General courses
For all students
Subject-specific courses
For students on these specific courses
Postgraduate research courses
For PGR students in these specific schools or related schools. Early career reseachers are also welcome.
General courses - details and booking
Grammar: Speaking and Writing
Duration: Nine 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
| Week 1 |
Written and spoken academic English |
| Week 2 |
Nominal style |
| Week 3 |
Noun phrase modification |
| Week 4 |
Cohesion |
| Week 5 |
Prepositions |
| Week 6 |
Negation |
| Week 7 |
Verb complements |
| Week 8 |
Tense and aspect |
| Week 9 |
Noun complements |
Academic Vocabulary Skills
Duration: Nine 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
Syllabus
| Week 1 |
What is word knowledge? |
| Week 2 |
Suffixes |
| Week 3 |
Prefixes |
| Week 4 |
Lexical cohesion |
| Week 5 |
Word families |
| Week 6 |
Adjective and verb patterns |
| Week 7 |
Register |
| Week 8 |
Collocation |
| Week 9 |
Review |
Duration: Nine 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
Syllabus
| Week 1 |
Overview of course and phonemic alphabet |
| Week 2 |
Vowels: short, long and diphthongs |
| Week 3 |
Consonants 1 |
| Week 4 |
Consonants 2 |
| Week 5 |
Consonant clusters |
| Week 6 |
Word stress |
| Week 7 |
Short sentence stress |
| Week 8 |
Weak forms |
| Week 9 |
Quiz |
Social Conversation Skills
Duration: Nine 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
- Getting to know each other
- Travel advice
- Family life
- Gender and stereotyping
- Customs and habits
- Idioms and common phrases
- Restaurants and food
- Superstitions and proverbs
- Work
- Extreme sports and risk taking
- Final session quiz
Effective Academic Reading
Duration: Nine 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
Syllabus
| Week 1 |
What is active reading? |
| Week 2 |
Types of reading |
| Week 3 |
Faster reading |
| Week 4 |
Reading clues: paragraphs |
| Week 5 |
Reading clues: organisational patterns |
| Week 6 |
Reading clues: vocabulary |
| Week 7 |
Selecting what to read |
| Week 8 |
Critical reading 1 |
| Week 9 |
Critical reading 2 |
Academic Discussion Skills
Duration: Five weeks
Aims and objectives
This course aims to introduce you to the language and communication skills of academic seminar discussion. It will enable you to notice how academics and students communicate with each other and give you opportunities to develop similar skills by engaging in seminar discussions on a range of topics. Specifically, it will help you to:
- develop an awareness of the role and importance of seminar participation in academic learning
- focus on the language used by speakers to communicate a range of discussion-related functions (for example disagreeing, interrupting, asking for clarification, supporting ideas/claims and such)
- build strategies and confidence for preparing for, participation in, and following up on seminar discussion
- build independence by encouraging you to reflect critically on your own and others’ participation and take responsibility for managing group discussion for the benefit of all
Syllabus
| Week 1 |
Introduction - the purpose(s) and challenges of seminar discussion |
| Week 2 |
Strategies for seminar preparation |
| Week 3 |
Offering credible support for ideas/claims and counter-arguments |
| Week 4 |
Body language and 'active listening' |
| Week 5 |
Participate in a full group seminar discussion, including giving and receiving feedback and reflecting on your own 'performance' |
Effective Academic Presentation
Duration: Four or 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
Syllabus
| Week 1 |
Presentation introductions |
| Week 2 |
Explanations and visual aids |
| Week 3 |
Delivery, stress and intonation |
| Week 4 |
Conclusions and Q&A |
| Week 5 |
Practice and feedback |
Academic Writing: Achieving Clarity
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
Syllabus
| Week 1 |
Descriptive and explanatory precision |
| Week 2 |
Formality |
| Week 3 |
Syntax 1 |
| Week 4 |
Syntax 2 |
| Week 5 |
Cohesion and coherence |
| Week 6 |
Collocation |
Academic Writing: Research Writing
Duration: Nine 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.
Academic Writing: Planning an Assignment
Duration: Six weeks
Aims and objectives
This course will help you to familiarise yourself with the fundamental university requirements and expectations for academic coursework writing. The course helps you to:
- plan and organise academic assignments to suit different types of questions
- decide what it is necessary to include in academic essay writing
- keep your content relevant to the question throughout your answer
- use sources appropriately in academic writing
Syllabus
| Week 1 |
Title to plan |
| Week 2 |
Argument and synthesis |
| Week 3 |
Summary and paraphrase |
| Week 4 |
Organisation |
| Week 5 |
Introductions |
| Week 6 |
Conclusions |
Academic Writing: Synthesising Sources
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
Syllabus
| Week 1 |
Writing paragraphs |
| Week 2 |
Including sources |
| Week 3 |
Referencing |
| Week 4 |
Using sources: selection and synthesis |
| Week 5 |
Comment and critical stance |
| Week 6 |
Stylistic development |
Academic Writing: Grammatical Accuracy
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
Syllabus
| Week 1 |
Proofreading 1 (simple errors) |
| Week 2 |
Proofreading 2 (sentence structure) |
| Week 3 |
Tense |
| Week 4 |
Modal verb use |
| Week 5 |
Passive verbs |
| Week 6 |
Articles |
Academic Writing: Science and Engineering
Duration: six weeks
Aims and objectives
This course helps you to familiarise yourself with requirements and expectations in scientific and technical writing. It helps you to:
- organise report sections appropriately
- describe materials and processes
- choose appropriate verb tenses
- write in a clear and concise manner
Syllabus
| Week 1 |
Definition and description |
| Week 2 |
Method |
| Week 3 |
Results |
| Week 4 |
Conclusion |
| Week 5 |
Introduction 1 |
| Week 6 |
Introduction 2 and abstract |
Academic Writing: Developing Scientific Arguments
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.
Syllabus
| Lesson 1 |
Anatomy of a scientific argument |
| Lesson 2 |
Stance part 1 - expressing caution |
| Lesson 3 |
Stance part 2 - boosters and self-mentions |
| Lesson 4 |
Errors and limitations |
| Lesson 5 |
Organisation: coherence and cohesion |
| Lesson 6 |
Clarity and conciseness |
Understanding Assessment and Feedback
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
Syllabus
| Week 1 |
Understanding task requirements and marking criteria |
| Week 2 |
Addressing issues of text organisation and coherence |
| Week 3 |
Addressing issues of criticality |
Subject-specific courses - details and booking
MA Education Writing - for School of Education students registered on this course
Duration: Six weeks
Aims and objectives
The aim of the course is to help you develop your academic writing and provide support for your coursework. Key objectives are to:
- develop an understanding of the different text types which students may need to produce on the MA Education course
- highlight ways to use existing literature to help strengthen and clarify your arguments
- develop your ability to critically reflect on tutor feedback in order to improve your work
- begin to think about your dissertation so you can make informed decisions for your research proposal
Syllabus
| Week 1 |
Genre in education |
| Week 2 |
Synthesising sources |
| Week 3 |
Developing an argument |
| Week 4 |
Acting on feedback |
| Week 5 |
Support and clarification |
| Week 6 |
Clarifying a dissertation topic |
MA Educational Leadership and Management Writing - for School of Education students registered on this course
Duration: Six weeks
Aims and objectives
The aim of the course is to help you develop your academic writing and provide support for your coursework. Key objectives are to:
- develop your confidence in writing in English
- develop your written accuracy and fluency in academic contexts
- develop your ability to self-edit and proofread your own work
- better manage the process of writing assignments
Syllabus
| Week 1 |
Paragraphing |
| Week 2 |
Cohesion |
| Week 3 |
Critical discussion |
| Week 4 |
Discussing research methodology |
| Week 5 |
Citing and referencing |
| Week 6 |
Doable dissertations |
MA Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages (TCSOL) and MA Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Writing - for School of Education students registered on either course
Duration: Six weeks
Aims and objectives
The aim of the course is to help you develop your academic writing and provide support for your coursework. Key objectives are to:
- consider effective strategies for reading critically
- develop understanding of what is involved in carrying out a literature review
- consider the importance of organisation at paragraph level
- consider effective ways of addressing feedback in your writing
- focus on the early stages of a dissertation and selecting an appropriate topic
Syllabus
| Week 1 |
Collocation in academic writing |
| Week 2 |
Critical reading |
| Week 3 |
Writing a literature review |
| Week 4 |
Paragraph organisation |
| Week 5 |
Addressing feedback |
| Week 6 |
Doable dissertations |
MSc Business and MBA Business Writing - for registered students on masters level courses in the Business School
Duration: Eight weeks
This is a repeat of the Term 1 course
Aims and objectives
The aim of the course is to examine aspects of academic writing and exam skills at the postgraduate level, including writing critically, using sources appropriately and preparing efficiently for written examinations.
Syllabus
| Week 1 |
Clarity and coherence in academic writing |
| Week 2 |
Analysing the question and planning your response |
| Week 3 |
Effective use of sources: Quotation, summary and paraphrase |
| Week 4 |
Criticality: Evaluating, explaining and comparing ideas from sources |
| Week 5 |
Understanding tutor expectations and marking criteria |
| Week 6 |
Dealing with exam questions |
| Week 7 |
Effective exam preparation |
| Week 8 |
Combining data with text: Effective use of graphs and tables |
MSc Business and MBA Business Speaking - for registered students on masters level courses in the Business School
Duration: Eight weeks
This is a repeat of the Term 1 course
Aims and objectives
The aim of the course is to help you become a more confident and effective participator in academic seminars and other contexts in which you may engage in academic discussion.
Please note the exact focus of each session may be subject to change. In addition, it is possible that the order of the sessions changes according to student needs.
Syllabus
| Seminar discussions |
Week 1 |
Key problems and solutions |
| Week 2 |
Effective preparation for seminar discussion |
| Week 3 |
Supporting your position and referring to sources |
| Week 4 |
Managing the discussion and clarifying ideas |
| Presentation skills |
Week 5 |
Understanding requirements and purpose (plus planning for group presentations) |
| Week 6 |
Organising the sections (for example introductions and conclusions) |
| Week 7 |
Effective visual support and oral delivery |
| Week 8 |
Workshop (presentation practice) |
PGCEi Writing - for students registered the Postgraduate Certificate Education (International) (PGCEi)
Duration: Four weeks
Aims and objectives
The aim of the course is to help you develop your academic writing and provide support for your coursework on the PGCEi. Key objectives are to:
- understand the expectations of academic writing
- consider the relationship between reading sources and writing
- develop the structure and language of academic texts
Syllabus
| Week 1 |
General expectations |
| Week 2 |
Reading |
| Week 3 |
Writing 1 - language and referencing |
| Week 4 |
Writing 2 - structure, synthesis and stance |
LLM Law for students registered on LLM courses in the School of Law
Duration: Six weeks
Aims and objectives
The course deals with issues relating to writing at postgraduate level in law and content is flexible.
Syllabus
| Week 1 |
Review of Term 1 |
| Week 2 |
Problem questions |
| Week 3 |
Conditionals |
| Week 4 |
Feedback |
| Week 5 |
Legal syntax |
| Week 6 |
Compressed writing |
Postgraduate research courses - details and booking
PGR Life Sciences Report Writing
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.
Syllabus
| Week 1 |
Overview and structure of content |
| Week 2 |
Literature review |
| Week 3 |
Materials and methods |
| Week 4 |
Discussion |
PGR Biosciences and Veterinary Sciences and Medicine Report Writing
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.
Syllabus
| Week 1 |
Overview of structure and content |
| Week 2 |
Literature review |
| Week 3 |
Materials and methods |
| Week 4 |
Discussion |
Booking a consultation
We have a limited number of in-person consultations, with the majority offered on MS Teams.
Consultations information and booking