The main objective of Academic Writing I is to equip students with the language skills that will enable them to read and write effectively.Students will be taken initially through fundamental issues in grammar and composition to consolidate their language skills in these areas. Subsequently, reading and writing skills relevant to university work will be introduced. These will include the structure of the essay, unity, completeness and coherence in essay writing, summarizing as a skill basic to exposition, writing from sources, referencing skills and avoiding plagiarism. Usage and conventions, percentages and proportions, sentence connectors, prefixes and suffixes; constructing an essay, general principles, constructing a paragraph, paragraph logic, constructing a sentence; well –crafted sentences, standard errors, punctuation and presentation, direct speech, presentation conventions, quoting from a text, summary; punctuation, how punctuation can strengthen a sentence, the use of colon and semi-colon. The course will be taught in small groups and class activities are characterized by group work, oral presentations and extensive practical assignments.