Academic Skills: An Introduction for English and American Studies

Preface: How to be Curious9Chapter 1: Down the Rabbit Hole: Managing Your Studies15Exercises20Chapter 2: Finding a Topic232.1 Phrasing Your Topic242.2 Topic Development252.3 Alternative Methods of Topic Development28Exercises31Chapter 3: Research333.1 "Secondary Literature"333.2 Library Catalogues343.3 Bibliographies and Databases353.4 Local Libraries383.5 Using Search Engines and Websites in Academia393.6 Checklist: Academic Internet Sources423.7 Are Online Sources 'Less Acceptable' Than Others?443.8 What You Know - What You Should Know46Exercises 52Chapter 4: Presentation554.1 Your Audience: Example, "A Presentation Gone Wrong"564.2 You614.3 Your Material65Exercises686 Table of Contents Chapter 5: Writing Abstracts715.1 Structure of an Abstract715.2 Example74Exercises76Chapter 6: Academic Texts 796.1 Types of Academic Texts796.2 Evaluating Academic Texts836.3 Text Types in Student Writing85Exercises98Chapter 7: The Little Scriptorium1017.1 Table of Contents - the Skeleton of Your Paper1027.2 Introductions: "Interesting" Topic, but Why?1077.3 Convincing Arguments1157.4 Conclusions in Which Something Is Concluded 1207.5 Language and Style1227.6 Research Papers in Linguistics1237.7 Twelve Common Errors in Research Papers: How to Dig Your Own Grave125Exercises136Chapter 8: Single White Quotation Seeks Same1398.1 Formally Correct Citation1398.2 Documenting Sources in Literary and Cultural Studies1448.3 Documenting Sources in Linguistics1468.4 Using Quotations Efficiently147Exercises150Chapter 9: Preparing the Manuscript1539.1 Why Bother With Style Sheets?1539.2 MLA Style 1579.3 Checklist: Formatting Guidelines at a Glance162Exercises167Chapter 10: Inventing Meatballs: Plagiarism16910.1 How to Invent Meatballs: Giving Credit17210.2 Strategies to Avoid Unintentional Plagiarism 176Exercises179Chapter 11: Strategies for Exams18111.1 Types of Questions in Written Exams18311.2 Exams: DOs and DON'Ts18611.3 Strategies for Essay Questions18911.4 Sample Analysis19111.5 Oral Exams198Exercises202Chapter 12: Out of Sight, Out of Mind? The Art of Giving and Receiving Feedback205Appendix209Solutions209Glossary230Reference Works243