BMET 13A02 - Academic Writing

The Academic Writing Workshop for first-year students at the Undergraduate College of Sciences Po has a twofold objective: to introduce students to academic writing while familiarizing them with a variety of practices and methods designed to improve the clarity and relevance of their written work. In line with research on academic literacy in higher education, this workshop aims to strengthen students’ writing skills by enabling them, through context-specific exercises, to deepen their knowledge and develop critical thinking through writing.

Based on the readings from the first-semester curriculum—in particular, those related to political institutions, law, political science, and 19th-century history, as well as classic texts of political theory—the workshop aims, as a first step, to introduce a variety of writing styles and academic formats. To this end, students will be exposed, through a multidisciplinary approach, to a variety of discursive and linguistic forms (scholarly articles, biographical narratives, journalistic excerpts, critical essays, novel excerpts, etc.).

As a second step, the workshop aims to provide a space for empirical experimentation, enabling students to independently produce academic work. Drawing on a variety of texts and formats (reading and summarizing excerpts from works, essays, research papers, policy briefs, scientific articles, etc.), they will be guided in producing their own written work.

The final objective is to provide students with a foundation of practical skills designed to support the diverse range of courses offered in the bachelor’s program while strengthening their skills in critical thinking, reasoning, synthesis, stylistics, and transmission.

Course assessment is based on a pass/fail system.

The assessment primarily takes into account attendance, active participation in class, and the completion of assignments given throughout the course.

To pass the course, students must attend regularly and actively participate in class activities.