This course enables students to deal with the academic reading and writing requirements of the program courses. Course activities develop advanced-level reading ability by focusing on main ideas and specific information, by recognizing lexical meaning from content areas in context, and by extensive training in paraphrasing, writing summaries, responses, and an argumentative type of an essay that presents clear, well-researched arguments. Students will acquire independent research skills, using online and print sources in a responsible and ethical manner so as to extend their critical thinking ability within a piece of academic discourse including fiction and/or non-fiction literature. They will learn to find and select relevant reading texts that provide information and interpretations that can be used to support their ideas and provide evidence in their essays. Students will need to process and critically analyze that information before incorporating it within their own arguments. A process-writing approach will be adopted, with greater emphasis on the process of reading and writing and on drafts of the essay than on the final product.

For more information, please refer to the course syllabus.