Duration: Eight weeks

Aims and objectives

The aim of this course is to improve your active and passive vocabulary knowledge. It will help you to:

• develop strategies for learning new academic vocabulary
• improve dictionary and thesaurus skills for your degree study
• understand the basic rules for word formation
• develop an understanding of levels of formality in vocabulary
• become more aware of the connotations and associations of words and expressions 

Duration: Eight weeks

Aims and objectives

This course aims to improve your pronunciation. It will help you to give presentations more confidently and participate more successfully in discussions with staff and other students. Specifically, it will help you to: 

• identify and overcome difficulties with particular sounds
• practise sounds that are difficult in combination
• understand stress in words and sentences and the difference this can make to individual sounds

Duration: Eight weeks

Aims and objectives

The aim of this course is to develop your speaking skills and provide the opportunity to practise in an unpressured environment. It will:

• help develop your confidence in speaking
• help develop your fluency in speaking
• extend your knowledge of vocabulary related to specific topics and give you the opportunity to practise discussing these topics in English
• enable you to become aware of certain strategies used by speakers to participate in discussions
• provide you with the language necessary to communicate in different situations on and off campus

Possible topics

Duration: Eight weeks

Aims and objectives

The aim of the course is to help you read more efficiently and quickly by:

• choosing what is important for you to read
• practising strategies that will help to save time
• practising techniques for speed reading
• extracting relevant information from texts
• taking a critical approach to reading

Duration: Five weeks

Aims and objectives

This course will help you to build your confidence for delivering an academic presentation; in particular, to give you opportunities to:

• become more effective in delivering a presentation in English, in a seminar or similar setting
• raise your awareness of important aspects of successful presentations, such as organisation, using visuals, body language and use of voice
• focus on useful language for presentations 
• practise giving presentations and receiving feedback

Process

The first four weeks have considerable tutor input (with some practice) on use of language and on approaching a seminar presentation in English. Week five focuses more on your own practice of what you have learnt, with tutor and peer feedback on all aspects, including language use and pronunciation. 

Duration: Eight weeks

Aims and objectives

This course helps you to:

• understand the differences between spoken and written academic English and the reasons for those differences
• practise varying your language for assignments and presentations
• improve your grammatical accuracy in spoken and written contexts

Syllabus

Please discuss with your tutor which of the following weekly topics you would like to cover in the course.   

Duration: Three weeks

Aims and objectives

This course aims to improve your understanding of and response to the written assessment tasks and tutor feedback you are given. It helps you to: 

• understand what is required from different types of written assignments  
• understand what is meant by criticality 
• understand the importance of organisation and coherence of ideas 
• understand tutor marking schemes and how tutors’ comments link to these 
• develop a reflective approach to tutor and peer feedback 
• devise your own strategies for improving final drafts or subsequent written assignments  

Duration: Four weeks

Aims and objectives

The aim of this course is to help you with developing an eye for elements in your writing that would benefit from revision. With practical examples and from the perspective of the reader, the course will illustrate common issues and how to address them.

Duration: Six weeks

Aims and objectives

This course aims to familiarise yourself with the university expectations for avoiding plagiarism, developing a critical approach, and maintaining academic style in coursework. The course helps you to:

• use information from different reading sources to support your argument, to develop your own ‘voice’ in academic writing, and to avoid plagiarism
• take a critical approach to reading/writing and use strategies for critical writing
• understand British academic conventions for referencing
• use academic style appropriately

Duration: Six weeks

Aims and objectives

This course aims to help you develop a clearer and more precise writing style, particularly in the areas of:

• correct expression of ideas for precise meaning
• appropriate formality of grammar and vocabulary
• effective relationships between parts of the text
• clear linking 

Duration: Six weeks

Aims and objectives

This course helps you to:

• improve grammar and sentence structure in the context of assignment/thesis writing
• be more accurate in expressing yourself at sentence level when you are writing
• notice and correct the grammatical mistakes which lead to unclear meaning in your writing
• choose appropriate sentence structures and vocabulary for assignment or thesis writing

Duration: Six weeks

Aims and objectives

The purpose of this course is to help you to produce more effective argumentative writing within your science discipline. Key aims of the course are: 

• to develop familiarity with common features of scientific arguments through the analysis of examples
• to consider the reasons underpinning these features of scientific writing
• to provide opportunities for controlled practice in producing these features of scientific argumentative writing

Please note that while all students are welcome to attend, this course focuses on developing and communicating academic arguments within the natural and applied sciences, not the social sciences.

Duration: Eight weeks

Aims and objectives

You are invited to send part of your writing to the tutor in advance, perhaps from an annual report or from an article you wish to submit to a journal. As a group, we look at a paragraph or two from each person, discussing content, structure, clarity and accuracy. The class provides an opportunity to get ideas and feedback from your peers as well as a tutor.

Duration: One week (three sessions)

This course will be useful both for students writing dissertations and those writing a research article as part of a portfolio. 

Aims and objectives

This course covers the main components of a master's dissertation in the School of Medicine and of a research article, including common language patterns/usages and rhetorical moves found in research articles published in health-related journals. You do not need to attend all sessions.

Duration: Two weeks (two sessions per week)

Aims and objectives

The course will consider the expectations of a master's dissertation in the School of Economics, and the function, structure and language of the separate sections

Duration: Two weeks (two sessions per week)

Aims and objectives

This course considers the expectations of a master's dissertation in the School of Mathematical Sciences, and the function, structure and language of the separate sections.

Duration: Two weeks (two sessions per week)

Aims and objectives

This course considers the expectations of a master's dissertation in the School of Education, and the function, structure and language of the separate sections.

Duration: Two weeks (two sessions per week)

Aims and objectives

This course considers the expectations of a master's dissertation in the School of Computer Science, and the function, structure and language of the separate sections.

Duration: Two weeks (two sessions per week)

Aims and objectives

This course considers the expectations of a master's dissertation in the School of Law, and the function, structure and language of the separate sections.

Duration: Eight weeks

Aims and objectives

The course covers the main organisational and language aspects of a first-year report for PhD students, including common language patterns/usages.  

Duration: Four weeks

Aims and objectives

This course covers the main organisational and language aspects of a first year report for PhD students, including common language patterns/usages and rhetorical moves. 

Duration: Four weeks

Aims and objectives

The course covers the main organisational and language aspects of a first year report for PhD students, including common language patterns/usages and rhetorical moves.