ES1103 English for Academic Purposes
The Complete Study & Assessment Guide · Sem 1 AY26/27ES1103 Overview
- National University of Singapore
- Semester 1, AY2026/27
- Level 1
- 4 units
- Graded
- Blended videos and tutorials
What this course is for
ES1103 is a bridging course in academic English at the National University of Singapore, taken by students whose results on the university's Qualifying English Test show they would benefit from additional language support for academic study.
- Assessed through continuous work Six weighted parts across the term, with the two essays together carrying 55% of the grade.
- Connections carry the synthesis mark Source integration and attribution is the heaviest criterion in the first essay, at 40% of its mark.
- Read before you write Take every source through SCOUTS and into a source grid before drafting a thesis.
- Declare every time Each submission ends with the course declaration on generative AI, whether or not you used it.
How ES1103 is assessed
| Component | Weight | Format |
|---|---|---|
| CA1 Synthesis Essay | 25% | Individual essay of 400 to 450 words, excluding references, on sustainable living environments and public health, using three or more of four supplied readings and nothing else. Due in Week 5, on Sunday 13 September at 23:59. |
| CA2 Argumentative Essay | 30% | Individual essay of 650 to 700 words, excluding references, on a contentious sustainable development issue in a country or community of your choice, citing four to five sources you research yourself. An ungraded first draft goes to peer review and a tutor consultation. Due on Sunday 25 October at 23:59. |
| CA3: Academic Conversation on Argumentative Essay Writing | 15% | One-to-one, in-person conversation of 8 to 10 minutes in Week 12 or Week 13 about the thinking process behind your argumentative essay, recorded on your own device and uploaded the same day. |
| Online engagement: Canvas Quiz 1 | 5% | Timed online quiz of 30 minutes with one attempt, on the lecture videos covering academic writing, APA style, the four toolkits and synthesis. Due on Sunday 13 September at 23:59. |
| Online engagement: Canvas Quiz 2 | 5% | Auto-marked online quiz with no deadline extension. Due on Sunday 11 October at 23:59. |
| Class Participation | 20% | Attendance makes up 20% and in-class participation 80% of this component; arriving 30 minutes late means attendance is not marked. Marks are withheld until results are released. |
The six published weights total 100%, and the ungraded CA2 first draft sits outside them. The course materials reviewed here state no hurdle, minimum-mark or pass condition for any component, so none is claimed in either direction; confirm the current position on Canvas. Within class participation, attendance is 20% and in-class participation 80% of the component. Late work loses 10% of its marks within 24 hours of the deadline and scores zero after that unless supported by verifiable documentation, and exceeding an essay's upper word limit costs 10%.
Current ES1103 dates
| Date | Item | Control |
|---|---|---|
| 13 September 2026 | CA1 Synthesis Essay and Quiz 1 due | Both due by 23:59; the quiz is timed at 30 minutes with one attempt. |
| 27 September 2026 | CA2 source grid and outline | Ungraded; submitted to the tutorial channel by 23:59 for peer review in Week 7. |
| 11 October 2026 | Quiz 2 due | Due by 23:59, with no deadline extension. |
| 25 October 2026 | CA2 Argumentative Essay due | Due by 23:59 after the Week 9 and Week 10 consultations. |
| 2 November 2026 | CA3 conversations begin | Week 12 is the first round; the second round runs in Week 13, ending 13 November. |
Dates are as published in the course materials published for this offering. Confirm exact deadlines and submission settings in the live LMS.
What ES1103 covers
Eleven chapters follow the tutorial sequence: six toolkit chapters, one on the synthesis essay, and four on argument, research with AI and the closing conversation.
Academic Genres and the Rhetorical Situation
Tell genres apart by purpose and features, then decode audience, purpose, context, conventions and prompt key words02Reading Sources Critically with SCOUTS
Scan, contextualise, observe, uncover, think and synthesise before a source reaches the essay03Source Grids and Synthesis Markers
Record stance, claims, evidence and connections for each source, then write the relation with a marker04Coherence through Theme and New Information
Chain sentences with linear, zig-zag and fan progression and align thesis, topic sentences and conclusion05Grammar Complexity for an Academic Register
Build complex noun phrases through nominalisation and use compound and complex sentences to rank ideas06Citing, Paraphrasing and Quoting in APA Style
Choose author-prominent or information-prominent citation, a stance verb, and summary, paraphrase or quotation07Planning and Writing the Synthesis Essay
Meet the task, the three rubric criteria, the thesis of approach plus reasons, and a synthesising outline08Five Traditions behind an Argument
Connect exigence, justification, persuasion, adherence and fair engagement to writing decisions09Stance, Premises and Rebuttal in Argumentative Essays
Contextualise a tension, state a stance with premises, and answer the strongest counter-argument with evidence10Researching Responsibly with Generative AI
Question AI output, verify it against original sources, and record each use in the declaration11Explaining Your Writing Process in Conversation
Prepare for the one-to-one conversation on self-awareness, self-regulation and self-evaluationIts stated aim is to give you knowledge of the academic genre and the ability to use it in your own academic communication. It works through a reading-into-writing approach: themed readings act as springboards for your writing, and each tutorial analyses how academic texts are organised so that you can reproduce those patterns yourself.
How the semester is built
The course is blended.
Short lecture videos, several with ungraded in-video quizzes, introduce four academic writing toolkits and the principles of synthesis and source attribution. Eight in-person tutorials then turn those ideas into practice, usually with a worksheet, a team activity on a real reading and a short piece of in-class writing.
The first half of the term builds towards a synthesis essay; the second half builds towards an argumentative essay, then a one-to-one conversation about how you wrote it. Two consultation weeks replace tutorials while drafts are finished.
The four toolkits
The first toolkit is the rhetorical situation: audience, purpose, context and conventions.
The second is coherence and cohesion, taught through the order of given and new information in sentences, paragraphs and whole essays. The third is grammar complexity: complex noun phrases, nominalisation, and compound and complex sentences. The fourth is academic voice, which covers how you attribute sources, which reporting verbs you choose and how hedges and boosters separate your judgement from the claims you cite.
All four are named again in the rubric criterion for academic language.
Reading before writing
Synthesis in this course starts as a reading skill. A six-level framework called SCOUTS takes each source from a quick credibility and relevance check through its line of reasoning, its assumptions and your own response, to the connections it makes with other sources.
The notes go into a source grid, and the grid is where relations between sources become visible enough to write. Both essays use the same grid.
Two essays on one theme
Every writing task sits inside the umbrella theme of sustainable development.
The synthesis essay uses a fixed sub-theme and four supplied readings on how urban living environments affect public health, and asks you to explain one effective approach by integrating at least three of them. The argumentative essay lets you choose a contentious sustainable development issue in a country or community, research four to five sources yourself, take a stance with clear premises, and answer an opposing view.
Generative AI is part of the course rather than banned from it: you are taught to question its output, verify it against original sources and declare every use at the end of each submission.
Diagnosing a paragraph that summarises instead of synthesising
- 2Name what the paragraph does instead of synthesis.
- 2Identify the missing element the reader needs.
- 2State the repair in terms of grid, marker and topic sentence.
Key terms
- Academic Genre
- A type of academic text with its own purpose, structure and language features, such as an essay, a lab report or a reflective journal.
- Rhetorical Elements
- The four factors that shape a piece of writing in this course: audience, purpose, context and conventions.
- Synthesis
- Purposeful reading of several sources on one issue, setting them side by side and judging them to reveal a pattern, support a stance or expose a gap.
- SCOUTS
- A six-level critical reading framework: scan, contextualise, observe, uncover, think and synthesise.
- Source Grid
- A table with one row per source recording its key terms, stance, claims, evidence, your response and its links to other sources.
- Thematic Progression
- The pattern by which the theme of each sentence picks up earlier information, in linear, zig-zag or fan form.
- Nominalisation
- Turning a verb or adjective into a noun, so an action or quality can be the subject of a new claim.
- Information-Prominent Citation
- A citation placed in brackets at the end of a sentence so that the idea, rather than the author, leads.
- Premise
- A reason offered in support of a stance; a strong thesis states its premises as well as its position.
- Rebuttal
- An evidence-based reply to a fairly stated counter-argument, explaining why the writer's position still holds.
ES1103 FAQ
How is English for Academic Purposes at NUS assessed?
Entirely by continuous assessment in six weighted parts: a synthesis essay worth 25%, an argumentative essay worth 30%, a one-to-one academic conversation worth 15%, two online quizzes worth 5% each, and class participation worth 20%. The argumentative essay also has an ungraded first draft that is peer reviewed.
What does the synthesis essay require?
Between 400 and 450 words, excluding references, explaining one design approach for sustainable living environments that works for public health and well-being. You must use three or more of the four supplied readings and nothing else, integrate them rather than summarise each in turn, and attribute them in APA style.
What is the SCOUTS framework and when do I use it?
SCOUTS is the course's six-step reading method: scan, contextualise, observe, uncover, think and synthesise. Use it on every source before drafting, then transfer the notes into a source grid. Tutors recommend it over machine summaries because students' AI summaries of the readings have repeatedly contained errors.
What is the difference between author-prominent and information-prominent citations?
An author-prominent citation makes the author part of your sentence, which suits appealing to authority or aligning with a scholar. An information-prominent citation puts the name in brackets at the end, which keeps the idea in front and lets you group several sources behind one point.
How should a thesis for the argumentative essay be built?
State a clear, debatable stance and the premises that support it, so the reader can predict the body paragraphs. The recommended outline gives one body paragraph to each premise, then one to the counter-argument and one to the rebuttal, before a conclusion that draws out the wider implication.
Can I use generative AI in my essays?
The course teaches responsible use rather than banning it: question the output, verify it against original sources, use it to support rather than replace your thinking, and paste the declaration at the end of every submission stating which tool you used, your prompt, its output and how you used it. Individual in-class activities may prohibit AI.
What happens in the academic conversation at the end of the course?
You meet your tutor alone for eight to ten minutes in Week 12 or Week 13 and explain how you wrote your argumentative essay. It is graded on self-awareness of the genre, how you identified and solved problems while writing, and how you evaluate the finished essay's strengths and limitations.
How to prepare for the assessments
Start a single source grid in Week 3 and keep it open for the rest of the term. Fill the response and connections columns as soon as you finish reading each source, draft your thesis from what the grid shows, and reuse the same habit with your own sources for the argumentative essay. The conversation at the end rewards exactly the record this leaves.
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