Academic Writing Essentials: University Writing Crash Course
- Description
- Curriculum
- FAQ
- Reviews
Join your personal writing coach today as you learn the tools and strategies necessary to begin writing successfully at the college level.
Learn How to Approach and Excel at Any Academic Writing Assignment
·Understand academic writing expectations
·Develop clear thesis statements
·Outline and organize effectively
·Structure strategically
·Master the mechanics (grammar, punctuation, etc.)
·Find and use sources powerfully
·Write exceptionally well!
Work with Your One-on-One Writing Coach
My goal with this course goes far beyond providing you with a series of useful lectures. My goal is to interact with you as your personal writing coach to help you consistently write successfully at the college level. In other words, with this course you will benefit both from the content and from unlimited access to an expert in college writing, who has taught academic writing to all levels of high school and university throughout the world.
·Participate in an active writing forum community
·Benefit from unlimited reviews of your preliminary writing (i.e. thesis statements, outlines, research topics, etc.)
·Interact through a 60 minute, one-on-one office hour
·Receive a detailed review of one larger writing project (i.e. a term paper, application essay, exam, etc.)
Content and Overview
By working through the 45 lectures of this course alongside my personal commitment to your development as a writer, you will gain the skills and confidence you need to write well in any field and at any college level. Whether you’re in your first year or fourth, an international student, returning to college after years away, or preparing to enter your university experience soon, discover the strategies, tools, and secrets necessary to become an exceptional academic writer.
Beginning with a series of lectures on the writing process, this course will walk you through the fundamentals of brainstorming, outlining, developing, and presenting your ideas persuasively. You will learn how to develop strong thesis statements, construct supporting paragraphs, and engage your audience through effective introductions and conclusions. You will understand how to approach the most common academic writing assignments and learn how to write resumes, cover letters, and graduate school admissions essays. Most importantly, you will have access to unlimited personal and professional feedback to your questions, concerns, anxieties, and writing.
Completing this course will provide you with the essential tools and coaching to ensure you ace your next college essay.
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1
Introduction to Academic Writing 101 -
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Prewriting
This lecture discusses the critical step of prewriting in the writing process. It also provides concrete examples of two prewriting strategies.
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3
Outlining
This lecture illustrates how to transition from prewriting to developing a solid beginning outline.
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4
Drafting
This is a brief introduction of the basic parts of any paper and how to transition from an outline to a first draft.
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5
Revising
This lecture concludes The Writing Process with an in-depth discussion of and key strategies for the revision process.
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6
The Writing ProcessTest your knowledge of the writing process
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7
Titles
This lecture introduces you to the essentials of writing great academic titles.
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8
Thesis Statements
In this lecture, we walk through the basic purposes and functions of thesis statements. I also provide you with effective thesis templates for developing your own solid thesis statements.
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9
Introductions
This lecture teaches how to effectively introduce your ideas and intellectual intervention.
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10
Paragraphs
This lecture provides instruction on how to write unified, coherent paragraphs that support and remain focused on your central argument.
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11
Transitions
This lecture briefly describes the main areas of transition in college writing and provides a list of categories and key terms of transition.
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12
Conclusions
Here are some tips and examples of how to finish off your papers in a concise and powerful way.
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13
Organizing Your Ideas
Review the key instructions for organizing your ideas.
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14
Parallel Structure
Begin to develop you personal writing style by learning how to use parallel structure.
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15
Sentence Structure
A brief review on the four basic sentence types and how to vary between these types to develop an intricate prose style.
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16
Avoiding Shifts
Tips on improving the consistency of your writing.
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17
Active and Passive Voice
Learn how to distinguish, revise, and effectively shift between active and passive voice.
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18
Concision
Here are some strategies for making your writing more concise.
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19
Diction/Vocabulary Building
This lecture walks through the different levels of diction, discusses how to select the appropriate level, and how to strengthen your vocabulary.
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20
Using Quotations and Avoiding Plagiarism
Learn how to incorporate quotations correctly and effectively into your writing.
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21
Developing Your Writing Style
Remember some of the keys to developing your own writing style
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22
Commas and Comma Splices
Learn the basic uses of commas and how to avoid the most common comma mistakes.
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23
Apostrophes
Teaches the basics of apostrophes for showing omission, possession, and plurals.
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24
Colon, Semicolon, Hyphen, and Dash
This lecture gives you all you need to begin using the colon, semicolon, hyphen, and dash correctly.
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25
Quotations and Citations
This lesson provides the essentials of punctuating properly with quotations and citations.
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26
Capitalization
This lecture provides all you need to know about proper capitalization.
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27
Punctuation
Test how well you have remembered the basics of punctuation
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28
Opinion Editorial
Learn how to turn your opinion editorial from an emotional rant to a well-crafted, persuasive essay.
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29
Rhetorical Analysis
This lecture provides critical tools and strategies to writing a successful rhetorical analysis.
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30
Literary/Textual Analysis
This lecture teaches how to move beyond plot summary in order to develop an argumentative essay about literature.
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31
Research Paper
This lecture discusses how to choose a narrow research topic, how to find sources efficiently, how to take effective notes, and how to use your research to support your own original claim.
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32
Timed Essays
Timed essays are some of the most important and demanding assignments you will have to write in college. Most professors, however, assume that students should already know how to write well and thus choose not to teach the essential strategies of successful timed essays. This lecture provides those necessary tips and tools.
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33
Personal Essays
This lecture teaches how to select and discuss meaningful personal experiences in an academic setting.
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34
Common College Essay Types
Review what is expected from different common college essay types.
