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MAIS 606: Academic Writing for Graduate Students Report a Broken Link

This three-credit, paced-learning course engages students in writing at a graduate level and helps them to develop the research, composition, and argumentation skills that they will need to succeed in graduate programs. It is intended for all Athabasca University graduate students who need to improve their writing skills. It will support and provide practice for those graduate students who wish to enhance their ability to write effectively at the graduate level, and to do so in a graduate course for elective credit.

Week 1: Introduction

Betts, Kristen. “Lost in Translation: Importance of Effective Communication in Online Education.” Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, vol. 12, no. 2, 2009, www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/summer122/betts122.html. 
Hopkins, David. “Netiquette: A Handy Guide for Online Students.” David Hopkins/Learning Design & Learning Technology, 8 Feb. 2010, www.dontwasteyourtime.co.uk/elearning/netiquette-a-handy-guide-for-online-students/.
Jewell, Vivian. “Continuing the Classroom Community: Suggestions for Using Online Discussion Boards.” The English Journal, vol. 94, no. 4, 2005, pp. 83–87. JSTOR, doi:10.2307/30046465.
Creme, Phyllis. “A Space for Academic Play: Student Learning Journals as Transitional Writing.” Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, vol. 7, no. 1, 2008, pp. 49–64. SAGE Journals, doi:10.1177/1474022207084882.
“Writing a Summary, Response, or Critique.” The Writing Center, Saint Mary’s University School of Graduate & Special Programs, 2004. Internet Archive WayBackMachine, web.archive.org/web/20170713100146/http:/www2.smumn.edu/deptpages/tcwritingcenter/forms_of_writing/Sum_Resp_Crit.pdf.
Further Reading
Zgoda, Karen. “SW 2.0: How to Communicate Effectively with Your Professor.” New Social Worker, Spring 2010, www.socialworker.com/feature-articles/technology-articles/SW_2.0:_How_to_Communicate_Effectively_With_Your_Professor/.

Week 2: Introduction and Writing Conference

“Plagiarism.” Write Site, Athabasca University, 10 Mar. 2021, www.athabascau.ca/write-site/documentation-plagiarism/plagiarism.html.
“Student Code of Conduct and Right to Appeals Regulations: Plagiarism.” 2020 Undergraduate Calendar, Athabasca University, 10 Mar. 2021, calendar.athabascau.ca/undergrad/current/student-code/academic-misconduct-offences.php#plagiarism.
“Writing a Summary, Response, or Critique.” The Writing Center, Saint Mary’s University School of Graduate & Special Programs, 2004. Internet Archive WayBackMachine: web.archive.org/web/20170713100146/http:/www2.smumn.edu/deptpages/tcwritingcenter/forms_of_writing/Sum_Resp_Crit.pdf.

Week 3: What Is a Critical Review?

Fernsten, Linda A., and Mary Reda. “Helping Students Meet the Challenges of Academic Writing.” Teaching in Higher Education, vol. 16, no. 2, 2011, pp. 171–182. Taylor & Francis Online, doi:10.1080/13562517.2010.507306.
Skene, Allyson. “Writing a Critical Review.” The Writing Centre, University of Toronto at Scarborough, 15 Mar. 2021, www.utsc.utoronto.ca/twc/sites/utsc.utoronto.ca.twc/files/resource-files/CritReview.pdf.
“Writing a Summary, Response, or Critique.” The Writing Center, Saint Mary’s University School of Graduate & Special Programs, 2004. Internet Archive WayBackMachine, web.archive.org/web/20170713100146/http:/www2.smumn.edu/deptpages/tcwritingcenter/forms_of_writing/Sum_Resp_Crit.pdf.

Week 4: Reading Critically

Knott, Deborah. “Critical Reading Towards Critical Writing.” New College Writing Centre, University of Toronto, n.d. Internet Archive WayBackMachine, web.archive.org/web/20180119045955/http:/advice.writing.utoronto.ca/researching/critical-reading/.
Poulson, Louise, and Mike Wallace. “Chapter 1: Critical Reading for Self-Critical Writing.” Learning to Read Critically in Teaching and Learning, edited by Louise Poulson and Mike Wallace, SAGE, 2003, pp. 12–45. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://0-ebookcentral-proquest-com.aupac.lib.athabascau.ca/lib/athabasca-ebooks/reader.action?docID=254628&ppg=12.
Further Reading
Gillett, Andy. Using English for Academic Purposes: A Guide for Students in Higher Education, 2021, www.uefap.com/index.htm.

This guide provides advice to help you learn to read for academic purposes. There are activities that you can complete to help you understand how academic writing is organized and presented. This resource may help you with your reading, which may also help you to develop your writing.

Week 5: Outlining and Drafting Your Critical Review

“How to Write Critical Reviews.” The Writer’s Handbook, The Writing Center, University of Wisconsin—Madison, 1 Mar. 2021, writing.wisc.edu/handbook/assignments/crinonfiction/.
“The Purdue OWL: Sample Outlines.” Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL), Purdue University, 12 Mar. 2021, owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/the_writing_process/developing_an_outline/types_of_outlines.html.
“Writing Critical Reviews: What Is a Critical Review of a Journal Article?” Introduction to Research: Humanities and Social Sciences, Queen’s University Library, 11 Mar. 2021, guides.library.queensu.ca/introduction-research/writing/critical.

This site provides suggestions about how organize a critical review and what to address in each section of the review.
 “Organization: Thesis Development.” Write Site, Athabasca University, 12 Mar. 2021, www.athabascau.ca/write-site/academic-writing-resources/organization.html.

You will find the "Thesis Development" section at the bottom of the page.
“The Paragraph: A Video Tutorial.” Write Site, Athabasca University, 12 Mar. 2021, www.athabascau.ca/write-site/the-paragraph/index.html.
“Reverse Outlining: An Exercise for Taking Notes and Revising Your Work.” Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL), Purdue University, 12 Mar. 2021, owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/the_writing_process/reverse_outlining.html.

Week 6: Writing Conferencing and Independent Drafting

“The Writing Process: Revising, Editing & Proofreading.” Center for Writing Excellence Digital Dashboard, Montclair State University, 19 Nov. 2017. Internet Archive WayBackMachine, web.archive.org/web/20171119102620/http://www.montclair.edu/center-for-writing-excellence/digital-dashboard/writer-resources/writing-process/.

You will have to scroll up a few lines to see the heading.
Doctorow, Cory. “Writing in the Age of Distraction.” Locus Magazine, 7 Jan. 2009, www.locusmag.com/Features/2009/01/cory-doctorow-writing-in-age-of.html.
Heffernan, Virginia. “An Interface of One’s Own.” New York Times Magazine, 6 Jan. 2008, p. 24(L). Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A173091726/AONE?u=atha49011&sid=AONE&xid=67c5007f.
“Academic Writing.” Learning Development Centre, Aston University, 12 Mar. 2021, www2.aston.ac.uk/current-students/academic-support/ldc/get-ahead/study-skills/academicwriting.

Week 7: Workshipping Your Critical Review

Elbow, Peter. Selections from Writing with Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process. 2nd ed. Oxford U P, 1998. ProQuest Ebook Central, 0-ebookcentral-proquest-com.aupac.lib.athabascau.ca/lib/athabasca-ebooks/detail.action?docID=241397.

Please read

  • Chapter 13: Revising with Feedback
  • Chapter 21: Criterion-Based Feedback and Reader-Based Feedback
  • Chapter 22: A Catalogue of Criterion-Based Questions
  • Chapter 23: A Catalogue of Reader-Based Questions
Further Reading
Holt, Mara. “The Value of Written Peer Criticism.” College Composition and Communication, vol. 43, no. 2, 1992, pp. 384–392. JSTOR, doi:10.2307/358229.
“How to Write Critical Reviews.” The Writer’s Handbook, The Writing Center, University of Wisconsin—Madison, 1 Mar. 2021, writing.wisc.edu/handbook/assignments/crinonfiction/.
“Writing Critical Reviews: What Is a Critical Review of a Journal Article?” Introduction to Research: Humanities and Social Sciences, Queen’s University Library, 11 Mar. 2021, guides.library.queensu.ca/introduction-research/writing/critical.

This article provides suggestions about how organize a critical review and what to address in each section of the review.

Week 8: Workshopping, Revising, and Submitting Your Critical Review

“APA Formatting and Style Guide (7th Edition): General Format.” Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL), Purdue University, 15 Mar. 2021, owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html.
“APA Formatting and Style Guide (7th Edition): APA Headings and Seriation.” Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL), Purdue University, 15 Mar. 2021, owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/apa_headings_and_seriation.html.
“MLA Formatting and Style Guide: General Format.” Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL), Purdue University, 15 Mar. 2021, owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_general_format.html.

Week 9: Introducing the Literature Review

On Literature Reviews
Library and Scholarly Resources, Athabasca University. (2021, January 28). Writing a literature review. https://libguides.athabascau.ca/c.php?g=696589&p=4941000.
The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (2021). Literature reviews. https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/literature-reviews
Skene, A. (n.d.). Writing a literature review. The Writing Centre, University of Toronto at Scarborough. https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/twc/sites/utsc.utoronto.ca.twc/files/resource-files/LitReview.pdf
Taylor, D., & Proctor, M. (n.d.). The literature review: A few tips on conducting it. Writing Advice, University of Toronto. http://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/types-of-writing/literature-review/
Academic Writing Help Centre, University of Ottawa. (2010, September 26). Writing kit: Writing a literature review. https://web.archive.org/web/20100926113145/http://www.sass.uottawa.ca:80/writing/kit/grad-literature-review.php
On Summaries
The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (2021). Summary: Using it wisely. https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/summary-using-it-wisely/.
Forms of writing—Graduate students and Bachelor's completion: Summary and critique. (2020). Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. https://write.smumn.edu/home/writing-resources/forms-of-writing/#sum
The Writing Center, Saint Mary’s University School of Graduate & Special Programs. (2004). Writing a summary, response, or critique. https://web.archive.org/web/20170713100146/http:/www2.smumn.edu/deptpages/tcwritingcenter/forms_of_writing/Sum_Resp_Crit.pdf.

Weeks 9 and 10: Sample Literature Reviews

Chen, X., & Shuo, S. (2009, November 18–20). A literature review of privacy research on social network sites. 2009 International Conference on Multimedia Information Networking and Security (MINES) (Vol. 1) (pp. 93–97). IEEE Xplore. https://0-ieeexplore-ieee-org.aupac.lib.athabascau.ca/document/5368970
Covello, V. T. (1983). The perception of technological risks: A literature review. Technological Forecasting and Social Change,  23(4): 285–297. https://0-doi-org.aupac.lib.athabascau.ca/10.1016/0040-1625(83)90032-X
Jacobi, M. (1991). Mentoring and undergraduate academic success: A literature review. Review of Educational Research, 61(4): 505–532. https://0-doi-org.aupac.lib.athabascau.ca/10.2307/1170575
Kretschmer, M., & Hardwick, P. (2007, December). Literature review: Empirical evidence on copyright earnings. Author’s earnings from copyright and non-copyright sources: A survey of 25,000 British and German writers (pp. 53–72). Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management, The Business School Department of Law, Bournemouth University. http://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/cippm/files/2007/07/ACLS-Full-report.pdf

Please go to page 53 to find the reading.
Maguire, L. L. (2005). Literature review—Faculty participation in online distance education: Barriers and motivators. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 8(1). https://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/spring81/maguire81.htm
Starke, P. (2006). The politics of welfare state retrenchment: A literature review. Social Policy and Administration, 40(1): 104–120. http://0-search.ebscohost.com.aupac.lib.athabascau.ca/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=url,ip,uid&db=a9h&AN=19411680&site=ehost-live
Torres, C. A. R. (2008). The construction of identity and musical identities: A literature review. Visions of Research in Music Education, 11. http://www-usr.rider.edu/~vrme/v11n1/vision/Torres.Final.06.pdf

Week 10: Formulating a Research Question

Appadurai, A. (2000). Grassroots globalization and the research imagination. Public Culture, 12(1): 1–19. https://0-muse-jhu-edu.aupac.lib.athabascau.ca/article/26176
O’Leary, Z. (2017). Developing your research question. The essential guide to doing your research project (3rd ed.) (pp. 82–115). London: SAGE.

This reading starts on page 82 of the PDF.
Writing Studio, Vanderbilt University. (2007, August 8). Formulating your research question. https://vanderbilt.edu/writing/wp-content/uploads/sites/164/2016/10/Formulating-Your-Research-Question.pdf
Sandberg, J., & Alvesson, M. (2011). Ways of constructing research questions: Gap-spotting or problematization? Organization, 18(1): 23–44. https://0-doi-org.aupac.lib.athabascau.ca/10.1177/1350508410372151

Week 11: Sourcing and Selecting Literature to Review

Robert Gordon University Library. (2008, October 1). How to do a literature search. http://web.archive.org/web/20081001191135/http:/www.rgu.ac.uk/library/howto/page.cfm?pge=25989
Library and Scholarly Resources, Athabasca University. (2021, January 28). MA–IS Research Guide. https://libguides.athabascau.ca/maisguide
Writing Advice, University of Toronto. (2021). Reading and researching. http://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/researching/

See in particular “How to Get the Most Out of Reading” and “Research Using the Internet.”
Grant MacEwan University Library. (2014, September 25). Library instruction program: Information literacy. https://web.archive.org/web/20140925084905/http:/www.library.macewan.ca/information_literacy

Please be patient. It may take a long time for this page to load.
Koerth, M. (2011, April 22). Meet science: What is “peer review”? BoingBoing. https://boingboing.net/2011/04/22/meet-science-what-is.html
The Write Site, Athabasca University. (2020, November 6). Documentation and plagiarism. https://www.athabascau.ca/write-site/documentation-plagiarism/index.html

Week 12: Organizing and Arguing a Literature Review

Purdue Online Writing Lab, Purdue University. (2021). Logic in argumentative writing. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/logic_in_argumentative_writing/index.html
Kneupper, C. W. (1978). Teaching argument: An introduction to the Toulmin model. College Composition and Communication, 29(3): 237–241. https://0-doi-org.aupac.lib.athabascau.ca/10.2307/356935
Academic Writing Help Centre, University of Ottawa. (2010, September 26). Writing kit: Writing a literature review. https://web.archive.org/web/20100926113145/http://www.sass.uottawa.ca:80/writing/kit/grad-literature-review.php

Review the section “How to Write a Strong Literature Review.”
Skene, A. (n.d.). Writing a literature review. The Writing Centre, University of Toronto at Scarborough. https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/twc/sites/utsc.utoronto.ca.twc/files/resource-files/LitReview.pdf

Review the table on the second page about "Organizing Principles."
Further Reading
Groarke, L. (2020, Spring). Informal logic. The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (E. N. Zalta, Ed.). https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2020/entries/logic-informal/

Week 13: Writing Conferencing, Independent Drafting, Peer Workshopping

Further Reading
Center for Writing Excellence, Montclair State University. (2017). The writing process: Revising, editing & proofreading. https://web.archive.org/web/20171119102620/http://www.montclair.edu/center-for-writing-excellence/digital-dashboard/writer-resources/writing-process/#d.en.15733

You will have to scroll up a few lines to see the heading.

Week 14: Complete Your Literature Review and Review the Course

Cayley, R. (2011–). Explorations of style: A blog about academic writing [Blog]. https://explorationsofstyle.com/

See Cayley’s For New Visitors page for posts listed according to themes.
Orwell, G. (1946, April). Politics and the English language. Horizon. 
Further Reading
Academic style [learning module]. (2021). Academic Skills Hub, University of Melbourne. https://students.unimelb.edu.au/academic-skills/explore-our-resources/developing-an-academic-writing-style/academic-style

To access this module, you will have to enrol as an External User with the University of Melbourne’s Academic Skills Hub.
Findlay, L. (2006). The undergarments of style and my secret life of (self) censorship. English Studies in Canada, 32(2–3): 32–37. http://0-search.ebscohost.com.aupac.lib.athabascau.ca/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=31322596&site=eds-live
Grading Rubric
McCutcheon, M. (2016). Grading comments for essays on literature [Wiki]. Athabasca Landing, Athabasca University. https://landing.athabascau.ca/pages/view/10019/grading-comments-for-essays-on-literature

Note that this is a rubric for English essays. Some of its criteria, such as a few in the “Supporting Arguments” section, are more specific to literary studies than may be applicable to your literature review.