What you will learn

On completion of this course, you will be able to:

Writing Skills 1: What is Academic Writing?

• Unit 1
• recognise the purpose of academic writing 
• understand and identify the fundamental characteristics of academic writing
• draft assignments that display the fundamental characteristics of academic writing
• select and practise online material relevant to your needs 
• Unit 2
• identify the basic components of a piece of academic writing
• recognise the need to plan a piece of academic writing
• apply appropriate methods for planning a piece of academic writing
• understand how to start a piece of academic writing and employ the appropriate procedure 
• Unit 3
• recognise the need to consider the audience in academic writing
• recognise the need to consider the purpose of a piece of academic writing
• analyse a writing task to determine purpose
• understand how audience and purpose affect the choice of content in academic writing
• apply considerations of audience and purpose to present appropriate content in your writing
• select and practise online material relevant to your needs 
• Unit 4
• identify and understand two common methods of organisation in academic writing: problem-solution and general- specific
• recognise the fundamental characteristics of organisation in academic writing
• organise and draft a piece of academic writing effectively
• select and practise online material relevant to your needs  

Writing Skills 2: Academic Writing Style & Vocabulary

• Unit 5
• recognise the fundamental characteristics of each of the English tense
• understand the purpose of English tenses in academic writing
• identify when particular English tenses are used in academic writing
• choose and employ English tenses appropriately in your academic writing
• select and practise online material relevant to your needs
• Unit 6
• recognise the need for an appropriately formal style in academic writing
• identify and understand some of the common errors in formal style
• avoid common errors in formal style
• choose an appropriate style and apply it to your writing
• select and practise online material relevant to your needs
• Unit 7
• recognise the need for appropriately formal vocabulary in academic writing
• identify and understand some of the common errors in vocabulary in academic writing
• avoid common errors in the choice of vocabulary
• choose appropriate vocabulary and apply it to your writing
• select and practise online material relevant to your needs
• Unit 8
• recognise the purpose of coherence in academic writing
• recognise and understand coherence techniques in academic writing
• understand how coherence techniques are used in academic writing
• avoid common errors in coherence
• choose appropriate coherence techniques and apply them to your writing
• select and practise online material relevant to your needs
• Unit 9
• recognise the purpose of cohesion in academic writing
• recognise and understand how cohesion is used in academic writing
• avoid common errors in cohesion
• choose appropriate cohesion methods and apply them to your writing
• select and practise online material relevant to your needs

Writing Skills 3: Spelling & Punctuation in Academic Writing

• Unit 10
• recognise the need for accuracy and consistency of spelling in academic writing
• identify and understand the purpose of particular features of English punctuation in academic writing
• understand how to use particular features of English punctuation in academic writing
• avoid common errors in punctuation
• choose appropriate spelling and punctuation and apply them to your writing
• select and practise online material relevant to your needs 
• Unit 11
• recognise the purpose and importance of referencing in academic writing
• identify and understand the purpose of particular features of referencing in academic writing
• understand how referencing methods are used in academic writing
• avoid common errors in referencing
• choose appropriate referencing method and apply them to your writing
• select and practise online material relevant to your needs 
• Unit 12
• recognise of the purpose of the AWL
• recognise the importance of the AWL for academic writing
• recognise the need for accurate vocabulary in academic writing
• understand how to use particular items of the AWL in academic writing
• avoid common errors in word choice
• choose appropriate vocabulary from the AWL and apply it to your writing
• select and practise online material relevant to your needs 

Listening Skills

• Unit 13
• recognise the purpose of listening for academic study
• identify your own weaknesses as a listener
• employ key listening skills appropriately
• apply listening skills to enhance note-taking
• select and practise online material relevant to your needs 
• Unit 14
• recognise the purpose of listening critically
• understand and apply the key skills involve in listening critically
• select and practise online material relevant to your needs 

Reading Skills

• Unit 15
• recognise the purpose of reading for academic study
• identify some factors affecting reading ability
• understand the processes involved in reading
• choose and apply appropriate reading processes
• select and practise online material relevant to your needs 
• Unit 16
• recognise the purpose of two key reading techniques: skimming and scanning
• understand how to use the two key reading techniques
• choose and apply the two reading techniques appropriately
• develop strategies to navigate a text for efficient reading
• select and practise online material relevant to your needs 
• Unit 17
• recognise the purpose of a reading technique: scrutinising (reading for detail)
• understand how to scrutinise a text effectively
• identify features of a text to help you scrutinise efficiently
• employ scrutinising in your reading
• select and practise online material relevant to your needs 
• Unit 18
• recognise the purpose of reading critically
• understand and apply the key skills involved in reading critically
• select and practise online material relevant to your needs