Week 10

Dear students,
Today you will start off giving your group an update about your final paper. Then you will learn about academic vocabulary.

Advanced Academic Writing Workbook - Unit 8

Kind regards,
Chris Elvin
P.S. Some students have been asking about deadlines for the portfolio and essay so below is a rough guide to the remaining lessons of the course.

Week 11: Cohesion
Week 12: Formatting
Week 13: portfolio completing and final paper writing and editing in class
Week 14: Hand in portfolio if you want it returned to you  / final paper writing and editing in class
Week 15: Deadline for final paper digital version and hard copy / deadline for portfolio (not returned)

Week 9

Dear students,
Today you will show each other your concept maps and annotated bibliographies, and if they are complete, you may begin to start writing your final paper.
Our focus today will be about introductions.

Advanced Academic Writing Workbook - Unit 7

Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Week 8

Dear students,
Today you will read your literary commentary of a theme or character in a book that you completed for homework to your partner. After that, you will learn about references.

Advanced Academic Writing - Unit 6

Some of you have asked about when you will begin to write your final paper. Well, I hope you have your idea already, and you should spend a long time working on your concept map, reading, and keeping your bibliography organized and up-to-date. Only after you have become well read in your specific research field should you begin to write.

I would like to keep track of your writing, so please use the form below to send me your work. You can edit the form any time, so you don`t have to send a complete essay.

Academic Writing Final Paper Form

Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Week 7

Dear students,
Today you will read the summary of a book that you completed for homework with your partner. After that, you will learn about in-text citations.

Advanced Academic Writing - Unit 5

Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Week 6

Dear students,
Today you will learn about one of the most important aspects of academic writing, integrity. Please download the print below and bring it to class.

Advanced Academic Writing Workbook - Unit 4

Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Week 4

Dear students,
Today you will read your group essay homework assignment that you started in class last week. Then you will learn about thesis statements in Unit 3 of the workbook.

Advanced Academic Writing Workbook - Unit 3

Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Library lesson

Dear students,
You will shortly learn how to use the library facilities.

Tuesday students, please go to room 15404 on Tuesday October 29th.
Thursday students, please go to room 15402 on Thursday November 7th.
Sorry - the Thursday library session was moved to Thursday October 17th, room 235.

Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Week 3

Dear students,
Today you will study about how to find and evaluate sources as supporting evidence for your thesis.

Advanced Academic Workbook - Chapter 2

Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Week 2

Dear students,
Today you will sign in, as always, then you will review the homework, and after that start Unit 1 of the textbook, so please download the prints and bring them to class.

attendance

Advanced Academic Writing Workbook - Unit 1

Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Week 1

Dear students,
Today you will sign in (as you will do every class). 

attendance

Then, I would like to ask you to participate in a pre-course survey.

pre-course survey

After that, please write a two-paragraph essay about a novel that you have read recently. The first paragraph should be a summary and include an in-text citation. The second paragraph should be your opinion of the novel. Finally, write a reference for the book in APA format.

Summary of a novel


Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Welcome to Chris Elvin's 2019 Academic Writing Class

Dear students,
Welcome to academic writing. Last year many students failed this course, so please be aware that you may fail if you do not apply yourself properly from the outset.

Some reasons for failing include:

* underlength 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. This should show your integrity and learning. Therefore, do not copy from a friend (unless the teacher asks you to work in pairs), or from the internet, for example, and do not invent references for your annotated bibliography. Academic honesty is an integral part of academic writing.

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

Attendance:

You should attend all classes. Once you arrive in class, please submit the form below. Do not abuse your attendance record.

Academic Writing Attendance Form

Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

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