Course Opportunity: "Understanding Research & Academic Writing"

Here is another announcement from the English Language Office here in Moscow about a course that promises to address the urgent need expressed by many of our colleagues for resources to help make sense of the research and academic writing process. The text below comes directly from the ELO...

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Dear Colleagues,

A new online academic writing course sponsored by the English Language Office at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, “Understanding Research and Academic Writing (URAW)” will begin on January 19th. The 12- week course will be conducted by an American Specialist and is designed to prepare participants from throughout Russia who will be in a position to define academic writing curricula, and establish writing labs at their home institutions.

Upon completion of this course, the participants will serve as multipliers and a source of expertise to help their students and colleagues across disciplines to better understand the culture and structure of academic writing in English. The online course will be designed to cover approximately twelve weeks over a six month period (January 19-June 21, with periodic breaks in the program to take into account the busy schedule of the participants and calendar demands). Types of assignments will include online tasks (discussion boards, wiki-tasks), self-editing logs, abstract writing and editing, literature reviews, peer review, and understanding the citation process. Group and one-to-one video conferences with the specialist will also be arranged. The cost of participation in the course will be covered by the English Language Office.

The selection of candidates will be merit based. We are looking for 25 participants that can include representatives of universities and members of EFL professional associations. Potential candidates should be outstanding, active, mature representatives of universities, with experience in teaching academic writing. Successful applicants should have academic papers in progress that can be refined during this course and have the potential to start a writing center or writing lab in their home university or institution.

To participate in the selection process, please answer the following questions:

1. Your name, position, contact information
2. Your experience in teaching AW
3. Names of major articles/ books you have authored and where they were published
4. Have you got an article in progress?
5. Your membership with professional organizations
6. Why would you like to participate in this course?
7. How are you going to disseminate the information gained through this course? What will be your plan to share what you've learned with colleagues at your institution/in your region?

Please send you application forms to lubninaen@state.gov

The deadline for applications is January 11th.