School of Languages and Area Studies (SLAS)

English for Academic Purposes Courses

Specialist Academic English for Postgraduate Study

slas - jig postgrad

This is a 12 week course that aims to assist all postgraduates with the English language skills required for post graduate study at the University of Portsmouth. In Semester 1, the course focuses on essay writing skills (including: understanding the essay question, structure, referencing, literature reviews, academic style etc.), presentation skills and exam techniques. You will be taught to critically analyse texts and to present your own work in a way that demonstrates your ability to critically appraise what you have researched when writing at post graduate level. Weekly topics may include (depending on main degree discipline):

  • Academic style
  • Critical reading
  • Advanced essay writing (including introductions and conclusions)
  • Writing the case study
  • Understanding essay questions
  • The process of writing the literature review
  • Citing sources and the ideas of other writers
  • Reviewing evidence
  • Mind mapping
  • Learning to write critically.
  • Understanding tutor feedback on written work
  • Exam writing techniques

In Semester 2, the course is dedicated to the writing of a post graduate dissertation or final report. By referring to examples of work by previous students, the course focuses on the individual sections of a post graduate dissertation and the features of English language required when writing each section. You will also learn how to write about statistical data when describing the results of your research. Once again, much focus will be placed on critical reading and writing skills and the weekly topics may include (depending on main degree discipline):

  • Preparing the proposal
  • Structuring the dissertation
  • Writing the introduction
  • Presenting the research question
  • Critically understanding the written text: looking for linguistic clues
  • The literature review revisited
  • Explaining your methodology
  • Describing numerical data
  • Discussing the results
  • Writing the conclusion and writing suggestions for further research
  • Citation and referencing revisited
  • Writing the abstract

Course description audio recording:

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Course Outline:

Week
Course Content
Assessment tasks
1
 Academic style  
2
 Critical reading  
3
 The process of writing the literature review    
4
 Understanding essay questions  
5
 Advanced essay writing (including introductions and conclusions  
6
 Citing sources and the ideas of other writers  
7
 Reviewing evidence using critical analysis skills  
8
 Learning to write critically.  
9
 Mind mapping for written assignments and oral presentations  
10
 Writing the case study  
11
 Understanding tutor feedback on written work  
12
 Exam writing techniques