All courses

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.

We are often called on to make presentations about our work, whether for assessment purposes, at a conference, or simply when sharing ideas with colleagues in our Departments. This workshop offers some tips on best practice in presenting and serves as a precursor to the workshop on 28 February, where students will have the opportunity to practise presenting and receive feedback.

No preparation is required before attending this workshop; however, if you are working towards making a presentation in the near future, you may find it helpful to bring your notes, slides, or other material with you.

This is a workshop which will concentrate on intonation and stress within normal spoken and written English, and will aim to give students some idea of how stress and intonation work at the level of the sentence or even the paragraph. It should help students understand how intonation is used in English to convey meaning beyond the surface value of individual words, and should help them to use this technique as well. .

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.

One of the biggest leaps that students have to make as they move from undergraduate to postgraduate study is in the amount of secondary work they need to absorb and process. This workshop will offer some general instruction on how best to sort, assess and analyse a large quantity of information at speed.

One of the biggest leaps students have to make as they move from undergraduate to postgraduate study is in the amount of secondary work they need to absorb and process. This workshop will offer some general instruction on how best to sort, assess and analyse a large quantity of information at speed.

The switch to hybrid working and the use of online conference platforms for much teaching and graduate presentation work offers its own specific challenges. Following on from earlier workshops on in-person presentations, this workshop gives students a chance to present and get feedback on the specific complications of online presentation.

This workshop is limited to seven students.

Students should prepare a brief (5-7 minute) presentation on an aspect of their academic work. If using audiovisual aids, students should send these to jww41@cam.ac.uk the day before the presentation.

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.

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.

This workshop offers the opportunity for up to seven students to present for 15-minutes each, on a subject of your own choice. This could be repeating a presentation you have given previously, practising a presentation you are due to give in the near future, or even designing a presentation for the purposes of the workshop in order to improve your presenting skills.

You will receive immediate oral feedback on both your spoken English and presenting style on completion of your presentation, as well as the opportunity to field questions from the rest of the group.

N.B. – although the maximum number of presenters is seven, further students may sign up to watch and ask questions.

There is an accompanying video on presentation skills which you should watch before attending this workshop.

This workshop offers the opportunity for up to seven students to present for 15-minutes each, on a subject of your own choice. This could be repeating a presentation you have given previously, practising a presentation you are due to give in the near future, or even designing a presentation for the purposes of the workshop in order to improve your presenting skills.

You will receive feedback on both your spoken English and presenting style on completion of your presentation, as well as the opportunity to field questions from the rest of the group.

N.B. – although the maximum number of presenters is seven, further students may sign up to watch and ask questions.

Towards the end of Michaelmas Term, students are often asked to give initial presentations of their work. This session will provide a broad introduction to what makes a good presentation, both in-person and online, and hopefully provide useful ideas about things to concentrate on beyond the formal content of a presentation. This session fits well with the Presentation Skills Practice on 15 November.

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 23 November, will introduce some ways in which you can make your work come across as coherent and effective.

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.

This workshop offers students the chance to give a short presentation, with or without PowerPoint. Its aim is to hone the skills required for an effective academic presentation, and to receive feedback in a supportive and friendly environment. A maximum 7 students only to present for up to 10 minutes each. Those wishing to present should please send a copy of their slides to Simon at spa29@cam.ac.uk at least an hour before the lesson to enable better feedback.

This workshop offers the opportunity for up to seven students to present for 15-minutes each, on a subject of your own choice. This could be repeating a presentation you have given previously, practising a presentation you are due to give in the near future, or even designing a presentation for the purposes of the workshop in order to improve your presenting skills.

You will receive immediate oral feedback on both your spoken English and presenting style on completion of your presentation, as well as the opportunity to field questions from the rest of the group.

N.B. – although the maximum number of presenters is seven, further students may sign up to watch and ask questions.

There is an accompanying video on presentation skills which you should watch before attending this workshop.

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.

In this workshop we will look principally at the components of ‘fast speech’. These include use of weak forms, linking, stress time etc. The aim of the session is both to recognise those aspects of pronunciation which aid listening and to get plenty of practice. Students who have come to previous sessions on pronunciation with me are advised that some material will be repeated.

Foreign students often find that in everyday situations they struggle to understand native speakers who are talking quickly. Students also sometimes struggle to speak quickly themselves. This workshop will review some of the ways in which English pronunciation changes during fast, natural speech. It should therefore help students’ listening and speaking. Before the class, students must watch a video on Moodle. The real-time webinar will focus on practice, feedback and questions.

Foreign students often find that in everyday situations they struggle to understand native speakers who are talking quickly. Students also sometimes struggle to speak quickly themselves. This workshop will review some of the ways in which English pronunciation changes during fast, natural speech. It should therefore help students’ listening and speaking. Before the class, students must watch a video on Moodle at https://www.vle.cam.ac.uk/mod/folder/view.php?id=13339561 The real-time webinar will focus on practice, feedback and questions.

Are you a speaker of Spanish, Catalan, Portugese, Italian or French? Would you like to have the chance to work on aspects of your English pronunciation? If so, join us for this fun and informal workshop, which offers pronunciation practice for speakers of Italic (Latin-derived) languages. Vowel and consonant sounds, linking, stress and intonation will be covered.

This workshop offers a friendly forum in which speakers of Slavic languages can practise aspects of English pronunciation. The main focus will be on speakers of Eastern Slavic languages, but speakers of all Slavic languages are welcome to attend.

There is nothing to do before the workshop.