This is an appraisal of the ENGLISH 521 Course entitled “Academic Writing”. The course was introduced to the LMA 5 students in October of this school year, 2018/2019 and is taught by Prof. Daniel Nkemleke. It has been an interesting and inspiring course. Most of the topics covered in the course are related to the writing of our dissertations and open our minds to the different academic writing conventions and practices at tertiary level. Though sometimes brief, the lessons have been very effective and productive, as the lecturer pushes us into personal work and research—a thing which he thinks is good for students at the post-graduate level. With the course outline provided, and with objectives clearly stated, the course has been fully understood and we have find it very useful in the writing of our dissertations.

During lessons, Prof. Nkemleke creates an atmosphere which encourages interaction and builds confidence in us. Sometimes he spices his lessons with words of advice and encouragement towards our academic work. Through this course, our proficiency in written academic communication has significantly improved. For example, we have learned to write an abstract through modelling our initial texts on the basis of those of experienced academics, which the professor provided from published journals.

The dissertation writing process if often a very difficult thing for students in ENS. A course like this one could even begin in the first year (LMA 4), so that students learn to write in the language of research before they get to LMA 5.

Among the many other things we have learned to do are: writing an introduction to a dissertation, literature the review section, writing the abstract, and learning to integrate citations into our texts.

Agbor Pascal Ako, student-delegate

Email: akoagbor@yahoo.com