Course for international guest/part time students

Faculty

Faculty of Education and Psychology

Organization

PPK Institute of Psychology

Code

PSZM21-TS-106

Title

Academic writing (in English)

Usual semester

Spring

Published semester

2025/26/2

ECTS

4

Language

en

Learning outcomes

Aim of the course The aim of the course is to help students develop their writing skills by practicing the conventions of writing texts in Social Psychology in English. The course is highly interactive and practice focused, allowing the students to learn and practice the necessary skills for writing term papers, theses, and journal articles. The aim of the course is to cover the most important aspects of scientific writing from ethical use of sources to stylistic and formatting requirements. Improve (critical) reading skills Identify the structural features of academic writing (especially writing journal articles) in Social Psychology Learn the writing process through peer evaluation Learn about the special tasks of writing: title, abstract, key words, illustrations, etc. Critical reading of social psychological articles Openness to writing for scientific and lay audiences Ability to write clearly Ability to adhere to APA formatting and style requirements Learn to revise papers Self-employed implementation of academic writing skills in accordance with ethical standards

Course content

Content of the course Introduction Identifying sources: identify relevant sources, types of sources, quick reading, the use of others’ work in writing, ethical treatment of sources Sample article analysis (research article vs. review article) Structure and stylistic requirements of a journal article or thesis, headings and subheadings Basic Social Science Argumentative Format: statements, arguments, reasons, supporting evidence Writing within the word limit: issues of style, editing and proofreading your text, paragraph unity Title, abstract Introductions and Conclusions Presenting research results, using tables and figures as illustrations Writing a review / revising your paper The publishing process: identifying the appropriate outlet Presenting your paper at conferences Coping with stress and inspiration in writing Individual reading and writing assignments identifying a sample article writing an annotated bibliography paragraph development writing an abstract formatting texts writing a review

Assessment method

Evaluation Home assignments (70%) In class presentation or other in class exercises (30%) kollokvium seminar grade Quality and timely submission of assignments Revision of texts in response to feedback

Bibliography

Kail, R. V. (2014). Scientific writing for psychology: Lessons in clarity and style. SAGE Publications.

Programmes of the course