Introduction to Critical Reading & Research Writing

O.P. Jindal Global University via Coursera

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Go to class

Provider

Coursera
Pricing

Paid Course
Languages

English
Certificate

Certificate Available
Effort

12 weeks, 2 hours a week
Sessions

Self-Paced
Level

Beginner
Subtitles

English

Found in

Overview

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If you’re a student, researcher, or aspiring academic who wants to read scholarly texts with confidence and write stronger research papers, Introduction to Critical Reading & Research Writing gives you the practical skills to do both. Go beyond simply reading and summarizing. Learn how to read critically, evaluate academic arguments, identify credible evidence, and develop your own well-supported ideas. You’ll learn practical strategies for close reading, annotation, concept mapping, and reading through different perspectives—then apply them to academic texts and research articles. Build the skills to move from evidence to argument using claims, reasoning, counterarguments, and effective citation. You’ll also learn how to formulate focused research questions, find and evaluate credible sources, avoid plagiarism, build an annotated bibliography, and conduct a coherent literature review. As your writing develops, you’ll strengthen paragraph structure, transitions, academic voice, interdisciplinary writing, and the integration of qualitative, quantitative, visual, historical, and archival sources. The course also introduces responsible AI use in academic writing. Whether you’re preparing a research paper, literature review, dissertation, or other academic project, this course helps you develop the critical reading and research writing skills needed to communicate ideas clearly, confidently, and credibly. Enroll now to turn complex texts and scattered sources into clear, persuasive academic arguments.

Syllabus

Reading Critically: Reading Between the Lines, Against the Grain and Through Different Lenses

The first module on reading aims to teach students how to read critically by engaging them with the strategies of close and critical reading--skimming, finding keywords, annotations, concept mapping, asking questions. It further invites students to read against the grain and look for an appropriate perspective to be able to read like writers.

Anatomy of an Academic Text I: Structure of an Argument

This module will introduce students to the structure of an academic argument, how an argument can be differentiated from other kinds of writing. Rather than just stating information or describing a topic, academic writing is driven by CER (Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning) model that is claims, supported by evidence, and shaped by critical reasoning. Students will learn how authors bring in different kinds of evidence, and how their voice aids in building the argument.

Anatomy of an Academic Text II: Structure of a Research Article

Understanding that reading academic articles may seem challenging to students, this module aims to discuss the article through its components--its structure, transition, tone, and progression. This module will guide students through the essential components of a research article, helping them recognize and analyse the structure and purpose of each section. From understanding how to critically read titles and abstracts to identifying thesis statements, methods, and conclusions, students will develop skills for dissecting and engaging with academic texts meaningfully.

Finding Connections Between Texts

Dialogue and cross sectioning of the ideas characterise academic writing. This module on connections aims to discuss the process of synthesis a writer follows to build their argument. It will discuss in detail the nature of connections such as that of similarity, expansion, focused description, causality or contradiction. It will further discuss how the themes emerge out of the process of data selection and rejection across the texts.

Basics of Critical Writing

This module introduces students to academic writing, focusing on its purpose and structure. From summaries to analysis, students will be invited to move beyond description by developing skills in critical analysis using methods like close reading, interpretation, and contextualising. Students will also be introduced to common writing pitfalls and how to overcome them. The module concludes with guidance on using AI tools responsibly to support, and not replace, original thinking.

Deriving Claims, Producing Evidence

Students will explore how to build strong arguments through clear claims and appropriate evidence. This module explains different types of evidence—data, case studies, quotations—and their disciplinary uses. Techniques like the ICE method (Introduce, Cite, Explain) will help students present evidence effectively. The module also emphasizes balancing sourced material with original analysis to create persuasive academic writing.

Connections, Coherence and Voice

This module helps students enhance the clarity and flow of their academic writing by focusing on connections, structure, and the development of an academic voice. Students will begin by creating simple links between texts and progress to making complex conceptual connections. They will learn how to engage with counterarguments to strengthen their positions and how to structure paragraphs and transitions for coherence. The module also emphasizes the importance of cultivating a confident academic voice and introduces techniques for peer and self-review to improve the quality and coherence of their writing.

Writing in the Disciplines

Complex academic arguments are often interdisciplinary in nature. This module introduces students to the conventions of academic writing across various disciplines. They will learn how to effectively incorporate evidence of varying kind: qualitative data, artworks or advertisements, archives, statistics etc. Students will explore visual argumentation techniques and conclude with strategies for interdisciplinary writing, where methods and sources from different academic fields are combined to address complex topics.

Arriving at a Research Question

While introducing the learners to research writing, this module focuses on a crucial aspect which shapes our research: the formulation of a complex research question. This module will take the learners through the steps of arriving at a research question and acquaint them with types of research questions. The module will also help learners articulate their research questions with clarity.

How to Look For Credible Sources/ Material and Working with Citations

This module will enable the learners’ understanding of what constitutes credible, verifiable sources in research writing. It will also demonstrate how to look for such sources and the essential research practices which will ensure the reliability of our sources. This module will also introduce the learners to the logic of citation and an in-depth understanding of how evidence makes its way in our writing via in-text and bibliographic citations. This module will help the learners develop an understanding of what constitutes plagiarism.

Understanding Review of Literature

This module focuses on a crucial aspect of research writing viz. review of literature. The module will acquaint the learner with the steps of building a review of literature, beginning with making an annotated bibliography and converting this into a coherent narrative about one’s research.

Refining and Finalising Our Writing Projects

This module aims to help the learner refine their research writing by enabling them to understand how multiple kinds of evidence can be integrated in our writing and how evidence can be interpreted through some conceptual frameworks. It also Emphasises the question of locating the author’s voice in their own writing and strengthening it. The module also addresses structural aspects of an introduction and a conclusion to research writing and gives an overview of the publishing process for research scholars.