All Language Centre courses

Abstracts, Introductions and Literature Reviews are common sections of academic papers and dissertations / theses. This workshop will introduce these three sections and explore how they frequently overlap. The workshop involves a video to watch and exercises to complete before an online Zoom workshop.

Even if the writing of foreign students is grammatically correct and coherent, it can sometimes have an undesired impact on the reader because it is written in the wrong style. This webinar will give some guidance on what is usually considered good academic style. Students will then be asked to complete some exercises on Moodle.

In this webinar, you’ll learn how to produce clear, concise and compelling documents in a professional setting. You’ll pick up techniques for quickly identifying, honing and communicating your key message — whether it’s for day-to-day emails, longer reports or a persuasive pitch.

This workshop builds on topics covered in the previous session, partly by analyzing 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 analyzes excerpts from published journal articles for their cohesion. The workshop involves a video to watch and exercises to complete before an online Zoom workshop. Although attending the previous workshop is an advantage, it is not a prerequisite.

The final chapter of a dissertation / thesis can have various titles including ‘conclusion’ and ‘discussion’. This workshop looks at the typical contents of a final chapter and also cautious language (hedging), which is commonly found in a conclusion. It involves a video to watch and exercises to complete before an online Zoom workshop.

In-Sessional English Conversation Hours

So much hard work is compromised due to poor editing. Editing is much more than just simple proof-reading. It involves a critical approach to planning, setting out information, constructing argument, paragraphing, sentencing and ultimately understanding the effect of what we write on the reader. In this workshop we look at a variety of elements in the editing process and we use good models and student work to help us.

This workshop will show you to how to edit efficiently and effectively. We’ll be looking at a number of strategies with examples and the aim is to edit ‘smart’, and create a text that presents your ideas as fluently and coherently as possible.

This workshop discusses the basic principles of academic style, helping you to write more formally, persuasively and precisely. Learn how to attain clarity and accuracy and how to use the passive voice and tentative language (hedging). Students will apply their learning to practical examples.

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. Students will then be asked to complete some exercises online.

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. For this workshop, students will first watch a video and complete some exercises on Moodle. In the real-time webinar, students can ask questions and discuss areas of difficulty.

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. Students will then be asked to complete some exercises online.

Good academic writing should be clear, concise and coherent. This workshop looks at some common barriers to clarity in writing — and suggests strategies for overcoming them. There is a short exercise to complete before the workshop.

Idioms form an important part of everyday spoken English and offer insights into British culture and society. In this informal workshop, you will explore English idiomatic expressions within their cultural context and will put them into practice through a range of simple exercises.

This workshop will discuss ways in which meaning can be conveyed in spoken English by intonation and stress, and offer students ways to improve the clarity of their spoken English and their comprehension of the spoken language.

Methodology and results are two very common chapters in academic papers and dissertations / theses, especially in scientific subjects. This workshop will focus mainly on linguistic aspects of these chapters. It involves a video to watch and exercises to complete before an online Zoom workshop. .

Methodology and results are two very common chapters in academic papers and dissertations/theses, especially in scientific subjects. This workshop will focus mainly on linguistic aspects of these chapters.

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 with tasks to complete before and during the Zoom 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 with tasks to complete before and during the Zoom workshop. Attendance at Patterns and chunks in academic writing (1) is not a prerequisite for attendance at this workshop.

Academic culture in English-speaking countries places a lot of emphasis on avoiding plagiarism, but conventions are often different from those in students’ home countries. This webinar will examine what constitutes plagiarism and look at the University of Cambridge regulations. Students will then be asked to complete some exercises online.

The most common way for students to share their work with their colleagues is via presentations, using a variety of techniques and methods. This webinar, which dovetails with the Presentation Skills Practice workshop on 18 November, will introduce some ways in which you can make your work come across as coherent and effective.

Practise your prsentation skills and receive peer and tutor feedback. This workshop offers students the chance to give a short presentation, using interactive whiteboard (with PowerPoint) facilities. Its aim is to hone the skills required for effective presentation, and to practise in a supportive and friendly environment. A MAXIMUM 7 STUDENTS ONLY TO PRESENT. Students must bring a pre-prepared, short presentation with them on a USB stick. PLEASE NOTE IN THE SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO PRESENT.

Practise your presentation skills and receive peer and tutor feedback. This workshop offers students the chance to give a short presentation, with or without PowerPoint. Its aims are to hone the skills required for an effective presentation, and to practise in a supportive and friendly environment. A maximum 7 students only to present for up to 10 minutes each. Students must be ready to present a pre-prepared, short presentation. Before the webinar, please also email your slides to spa29@cam.ac.uk to enable better feedback.

This workshop offers you a chance to give a short academic presentation over Zoom, and to receive feedback in a supportive and friendly environment. Please come along prepared to give a short presentation to the group (10 mins maximum), with or without PowerPoint.