6 ECTS credits
150 h study time
Offer 1 with catalog number 1020441AER for all students in the 1st semester at a (A) Bachelor - preliminary level.
Starting from a structured engagement with “the writing process,” this course introduces students to the principles and practices that underpin critical thinking and effective communication in the (social) sciences. Via interactive lectures, classroom workshops and structured writing assignments, students learn and apply skills that underpin the writing of clear and convincing (academic) prose, and--at the same time--also gain practical familiarty with the principles that underpin exposition and argument in the (social) sciences. These skills in turn provide students with a foundation for exploring how science works, and for reflecting upon the place of science in contemporary politics, culture and society. In sum, the critical thinking-based approach that underpins this course not only affords students with insights that will help them to think and write more effectively; it also encourages students to make links between the writing process and the wider processes of learning, inquiry and community.
The course consists of twenty-five topical units distributed over thirteen weekly class sessions. The topical units are organized into two thematic “clusters.”
Unit 1 introduces the basic premises and learning objectives of the course and provides an overview of the themes, topics and tasks that will guide our work during the semester. Unit 2 situates these these themes and objectives within the context of "the writing process." The activity of writing is central to both the pedagogical method and learning outcomes of this course. The focus, however, is not only or even primarily on the conventions of academic reporting and style, but more fundamentally on the expository techniques and argumentative structures that underping the formation and communication of scientific knowledge as such. Unit 24 returns explicitly to some of the bigger questions about science, emphasizing/summarizing the ways in which writing process reflects and supports the practices of critical thinking and scientific inquiry more generally. Unit 25 is devoted to a review for the exam (including a small unit on "how to prepare for an essay-based exam").
Most course units consist of “interactive lectures.” This means that classes will be lecture- based but interspersed with classroom activities and discussions. For example, we might take time in class to do an exercise in sentence construction or pause to look more closely at a particular text in order to discuss a particular pattern of expository development, a rhetorical device or an argumentative structure. We might also step outside of “lecture mode” to engage a particular question or to solicit and discuss opinions/perspectives from the class. And sometimes we will integrate more formal activities into the classroom lecture—e.g., a discussion where we collectively analyze the terms and purpose of your first essay assignment, an exercise on finding and evaluating online sources, or an exercise where we examine and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different kinds of evidence.
The weekly reading assignments will include selections from the following sources:
In addition to selections from these works, you will receive additional reading assignments linked to specific exercises and assignments. You do not need to purchase any textbooks for this course. All required reading assignments will be available for download via Canvas.
At the end of this course, students should be able to
The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Written Exam determines 100% of the final mark.
Within the Written Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:
The grade for the course will be based on the following three activities:
Detailed descriptions of each exam and the course essay, including evaluation criteria, will be made available in a "General Course Overview" document provided via Canvas before the start of the semester. The exams will test knowledge/information communicated via lectures and weekly reading assignments. It will also—to a lesser extent—test skills that we exercised in class over the course of the semester. You are in principle responsible for all the material presented in the class lectures and corresponding reading assignments. You will not receive any PowerPoint slides for this course. You will, however, receive an exam prep sheet containing a comprehensive list of study terms and possible exam questions before the last day of class in December.
Second Session: Students will only have to redo course elements for which they received an unsatisfactory grade.
This offer is part of the following study plans:
Bachelor of Psychology: Profile Profile Work and Organisational Psychology (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Psychology: Profile Profile Clinical psychology (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Social Sciences: Communication Studies
Bachelor of Social Sciences: Political Sciences
Bachelor of Social Sciences: Sociology
Bachelor of Social Sciences: Startplan