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.
What you get in the full ES1103 Study & Assessment Guide
- 11 chapters, 37 pages — every assessed topic, week by week
- 34 original practice questions, each with a model answer
- 11 worked examples, solved the way ES1103 marks
- 10 computed figures, redrawn from the course’s own numbers
- Before-you-submit checklist for the CA2 Argumentative Essay (30%) — what markers reward, what costs marks
Free on this page: assessment table, chapter map, one worked example, key terms, FAQ. The rest is in the full study & assessment guide.
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%.
What other students are asking about ES1103
- Where can I find lecture notes or study guides for ES1103 at NUS?
- The ES1103 study guide in AskSia Library covers English for Academic Purposes in 11 chapters, with the assessment table, a chapter-by-chapter topic map, key terms and a worked example, free to read on this page.
- Is there a final exam in ES1103?
- No final exam is listed in the offering this AskSia Library guide is built from; ES1103 is assessed by CA1 Synthesis Essay 25%, CA2 Argumentative Essay 30%, CA3: Academic Conversation on Argumentative Essay Writing 15%, Online engagement: Canvas Quiz 1 5%, Online engagement: Canvas Quiz 2 5%, Class Participation 20%.
- What does ES1103 cover on reading sources critically with scouts?
- In AskSia Library's ES1103 guide, the Reading Sources Critically with SCOUTS chapter explains scan, contextualise, observe, uncover, think and synthesise before a source reaches the essay.
- What does ES1103 cover on source grids and synthesis markers?
- In AskSia Library's ES1103 guide, the Source Grids and Synthesis Markers chapter explains record stance, claims, evidence and connections for each source, then write the relation with a marker.
- What does ES1103 cover on coherence through theme and new information?
- In AskSia Library's ES1103 guide, the Coherence through Theme and New Information chapter explains chain sentences with linear, zig-zag and fan progression and align thesis, topic sentences and conclusion.
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 wordsWhy the course starts with genre
Before any essay is drafted, the first tutorial asks a question students rarely ask themselves: what kind of text is this task asking for?
- Academic genres defined by purpose, structure and language features
- Why disciplines ask different questions and accept different evidence
- Audience, purpose, context and conventions as the first toolkit
- A news report and a research abstract compared feature by feature
- Instruction, content, value and scoping words in a writing prompt
Reading Sources Critically with SCOUTS
Scan, contextualise, observe, uncover, think and synthesise before a source reaches the essaySynthesis begins with reading
The second tutorial reframes synthesis as a reading task before it is a writing one.
- Synthesis as purposeful work across viewpoints and findings
- Scan and Contextualise: credibility, currency, relevance, circumstance and purpose
- Observe: line of reasoning, claims, sub-claims and evidence
- Uncover and Think: assumptions, implications, bias and your own response
- Synthesise: how one source meets the others
- Why tutors prefer the framework to AI-generated summaries
Source Grids and Synthesis Markers
Record stance, claims, evidence and connections for each source, then write the relation with a markerA grid that makes relations visible
The source grid is the course's bridge between reading and writing.
- The seven columns of the source grid and the question behind each
- Reading the grid across rows to find the relation between sources
- Similarity, contrast and concession as the three synthesis relations
- Conjunctions, sentence connectors and phrase connectors as four forms
- The peer-review checks that mirror the essay rubric
Coherence through Theme and New Information
Chain sentences with linear, zig-zag and fan progression and align thesis, topic sentences and conclusionWhat makes writing flow
The second writing toolkit explains coherence with a single observation about English sentences: they usually begin with a theme, something already known or given in the context, and end with new information the reader is learning.
- Theme and new information as the basic order of an English sentence
- Linear, zig-zag and fan thematic progression within a paragraph
- Thesis, topic sentences, closing sentences and conclusion as four levels of theme and new
- Testing whether a thesis forecasts the body paragraphs
- Connectors, reference and lexical chains as cohesive devices
Grammar Complexity for an Academic Register
Build complex noun phrases through nominalisation and use compound and complex sentences to rank ideasWhy academic sentences look dense
The third writing toolkit explains a feature students notice in every journal article: academic prose packs a great deal of meaning into its nouns.
- Complex noun phrases: pre-modifiers, head noun and post-modifiers
- Nominalisation from verbs and adjectives
- Where heavy noun phrases sit in a sentence and why
- Compound sentences for equal ideas, complex sentences for ranked ones
- Fronted dependent clauses and the register lapses the rubric names
Citing, Paraphrasing and Quoting in APA Style
Choose author-prominent or information-prominent citation, a stance verb, and summary, paraphrase or quotationCitation as a rhetorical choice
The fourth tutorial treats APA citation as more than a format. There are two ways to attribute a source.
- Author-prominent and information-prominent citation and when each is strategic
- How grammar assigns responsibility for a cited claim
- Research, cognition and discourse reporting verbs
- Endorsing, neutral and distancing stance
- Attribution, exemplification, linking and comparison as citation functions
- Summary, paraphrase and direct quotation
Planning and Writing the Synthesis Essay
Meet the task, the three rubric criteria, the thesis of approach plus reasons, and a synthesising outlineThe task
The first continuous assessment is a synthesis essay of 400 to 450 words, excluding the reference list, worth 25% of the course grade.
- The synthesis task: one approach, at least three of four given sources
- Requirements for the introduction, thesis, body and limitation
- Three rubric criteria weighted 30%, 40% and 30%
- Building a thesis from an approach and the reasons it works
- Word limits, late penalties and the similarity check
Five Traditions behind an Argument
Connect exigence, justification, persuasion, adherence and fair engagement to writing decisionsA definition built from several traditions
The course note on argumentative writing opens with a working definition assembled from several schools of thought.
- A working definition of argumentation drawn from five traditions
- Aristotle, Toulmin, Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca, Rogers and Bitzer compared
- Exigence, justification, persuasion, adherence and engagement as writing steps
- Degrees of audience adherence and why values matter
- The seven-question checklist before submission
Stance, Premises and Rebuttal in Argumentative Essays
Contextualise a tension, state a stance with premises, and answer the strongest counter-argument with evidenceThe second essay
The argumentative essay is worth 30% of the course grade and runs to 650 to 700 words, excluding references.
- The argumentative task, its theme and the four to five source requirement
- Six requirements from context to APA attribution
- The recommended outline with separate counter-argument and rebuttal paragraphs
- One-sided and two-sided arguments: claim, premise, evidence, rebuttal
- The 40% substantiation criterion and the staged drafts
Researching Responsibly with Generative AI
Question AI output, verify it against original sources, and record each use in the declarationAI inside the course, not outside it
Generative AI appears in this course as a subject to be learned rather than a rule to be obeyed.
- How the course positions AI: support, not substitute
- Recording prompts, outputs and changes as you work
- Verifying AI claims against original sources
- Clarifying, funnelling, adjoining and elevating questions
- The declaration and the university policy behind it
Explaining Your Writing Process in Conversation
Prepare for the one-to-one conversation on self-awareness, self-regulation and self-evaluationAn assessment about process
The third continuous assessment is a graded academic conversation of eight to ten minutes between you and your tutor, held in Week 12 or Week 13 and worth 15% of the course grade.
- The purpose and format of the one-to-one academic conversation
- Reflecting on challenges, solutions, strengths and limitations
- Self-awareness, self-regulation and self-evaluation criteria
- What answering without much probing means in practice
- Sign-up, declaration form, recording and upload on the day
Its 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.
Worked example · free
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.
Questions students ask in each ES1103 chapter
- Why does the course spend a tutorial on genre before any essay is written?
- Because a well-written text in the wrong genre still fails the task. Recognising that a prompt wants a reflective account, a lab report or an argued position decides structure, evidence and tone before a single sentence is drafted, and later tutorials assume that decision has been made. Chapter 01 · Academic Genres and the Rhetorical Situation
- What does each letter of SCOUTS stand for?
- Scan, contextualise, observe, uncover, think and synthesise. The first two check the source as an object, the middle two open up its argument, and the last two turn it into material for your own essay by recording your response and its links to other sources. Chapter 02 · Reading Sources Critically with SCOUTS
- Is the source grid submitted or graded?
- The synthesis-essay grid is built as homework and in class, and the argumentative-essay grid and outline are submitted ungraded for peer review in Week 7. Neither carries marks, but both essays are much harder to write without one. Chapter 03 · Source Grids and Synthesis Markers
- What is thematic progression in academic writing?
- It is the way the theme of each sentence connects to information that came before, following a linear, zig-zag or fan pattern. Controlling it is what makes a paragraph feel logical, because each sentence starts from ground the reader already stands on. Chapter 04 · Coherence through Theme and New Information
- What is nominalisation and why does academic writing use it so much?
- Nominalisation turns a verb or adjective into a noun, such as adapt into adaptation. It lets writers treat processes as things that can be described, compared and evaluated, which raises information density and formality, the two effects the course attributes to this toolkit. Chapter 05 · Grammar Complexity for an Academic Register
- Do I still need a citation if I paraphrase completely?
- Yes. Changing every word does not change who the idea belongs to, and the course podcast says the same applies when you combine ideas from two sources. The citation credits the idea, not the wording. Chapter 06 · Citing, Paraphrasing and Quoting in APA Style
- Do I have to use all four sources in the synthesis essay?
- No. The prompt requires three or more of them, and tutors say the choice depends on which sources are relevant to your thesis. Using a fourth that does not support your line of argument adds words without adding synthesis. Chapter 07 · Planning and Writing the Synthesis Essay
- Do I need to name these theorists in my argumentative essay?
- The course note uses them to explain how argument works, not as sources to cite; the essay task tells you to cite original sources on your issue rather than the course note. What matters is that the essay performs what the traditions describe. Chapter 08 · Five Traditions behind an Argument
- How many sources should the argumentative essay cite?
- The task asks you to keep the total within four to five sources, found through your own research. The course note on sustainable development supplies background but must not be cited; you are told to consult and cite the original sources instead. Chapter 09 · Stance, Premises and Rebuttal in Argumentative Essays
- Is using generative AI allowed in the essays?
- The course teaches responsible use rather than banning it, and requires a declaration at the end of every submission. The university policy states that acknowledged use is not plagiarism and is not penalised for being declared, but you remain responsible for accuracy and integrity. Chapter 10 · Researching Responsibly with Generative AI
- What will I be asked in the academic conversation?
- Questions about the thinking process behind your argumentative essay, organised around self-awareness, self-regulation and self-evaluation. Expect to explain the genre choices you made, the problems you met and how you solved them, and how well the final essay meets the task. Chapter 11 · Explaining Your Writing Process in Conversation
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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