UPM-CALC/BBI2424 ACADEMIC WRITING/SEM 1/2016-17/WP/OVERVIEW

Writing Portfolio: Overview

The objective of the writing portfolio is to guide students in constructing

grammatically correct and coherent sentences within well-structured academic
paragraphs.
It also trains students to edit and proofread their work by completing a self-editing
form on their writing.
Students will also receive feedback from their instructor throughout the various
stages of the writing process. This will enable students to recognise strengths
and weaknesses in their writing and work towards improvement.
Throughout the completion of the various tasks, students are exposed to the
writing process which consists of planning, developing, writing and editing.
Students will also learn to avoid plagiarism in academic writing by employing
methods such as paraphrasing, summarising and using appropriate conventions
for citing and referencing.
The writing portfolio is to be completed individually. In this portfolio, students are
allowed to choose a topic relevant to their field of study.
The topics/issues chosen must be able to inform, to educate or to raise
awareness among the intended audience.
The writing portfolio is divided into 3 parts:
1. Task 1
2. Task 2
3. Task 3

Writing Portfolio: Task 1 (10%)

The objective of Task 1 is to expose students to the process of brainstorming and

outlining for an academic text.
Students will first brainstorm for topics and supporting points based on their field
of study and then look for excerpts from reliable scholarly sources to support the
topic and supporting points.
Next, students will construct an outline of an academic text on the topic. The
outline will consist of a topic, a thesis statement, topic sentences, relevant
supporting points and supporting details as well as concluding sentences.
The task begins in week 2 and ends in week 6.

Writing Portfolio: Task 2

In Task 2, students develop the supporting points from the outline in task 1 and
add supporting details from credible sources with in-text citations.
To avoid plagiarism, students incorporate the information from credible sources
through the use of paraphrasing and summarising with APA in-text citation style.
The task begins in week 7 and ends in week 9.

UPM-CALC/BBI2424 ACADEMIC WRITING/SEM 1/2016-17/WP/OVERVIEW

Writing Portfolio: Task 3 (20%)

In this final task, students write 2 academic paragraphs using the thesis
statement, topic sentences, supporting sentences, supporting details and
concluding sentences they have developed.
Students will also complete a self-editing form and receive feedback from their
instructor as part of the editing and proofreading process.
The task begins in week 10 and ends in week 13.