BBN-ANG11-104
Academic Skills 1
(Tudományos íráskészség 1)
A. Description
The course focuses on developing English academic reading and writing skills necessary for success during
university studies. Through a series of in-class and home assignments, students will practice to read with a
clear purpose in mind and effectively process (i.e., understand, question and evaluate) the content of various
short academic texts; develop their reading techniques; purposefully extract, summarise and paraphrase
ideas from readings; and to write well-formed and appropriate short academic English texts based on their
readings. The course is meant to provide the foundations necessary to progress from writing one extended
paragraph long, source-based academic texts to longer, multi-paragraph academic texts, and therefore it is a
pre-requisite for the Academic Skills 2 (Tudományos íráskészség 2) course offered in the spring semester.
The Academic Skills courses are prerequisites for the BA Language Proficiency Examination (ANG11-001
Nyelvi alapvizsga angol nyelvből).
Set texts
Tankó, Gy. (2013). Paraphrasing, summarising and synthesising skills for academic writers: Theory and
practice. Budapest: Eötvös University Press. (Chapters to cover: 1, 2, 3 & 4; Available: Eötvös Point)
Academic Skills 1 Reader and Workbook (esp. Chapters on Library research skills, Note-taking skills,
Paragraph writing skills).
Requirements
Prepare for and Attend classes; participate actively; complete all the assignments; prepare drafts and do
revision work; evaluate other students' drafts and give meaningful feedback; keep a folder for the
assignments and hand-outs; keep deadlines.
Assessment
Based on the requirements, which can be further specified by the course tutors. The course finishes with an
Academic Skills test (for a detailed description of the test see
http://deal.elte.hu/pages/examinations_files/bbn-ang-104_zh.rtf) and the course grade is calculated so that
the coursework constitutes 60% whereas the Academic Skills test constitutes 40% of the final grade.
Absence policy
● 3 absences will be tolerated by the teacher without consequence.
● 4 absences will normally not be tolerated. The teacher may choose to tolerate 4 absences, but only if
he/she specifies the extra tasks to be per-formed in compensation of the 4th absence, and announces to agree
to such a practice at start of term. (from SEAS AP Document)
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The content of the BBN-ANG-104 course
(2014 Autumn)
B. By the end of the course, the students will be able to
Library research skills

use library resources/facilities effectively (library visit and/or task sheet)
PPTs for the library visit (Hungarian version: http://seaslib.elte.hu/Elsosbemutato.ppt, English version:
http://seaslib.elte.hu/Libraryvisit.ppt)
Reading skills
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
identify the main points in an academic text, using various reading techniques
scan short and long texts in order to locate desired information, and gather information from different
parts of a text, or from different texts in order to do a specific task
Note-taking skills
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take efficient and reliable notes from lectures and readings with a particular purpose in mind
use a preferred note-taking system
take notes in their own words
record the basic bibliographical details of a printed source (author, year, page number)
Summarisation skills
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summarise main ideas from short academic texts
distinguish between claims/main ideas and supporting details in an argumentative text
summarise the main ideas of a text in a well-formed paragraph
Paraphrasing skills
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rewrite in their own words, as much as possible, the content of a source text by making lexical and
grammatical changes
distinguish specialised and non-specialised vocabulary
use a signal phrase to introduce the paraphrase and cite the source using APA citation style
Writing Skills (paragraph writing)

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use planning
write structured argumentative/descriptive paragraphs with a topic sentence, support, and concluding
sentence in order to summarise the thematic aspects relevant for a guided summary
use transitional words effectively to connect sentences and paragraphs
write multiple drafts when preparing written assignments
critically assess their own and their peer’s writing (i.e., perform self- and peer revision)
give meaningful and constructive feedback to peers
react constructively to peer/teacher feedback
revise drafts based on feedback received
write clearly and concisely (APA 6th ed.; Chapter 3; Writing Style, pp. 6570; Grammar and Usage, pp.
7786)
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
apply the basic rules of English punctuation adequately (APA 6th ed.; Chapter 4; Punctuation, pp. 8796)
Optional component (i.e., if time allows):


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write structured and developed paragraphs to achieve a variety of communicative functions with a topic
sentence, support, and concluding sentence
use various rhetorical patterns on paragraph level (in addition to the argumentative/description type
taught with guided summarisation one or more of the following: cause and effect, classification and
division, comparison and contrast, definition, exemplification, general-specific, narrative, or process
description).
use different writing techniques, such as brainstorming, outlining, free writing,
C. Grades
Compulsory assignments
-
library task
completion of readings (PSS, for instance the reading task sheets/reader)
guided summary writing (reading, note-taking, paraphrasing, writing the summary in one paragraph)
punctuation task
Compulsory grades
-
readings
guided summary writing
punctuation
any other grade the tutor wishes to add
60% of course grade
-
academic skills test
40% of course grade
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