ELL 690 - Ph.D. Seminar

This PhD seminar provides a foundation for theory building and academic writing. Rather than focus on particular statistical or analytical methods, the goal is to provide participants with a rigorous grounding in the scientific approach to constructing theoretical arguments and designing appropriate literary research. The course is organized around the question of how to do good research. Topics to be covered include common threats to validity in research design, decisions regarding the choice of samples and settings, literary theory and its application to texts, measurement issues such as reliability and validity, estimation methods, data collection tools, and ethics in planning, conduct, and publication of research. The course will not only focus on academic writing and discussion, but will also guide students through the writing of MA thesis, and Ph.D. dissertation. Now that you have a definition of academic writing, here are some things to remember about the characteristics of academic writing. Planning - There is a certain amount of  planning before you start writing the paper; so, it will be analytical and organized. Outline - A proper outline is a must for academic writing. An outline will not only help you formulate your thoughts, but will sometimes make you aware of certain relationships between topics. It will help you determine the pertinent information to be included in your paper. Tone - A formal tone is used. You do not use slang words, jargon, abbreviations, or many clichés. Language - The language in your paper needs to be clear and words need to be chosen for their precision. A thesaurus is a good tool to help you pick just the right words to explain the issues. Point-of-view - The point of view in the third person, as the focus of academic writing is  to educate on the facts, not support an opinion. Approach - Deductive reasoning is a big part of academic writing as your readers have to follow the path that brought you to your conclusion. Through the criteria employed above, students will present the papers they have already written, will work on at least five dissertations or scholarly books in their area, write reports on the introduction and conclusion of those books, paying attention to the arrangement of the chapters. The course will also initiate the
students into their prospective theses and dissertations.

Analyses of papers by students, papers, theses and dissertations by other authors. Initiating the students into MLA and APA styles, writing papers, theses, an dissertations. Workd on MLA and APA styles will be covered.