All Language Centre courses

When we look at databases (corpora) of academic language, we see patterns in the way speakers express their ideas and opinions. In this workshop, we focus on how speakers use language patterns in academic presentations to organise their ideas and interact with their audience. This is a practical workshop so please come prepared to participate actively.

When we look at databases (corpora) of academic language, we see patterns in the way speakers express their ideas and opinions. In this workshop, we focus on how speakers use language patterns in academic presentations to organise their ideas and interact with their audience, focussing on three key ways to achieve fluency. This is a practical workshop with opportunities to speak and try out aspects of your academic presentations.

In this second session, we continue to work with patterns and chunks in speaking, based on corpus databases of academic language. We look at three more key ways of using chunks to interact fluently with people in academic presentations. This is a practical workshop with opportunities to speak and try out aspects of your academic presentations. Ideally you will have attended the first Academic Speaking in Patterns and Chunks Session but it’s not absolutely necessary.

Note: This workshop is a slightly condensed version of Academic Speaking in Patterns and Chunks Sessions 1 and 2, which were offered and oversubscribed earlier in November.

When we look at databases (corpora) of academic language, we see patterns in the way speakers express their ideas and opinions. In this workshop, we focus on how speakers use language patterns in academic presentations to organise their ideas and interact with their audience. This is a practical workshop with opportunities to speak and try out aspects of your academic presentations. Please make sure that you are in an environment where that is possible for the duration of the session.

Across disciplines, academic writing uses a repertoire of patterns of language to organise and create coherent texts. Evidence from large databases (corpora) of academic writing shows us how grammar and vocabulary follow regular patterns to create clarity, appropriate information focus and argument structure. This is a practical workshop and it would be useful to have examples of your own writing to hand to help you participate.

Across disciplines, academic writing uses a repertoire of patterns of language to organise and create coherent texts. Evidence from large databases (corpora) of academic writing shows us how grammar and vocabulary follow regular patterns to create clarity, appropriate information focus and argument structure. This is a practical workshop and it would be useful to have examples of your own writing to hand to help you participate.

This workshop continues the theme of Patterns and chunks in academic writing (1), looking at how writers signal the organisation of their texts using a repeated repertoire of language chunks. This is a practical workshop and it would be useful to have examples of your own writing to hand to help you participate.

Attendance at Academic writing in Patterns and chunks (1) is not a prerequisite for attendance at this workshop.

This workshop continues the theme of Patterns and chunks in academic writing (1), looking at how writers signal the organisation of their texts using a repeated repertoire of language chunks. This is a practical workshop and it would be useful to have examples of your own writing to hand to help you participate.

Attendance at Academic writing in Patterns and chunks (1) is not a prerequisite for attendance at this workshop.

We all know that academic papers should be clear and concise. But how can we achieve this in our own writing? In this workshop we will explore various ways to develop clarity in academic writing, and we will work through a number of example texts in order to gain practical experience of improving the clarity of written work.

No explicit preparation is required for this workshop, but you may find it useful to bring a piece of your own writing with you.

Building a cohesive and logical argument is a key element of academic writing. Often, feedback from supervisor will tell us that argumentation needs to be improved. In this workshop we examine what precisely is meant by argumentation and look at ways to improve the quality of argumentation in our own academic work.

No preparatory work is required before attending this workshop.

Building a cohesive and logical argument is a key element of academic writing. Often, feedback from supervisor will tell us that argumentation needs to be improved. In this workshop we examine what precisely is meant by argumentation and look at ways to improve the quality of argumentation in our own academic work.

Kick off the new term with this short, sharp workshop that’s designed to get you writing more quickly and painlessly. You’ll leave the session with a variety of strategies for getting your ideas out of your head and down on paper.

Learn the secrets for producing clear, concise and compelling business writing. Whether it’s a day-to-day email or a persuasive pitch, you’ll pick up techniques for quickly identifying your key message — and engaging your reader. The workshop works as a standalone session or as a follow-on to last term’s class on report writing.

There is nothing to do before the workshop

We all know that academic papers should be clear and concise. But how can we achieve this in our own writing? In this workshop we will explore various ways to develop clarity in academic writing, and we will work through a number of example texts in order to gain practical experience of improving the clarity of written work.

No explicit preparation is required for this workshop, but you may find it useful to bring a piece of your own writing with you.

If our writing is cohesive and coherent, there are logical connections between words, sentences, paragraphs and sections. This workshop explores different techniques for increasing cohesion, which should make your writing easier to read and more effective.

This workshop builds on topics covered in the first workshop on Cohesion last term. It introduces another technique for improving cohesion and analyses excerpts from published journal articles for their cohesion. Although attending the previous workshop is an advantage, it is not a prerequisite.

This workshop builds on topics covered in the first workshop on Cohesion last term. It introduces another technique for improving cohesion and analyses excerpts from published journal articles for their cohesion.

Although attending the previous workshop is an advantage, it is not a prerequisite.

For the last workshop of term, we will be preparing doctoral students for life after their first-year reports, as they begin to think about putting their full thesis together. Strategies suggested in this class should be transferable for any students writing a longer piece of work.

This workshop provides an overview of different aspects of writing which contribute to good academic style. We will contrast different ways of writing and discuss which is most appropriate in different contexts. We will also discuss how best to incorporate good academic style into our own written work.

No preparatory work is required for this workshop.

Making the distinction between when to use the infinitive form of the verb (‘to run’) and the gerund (‘running’) is difficult for non-native speakers. This workshop will identify some general rules and some avoidable pitfalls.

There is nothing to do before the workshop.

The correct use of articles (the / a / an) is one of the trickiest aspects of English grammar for non-native speakers, whether their language uses articles in a different way from English or maybe manages to get by without any articles at all. This webinar will set out clearly the ways in which English uses articles, and will hopefully offer some conceptual keys to help students correct their own usage.

The most significant grammar mistakes that foreign students make are usually those that greatly change the meaning of the sentence. Modals, such as can or would, are often used to indicate the position of the writer in academic writing, so their inaccurate use can easily give a very different meaning from that intended.

The most significant grammar mistakes that foreign students make are usually those that greatly change the meaning of the sentence. Modals, such as can or would, are often used to indicate the position of the writer in academic writing, so their inaccurate use can easily give a very different meaning from that intended.

One of the most complicated aspects of English grammar is the correct use of prepositions (on, over, in, through etc.). This workshop will allow students to begin to conceptualise the ways in which prepositions move from a physical descriptor to a metaphorical one, and provide them with tools to decide more accurately which preposition is the correct one to use in any particular context.

One of the key areas in which non-native speakers of English have difficulty attaining native-level accuracy is in the use of prepositions. Although this webinar does not pretend to give students all the answers, it will provide a number of ways to conceptualise the use of prepositions and hopefully clarify this complex area of grammar.