LNG 501 ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC STUDIES IMPORTANT DETAILS

PRINCIPAL LECTURER: Bhagwanji Bhindi

Hasmukh L. Bhindi; Regina Naidu; Manhar Kumar; Ken Singh;
Alani Vuatalevu; Dr Zakia Chand; Romina Singh; Reena Kumar;
CONTRIBUTING LECTURERS: Dr Vasemaca Alifereti and Ravnil Narayan.
A pass in Fiji Form Seven English or Pass in LNG 401 and LNG
PREREQUISITE: 402 or equivalent of other tertiary institution.
All pertinent information relating to the unit shall be posted
E-INFORMATION: on Moodle.
WELCOME

Welcome to this Course and hope that you will find it enriching and interesting. This course will introduce you to
linguistic, rhetorical and strategic competencies needed to succeed in academic courses at undergraduate level.
This unit has the broad aim of helping learners develop research skills. It will help you grow proficiency in the four
macro-skills – listening, speaking, reading and writing – sufficient to enable you to participate effectively in an
academic environment.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This unit offers learners the opportunity to grasp various components of English for research purposes. It begins
with visiting core grammatical constituents. Learners will be exposed to the mechanics of the planning and writing
processes, honing the skills of data collection, and acknowledging sources of literature and ideas in referencing.
Students will learn to plan, prepare and present proposals/seminars. This unit makes students aware that
plagiarism is unacceptable. The students should be able to use English for academic and specific purposes
accurately and appropriately; read academic articles and discuss, analyse and express academic comments
accurately and fluently; use spoken and written English for academic purposes correctly and appropriately, write
essays, reports and proposals using everyday and field-related topics accurately and suitably.

RESOURCES

Students are encouraged to be read the texts prescribed. Students are expected to read Lecture notes and
readings put in Moodle. Students taking the course are expected to avail themselves to discussion with peers,
build their own resources on weekly topics by searching online, and to share their finding with others in the class.
Theory and practicals are appropriately and adequately delivered through lectures, oral presentations, seminar-
presentations, field work, practical projects, case studies, group discussions and written assignments.

TOPICS

1. Study skills, goal setting, time management, listening skills, note taking, and summary writing.
2. Critical thinking skills, critical Review, research questions, data collection, choosing a research topic.
3. Writing – proposal, essay, report. Language – correctness and appropriateness.
4. Paraphrasing and summarizing. Plagiarism.
5. Academic research skills, retrieving information from sources effectively
6. Bibliography & Referencing.
7. Proof reading and editing.
8. Basic skills of correct writing.
9. Writing an Academic Essay.
10. Features of a good research project.
11. Project presentation skills – using visual aids, oral presentation skills.
12. Revision, exam techniques.
LEARNING TARGETS/OUTCOMES
On completion of the unit, students should have acquired the following:

1. Demonstrate effective note-taking skills from relevant spoken and written information.
2. Analyse notes to write summaries, critiques, essays, reports, proposals or answer discussion questions.
3. Use interpretive skills to respond to questions that require recall, analysis, synthesis and/or evaluation
of material learned in class or course work.
4. Demonstrate an understanding of relevant concepts, vocabulary and sentence structures to be used in
particular content areas.
5. Utilise and apply research tools (e.g. Library and Internet) to find supporting information.
6. Provide and present information to class in a clear, well-organised and visually attractive manner.
7. Demonstrate and apply referencing skills to written and/or spoken text.
8. Utilise technological tools to support in-class and out-of-class work.
9. Conduct independent research and evaluate a variety of resources and use in-text citation and
references.

TEXTS

1. Bailey, S., 2015. Academic writing handbook for international students. 4th ed. London: Routledge.

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS

1. Alice, O. & Hogue, A., 2006. Writing Academic English. 4th ed. White Plains, NY: Pearson Longman.
2. Lester, J. D. & Lester, J. D. Jr. 2015. Writing research papers a complete guide. 15th ed. Kendallville: Pearson
Education
Limited.

MOODLE

All materials related to the course will be available in Moodle which include lecture notes, tutorial questions,
readings, assignments, assignment marking criteria, notices and any other pertinent information.
Notes and articles will be posted to supplement readings and references.

CONTACT HOURS & TUTORIAL

Contact Hours: Lecture: 1 - 2 hours (Attendance is strongly recommended)

Tutorial: 2x2hrs (Attendance is strongly recommended)

ASSIGNMENT GUIDELINES

Well researched and prepared assignments need to be handed in by 4pm on the day or before the due date. Late
assignments will not be accepted if prior approval has not been sought by the tutors, and only if it is accompanied
by proper relevant documentation e.g. Medical certificates.

All assignments need to be word processed (typed) and presented as documents using font size 12 and font style
Times New Roman. Avoid fancy borders, font styles and designs. Hand written assignments will NOT be accepted.
ASSESSMENT

Grades

(a)The overall mark for the course depends on performance during the trimester (50%) and performance in the
final examination (50%).

1. Course work 50%

No Assignment Weighting Due Date

1 Critical Review 10% Friday Week 5
2 Academic Essay 10% Friday Week 7
3 Research proposal 10% Friday Week 9
4 Research Project 20 % Friday Week 13

1. Final Exam 50%

No Assessment Weighting Due Date

1 Oral Presentation Exam 10 % Week 13 & 14
2 Written Examination 40% Week 17 or Week 18

(b) In order to pass the course, that is, to obtain a grade of C or better, it is necessary to score at least 40% (i.e. 16/40)
in the final examination. It is highly recommended that students attend all lectures and tutorials.
487502744.doc SEMESTER PLAN

WEEK TOPIC
ORIENTATION & INTRODUCTION
WEEK 1

STUDY SKILLS, NOTE TAKING, SUMMARY WRITING.

WEEK 2

BIBLIOGRAPHY & REFERENCING.

WEEK 3

WRITING A CRITICAL REVIEW

WEEK 4
Assignment 1:Writing a critique of a given article –10%
WRITING AN ACADEMIC ESSAY
WEEK 5
Assignment 2: Academic Essay - 10%
WRITING AN ACADEMIC ESSAY AND REFERENCING & CITATION FOR
WEEK 6 ACADEMIC ESSAYS.

RESEARCH PROPOSAL
WEEK 7
Assignment 3: Research Proposal - 10%
MID SEMESTER BREAK
WEEK 8

ACADEMIC RESEARCH SKILLS

WEEK 9

FEATURES OF A GOOD RESEARCH PROJECT.

WEEK 10
Assignment 4: Research project - 20%
WEEK 11 BASIC SKILLS OF CORRECT WRITING, PROOF READING & EDITING.

ORAL PRESENTATION SKILLS

WEEK 12

ORAL EXAM WEEK

WEEK 13

ORAL EXAM WEEK

WEEK 14

EXAM TECHNIQUES& REVISION, EVALUATION OF COURSE AND

WEEK 15 COURSE DELIVERY

STUDY WEEK
WEEK 16

EXAM WEEK
WEEK 17

EXAM WEEK
WEEK 18
GRADES

Letter Grade Scale: The following grading scale shall be applied.

Grade Marks GPA

A+ 90-100 High Distinction
A 85-89 Distinction
A- 80-84 Distinction
B+ 75-79 High Credit
B 70-74 Credit
B- 65-69 Credit
C+ 60-64 Pass
C 55-59 Pass
C- 50-54 Pass
D+ 45-49 Fail
D 40-44 Fail
D- 35-39 Fail
E Below 35 Fail
DNQ Did Not Qualify: Student received 50% or more Fail
of total marks but did not meet other specified
conditions for a pass
W Withdrawn from Unit 0
CT Credit Transfer Cross credit (CT)
NV Null & Void for Dishonest practice
I Result withheld/Incomplete assessment
X Continuing course
DNC Did Not Complete
CP Compassionate Pass
Aeg Aegrotat Pass
PT Pass Terminating
P Pass
NP Not Passed
PLAGIARISM AND DISHONEST PRACTICE REGULATIONS:
University Academic & Students Regulations, Part-5 Academic Regulations. Clause 40, Dishonesty during
Assessment, 40.1.3 Plagiarism (page 42) is reproduced below for your reference:
Plagiarism may exist in the following forms:
(A) The work submitted was done in part or whole by an individual other than the one submitting or
presenting the work.
(B) The whole work or parts of it are copied from another source without due reference.
(C) A student submits, in one Course, work which has already been submitted in another course, without
prior arrangement with both Course lectures.
ACTIONS THAT CONSTITUTE PLAGIARISM (Harris, 2002:14)
 Downloading and turning in a paper from the Web including a Web page or a paper from an essay writing
service.
 Copying and pasting phrases, sentences, or paragraphs into your paper without showing a quotation and
adding proper citation.
 Paraphrasing or summarising a source’s words or ideas without proper citation.
 Including a graph, table or picture from a source without proper citation.
 Getting so much help from a tutor or writing helper that the paper or part of the paper is no longer honestly
your own work.
 Turning in previously written work when that practice is prohibited by your instructor.

Reference: Harris, R.A. 2002. Using Sources Effectively. Glendale: Pyrezak Publishing
STUDENT ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

Cheating or doing anything that may assist a person to cheat, in relation to assessment such as, but not limited to:

1. Presenting copied, falsified or improperly obtained data as if it were the result of laboratory work,
practical work (log books), field trips, workshop reports, or other investigatory work.
2. Including in the student’s individual work material, which is the result of significant assistance from
another person without acknowledging such assistance or if that assistance was unacceptable according
to the instructions or guidelines for that work.
3. Assisting another student in the presentation of that student’s individual work in a way that is
unacceptable according to the instructions or guidelines for that work.
4. Speaking to or communicating with other students during an assessment where speaking or
communicating is not permitted.
5. Being in possession of any textbook, notebook, or other written material, electronic or mechanical device
(e.g. mobile phones) not authorised for use during the test or examination.
6. Leaving answer papers exposed to the view of, or attempts to read another student’s examination papers.
7. Being involved with others in obtaining knowledge of the contents of examination papers before the
examination date.
8. Closely paraphrasing sentences or paragraphs from one or more sources without appropriate
acknowledgment in the form of a reference to the original work or works.
9. Submitting work, which has been produced by others on behalf of the student as if it were the work of the
student.
10. Copying computer files in whole or in part without indicating their origin.
11. Submitting work that has been wholly or partially derived from another student’s work by a process of
mechanical transformation, for example, changing variable names in computer programs.
12. Making a false representation as to a matter affecting the student.
13. Making a false statement in order to gain credit towards an assessment.
14. Using falsified documents to gain entry to the University.

Reference: FNU University Academic & Student Regulations, pages 80 & 81