Date: 10 February 2016                                       Time: 11 am to 4pm                             Venue: Room 119, Block 4

The Department of English Studies, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), organized a one day Workshop on Academic Writing for the 2015 – 2016 MPhil Scholars of the Department on 10 February 2016. The Resource Persons for the workshop wereMsSharoon Sunny, Assistant Professor, CHRIST (Deemed to be University) and MsMekalaKesha.

The first session began at 11 am with introductionsto the Resource Persons, the Participants and the Topic. This session was entirely interactive. It helped in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the participants’ Academic Writing skills.It was followed by apresentation giving a brief overview of what constituted Academic Writing and how itdiffers from other forms of writing. Based on the various points generated while interacting with the participants pertaining to the difficulties they faced while writing, the Resource Persons addressed these grievances by giving a lot of examples, tips and proven methods on how to overcome the problems identified.

The second session concentrated more on specific topics within Academic Writing. The differences between primary and secondary sources were explained. This was followed by a quiz in identifying primary and secondary sources. During the course of the discussion on this topic, interesting problems unique to research in literary studies came up and were elaborateddiscussed.

Citations and formats were also discussed in line with ethics in Academic Writing and plagiarism. The serious consequences of plagiarism even arising due to typographical errors was an eye opener for most of the participants. Samples of texts were presented and the participants were asked to identify plagiarized texts. This gave a deeper understanding of paraphrasing and plagiarism. Judicious use of quotations in Academic Writing was highlighted and tips on how to effectively quotewas discussed.
The structure of a written piece was discussed elaborately with diagrams, bullet points and samples. A good amount of time was spent on how introductions and conclusions should be structured. The language in Academic Writing was also discussed with examples and exercises.

Developing a Thesis Statement and Research Questions were discussed. This was done with an activity of creating a mock thesis statement and research questions based on the idea of the ‘modern woman’ in the character of Elizabeth Bennet in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice with the participants contributing different questions that were then made into a statement.
Common grammatical errors in Academic Writing were listed out with examples. This particular topic was of more use as conventional remedial grammar courses tend to be more basic in their approach. This session highlighted minute errors that even advanced learners tend to commit in terms of sentence structure, syntax and even common errors.

    The session concluded with the Resource Persons sharing tips, anecdotes, and methods on Academic Writing from their experience in the field. A list of online resources regarding Academic Writing, formats and grammars was given to the participants.
    The workshop came to a fruitfulend with a brief written and interactive feedback session at 4 pm. The Resource Persons asked the participants if the workshop helped them in identifying their strength and weakness and gave insights on how to further develop Academic Writing. The feedback from the participants was positive.