUST check MOODLE daily for
important unit information.
• It is also where and how I’ll be
communicating to you.
 Unit Textbook
Academic Culture: A student’s guide to
studying at university (4th edition)

by

Jean Brick, Maria Herke and Deanna

Wang

You can either (a) download the e-book

from the Monash College library website;
(b) purchase an ebook or hard copy.
Looking to Week 2 …

1 2 3 4
Go through Get a copy of your Complete post- Complete pre-
MOODLE textbook lesson activities for lesson activities for
Week 1 Week 2 on Opinion
and Positions.
Thank you
and Enjoy
your
Tutorials! ☺