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Syllabus ACADEMIC WRITING & READING SKILLS IN HEBREW - 2 - 8007
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Last update 20-07-2017
HU Credits: 2

Degree/Cycle: 1st degree (Bachelor)

Responsible Department: humanities - special program

Semester: 1st and/or 2nd Semester

Teaching Languages: Hebrew

Campus: Mt. Scopus

Course/Module Coordinator: Dr. Matti Huss, Dr. Idit Shaked


Coordinator Office Hours: By appointment

Teaching Staff:
Dr. Dov Simchon
Ms. Zemel-Pavin Anat
Ms. Orly Benami-O
Mr. Fabio Redak
Ms. Michal Ashkenazi
Ms. Noga Dagan
Dr. Amitai Baruchi-Unna
Dr. Idit Shaked

Course/Module description:
The course comprises of two lectures and a weekly training class throughout the semester. Course requirements are full attendance at the training class meetings and submission of all the training exercises. The course is divided into two main parts: the first of these focuses on the basic skills required in order to comprehend, summarize and process written academic material. The second part of the course deals with the composition of a paper on the basis of several sources of information. It discusses the possible relations between the different sources and assesses them critically. The written papers are constructed according to the principles acquired in the first part of the course.

Course/Module aims:
To improve the students’ reading comprehension skill and to develop their ability to read critically; to teach them how to summarize and process information; to acquaint them with possible structures of an academic paper and enable them to choose the appropriate structure for a given subject; to acquaint them with the different ways of organizing, structuring and presenting research products; to improve their commandment of different linguistic registers and of conjunctions and structure-words.

Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
Fully understand a complex argument which they encounter in a text; critically assess an article; comprehend the relations between arguments presented within a text or in several texts; write a piece of their own which integrates information from several sources; construct a convincing argument of their own and clearly present it in writing.

Attendance requirements(%):
100% (in case of illness or military service the student has to arrange with teacher the assignments to be made up)

Teaching arrangement and method of instruction: The students are required to read articles from class to class and to hand in a weekly assignment based on this reading.

Course/Module Content:
The following list is for illustration only. The topics may vary from group to group.
Part I: the components of a written text
1) Creating an idea (as opposed to an opinion) as the purpose of writing. The paragraph structure, the topic and ways to develop it (as a model for developing ideas in larger text units as well).
2) Main rhetoric devices for developing ideas: enumeration, definition, reasoning, illustration etc. (identifying the use of these devices in given texts).
3) The principles of summarizing: omitting secondary information and leaving the core; condensing the text with the aid of generalizations; restructuring it to highlight the main argument.
4) Writing a “reverse outline”: A hierarchical list of all the topics touched upon in a given article.
5) Sorting: the principles of categorization and of creating hierarchies.
6) Conclusion of inspection of text components, identifying different possible organizing principles; guidelines for critical reading.
Part II: Writing an article with a unified core, based on integration of information from several sources
7) The different relations between data and arguments (agreement, contradiction, overlap, addition, refutation etc).
8) The functions of the paper’s parts: the introduction, the body consisting of a chain of chapters, and the conclusion. Discussion of the presentation of a research (the query, the existing research, the method, the execution and the conclusions).
9) Using an outline to plan a whole paper.
10) A paper which presents a process: the causal chain leading to a phenomenon, its characteristics, its outcomes.
11) A paper which overviews different aspects. Sorting the points of view from which the theme can be discussed into main and subordinate categories.
12) A paper based on a comparison: creating the criterions for comparison and presenting the data in a table.
13) A paper presenting a controversy: finding the main point of disagreement: the data, the interpretation, the conclusion.
14) A paper applying a theory to specific material. Conclusion of course.

Required Reading:
The course does not focus on information, but rather on skill, and therefore there is no one reading list. Each teacher uses different texts to exemplify the skills, and these vary with accordance to the given group, its pace and the material which seems to him most relevant at that point.

Additional Reading Material:

Course/Module evaluation:
End of year written/oral examination 0 %
Presentation 0 %
Participation in Tutorials 0 %
Project work 100 %
Assignments 0 %
Reports 0 %
Research project 0 %
Quizzes 0 %
Other 0 %

Additional information:
The weekly assignments are the basis for the course evaluation. The teacher may consider the student's participation in class and add or deduct up to 8 points from his mark in accordance.
 
Students needing academic accommodations based on a disability should contact the Center for Diagnosis and Support of Students with Learning Disabilities, or the Office for Students with Disabilities, as early as possible, to discuss and coordinate accommodations, based on relevant documentation.
For further information, please visit the site of the Dean of Students Office.
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