School of English - AUTh

Description

The course surveys research methods and designs for projects in linguistics. Students are exposed to the fundamental concepts of a research process and aspects of scholarly writing. Some of the topics covered in the course are the following: a) using the library’s catalogue, b) evaluating and assessing the relevance of sources (note-taking), c) types of APA papers (literature review, experimental studies), d) APA stylistics, e) research methods (interviews, questionnaires, etc.), f) the structure of a linguistics term paper, g) data analysis, h) paraphrasing, quoting, summarising, i) avoiding plagiarism, etc.

ASSESSMENT
There is no final exam for this course. Students are evaluated on the basis of fulfilling in-class tasks, being active participants throughout the semester, and on successfully writing two papers: one shorter (1.500 words, usu. a literature review) than the other (3.000 words). Students have to choose from a list of topics designated by the instructor. The late submission of papers results in penalisation while plagiarism results in automatic failure.

LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of the semester students should be able to:

• research a topic using the departmental library and academic online journals effectively,
• critically evaluate sources and develop a sound linguistic argument,
• avoid plagiarism, quote and paraphrase sources,
  
• provide their own References page,
• evaluate sources, refer to them and smoothly integrate these following the APA style
• cultivate their own creative thinking and writing ability,
• manage their time effectively and meet deadlines,
• produce a typed, well-organised, coherent, properly formatted and structured academic paper
  

Teaching