Academic Skills 2400-OG-EN-AS

Lectures (1-10)

1. Course outline. Placement test and team work to assess students’ level of English
2. Identifying sources and conducting bibliographic research
3. Academic databases and how to use them
4. Synthesizing and critically analysing information
5. AI tools for social science students
6. Writing and listening skills: an introduction
7. Public speaking: basic principles
8. Effective oral communication and presentation skills
9. Teamwork, feedback and collaboration skills
10. Discussion skills: introduction to Oxford debate

Seminars: topics (1-15)

1. Introduction and ice-breaking session. Course outline
2. Source critique and referencing
3. Information gathering in practice (Google operators); academic databases (EBSCO, Google Scholar, Academia, Researchgate)
4. AI tools for social science students: reference managers and paper organizers (Mendeley/Zotero), AI search engines (Perplexity) and other tools (Gemini, Copilot, Elicit, Kaggle)
5. Basic analytical methods (SWOT, brainstorming, mind maps, analysis of competing hypotheses etc)
6. Academic writing (practical exercises: academic abstract, bio, CV, application letter, research reports) - AI tools to support writing and how (not) to use them
7. Public speaking: student presentations (2-3 classes)
8. Discussion skills: a discussion game (Playdecide)
9. Oxford debate
10. Summary and wrap-up

Learning outcomes - knowledge

Students know basic academic vocabulary. Students know basic rules of academic debate and principles of academic writing and speaking. Students know basic analytical methods helpful in academic work (such as SWOT and analysis of competing hypotheses).

Learning outcomes - skills

Students can effectively communicate academic content – both orally and in writing. Students are able to produce a range of written texts meeting basic academic standards (including references, bibliography and proper genre and vocabulary). Students are able to use basic IT tools such as reference managers (Zotero, Citavi, Mendeley etc.), basic speech recognition tools, and mind maps.

Learning outcomes - social competencies

Students effectively collaborate in groups, actively engage in group discussion and other teamwork. Students know how to use tools for remote learning, such as teleconferencing, showing proper netiquette.

Teaching methods

lecture with presentation decision game Oxford debate oral presentation discussion interactive teamwork methods (world cafe, etc.) analytical methods (Anaysis of Competing Hypotheses, SWOT etc). feedback on written assignments

Observation/demonstration teaching methods

- simulation (simulation games)

Expository teaching methods

- participatory lecture
- informative (conventional) lecture

Exploratory teaching methods

- presentation of a paper
- practical
- project work
- Oxford
- SWOT

Online teaching methods

- exchange and discussion methods
- content-presentation-oriented methods
- games and simulations
- integrative methods
- cooperation-based methods

Prerequisites

Working knowledge of English.

Course coordinators

Stanisław Burdziej

Assessment criteria

Student performance is graded. The final grade will be the mean grade from various tasks (essays and other pieces of writing, as well as shorter tests on vocabulary, oral presentation and team work.

Each student will write/prepare a number of written texts, including: email, abstract, report, mini-essay, letter of application, curriculum vitae, as well as on oral presentation (accompanied with a Power Point presentation). Each piece (as well as active participation in other activities, such as Oxford debate and decision game) will be graded using standard scale (2-5). The final grade will be the mean from all grades obtained.

Additional information

Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system:

Description of 2400-OG-EN-AS in USOSweb