First, students choose a topic that is related to social and/or economic issues. On the website of The Economist (login details: Limo > e-journals > The Economist > Gebruikersnaam/wachtwoord) they can find articles, e.g. in The Economists Daily Chart section, which can inspire them to come up with a topic. Then they develop a strong thesis statement related to the topic, do research to back up the statement and prepare an academic text of about 1700 to 2500 words (KU Leuven template, Calibri, font size 11, line spacing 1.15; the words on the title page and the reference list are not included in the word count). The text contains references to ten articles of which three are academic. Second, students translate the text into spoken language the language they will use in the presentation. Students can, if they wish, choose another related topic for the presentation. Of course this would require another round of reading and research. I would advise therefore to stick to the initial topic.
The academic text needs to be uploaded as a regular assignment and as a Turnitin assignment on Toledo under Assignments by 10 May 2021 (not the translated text for the presentation).
Academic writing will be introduced and practiced with the help of the handbook Academic Writing in English.