IFLS011Fn

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IFLS 011: Academic English I Foundation (Spring 2019)

Instructor

Kent Lee, IFLS, Korea University

  • Mailbox: 국제관 208A
  • Office & office hours: 국제관 720, by appointment
  • Email: See the syllabus or textbook (course booklet)


Course info
  • Course load: 2 hours/week, 1 credit
  • Class locations: 국제관 (International Studies Hall)

Sections

IFLS 011-L1     MW 12.00-12.50pm     국제관 #317480b
IFLS 011-L2 Tu/Th 14.00-14.50 국제관 #511


1 Course description

This course deals with academic English for your college studies, including (1) academic English writing and speaking skills, and (2) critical thinking skills. The focus will be on academic English for writing and presentation skills for your future college courses.

1.1 Readings and materials

Textbook: Course packet, about ₩8000-10,000, from a print shop near campus (probably at the 空문화사 [공문화사] print shop near the 후문, the back gate on the way to Anam Station).


2 Weekly materials & assignments


2.1 Weeks 1-2: Introduction

  • Read the introductory chapters of the textbook on your own.
  • Google Form #1: Fill out this form of basic information about yourself, and submit it. This counts as a minor grade. (The form works, though it won't send you a confirmation.) The link will have been sent to you by email from the Blackboard system.
  • Email assignment (see the course book, §9.1)


3 Final project: Scholarship application

Imagine that you are applying for a scholarship. Your answers should be honest, but should also persuade a scholarship committee about how you are good student who deserves a scholarship. You can use some of the contents from your previous minor assignments for this assignment.

  1. Explain how you as a student have overcome difficulties or challenges, e.g., in your own studies or major.
  2. Explain your best strengths as a student.
  3. Explain why you have good potential as a student in your field or major (even if your grades are not perfect).
  4. Explain why you have good potential after graduating with your degree, e.g., as a future graduate student, worker, teacher, or professional in your field.

The final project involves two components:

  1. An oral interview for a scholarship application (discussion component), and
  2. A formal personal statement to apply for the scholarship, in the form of a formal academic essay; this counts is the final essay / paper.

For the essay, you can use contents from your midterm paper (in fact, you should do so) and modify them into a scholarship application essay.


3.1 Scholarship information

3.1.1 Background

The Kent Lee Scholarship Foundation (KLSF) is an agency that has granted awards to deserving students at several prestigious universities, and now plans to offer scholarships to undergraduate students at Korea University. This is a one-year scholarship to cover college tuition costs, and is available to students of any grade level or age.

To qualify, you must demonstrate (1) academic or personal excellence merit; (2) personal or financial need; (3) current or future potential, such as academic, scientific, practical, leadership, business or entrepreneurial potential; or (4) educational or administrative talent, for example, in proposing improvements to their academic departments or curricula. There are several scholarship options available, which are described below.



3.2 Assignment evaluation criteria

3.2.1 Oral interview / discussion

This will be conducted in Week 14 and/or Week 15, in groups. Each group will play the role of committee members who interview applicants; and each group will play the role of applicants being interviewed. Each person will have at least two minutes to give a short statement about why s/he deserves the scholarship, followed by 1-2 minutes for questions from the committee.

(A) For interviewers
  • You need to ask good questions to determine which applicants would deserve a scholarship.
(B) For applicants
  • Persuasive explanation, details, and examples – enough to persuade a scholarship committee to at least seriously consider your application;
  • Clear goals for future studies and career; an understanding of what you are studying and what specifically you want to focus on; evidence of maturity, self-awareness, sense of purpose, and reasonable goals and plans
  • See the grading criteria in the Appendix for major presentation / discussion assignments.

3.2.2 Final essay

  • Good contents & development of ideas; in-depth discussion and explanation;
  • Persuasive explanation, details, and examples – enough to persuade a scholarship committee to at least seriously consider your application;
  • Clear goals for future studies and career; an understanding of what you are studying and what specifically you want to focus on
  • At least two English sources cited (additional sources in other languages are okay)
  • In-text citations and end references / works cited section
  • A semi-formal citation / referencing system like Chicago Manual footnote + works cited format should be used; or a more formal system like APA, MLA, or Chicago parenthetical in-text citation style.
  • See the grading criteria in the Appendix for major paper assignments (these are the same as for the midterm).
  • Paper length: At least 2 full pages (double-spaced)
  • Due date: Week 15 (?)



4 Using sources

4.1 Finding sources

Sources are used for adding support to the ideas in your papers, and for helping to develop your ideas. Sources can be classified into three general types.

type characteristics usability examples
General / popular sources
  1. Written by non-experts, and thus, maybe not reliable or credible
  2. Written for a general audience (educated, non-educated, youth, etc.)
  3. The information or ideas may be of poor quality
  4. Published often for commercial / money-making purposes or such
  5. Sources may be absent, not cited, or only cited very informally
Generally not valid for college papers; most often, these should not be cited or used for college papers.
  • Trade books (most commercially published, popular books like those sold in book stores)
  • Popular periodicals (commercial magazines, smaller newspapers)
  • Common Internet sits, blogs, etc.
  • Common reference works (dictionaries, encyclopedias)
  • Popular media sources & materials
Professional sources
  1. Written by experts: academic experts, business experts, government experts, professional experts from professional fields, researchers, etc.
  2. Written for an educated audience (college level readers or above)
  3. More credible information
  4. Published for professional, informational, or persuasive purposes
  5. Some citation of sources, often in a semi-formal style
Can and should be used in college papers, as these are of better quality, and many college students can understand and meaningfully use them in their college papers. These are especially used in papers in the first two years of college (before students are ready for full academic sources).
  • Reputable news outlets, especially those known for investigative journalism, and professional analysis & commentary (these are news sites & periodicals that have a strong international reputation, or at least a strong reputation nationally, for objective, professional journalism, reporting, and analysis)
  • Professional trade magazines / journals, which are written by and for those working in particular professional fields
  • Trade books written by experts (e.g., academic, government, or professional experts) for educated readers
  • Government reports and records; official reports & records from government agencies, international organizations, and major companies
  • Business news outlets (websites, periodicals)
  • Periodicals for business analysis & case studies
  • Reports, official web sites, official publications, etc., from government agencies, international agencies, and major companies
  • White papers (a report by a government or business, or other authoritative report, giving information or proposals on an issue)
  • Science & tech news outlets (websites, periodicals)
  • Professional film critics
Academic sources
  1. Written by academic experts (professors, researchers, doctoral students)
  2. Written for other academic experts in the field
  3. Written in a scholarly or technical style
  4. Consist of original research by the authors, and thus, probably reliable or worth citing
  5. Published for scientific and academic purposes by academic publishers
  6. Sources are cited using a formal citation style
Probably too difficult for most college students to read, understand, or use meaningfully in their college papers; 3rd or 4th year students might be able to handle some easier academic sources
  • Scholarly / research articles from academic research journals
  • Research & technical reports from institutes or government agencies
  • Research monographs (books that summarize research on a topic and present the author's original research)
  • Edited volumes of research papers (collections of research articles in book form, like an anthology)
  • Doctoral dissertations, master's thesis
  • Conference papers


4.1.1 Professional sources

Below are examples of some professional sources that may be useful for your final papers.

News outlets
  1. New York Times http://www.nytimes.com
  2. Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com
  3. Wall Street Journal http://www.wsj.com
  4. Time Magazine http://www.time.com
  5. McClean’s http://www.macleans.ca
  6. BBC News http://www.bbc.com/news
  7. Der Spiegel http://www.spiegel.de
  8. El País (Spain) http://www.elpais.com
  9. Le Monde (France) http://www.lemonde.fr
  10. Reuters http://www.reuters.com
  11. Associated Press http://www.ap.org


Science and technology news sources
  1. Wired http://www.wired.com
  2. New Scientist http://www.newscientist.com
  3. Scientific American http://www.scientificamerican.com
  4. Science News http://www.sciencenews.org
  5. Psychology Today https://www.psychologytoday.com
  6. CNET http://www.cnet.com (technology)
  7. Wired.com http://www.wired.com


Business news & analysis
  1. Forbes https://www.forbes.com
  2. Harvard Business Review http://www.hbr.org
  3. The Economist http://www.economist.com
  4. Business Insider https://www.businessinsider.com


Professional trade journals
  1. The Chronicle of Higher Education https://www.chronicle.com
  2. Inside Higher Ed http://www.insidehighered.com
  3. Times Higher Education https://www.timeshighereducation.com/
  4. Observer https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer (psychology)
  5. Food Technology http://www.ift.org/food-technology.aspx
  6. World Landscape Architecture https://worldlandscapearchitect.com/
  7. Psychology Today https://www.psychologytoday.com


Language education


Film experts & links
Some of these links themselves are not professional sources, but they may lead you to relevant experts or sources on film.
  1. American Film Institute database
  2. List of academic film experts (not a professional source)


Other trade magazines
  1. Wikipedia list of trade magazines in different fields: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_trade_magazines


4.1.2 Lighter academic sources


4.2 Citing sources

Here are links to guides for various citation systems. You can use any one of these for your papers in this course. If you would like to view my Prezi presentation, the overview of citation systems, it is available here.

Style Typical field & notes
* APA (overview) social sciences (e.g., psychology, education, sociology, applied linguistics); for a more detailed guide, see the complete APA guide
* Harvard style an older style for various fields, which is very similar to APA style
* MLA 7 & MLA 8 literature studies
* IEEE engineering
* Chicago Manual, short footnote style humanities (This is a more semi-formal citation style; end references are still required with footnotes)
* Chicago Manual (parenthetical) humanities (This is a more formal style with Author+Year in parenthetical in-text citations) humanities

If you have a lot of media sources, you might find APA inconvenient for citing these; you might find Chicago or MLA easier to use.

 

5 Style & grammar guides



6 Assignments & grading

6.1 Minor ten-point assignments

Minor assignments are short assignments that are graded on a ten-point scale, and include short paragraph assignments (¶), Google Forms (GF), brief presentations, and in-class tasks. This may also include a couple of in-class and/or online surveys (these are for data collection or research purposes, and you get ten points simply for doing them). A few assignments may count as two or three 10-point assignments.


6.2 Midterm

The midterm will be paragraph writing task, either in-class or at home. The writing topic will be related to one of the topics or units in the course. See the grading criteria in the Appendix for writing assignments.

  • Midterm due date: ? April
  • Length: About one page (single-spaced)
  • Sources: At least one source cited, using one of the above citation systems


However, I am so not strict about word limits; what is more important is that you have enough good contents, and your ideas are well developed (good details, explanation, etc.). An assignment space has been created on Blackboard for this. I use the Blackboard TurnItIn service (a plagiarism-checking service, which I use because it makes it easier for me to grade papers and give you feedback). It supposedly accepts different file formats, but MS Work (.doc/.docx) format works best. You can see p. 121 for suggested paper format, and Appendix 10.3.5 for grading criteria. You should cite and use at least two sources (including popular sources as examples of bad information, bad ideas, or misconceptions).

You should meet and work in your groups for the midterm and final, but the papers you submit should be entirely your own independent papers.


6.3 Final project

We will do a final group project, which will include group work and a group discussion project. Your grade will be based mostly on your own performance, and partly on the group’s performance. Instead of a final exam, you will write an individual final essay related to your group’s project; this will be out-of-class writing, which will be related to the final project. This will probably be turned in via the online KU Blackboard. See the grading criteria in the Appendix for major writing assignments.

6.3.1 Final presentation

See the section above on Sources -> Finding sources -> Professional sources -> Making pitches for examples and tips.


6.3.2 Final paper

The final will be out-of-class writing, based on the group project, but your paper will be an entirely individual paper. This will probably be turned in via the online KU Blackboard.

6.4 Grade scale

You will be graded according to the following framework (though this might be adjusted slightly later). See the course packet for specific grading criteria.

Attendance and participation 15%
Minor ten-point assignments 15%
Midterm 20%
Presentation assignment 20%
Final essay 30%



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