Course description for 2024/25
Introduction to Academic Writing
MET9010
Course description for 2024/25

Introduction to Academic Writing

MET9010

Online course "Introduction to Academic Writing" is held in Canvas System and consists of 7 Blocks. The course will be open for students from 15th of January until 15th of April. It means that PhD students should go through all modules and related assignments during this period. The course architecture is constructed in a way that students cannot jump from one block to another if all necessary assignments are not completed. In this regard, students are encouraged to plan their time properly for the course period and assignments completion.

Registration form

Registration form

The goal of this course is to provide PhD students with a starting platform to understanding of the importance of academic writing as a part of their research education by taking into account differences in academic traditions among institutions. In a long-term perspective, the course seeks to contribute to the development of students’ international research skills, facilitate their inclusion into international research community and increase the number of individual and joint international publications by researchers coming from areas with different research traditions.

The course is arranged as a guided self-study online course, and all submitted assignments are read and commented by the course coordinator. The course takes place in CANVAS, web-platform for distant learning. When a student is registered at Nord University Business School and enrolled for the course, he/she gets access to the course "room" in the CANVAS where all study materials and assignments are available.

The course consists of blocks covering the following topics:

  • The nature of research and research training in different countries
  • The role of theory in research and writing academic articles
  • How to work with the literature and do good literature review
  • What library tools and how to use when doing literature review
  • Dissemination of research results: journals, rankings, citation indexes, types of articles
  • Developing good academic texts
  • Reviewing and publishing process

Each block includes several self-study videos supplemented with PowerPoint presentations/slides and other materials (required and recommended readings, Internet links, etc). Each block consists of a short Introduction to the block, video lectures, a list of required literature and recommended materials, several written exercises and/or quizzes to evaluate the learning progress.

  • The course is arranged through combining the competences of Nord University Business School and its partner-universities.

Admitted to a Ph.D. program or have the qualifications to be admitted to a Ph.D. program.

Must fulfill the English language requirements or must be from approved partner institutions.

Knowledge

The candidate:

  • has advanced knowledge and understanding of the connections between the nature of research, the research profession, reviewing and publication process, the nature of theoretical contribution and the main components of academic writing

Skills

The candidate:

  • can assess and carry out the components of academic texts, the difference in its research approach and quality of communication including the reflection on the theory used and its links with methodology and empirics
  • can plan and carry out literature search with the use of advanced library tools, select and review relevant literature for a particular academic paper;
  • can handle the choice of a potential internationally recognized academic journal for own academic text

General Competence

The candidate:

  • can identify and reflect on relevant methodological and theoretical issues related to the components of academic writing within own research area / PhD project
No tuition fees. Costs for semester registration and course literature apply.
Elective
The course is web-based. All the main communication is to take part in the CANVAS room: video lectures, reading materials, exercises or/and quiz and feedback from the course coordinator.
Students evaluate the course annually by final evaluation survey. This evaluation is included in the university’s quality assurance system.

To finish the course PhD students must complete all blocks and pass all exercises and quizzes. Successful accomplishment of all blocks and a final quiz will be evaluated as "passed"/"not passed".

The date of the final evaluation in the course corresponds to the last day of the course opened for the students.