Postgraduate research courses
For all international PhD students:
For PGR students in these specific schools or related schools. Early career researchers are also welcome.
See courses for future terms
General courses - details and booking
Introduction to Academic Writing - open to all students
Duration: Three weeks
Delivery: On campus (in person) or online (MS Teams)
Aims and objectives
This course prepares you for the beginning of your academic study. It will specifically help you:
- be aware of the nature of academic writing and style in university contexts
- be aware of the process of academic writing
- familiarise yourself with the structure of certain types of academic text
- be aware of the support available for your future writing needs
Syllabus
| Week | Topic |
|---|
| Week one |
Aspects of written academic English |
| Week two |
Organising academic writing |
| Week three |
Writing checklists |
Grammar: Speaking and Writing - open to all students
Duration: Nine weeks
Delivery: On campus (in person)
Aims and objectives
This course helps you to:
- understand the differences between spoken and written academic English and the reasons for those differences
- practise varying your language for assignments and presentations
- improve your grammatical accuracy in spoken and written contexts
Syllabus
| Week one |
Written and spoken academic English |
| Week two |
Nominal style |
| Week three |
Noun phrase modification |
| Week four |
Cohesion |
| Week five |
Prepositions |
| Week six |
Negation |
| Week seven |
Verb complements |
| Week eight |
Tense and aspect |
| Week nine |
Noun complements |
Academic Vocabulary Skills - open to all international students
Duration: Nine weeks
Delivery: Online (MS Teams)
Aims and objectives
The aim of this course is to help you to:
- develop strategies for learning new academic vocabulary
- improve dictionary and thesaurus skills for your degree study
- understand the basic rules for word formation
- develop an understanding of levels of formality in vocabulary
- become more aware of the connotations and associations of words and expressions
Syllabus
| Week one |
What is word knowledge? |
| Week two |
Suffixes |
| Week three |
Prefixes |
| Week four |
Lexical cohesion |
| Week five |
Word families |
| Week six |
Adjective and verb patterns |
| Week seven |
Register |
| Week eight |
Collocation |
| Week nine |
Review |
Improving Pronunciation - open to all international students
Duration: Nine weeks
Delivery: On campus (in person) or online (MS Teams)
Aims and objectives
This course helps you to feel more confident when communicating with others and giving presentations as part of your degree studies. Specifically, it will help you to:
- identify and overcome difficulties with particular sounds
- practise sounds that are difficult in combination
- understand stress in words and sentences and the difference this can make to individual sounds
Syllabus
| Week one |
Overview of course and phonemic alphabet |
| Week two |
Vowels: short, long and diphthongs |
| Week three |
Consonants 1 |
| Week four |
Consonants 2 |
| Week five |
Consonant clusters |
| Week six |
Word stress |
| Week seven |
Short sentence stress |
| Week eight |
Weak forms |
| Week nine |
Quiz |
Social Conversation Skills - open to all international students
Duration: Nine weeks
Delivery: On campus (in person)
Aims and objectives
This course helps you develop your speaking skills and provide the opportunity to practise in a friendly, relaxed environment. It will:
- help develop your confidence and fluency in speaking
- extend your knowledge of vocabulary related to non-academic topics and give you the opportunity to practise discussing these topics in English
- enable you to become aware of certain strategies used by speakers to participate in discussions
- provide you with the language necessary to communicate in different situations on and off campus
Possible topics
- Getting to know each other
- Travel advice
- Family life
- Gender and stereotyping
- Customs and habits
- Idioms and common phrases
- Restaurants and food
- Superstitions and proverbs
- Work
- Extreme sports and risk taking
- Final session quiz
Effective Academic Reading - open to all international students
Duration: Nine weeks
Delivery: On campus (in person) or online (MS Teams)
Aims and objectives
This course aims to help you read more efficiently and quickly by:
- choosing what is important for you to read
- practising strategies that will help to save time
- practising techniques for speed reading
- extracting relevant information from texts
- taking a critical approach to reading
Syllabus
| Week one |
What is active reading? |
| Week two |
Types of reading |
| Week three |
Faster reading |
| Week four |
Reading clues: paragraphs |
| Week five |
Reading clues: organisational patterns |
| Week six |
Reading clues: vocabulary |
| Week seven |
Selecting what to read |
| Week eight |
Critical reading 1 |
| Week nine |
Critical reading 2 |
Critical Reading for Academic Purposes - open to all students
Duration: Nine weeks
Delivery: On campus (in person) or online (MS Teams)
Aims and objectives
Designed for both home and international students, this course equips you with strategies to question, analyse, and engage with academic texts. Over nine interactive sessions you will:
- understand what 'critical' really means in an academic contexts
- explore how authors build arguments - and how you can unpack them
- spot stance, bias and hidden assumptions
- connect readings into academic conversations
- practise using sources with confidence in your own writing
Through real examples and hands-on activities, you’ll develop sharper reading skills and a more academic voice—key assets for essays, research, and seminars.Whether you want to read smarter, write stronger, or just feel less overwhelmed by dense texts, this course is for you. Join us and learn to read like a scholar.
Academic Discussion Skills - open to all international students
Duration: Four weeks or five weeks
Delivery: On campus (in person)
Aims and objectives
This course introduces you to the language and communication skills of academic discussions. It will help you to:
- familiarise with a range of academic discussion formats (including group seminars)
- develop communication strategies and confidence for contributing to discussions
- practise with your tutors and peers to receive feedback, suggestions and encouragement
Syllabus
| Week one |
Expanding and defending research |
| Week two |
Communicating online and face-to-face |
| Week three |
Dealing with uncomfortable situations |
| Week four |
Persuading others |
| Week five |
Practise and feedback |
Effective Academic Presentation - open to all international students
Duration: Four or five weeks
Delivery: On campus (in person)
Aims and objectives
This course will help you deliver an academic presentation with confidence. In particular the course gives you opportunities to:
- become more effective at delivering a presentation in English, in a seminar or similar setting
- raise your awareness of important aspects of successful presentations, such as organisation, using visuals, body language and use of voice
- focus on useful language for presentations
Syllabus
| Week one |
Presentation introductions |
| Week two |
Explanations and visual aids |
| Week three |
Delivery, stress and intonation |
| Week four |
Conclusions and Q&A |
| Week five |
Practice and feedback |
Academic Writing: Synthesising Sources - open to all students
Duration: Six weeks
Delivery: On campus (in person) or online (MS Teams)
Aims and objectives
This course helps you to:
- use information from different reading sources to support your argument, to develop your own ‘voice’ in academic writing, and to avoid plagiarism
- take a critical approach to reading/writing and use strategies for critical writing
- understand academic conventions for referencing
- use academic style appropriately
Syllabus
| Week one |
Writing paragraphs |
| Week two |
Including sources |
| Week three |
Referencing |
| Week four |
Using sources: selection and synthesis |
| Week five |
Comment and critical stance |
| Week six |
Stylistic development |
Academic Writing: Achieving Clarity - open to all students
Duration: Six weeks
Delivery: On campus (in person) or online (MS Teams)
Aims and objectives
This course helps you develop a clearer and more precise writing style, particularly in the areas of:
- correct expression of ideas for precise meaning
- appropriate formality of grammar and vocabulary
- effective relationships between parts of the text
- clear linking
Syllabus
| Week one |
Descriptive and explanatory precision |
| Week two |
Formality |
| Week three |
Syntax 1 |
| Week four |
Syntax 2 |
| Week five |
Cohesion and coherence |
| Week six |
Collocation |
Academic Writing: Planning an Assignment - open to all students
Duration: Six weeks
Delivery: On campus (in person) or online (MS Teams)
Aims and objectives
This course will help you to familiarise yourself with the university requirements and expectations for academic coursework writing. The course helps you to:
- plan and organise academic assignments to suit different types of questions
- decide what it is necessary to include in academic essay writing
- keep your content relevant to the question throughout your answer
- use sources appropriately in academic writing
Syllabus
| Week one |
Title to plan |
| Week two |
Argument and synthesis |
| Week three |
Summary and paraphrase |
| Week four |
Organisation |
| Week five |
Introductions |
| Week six |
Conclusions |
Academic Writing: Grammatical Accuracy - open to all international students
Duration: Six weeks
Delivery: Online (MS Teams)
Aims and objectives
This course helps you to:
- improve grammar and sentence structure in the context of assignment/thesis writing
- be more accurate in expressing yourself at sentence level when you are writing
- notice and correct the grammatical mistakes which lead to unclear meaning
- choose appropriate sentence structures and vocabulary for assignment or thesis writing
Syllabus
| Week one |
Proofreading 1 (simple errors) |
| Week two |
Proofreading 2 (sentence structure) |
| Week three |
Tense |
| Week four |
Modal verb use |
| Week five |
Passive verbs |
| Week six |
Articles |
Academic Writing: Science and Engineering - open to all international students on science or engineering courses
Duration: Six weeks
Delivery: On campus (in person)
Aims and objectives
This course helps you to:
- organise report sections appropriately
- describe materials and processes
- choose appropriate verb tenses
- write in a clear and concise manner
Syllabus
| Week one |
Definition and description |
| Week two |
Method |
| Week three |
Results |
| Week four |
Conclusion |
| Week five |
Introduction 1 |
| Week six |
Introduction 2 and abstract |
Academic Writing: Developing Scientific Arguments - open to all students in natural and applied sciences (not social sciences)
Duration: Six weeks
Delivery: Online (MS Teams)
Aims and objectives
The course helps you to produce more effective argumentative writing within your science discipline. Key aims of the course are:
- to develop familiarity with common features of scientific arguments through the analysis of examples
- to consider the reasons underpinning these features of scientific writing
- to provide opportunities for controlled practice in producing these features of scientific argumentative writing
Please note that while all students are welcome to attend, this course focuses on developing and communicating academic arguments within the natural and applied sciences, not the social sciences.
Syllabus
| Week one |
Anatomy of a scientific argument |
| Week two |
Stance part 1 - expressing caution |
| Week three |
Stance part 2 - boosters and self-mentions |
| Week four |
Errors and limitations |
| Week five |
Organisation: coherence and cohesion |
| Week six |
Clarity and conciseness |
Subject-specific courses - details and booking
MA Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages (TCSOL) and MA Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Writing - for School of Education students registered on either course
Duration: Nine weeks
Delivery: On campus (in person)
Aims and objectives
This course helps you develop your academic writing and provide support for your coursework. Key objectives are to:
- to develop your confidence in writing in English
- to develop your written accuracy and fluency in academic contexts
- to develop your ability to self-edit and proofread your own work
- to better manage the process of writing assignments
Syllabus
| Week one |
Introduction to academic writing |
| Week two |
Paragraph writing |
| Week three |
Finding sources |
| Week four |
Argument in academic writing |
| Week five |
Effective paraphrasing |
| Week six |
Effective citation approaches |
| Week seven |
Clarity and cohesion |
| Week eight |
Writing about context |
| Week nine |
Proofreading |
MA Education Writing - for School of Education students registered on this course
Duration: Nine weeks
Delivery: On campus (in person)
Aims and objectives
This course helps you develop your academic writing and provide support for your coursework. Key objectives are as follows:
- Organisation of academic texts
- Argument in academic writing
- Synthesising academic sources in your writing
Syllabus
| Week one |
Finding academic sources |
| Week two |
Selecting and recording information |
| Week three |
Citation and referencing |
| Week four |
Understanding task requirements |
| Week five |
Claims support and structure |
| Week six |
Reviewing the literature |
| Week seven |
Reflective writing |
| Week eight |
Introductions and conclusions |
| Week nine |
Assignment workshop |
MA Educational Leadership and Management Writing - for School of Education students registered on this course
Duration: Nine weeks
Delivery: On campus (in person)
Aims and objectives
This course helps you develop your academic writing and provide support for your coursework. Key objectives are to:
- develop your confidence in writing in English
- develop your written accuracy and fluency in academic contexts
- develop your ability to self-edit and proofread your own work
- better manage the process of writing assignments
Syllabus
| Week one |
Selecting and mapping a topic |
| Week two |
Academic reading skills |
| Week three |
Searching for sources |
| Week four |
Synthesising sources |
| Week five |
Critical synthesis |
| Week six |
APA referencing |
| Week seven |
Introductions |
| Week eight |
Conclusions |
| Week nine |
Proposals |
MSc Business and MBA Business Writing - for Business School students registered on masters level courses
Duration: Eight weeks
Delivery: On campus (in person)
Aims and objectives
This course examines aspects of academic writing and exam skills at postgraduate level, including writing critically, using sources appropriately and preparing efficiently for written examinations.
Syllabus
| Week one |
Clarity and coherence in academic writing |
| Week two |
Analysing the question and planning your response |
| Week three |
Effective use of sources: Quotation, summary and paraphrase |
| Week four |
Criticality: Evaluating, explaining and comparing ideas from sources |
| Week five |
Understanding tutor expectations and marking criteria |
| Week six |
Dealing with exam questions |
| Week seven |
Effective exam preparation |
| Week eight |
Combining data with text: Effective use of graphs and tables |
MSc Business and MBA Business Speaking - for Business School students registered on masters level courses
Duration: Eight weeks
Delivery: On campus (in person)
Aims and objectives
This course helps you become a more confident and effective participator in academic seminars and other contexts in which you may engage in your academic discussion.
Syllabus
| Seminar discussions |
Week one |
Key problems and solutions |
| Week two |
Effective preparation for seminar discussion |
| Week three |
Supporting your position and referring to sources |
| Week four |
Managing the discussion and clarifying ideas |
| Presentation skills |
Week five |
Understanding requirements and purpose (plus planning for group presentations) |
| Week six |
Organising the sections (for example introductions and conclusions) |
| Week seven |
Effective visual support and oral delivery |
| Week eight |
Workshop (presentation practice) |
MSc Health Sciences Writing - for School of Health Sciences students registered on MSc courses
Duration: Six weeks
Delivery: On campus (in person)
Aims and objectives
This course deals with issues relating to writing at postgraduate level in health sciences and content is flexible.
Syllabus
| Week one |
Expectations of postgraduate writing in health sciences |
| Week two |
Criticality in writing and using feedback |
| Week three |
Referencing (1) and paraphrasing |
| Week four |
Referencing (2) and common grammar problems |
| Week five |
Writing body paragraphs and proofreading |
| Week six |
Writing effective introductions and conclusions |
LLM Law Writing - for School of Law students registered on LLM courses courses
Duration: Six weeks
Delivery: On campus (in person)
Aims and objectives
This course deals with issues relating to writing at postgraduate level in law and content is flexible.
Syllabus
| Week one |
Expectations of LLM writing |
| Week two |
Deconstructing questions and planning answers |
| Week three |
Reading cases |
| Week four |
Using sources and avoiding plagiarism |
| Week five |
Writing body paragraphs |
| Week six |
Writing introductions and conclusions |
MA and MPA Sociology and Social Policy Writing - for School of Sociology and Social Policy students registered on postgraduate courses
Duration: Seven weeks
Delivery: On campus (in person)
Aims and objectives
This course will help you to familiarise yourself with requirements and expectations in sociology and social policy writing assignments and seminars.
Syllabus
| Week one |
Effective engagement in seminars |
| Week two |
Understanding marking criteria and referencing |
| Week three |
Finding academic sources |
| Week four |
Writing critically (1) |
| Week five |
Writing critically (2) |
| Week six |
Paraphrasing, summarising and synthesising sources |
| Week seven |
Paragraph structure and coherence |
MArch and MSc Architecture and Built Environment - for Department of Architecture and Built Environment students registered on postgraduate courses
Duration: Four weeks
Delivery: On campus (in person)
Aims and objectives
This course helps you prepare for and deliver your presentations by considering expectations, and practising pronunciation, structures and vocabulary for different functions. You will also watch videos of previous presentations.
Syllabus
| Week one |
Expectations and introductions |
| Week two |
Problems and solutions in an urban site |
| Week three |
Dealing with feedback |
| Week four |
Group presentations |
MSc/PGDip Veterinary Physiotherapy Academic Writing - for School of Veterinary Medicine and Science students registered on these courses
Duration: Four weeks
Delivery: Online (MS Teams)
Aims and objectives
This course helps you develop your academic writing and provides support for your dissertation. Key objectives are to:
- develop logically structured and coherent academic papers
- compose papers that show competence in reflective, analytical and evaluative writing
- critically review theories in academic papers and adapt these to individual research and practice
Syllabus
| Week one |
Overview, abstract and introduction |
| Week two |
Literature review |
| Week three |
Materials and methods |
| Week four |
Results and discussion |
PGCEi Academic Writing - for School of Education students registered on a PGCEi course
Duration: Four weeks
Delivery: Online (MS Teams)
Aims and objectives
This course helps you develop your academic writing and provide support for your coursework on the PGCEi. Key objectives are to:
- understand the expectations of academic writing
- consider the relationship between reading sources and writing
- develop the structure and language of academic texts
Syllabus
| Week one |
General expectations |
| Week two |
Reading |
| Week three |
Writing 1 - language and referencing |
| Week four |
Writing 2 - structure, synthesis and stance |
MA Arts How to Succeed in Postgraduate Studies - for Faculty of Arts students registered on postgraduate courses
Duration: Four weeks
Delivery: On campus (in person)
Aims and objectives
This course develops your ability to read and use sources critically and appropriately, and to improve your academic language.
Syllabus
| Term one |
Session one |
Critical reading |
| |
Session two |
Synthesising academic sources |
| Term two |
Session three |
Quoting, paraphrasing and referencing |
| |
Session four |
Scholarly tone and voice |
Postgraduate research courses - details and booking
Academic Writing: Research Writing - open to all international PhD students
Duration: Nine weeks
Delivery: On campus (in person) or online (MS Teams)
Aims and objectives
You are invited to send part of your writing to the tutor in advance, perhaps from an annual report or from an article you wish to submit to a journal. As a group, we look at a paragraph or two from each person, discussing content, structure, clarity and accuracy. The class provides an opportunity to get ideas and feedback from your peers as well as a tutor.
PGR Arts Writing Success - for Faculty of Arts PhD, MPhil and MRes students course
Duration: Six weeks
Delivery: Online (MS Teams)
Aims and objectives
The aim of the course is to help you familiarise yourself with requirements and expectations in the school.
Syllabus
| Week one |
Referencing |
| Week two |
Paraphrasing |
| Week three |
Argument |
| Week four |
Writing clarity |
| Week five |
Viva |
| Week six |
Oral communication |
Booking a consultation
We have a limited number of in-person consultations, with the majority offered on MS Teams.
Consultations information and booking