AMU1017 - Academic literacies - 2018

This unit draws from various disciplines to contextualise students' development of discipline-specific skills and approaches to knowledge construction and interrogation essential for successful study at university. It examines and develops reading, writing, thinking, communication and research skills through discipline-specific perspectives in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. Through an exploration of basic rhetorical principles and developmental patterns of a range of academic literacy forms, emphasis is given to the discourse practices and research skills necessary for disciplinary expertise. Underpinning the development of these key skills is the recognition that students need to be enabled to participate in academic discourses as active contributors to knowledge construction, contestation, application and communication, and not mere recipients. Lectures will focus on key areas of academic literacies while exploring differences or similarities between perspectives and genres in the various disciplines. By engaging in the rigorous academic process of critical reading, writing, revision, presentation, and discussion together with academic support and feedback, tutorials enable students to gradually participate in the construction, debate and interrogation of academic knowledge.

Upon successful completion of the unit, students should be able to:

1. Demonstrate the ability to access, evaluate, interpret and use information appropriately from a variety of sources, especially within their disciplines;
2. Employ skills and strategies for reading a variety of discipline-specific texts: textbooks, reports, research articles and others;
3. Engage in critical and reflective thinking to respond to and construct academic discourses;
4. Manage group dynamics and work effectively in teams to solve problems and generate desired outcomes;
5. Make appropriate choices regarding context, purpose, rhetoric structure, strategies, form and style to communicate effectively for different audiences and academic communities;
6. Revise and refine work in line with academic conventions, clarity and correctness;
7. Demonstrate a degree of independence and integration of skills to produce a research paper in their discipline area.

Within semester assessment: 100%

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. A unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

See also Unit timetable information