Academic Writing in German

The aim of the course is to improve students' skills in academic writing with a special focus on the requirements set for research papers in linguistics and literature. Students acquire an awareness of and ability to use effectively the discourse patterns of academic German. Students refine their knowledge of the basic structure and organization of the most common academic text types, acquire knowledge and skills on constructing a research paper, and develop their revising and editing skills. Students improve text documentation, paraphrasing, and summarizing skills. This course covers the following topics as well: methodological and theoretical approaches to academic discourse in German; methods of analyzing grammatical, lexical, and communicative aspects of academic texts; critical reading of academic texts; lexical and grammatical choices and communicative strategies in scientific German spoken academic communication.

The aim of the course is to provide basic academic writing skills and to acquaint with the features of academic discourse.

Contamporary German IV, German Grammar I/II.

Basic concepts of science. Research planning. Problems of topic formulation. Research goals and objectives. Research project analysis, evaluation, improvement. Search strategies. Peculiarities of scientific style (vocabulary, grammar). Plagiarism. Citation, bibliography, footnotes. Work design. Specifics of Semesterarbeit and bachelor's thesis, formal and content requirements. Academic oral communication.

Knowledge is assessed according to the ten-point system: 10: Excellent, exceptional knowledge and skills, 94-100% correct answers. 9: Strong, good knowledge and skills, 85-93% of correct answers. 8: Above average knowledge and skills, 75-84% of correct answers. 7: Average knowledge and skills, 65-74% of correct answers. 6: Satisfactory knowledge and skills, 55-64% correct answers. 5: Knowledge and skills meet the minimum requirements, 45-63% of correct answers. 0-4: Knowledge and skills do not meet the minimum requirements, less than 44% of correct answers.