Among the challenges of academic writing is the need for lexical variation: academic writers in English need a broad vocabulary, and you need to know how to put it to use. This can help your readers to understand important distinctions and it can also make for a more readable style. A number of key online tools can help you to independently build this aspect of your academic language use. In this session, we will introduce useful tools such as the Sketch Engine for Language Learning and the Corpus of Contemporary American English and show how to employ them.
Technology can make your life as a research student easier. Come along to this session to learn about several free online tools that can help you get a visual overview of your academic field, discover the most relevant prior and derivative works, create the bibliography for your thesis, and get instant language feedback on your writing.
Target audience: Masters by research and doctoral students.
Have you been asked to write an essay but are not sure how to take a clear position in your writing? Would you like to know how you can use essay structure to develop an evaluation and overall argument? In this workshop, you will learn: how to outline and plan an essay so that each point advances a clear thesis or main argument and how to control focus using topic sentences and other key techniques for building persuasive coherence.
This workshop focuses on strategies for proof reading and editing at section, paragraph and sentence level. It will help you to make your thesis more accessible for your supervisor and other readers. The workshop also introduces technological resources that you can use to analyse and evaluate your writing’s readability and sophistication. You should bring a sample of your own writing so that you can evaluate and improve it during the workshop.
This workshop focuses on strategies for proof reading and editing at section, paragraph and sentence level. It will help you to make your assignments more accessible for your lecturers and tutors. The workshop also introduces technological resources that you can use to analyse and evaluate your writing’s readability and sophistication. You should bring a sample of your own writing so that you can evaluate and improve it during the workshop.
Target group: Undergraduate students and masters by coursework students.
Bring: draft of current writing or submitted assignments.
Writefull is an artificial intelligence proofreader that has been approved by the University to help you improve your academic writing. It uses a database of millions of published research papers to offer you instant language feedback on your essay, report, paper or thesis. It also lets you explore how other authors use certain words and phrases, and suggests sentence structures suited to different writing purposes such as evaluating literature or discussing your findings. This workshop will guide you through all the functions of Writefull with a combination of instruction and practice activities.Target group: Undergraduate students and masters by coursework students.
Bring: draft of current writing or submitted assignments.
You can now find us at the Fisher Library Service Desk!
Located on level 3 of the Fisher Library (ground level), feel free to come and have a 'quick chat' with one of our friendly team members. We can assist you with your academic learning support enquiries and help you find out more about our offerings.
Quick Chats are a free 1:1 consultation service with one of our Learning Success Advisors.
Academic Language and Learning
Quick Chats are 15 minute consultations available with Academic Language and Learning staff, Monday to Friday, from 1.30pm - 3.30pm.
Mathematics and Statistics
Have a math or statistics question? Meet our Mathematics and Statistics staff face-to-face for a 30 minute consultation, Monday to Friday, from 10.30am - 12.30pm.
Are you sometimes overwhelmed by the volume and complexity of reading at university? Are you looking for help to read more effectively for assignments or research projects? This workshop will provide you with some strategies for making the best use of your time as an academic reader. You will learn about a range of strategies, including skimming, scanning, and blocking. You will practice refining your purpose and asking questions of what you read and explore principles of effective note-taking.
Target group: All students.
Please bring an example of reading in your discipline.
Effective time management and goal setting can help you achieve the desired academic success in a lesser amount of time. This workshop will provide you with different time management tools and techniques to plan your priorities, avoid procrastination and manage time for better work-life balance and productivity.
Target group: Undergraduate students and masters by coursework students.
Effective time management and goal setting can help you achieve the desired academic success in a shorter amount of time. This workshop will provide you with different time management tools and techniques to plan your priorities, avoid procrastination and manage time for better work-life balance and productivity.
Target audience: Masters by research and doctoral students.
Are you sometimes confused about what plagiarism is and isn’t? Do you find it difficult to organise your sources to answer your assignment question? This workshop series will take you through the process of finding and selecting appropriate sources, analysing and synthesising your evidence for your writing purpose and using different vocabulary and grammatical structures to incorporate sources successfully into your writing.
Target group: All students.
Are you a research student looking to publish your empirical work? Are you unsure where to start writing up your findings for an expert audience in your field? In this workshop, you will investigate the structure, components and writing style of published articles. You will consider model examples and devise your own strategies for preparing publishable research writing. You will also have the opportunity to discuss and evaluate your own written work in progress.
Are you unsure of how to get started and make progress with your written assignments? Do you find yourself rushing to complete assignments and getting less than satisfactory results? This series of three workshops will guide you through an effective process for completing high quality responses to your written assessment tasks. You will learn about and practice the key stages of writing, from analysing the questions to proofreading your final draft.
Target Group: undergraduate and postgraduate by coursework; higher degree research students taking coursework for credit.
What does it mean to write in academic style? Can I measure how academic my texts are? This workshop focuses on some of the characteristics of successful academic writing across all disciplines, such as formality, objectivity, impersonality, and inclusiveness.
Target group: Undergraduate students and masters by coursework students.
Many university assignments involve a reflective component. This workshop will introduce you to different kinds of reflective writing, the types of assignments that call for reflective writing, different levels of reflection and key features of reflective language.
Target group: Undergraduate students and masters by coursework students.
Have you been asked to write a professional or business report for an assignment or project? Are you unsure of how a report differs from an essay, or from the other types of academic writing you’ve already encountered? In this workshop, you will learn about the audience and purpose of reports. You will explore examples of professional and business reports to discover the structure and language resources appropriate to report writing.
Target group: undergraduate and postgraduate by coursework.
Please bring an example of a report from your field or discipline.
