Writing Arguments
Direction: Micha Edlich
Date: 21.06.2024
Time: 10:15–11:45, C5.122
The output of academic research and learning—journal articles, books, papers, and so on—can be seen as contributions to an ongoing debate among established researchers and students across time, space, and cultural and linguistic borders. Each of these contributions, ideally, represents an original take on a debate from a distinct perspective and informed by an understanding of what has been said before. Joining this kind of conversation can be a challenge, especially for students, who first have to learn what the debate is, how it works, and how they can begin to join the conversation. More specifically, students need to understand how previous insights (as developed in journal articles, books, and other sources) can become part of their explorations and arguments. This workshop is meant as an introduction to writing academic arguments with a focus on basic principles and conventions that, for the most part, are important across disciplines. Using different examples, we will consider how, why, and to what end researchers engage with the work of others and discuss strategies that participants can adopt when using outside sources for their arguments.
Students will be familiar with the basic principles and conventions of academic arguments and consider how and to what extent these principles and conventions function in their disciplinary context.
Note: This workshop will also be offered on the same day in German by Dr. Dagmar Knorr.
This workshop is cross-listed as a module for the peer writing tutor training.