Моя одногруппница пишет курсовую о современной культуре, а я почти закончила курсовую и всё ещё проверяю список источников.

Одногруппница means a female student in the same group as the speaker — often a university group, seminar group, or class section.

It is built from:

• одно- = one / same
• группа = group
• -ница = a feminine person ending

Related words:

• одногруппник = male groupmate
• однокурсница = female student on the same course / in the same year
• одноклассница = female school classmate

So одногруппница is specifically about being in the same group, not just the same school.

Because одногруппница is a feminine noun, and моя has to agree with it.

Agreement here is in:

• gender
• number
• case

So:

• мой одногруппник = my male groupmate
• моя одногруппница = my female groupmate

The ending -а in моя matches the feminine noun.

It can mean either, depending on context.

Пишет is:

• present tense
• 3rd person singular
• imperfective aspect

Russian present tense with an imperfective verb can express:

• a general/habitual action: she writes
• an action happening now: she is writing

In this sentence, the context clearly suggests an ongoing action, so пишет is understood as is writing.

Because Russian very often drops the noun when it is obvious.

The full phrase is:

• курсовая работа = course paper / term paper

But in real usage, people often shorten it to just:

• курсовая in the nominative
• курсовую in the accusative

So here пишет курсовую literally means is writing a course paper, with работу omitted because everyone understands it.

This is called substantivization: an adjective is used like a noun.

Because it is the direct object of the verbs пишет and закончила.

The shortened noun курсовая is feminine, and in the accusative singular it becomes курсовую.

So:

• курсовая = nominative
• курсовую = accusative

Compare:

• Курсовая готова. = The term paper is ready.
• Я пишу курсовую. = I am writing the term paper.

Because the preposition о meaning about requires the prepositional case.

So:

• культура → о культуре
• современная культура → о современной культуре

Both words change:

• современная → современной
• культура → культуре

This is a very common pattern:

• говорить о чём? = to talk about what?
• читать о чём? = to read about what?
• писать о чём? = to write about what?

Here а shows a contrast or comparison, but not a strong contradiction.

It often means something like:

• while
• whereas
• and as for...
• but in a mild contrastive sense

So the structure is:

• My groupmate is doing this, whereas I am doing that.

If you used и, it would sound more like simple addition:

• and

If you used но, it would sound like a stronger opposition:

• but

Here а is the most natural connector because the two people are being compared.

Закончила is the past tense feminine singular form of закончить.

That tells us the speaker is female.

Compare:

• я закончил = I finished / I have finished (male speaker)
• я закончила = I finished / I have finished (female speaker)

So from this sentence alone, we know the speaker is a woman.

Because Russian does not have a separate tense like the English present perfect.

Russian often uses the past tense where English uses:

• finished
• have finished
• have almost finished

So я почти закончила naturally means:

• I almost finished or, depending on context,
• I have almost finished

In this sentence, the meaning is clearly close to I’ve almost finished.

Because закончила is perfective, and the sentence focuses on being very close to the result — the completion of the paper.

• закончить = to finish, to complete
• заканчивать = to be finishing / to finish repeatedly / in process in some contexts

With почти, Russian very often prefers a perfective verb when talking about being close to a completed result:

• почти сделал
• почти прочитал
• почти закончил

So почти закончила means I have almost completed it.

Всё ещё means still.

So:

• всё ещё проверяю = I am still checking

The verb проверяю is imperfective present, which is exactly what Russian uses for an ongoing action.

That makes sense here because checking the source list is a process that is not finished yet.

Compare:

• я проверяю = I am checking / I check
• я проверю = I will check / I’ll check

So всё ещё проверяю means the speaker is in the middle of that task.

Список источников means list of sources or bibliography/reference list, depending on context.

Источников is the genitive plural of источник.

Russian often uses the genitive after another noun to show a relationship like:

• list of sources
• map of the city
• door of the house

So:

• список = list
• источники = sources
• список источников = list of sources

This is a very common noun + genitive pattern.

Russian often repeats a noun when that sounds clearer or more natural.

So:

• пишет курсовую
• я почти закончила курсовую

This repetition helps keep the sentence clear.

A pronoun like её could be used in some contexts, but it might sound ambiguous:

• Does её mean her paper?
• Or it?
• Or could it point back to the groupmate?

Russian frequently prefers repeating the noun instead of risking confusion.

Also, Russian often leaves out my when possession is obvious from context. So закончила курсовую naturally means finished my term paper here.

Not exactly.

A male speaker would need:

• я почти закончил курсовую

The rest of the sentence can stay the same, but закончила must change to закончил.

So:

• female speaker: я почти закончила
• male speaker: я почти закончил

This is because past tense verbs in Russian agree with gender in the singular.