Week 15

Dear students,
Today is your final class. You should hand in your final paper today and take a final 10- point test.
Before class you should upload your final paper to the university database via the link below. To sign in, your ID should be “student” and your password is “tGpUU5Cv”.

Aoyama University final draft upload form

Then, take a screen shot of your upload receipt and attach this to the front page of your final paper and bring this to class to hand in.

In addition, you should also upload your essay to the class spreadsheet using the form below.

Final draft upload form

Finally, you will take a written test.
You should write a summary and opinion of a story in today’s newspaper. Remember to cite your sources appropriately in APA format.

Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Week 14

Dear students,
1
Today is the deadline for your first draft, which must be typed and formatted according to APA style. You should bring two copies of your first draft; one for your teacher and one for yourself which you will need to continue working on in class.

2
Let me check your work and give feedback if you require it.

3
You should also upload your first draft to my spreadsheet using the form below. The deadline for you to upload is one week from the end of today’s class.

First draft upload form

4
Today, please do the university course evaluation which you will find online.

5
Also, please fill out a questionnaire about intelligence and ability for my private research

 intelligence and ability survey

Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Week 13

Dear students,
Today you will hand in your potfolios (Advanced Academic Writing Workbook units 1-10). The work you show should demonstrate your academic integrity, so please make sure not to copy from a friend or the internet, for example, or make up your references!
Ideally, your portfolio should be complete and there should be evidence of your learning progress.
After that, you should continue writing and editing your final paper. Let me see your work. The deadline for the first draft is next week.
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Week 12

Dear students,
Today you will learn how to format your paper.
Chapter 10 - formatting
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Week 11

Dear students,
Today you will learn about cohesive devices. Please download the prints below and bring them to class.

Chapter 9

Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Week 10

Dear students,
Today you will learn about academic vocabulary

Chapter 8

If there is time at the end of the lesson, please show me your essay plan or writing or take a vocabulary quiz

Academic Word Test 1A

Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Week 9

Dear students,
Now that the librarian visit has finished, we are all up to week nine. Today you will learn about introduction strategies. Then you will have time to develop, write, or edit your final paper. Let me see  your progress so that I can provide feedback.

Chapter 7 - Introductions

Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Week 7

Dear students,
Today is your mid-term test. Your task is to write a literary criticism of a novel. It should include a summary, a paraphrase and a direct quotation. Each of these will require an in-text citation in APA format. At the end of your essay you should write a reference in APA format for the book that you analyzed.
It should be clear to a reader of your essay what is citation and what is commentary.
You should bring your novel to class, and you may not use a dictionary during the test. Cell phones are also not allowed.
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Week 6

Dear students,
Today you will learn about references.
Chapter 6
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Week 5

Dear students,
Disregarding the librarian visit, here are the prints you will need after you finish chapter 4.
Chapter 5
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Important Librarian Visit Dates

Dear students,
The librarian will be visiting soon to show you all about how to be an effective and efficient researcher. Please make a note of your schedule change and do not be absent for this important lesson.

Tuesday 5 students
October 9th - Classroom 15502 (as usual)

Thursday 2 students
October 18th - Classroom 235 (please move to classroom 235 together with two other classes of students)

Tuesday 4 students
October 30th - Classroom 15605 (please move to classroom 15605)

Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Week 4

Dear students,
Today you will learn about academic integrity so please download the prints and bring them to class.
Chapter 4
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Week 3

Dear students,
Today you will read your homework from page 12 of last week in groups. After that you will start Chapter 3, so please download it and bring it to class.
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Week 2

Dear students,
Your homework from week 1 was to complete Chapter One. Today you will learn about evaluating sources so please download the print and bring it to class.
Chapter 2
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Week 1

Dear students,
Today you will learn what academic writing is. Please download chapter 1 and bring it to class. Your homework will be to complete each chapter of the book every week.
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Welcome to Chris Elvin's Aoyama University Academic Writing Class

Dear students,
Welcome to academic writing. Last year about fifty percent of my students failed this course, so please beware that you may fail if you do not apply yourself properly from the outset.

Some reasons for failing include:

* under length final papers
* a lack of knowledge of academic writing 
* hubris (over-confidence in one's ability)
* cheating (copying from the Internet, for example)
* a naive and unfounded shared belief that everyone will pass the course

Grading Criteria

50 points:

A final paper of a minimum of 1500 words which includes at least seven references in the appropriate format (APA).

30 points:

A completed class workbook
(Every week you will do one chapter of the workbook which you are expected to download and bring to class yourselves).

20 points:

A mid-term in-class test and a final in-class test


Kind regards,
Chris Elvin