Medicine & Health School of Population Health

Academic Practice (PHCM9100)

Academic Practice is a workshop based course designed to support students in the academic skills needed to successfully complete the assignments in postgraduate studies.

Class timetable
Handbook

Students are expected to bring reading and writing material that pertain to their studies in other courses. Each week skills topics will be presented and they will be linked with the materials that students deal with in their other courses. Participants will engage in critical activities on materials used in their studies, ie., reviewing articles and assignments. There will be an opportunity to discuss issues and field questions from colleagues to develop skills in defending a particular viewpoint or position.
Mode of study

Face-to-face and online

Key contact

Dr Mariam Farida
Course Convenor
+61 (2) 9385 2060
mariam.farida@unsw.edu.au

Who should do this course?

All new international students must complete Academic Practice in their first term of study. The course is worth 0 units of credit. The course is not counted in your study load and there are no tuition fees to be paid. Any international students who would like to be exempt from the course should contact the Postgraduate Office in the first instance. All local students are also invited to enrol in the course.

Course outcomes

The overall aim of this course is to enable you to identify, develop and engage with the academic skills required to successfully complete your postgraduate studies. It also aims to encourage you to find your critical voice and to build your confidence in becoming a research scholar.

The outcomes for this course are to enable you to:

  • develop as a reflective learner
  • develop evidence based academic practices
  • demonstrate overall improvement in academic literacy practices
  • demonstrate improvement in academic literacy practices in the following areas:
    • critical reading, thinking and writing
    • oral communication
    • managing postgraduate study.

Internal students will be able to come to class on campus while external students will access the class through online virtual classes. The two-hour class per week is student-based. It provides practical engagement with the academic skills needed to successfully complete the assignments running concurrently with your postgraduate program. This means that you will be expected to engage with the readings and writing materials that pertain to your own course of study.

Learning & teaching

This course is about helping you fit together the process of knowing what you want to say and writing it clearly. This is important whether it is about your own thoughts or the thoughts of others. This involves both the reflective and critical process. This course will also explore a variety of strategies and skills for managing information, effective reading, note making, writing annotated bibliographies, research essays and reports, and refining oral communication skills.

This course is designed to be student-focused and demands active student participation. The course will begin with a formative academic literacy-writing task to assess which skills you will need to focus on during the session. The classes will focus on thinking processes, text structures, language conventions and strategies for writing about your coursework. In-class students will engage in the practical activities that will reinforce the academic skills being focused on. There will be in-class writing activities and mini oral presentations.

Assessments

Assessment Task 1 – Annotated bibliography
Length: 500 words
Weighting: 30%

Assessment Task 2 – Report
Length: 1000-1500 words
Weighting: 40%

Assessment Task 3 – Presentations
Weighting: 20%

Participation 
Weighting: 10%

(Attendance of 80% is a requirement of the course)