The skills training EBS1001 consists of two components: "Academic Writing" and "Philosophy of Science". The components are mostly coordinated and carried out separately, but they have a joint examination in the form of a term paper. The Academic Writing component aims to help you (a) understand the concept of academic writing in English and (b) become aware of the generally-accepted standards of academic writing required for written assignments produced as part of your study programme in the School of Business and Economics. By the end of the course, you are expected to be able to produce work of a high quality in structure, language and citing skills. Furthermore, by working in small multicultural tutorial groups and providing each other with feedback, you will develop your intercultural communication skills, which you need to communicate successfully in the global business market. In the Philosophy of Science component we discuss fundamental questions like "What is science and what do we need it for?", "What is pseudoscience?", or "What makes some scientific theories better than others?" By the end of the training you will be equiped with a solid understanding of how science works in principle, an overview of criteria that can help you to evaluate the scientific value of the theories that you encounter throughout your studies, and an introduction to the standards of good scientific practice and of Open Science. All first year students of the School of Business and Economics follow this course together, i.e., Economics, Econometrics, Fiscal Economics, and International Business students will meet each other. This creates a fruitful diversity of backgrounds and interests in your tutorials and benefits the exchanges and discussions you have.

Samir Okasha “Philosophy of Science: A Very Short Introduction”, 2nd edition (!), 2016, Oxford University Press, ISBN: 978-0198745587 (also available as eBook).

• An advanced level of English.
• No specific required knowledge requested.