Novice Academic Program Overview
Academic writing skills are not found outside the humanities until a science lab report is written, and that is quite a watered-down version of academic writing because the question is already asked and the evidence comes from the experiment the students just performed-- meaning they do not have to research or read any other sources. In fact, the conclusion is already out of their hands and the whole exercise is more of a copy and paste drill. Unfortunately, the humanities like literature and history are frequently neglected in favor of other subjects and even when they are taught with academic writing involved, too often the academic writing requested has many of the defects of the aforementioned science report. And not only does writing suffer, but so too does the manner in which students think.
The good news is that the skills are not only relatively easy to pick up, but also that students quickly realize they enjoy research and argument. And it's good to start early. In the novice program, each semester instructs how to put rhetorical skills on paper, engineer an argument, analyze strengths and weaknesses of evidence and statements, properly research and use the findings, ask the right questions and be an original thinker.
Here’s a portfolio of what students who takes the program would have and the important people with whom they will be familiar.
Curriculum For All 6 Semesters