English Language skills
Academic writing
Guides
Unpacking the assignment question Definitions and explanations of the words used in assignment titles.
Essay plan guide A checklist to help you structure academic work.
Essay analysis A checklist to help you to evaluate your work before submission.
Punctuation Handy guides and reminders on the use of apostrophes, commas, full stops, capital letters, hyphens, dashes and brackets, question marks, colons and semi-colons.
Referencing. Our quick guide gives you an outline of when you should reference and how, plus a link to our full Harvard Referencing Guide.
Websites
Skills4study is a website created by academic publishers offering practical advice on how to study more effectively at university. There is a section for international students full of handy tips on listening to lectures, asking questions and understanding the feedback you get from your lecturers.
Academic Phrasebank This resource from Manchester University provides examples of the language used in essay writing to introduce examples, results, agreement and contrasting ideas.
Oxford Reference Online offers the Oxford English Dictionary, bilingual dictionaries, plus reference books in a wide range of subjects including computing, literature, politics and science.
The Purdue OWL is a website providing an online writing lab. Work through the exercises to help develop your writing.
Mondofacto offers a range of dictionaries, including medical, computing, acronyms and abbreviations.
Books
Bailey, S. (2006) Academic writing: a handbook for international students. 2nd ed. London: Routledge. Available from the Library, click here to check where copies are held.
Brandt, C. (2009) Read, research and write: academic skills for ESL students in higher education. London : Sage. Click here to access the ebook.
Speaking and listening
Websites
Learn English A website from the British Council with games, stories, listening activities and grammar exercises. You can become a member, add comments to the site and ask questions to get help with your English.
Have a look at the Business and Work tab. You can find a series of podcasts and articles on a great range of business and professional topics, all accompanied by language practice activities to help you to improve your workplace English.
BBC Learning English A free website designed to help you learn English online. Using news clips, message boards and blogs this site helps you to understand English in everyday use.
BBC Skillswise has sections on reading and writing offering practical literacy skills for adults.