IDENTIFYING DATA 2021_22
Subject (*) ADVANCED WRITING WORKSHOP Code 12274117
Study programme
Bachelor's Degree in English Studies (2009)
 Cycle 1st
Descriptors Credits Type Year Period
6 Compulsory Fourth 1Q
Language
Anglès
Department English and German Studies
Coordinator
COSTELLO , KEVIN PATRICK
 E-mail kevinpatrick.costello@urv.cat
Lecturers
COSTELLO , KEVIN PATRICK
Web
General description and relevant information <p> In this course fourth-year undergraduate students of English will acquire greater awareness of the norms of clear and concise academic and non-academic writing by practising professional English editing skills. By the end of the course, students will have learned to communicate more clearly, concisely and effectively in writing. </p><p> This subject will be taught face-to-face as far as is possible within the instructions of the health authorities. At the start of the academic year, the calendar containing all teaching activities (with timetables and classrooms) will be available in the subject's Moodle area. </p>

Competences
Type A Code Competences Specific
 A5 Dominar la llengua anglesa des d’un punt de vista teòric i pràctic i expressar-s’hi oralment i per escrit de manera fluida i precisa.
Type B Code Competences Transversal
 CT5 Communicate information clearly and precisely to a variety of audiences.
Type C Code Competences Nuclear

Learning outcomes
Type A Code Learning outcomes
 A5 Desenvolupa la capacitat d’expressió oral i/o escrita per a satisfer les necessitats d’ús de la llengua anglesa a un nivell superior.
Desenvolupa la capacitat d’expressió oral i/o escrita per a satisfer les necessitats que vagin més enllà de l’ús purament instrumental de la llengua anglesa a un nivell superior.
Elabora un discurs oral i/o escrit concís i coherent a fi de comunicar els resultats del treball realitzat a un nivell superior.
Domina las tècniques i les estratègies pròpies del discurs oral i/o escrit.
Obté consciència dels principals aspectes contrastius entre l’anglès i l’espanyol/català.
Type B Code Learning outcomes
 CT5 Produce quality texts that have no grammatical or spelling errors, are properly structured and make appropriate and consistent use of formal and bibliographic conventions.
Draw up texts that are structured, clear, cohesive, rich and of the appropriate length.
Draw up texts that are appropriate to the communicative situation, consistent and persuasive.
Use the techniques of non-verbal communication and the expressive resources of the voice to make a good oral presentation.
Construct a discourse that is structured, clear, cohesive, rich and of the appropriate length.
Produce a discourse that is appropriate to the communicative situation, consistent and persuasive, and interact effectively with the audience.
Type C Code Learning outcomes

Contents
Topic Sub-topic
Part 1. Copy editing Introduction to copy editing; the pre-set rules.
House Style; style manuals and publishers’ style sheets.
Spelling; spelling mistakes and typographical errors; spellchecker; proper nouns, compound words and homophones; British & American spelling.
Idiomaticity; idioms & idiomaticity; subject-verb agreement; false friends, fickle friends & faithful friends.
Punctuation; basic rules; the comma: the comma splice, relative clauses, the serial comma, a history of the comma; the modern approach to comma use; colons and semi-colons; the hyphen and the en-dash.
Usage; non-inclusive language; split infinitives; dangling participles.
Part 2. Style editing Introduction to style editing; clarity & concision; the historical context; writing to impress vs. writing to express; foggy language; readability statistics: the Gunning Fog Index, the Flesch Reading Ease and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level; writing guidelines for clarity and concision.
Write tight; writing longer sentences; writing shorter sentences; lists; redundancies; verbosity.
Prefer verbs; nominalisations.
Use parallel structure; bulleted lists.
Prefer the active voice; the active vs passive debate.
Get personal; impersonal writing; personal pronouns.
Small is beautiful; circumlocutions; multisyllabic words; specialised terminology.
Avoid ambiguity; misplaced modifiers; unclear antecedents.
Start strong; expletives.
Be positive; negatives and double negatives.
Cut the strings; prepositional strings.

Planning
Methodologies  ::  Tests
  Competences (*) Class hours
 Hours outside the classroom
 (**) Total hours
Introductory activities
6 0 6
Seminars
A5
CT5
 40 40 80
Debates
A5
CT5
 4 4 8
Personal attention
2 0 2
 
Extended-answer tests
A5
CT5
 2 30 32
Short-answer objective tests
A5
CT5
 2 6 8
Practical tests
A5
CT5
 4 10 14
 
(*) On e-learning, hours of virtual attendance of the teacher.
(**) The information in the planning table is for guidance only and does not take into account the heterogeneity of the students.

Methodologies
Methodologies
  Description
Introductory activities The course will begin with an initial presentation of the key concepts of copy editing and style editing as important rules and guidelines for producing written documents that are correct and communicative. The course design, structure and format will also be presented and the course assignments and evaluations will be defined.
Seminars Each week will consist of one group session on copy editing and one group session on style editing. During these sessions, the basic concepts of the rules and guidelines will be presented and discussed, anecdotes, examples and illustrations will be provided, and consolidation assignments will be set to be completed outside the classroom.
Debates The whole-group lectures will be used to conduct an initial evaluation of students’ writing ability, to present and prepare the students’ writing assignments for the course, and to complete all the course tests and quizzes.
Personal attention To contact students during the course the tutor will use their official URV email address. Students are also welcome to consult their tutor during official office hours or by email.

Personalized attention
Description

To contact students during the course the tutor will use their official URV email address. Students are also welcome to consult their tutor during official office hours or by email.

During the 2021-22 academic year, students will be given individual and/or group tutorials during which they can resolve any questions that may have about the subject. Tutorials may be face-to-face or online. At the start of the academic year, students will be informed about how these personalised tutorials will take place (timetables, whether they will be face-to-face, by email, Moodle, etc.)


Assessment
Methodologies Competences Description Weight        
Short-answer objective tests
A5
CT5
 Tests

Students will be given one test on copy editing and one test on style editing. These tests, which will be designed to enable students to demonstrate their ability to apply the rules of copy editing or the guidelines of style editing, may be completed electronically using Track Changes in Word.

Quizzes

Students will also be given one quiz on copy editing and one quiz on style editing. These quizzes will be designed to test students’ knowledge of numerous concepts contained in the course dossier. 		Test on copy editing 10%

Test on style editing 10%

Quiz on copy editing 5%

Quiz on style editing 5%
Extended-answer tests
A5
CT5
 Consolidation exercises

The 15 sets of consolidation (homework) assignments are designed to enable students to practise the concepts discussed during the group sessions. These exercises will be completed via Moodle as the course progresses. 		30%
Practical tests
A5
CT5
 Writing assignments

Students will be given four comprehensive writing assignments during the course. In addition to displaying a high degree of grammatical competence and a wide range of vocabulary for this level, students will be expected to show their understanding of the concepts discussed throughout the course by applying them appropriately and judiciously in their writing.

 40%
Others  
 
Other comments and second exam session

Continuous assessment

4 writing assignments 40%

2 tests 20%

2 quizzes 10%

15 consolidation (homework) assignments 30%

To complete the continuous assessment requirements, students must complete all four writing assignments. Those who fail to complete any of these assignments will not be eligible to pass on the continuous assessment alone. Students must score a minimum of 4/10 on each writing assignment for it to count as completed for continuous assessment purposes.

Plagiarism will result in automatic failure of the specific continuous assessment component of the course in which it is detected. In line with the preceding paragraph, this will also imply automatic failure on the continuous assessment as a whole and the student involved will be obliged to take the Final Exam. Any recurrence of plagiarism in work submitted by the same student will result in the award of a zero grade (${1}isuspens${1}i) for his/her final grade for this course.

The test on copy editing is an obligatory continuous assessment component. Students must score a minimum of 4/10 on this test for it to count as completed for continuous assessment purposes.

The test on style editing is also an obligatory continuous assessment component. Students must score a minimum of 4/10 on this test for it to count as completed for continuous assessment purposes.

For borderline results, regular attendance (>80%), active participation in classroom discussions, and regular completion of the course's consolidation exercises may be taken into consideration at the tutor's discretion.

Final exam

The Final Exam (Segona Convocatòria) will consist of copy editing exercises, style editing exercises, and a written assignment:

Copy editing exercises 30%

Style editing exercises 30%

Writing assignment 40%

The mark achieved by the student in this final exam will account for 100% of his/her overall grade.

If the public health situation requires a reduction in physical attendance, examination will be adapted to comply with the directives issued by the relevant organisations. Any changes will be notified via the news forum on Moodle.


Sources of information

Basic

There is no text book for this course. Students will be able to access all their learning materials on Moodle. These comprise: (i) two comprehensive instructor-prepared course dossiers containing explanations, illustrations, examples and practical exercises; (ii) PDF PowerPoint documents containing all the course material discussed and practised in class; (iii) 15 sets of online consolidation assignments (i.e. one for each lesson); (iv) PDF documents with sample solutions to the 15 sets of consolidation assignment (these will be uploaded progressively during the course after each assignment deadline has passed); (v) four writing assignments.
Complementary

Recommendations
(*)The teaching guide is the document in which the URV publishes the information about all its courses. It is a public document and cannot be modified. Only in exceptional cases can it be revised by the competent agent or duly revised so that it is in line with current legislation.