230183 Academic Writing (S) (SoSe 2026)

In this class, students will be given the opportunity to extend and consolidate their writing skills in literary studies through regular and intensive writing tasks. In a range of exercises, students will practise how to develop a research question in literary studies, how to turn this question into a clear and detailed thesis statement as a basis for a well-structured argument, and how to write a coherent, cohesive, stylistically appropriate literary studies paper, analysing and interpreting a literary text.
The set text in this class is Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

Requirements for participation, required level

Please do not attend this class before you have COMPLETED: ‘Writing and Research’ and 'Argumentation and Critical Reading' in Basis1. You should definitely have completed the lecture ‘Introduction to Literary Analysis and Interpretation’ in Basis2. I will assume that you know what an academic paragraph is, and the difference between a narrator and a speaker, and how metaphors work. You should also have understood the basics of the MLA style sheet.

Bibliography

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (1813).
Please buy a PRINT copy of the Penguin Classics edition with an introduction and notes by Vivien Jones; you will need it for the two in-class written exams: https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Pride-Prejudice-Austen-Penguin-Classics/dp/0141439513/ref=zg-te-pba_d_sccl_1_1/260-4598340-0811600?pd_rd_w=j0Lsx&content-id=amzn1.sym.2773ee31-e1d7-4b66-89a3-82d27d16ebdc&pf_rd_p=2773ee31-e1d7-4b66-89a3-82d27d16ebdc&pf_rd_r=49YFGVDEDRT68V85S448&pd_rd_wg=ZuycS&pd_rd_r=96554a48-1267-4b36-b937-5e074325c58b&pd_rd_i=0141439513&psc=1