Glossary of Academic Words
A
Acronyms (NATO), contractions (shouldn’t) and initialisms (WHO) are all types of abbreviation, which are when one or many words are shortened from their original form for quickness.
Related readers: Words, Word Structures, Abbreviations
The first section of a dissertation or thesis in which a summary of the entire primary research is provided to the reader in brief.
Related readers: Dissertations, Theses, The Abstract
These are the rules and regulations that students and tutors should follow if they wish to be considered functioning members of an academic community.
Related readers: Study Skills, Collusion Avoidance, Plagiarism Avoidance
The vocabulary and language structures which are acceptable in academic contexts, such as cohesive devices, hedging language or reporting verbs.
Related readers: Vocabulary, Academic Language, Academic Word Lists
When a member of an academic institution breaks the rules of that institution, such as by cheating, colluding or committing plagiarism.
Related readers: Study Skills, Collusion Avoidance, Plagiarism Avoidance
A bank of words collected by linguistics (language scientists) which are used much more frequently in academic contexts than in general settings.
Related readers: Academic Language, Academic Word Lists
In referencing, an acknowledgement is when one author publicly recognises the ideas and research of another author, usually by including a combination of citations and references.
Related readers: Referencing, Citation Types, References and Reference Lists
A word class which is usually used to describe nouns within a sentence, such as difficult in difficult examination.
Related readers: Words, Word Types, Adjectives
A word class which is usually used to modify verbs within a sentence and which often end in the suffix -ly, such as slowly in speak slowly.
Related readers: Words, Word Types, Adverbs
A phrase function (like a subject or an object) in which a phrase acts like an adverb in an expression, modifying the verb, an adjective or another adverb.
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Phrase Functions, Adverbials and Complements
The organisation of a list of items (such as a reference list) using the alphabet, with items that start with ‘A’ coming first on that list and those that begin with ‘Z’ being placed last.
Related readers: Referencing, References and Reference Lists
When a word has the opposite meaning to another word, such as how big and small are antonyms of each other (related to synonym).
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Word Meanings, Antonyms and Synonyms
A type of punctuation mark (‘) which is particularly useful for forming abbreviations and possessive constructions.
Related readers: Punctuation, Apostrophes, Abbreviations
A collection of optional resources placed at the back of an assignment that are not essential to grading that work, including items such as transcripts, questionnaires or images.
Related readers: Referencing, Appendices and Bibliographies
In grammar, these are a type of determiner which can be divided into definite (the) and indefinite (a/an) forms, both of which are used to specify nouns.
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Word Types, Determiners
The name of the organisation or business that would like to be recognised as the author of a piece of work, such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
Related readers: Referencing, Including Authors
B
The first type of (undergraduate) degree available at university, usually completed within three or four years of continuous on-campus or distance-learning study.
Related readers: Getting Qualified, Bachelor’s Degrees, Master’s Degrees
An element of an introductory paragraph that provides the reader with the context of the essay topic, such as a definition of key terms or the history of the topic in brief.
Related readers: Essay Writing, Introductory Paragraphs, Background Information
An alphabetical list of sources that were read when completing an academic assignment, usually placed at the end of that assignment with careful formatting (much the same way a reference list).
Related readers: Referencing, Appendices and Bibliographies
When learning is conducted both face-to-face in class and online in a mixed format, particularly popular in modern institutions.
The expressions and gestures which a presenter makes to provide information to the audience beyond and in addition to the spoken word.
Related readers: Presentation Skills, Body Language, Delivery Strategies
A written instruction such as AND, NOT, “” and * that is used in a library or internet search engine to expand or narrow a researcher’s search results.
Related readers: Research Skills, Conducting Digital Searches, Finding Academic Sources
C
The Certificate in Advanced English as created and managed by Cambridge University to test the proficiency in English of non-native speakers.
Related readers: Careers Advice, CAE, IELTS Tests
The combination of numbers and letters which are printed on the spine of a library book to indicate the precise location of that book within the library’s shelves.
Related readers: Research Skills, Conducting Digital Searches, Finding Academic Sources
The Cambridge University Certificate of English Language Teaching to Adults.
Related readers: Getting Qualified, Cambridge University CELTA
The organisation of a list of items (usually in a reference list) using historical dates, with items that have earlier dates (such as ‘2001’) being placed before those with more recent dates (such as ‘2019’).
Related readers: Referencing, References and Reference Lists
A piece of text such as (Jones, 2020) that is placed within an academic assignment or published research to acknowledge a source being used as support for that work.
Related readers: Referencing, Referencing Features, Citation Types
In grammar, the combination of a subject and a verb creates a clause, which may be independent or dependent depending on whether another cause is required to form a complete sentence.
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Sentences, Sentence Clauses
Similar to a society, an academic club is a collection of like-minded people who work together to complete a goal, whether a sport, an activity or an intellectual pursuit.
Related readers: Getting Experienced, Clubs and Societies
The various words and phrases which are used to signpost and make connections within academic communication (particularly within essays), such as however, finally or the first.
Related readers: Academic Language, Cohesive Devices, Coherence and Cohesion
When words or phrases have a tendency to be found together, such as how give and advice or do and homework are found together.
Related readers: Academic Language, Phrases, Collocations
This is a type of academic misconduct in which two or more students work together on a piece of work that is intended to be completed alone, such as an essay.
Related readers: Study Skills, Collusion Avoidance, Plagiarism Avoidance
A type of punctuation mark (:) which is often taken to mean for example and which is used to introduce a new independent clause
Related readers: Punctuation, Colons and Semicolons
A type of punctuation mark (,) which is most commonly used to list words or phrases or to separate clauses.
Related readers: Punctuation, Commas
A language structure which compares one thing with another, usually by adding -er to an adjective, such as faster or smarter (she is smarter than he is).
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Affixes, Comparatives and Superlatives
A phrase function (like a subject or an object) in which a word, phrase or clause completes the meaning of an expression, usually following subjects and copula verbs.
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Phrase Functions, Adverbials and Complements
A sentence which is made of one independent clause and one dependent clause, such as Because I study English daily, I am quite good at it.
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Sentence Structures, Compound-Complex Sentences
A sentence which is made of two or more independent clauses and one or more dependent clause, such as Because I study English daily, I am quite good at it and I think I will pass the test.
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Sentence Structures, Compound-Complex Sentences
A sentence which is made of two or more independent clauses, such as I study English, and I like French too.
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Sentence Structures, Simple and Compound Sentences
A word that is formed by joining two words together in a compound, such as how work and book can combine to create the new word workbook.
Related readers: Word Structures, Abbreviations, Compounds
The practice of using as few words as possible to express something clearly, particularly important in academic assessments which have limited word counts.
Related readers: Writing Skills, Concision
The practice of speaking fluently by focusing on improving areas of connected speech, such as elision and liaison.
Related readers: Pronunciation Skills, International Phonetic Alphabet, Connected Speech
A special type of verb such as be or seem which carries little meaning and which is used to join a subject with its complement – as in she seems angry.
Related readers: Word Types, Verb Functions, Copula Verbs
The act of agreeing to an aspect of an argument, usually indicated in the topic sentence of a body paragraph directly before a rebuttal.
Related readers: Essay Writing, Body Paragraphs, Conceding and Rebutting
A word class which is used to combine words, phrases or sentences, such as and, because or while (divided into coordinating and subordinating types).
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Word Types, Conjunctions
The close-mouthed sounds which are used to pronounce a word, usually represented by graphemes such as k, m, t and z in the English language.
Related readers: Word Structures, Pronunciation Skills, Syllables
A type of abbreviation in which two words are blended together into one form, usually using an apostrophe (‘) in English, such as how should and not become shouldn’t.
Related readers: Word Structures, Abbreviations, Contractions
A contributing author is one who has written only one or two chapters in a published source (such as an edited book) that contains many chapters from multiple different authors.
Related readers: Referencing, Including Authors
A type of conjunction which is used to join coordinating clauses and words, such as and, but and so.
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Word Types, Conjunctions
A collection of words, phrases and sentences, usually millions of words big, which is studied by linguists and language students to increase the knowledge of language patterns.
Related readers: Research Skills, Using Corpora
Unlike exams, this is the assessed work which is completed throughout a course that contributes to a student’s final grade, such as essays and presentations.
Related readers: Assignments, Essays, Presentations
D
The description of something in as clear, logical and concise a way as possible, usually to clarify its meaning, purpose or significance.
Related readers: Writing Skills, Defining and Categorising
The methods which are used to improve a presenter’s delivery, such as paying attention to body language, pronunciation, tone and posture.
Related readers: Presentation Skills, Body Language, Delivery Strategies
The Cambridge University Diploma in English Language Teaching to Adults.
Related readers: Getting Qualified, Cambridge University CELTA
In grammar, demonstratives (this/these/that/those) are a type of determiner and are used to specify nouns as part of the noun phrase.
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Word Types, Determiners
A type of clause (subject and verb combination) which cannot stand as a complete clause with being combined with another clause, such as Because I study English…
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Sentences, Dependent Clauses
A word class which includes articles (the), demonstratives (this) and quantifiers (some), all of which are used to modify nouns as part of the noun phrase.
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Word Types, Determiners
A lexical and grammatical process in which affixes are added to words to alter their meaning or word class (see prefixes and suffixes).
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Affixes, Derivational Affixation
A book or online tool which attempts to list, exemplify and define all the words in a given language.
Related readers: Research Skills, Using Dictionaries
An extended essay of between 10,000 and 15,000 words, usually completed at the end of a bachelor’s or master’s degree as the final assessment.
Related readers: Essay Writing, Dissertations
Also known as a PhD, this terminal degree is usually completed within four to eight years after submission of a thesis and completion of a viva.
Related readers: Getting Qualified, Doctorate Degrees, Theses
A Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is an alphanumeric identifier which is used to locate online sources (particularly journal articles) in large digital repositories.
Related readers: Referencing, References and Reference Lists, Conducting Digital Searches
The process of planning and producing an academic assessment, particularly the writing of a an essay in an early and unfinished stage.
Related readers: Study Skills, Planning and Drafting
E
The process of checking a piece of work for content-based errors or gaps, such as the deletion of a paragraph, the improvement of a sentence or the addition of a new supporting detail.
Related readers: Writing Skills, Editing and Proofreading
A numeric reference to an explanation, source or additional comment which is included as a note on a separate page at the end of a piece of research or an assignment.
Related readers: Referencing, Endnotes and Footnotes, Referencing Styles
A written academic assignment that requires an introduction, a body section and a conclusion (and which is shorter than a dissertation or thesis).
Related readers: Essays, Essay Types, Essay Writing
A Latin term meaning and others which is used directly after the first author’s family name within a citation (Smith et al., 2010) to indicate that four or more authors have authored that source.
Related readers: Referencing, Including Authors, Citation Types
Conducted before a course in the middle of a course or at the end of the course, examinations are assessments which are designed to test a student’s competence in a subject.
Related readers: Examinations, Exam Preparation, Exam Types
F
A name (also known as a surname) which is shared among family members such as ‘Johnson’, ‘Small’ or ‘Zhang’ and which is most often the same as the father’s family name.
Related readers: Referencing, Including Authors
A verb which can be conjugated to demonstrate grammatical features such as tense or agreement.
Related readers: Word Types, Verb Functions, Verbs
The precise display rules which should be followed to correctly format a given assignment, usually involving aspects such as spacing, punctuation, capitalisation, italics and font size.
Related readers: Essay Writing, Essay Formatting
A numeric reference to an explanation, source or additional comment which is placed at the bottom of the same page in an assignment or piece of research as a short note.
Related readers: Referencing, Endnotes and Footnotes, Referencing Styles
A type of punctuation mark (.) which is most commonly used in abbreviations (Mr.) or to mark the end of a complete sentence.
Related readers: Punctuation, Full Stops, Abbreviations
The first week of university which is dedicated to the freshman (the new first-year students), usually involving interactive activities and information sessions.
Related readers: Settling In, Fresher’s Week, Making Friends
G
Listening for the overall message of something, not listening for specific information or detail.
Related readers: Listening Skills, Gist, Specific and Detail Listening
A name that is more unique to an individual than a family name, such as ‘Alex’, ‘Paige’ or ‘Isabella’ – often provided to a person by their parents as a first or middle name.
Related readers: Referencing, Including Authors
The written representation of a sound in a language, such as how /ʃ/ is written using the graphemes [s] and [h] in combination, as in shout.
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Words, Spelling
An assessed academic assignment in which a small group of students work together to discuss a topic or series of topics for around 10 minutes.
Related readers: Assignments, Group Discussions
H
A type of indentation which is used for improving the display of references, in which every line of that reference other than the first line is indented within the page.
Related readers: Essay Writing, Essay Formatting
The words and phrases such as may, could and might possibly which are used to make a claim or argument more cautious and which protect the author’s reputation.
Related readers: Vocabulary, Academic Language, Hedging Language
When a word has the same spelling or pronunciation as another word but different meanings and origins, such as check and Czech.
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Word Meanings, Homonyms and Polysemes
A type of punctuation mark (-) which is most commonly used to join prefixes and suffixes to words or to compound words into adjective phrases.
Related readers: Punctuation, Dashes and Hyphens, Affixes
An unproven theory, usually at the centre of a piece of academic investigation in order to find empirical evidence for its veracity and accuracy.
Related readers: Writing Skills, Hypothesising Trends
I
A Latin term meaning the same which is included in repeating citations to indicate that the new information which has been introduced is also taken from the previously cited source.
Related readers: Referencing, Including Authors, Citation Types
A word or phrase which possesses a meaning which is not obvious from the words it contains, such as raining cats and dogs (raining heavily) or burning the midnight oil (staying up late).
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Word Meanings, Idiomatic Phrases (Idioms)
The International English Language Testing System which is designed to measure the proficiency in English of non-native speakers.
Related readers: Careers Advice, CAE, TOEFL Tests
A type of clause (subject and verb combination) which can stand as a complete clause without being combined with another clause, such as I study English…
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Sentences, Independent Clauses
A verb which cannot be conjugated to demonstrate grammatical features such as tense or agreement, such as to study or studying.
Related readers: Word Types, Verb Functions, Verbs
A lexical and grammatical process in which affixes are added to words to alter aspects of their grammar such as plurality, possession or tense (see prefixes and suffixes).
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Affixes, Derivational Affixation
A supportive language-based course provided usually to non-native speakers of English who are in the middle of studying for a bachelor’s or master’s degree.
Related readers: Getting Qualified, In-sessional Courses
A type of citation that demonstrates clear source voice in which the source authors are placed inside the main text and outside the brackets of the citation, like Smith (2010).
Related readers: Referencing, Referencing Features, Citation Types
A type of alphabet which is used to represent all possible sounds in all languages around the world.
Related readers: Pronunciation Skills, International Phonetic Alphabet
A verb which cannot take any objects in a grammatical structure, such as in the object-less expression the ice melted vs the transitive expression I melted the ice.
Related readers: Word Types, Verb Functions, Verb Transitivity
L
Different to a seminar, a lecture is traditionally when a tutor delivers a presentation to a class while the students quietly take notes, whether online or offline.
Related readers: Lectures and Seminars
The signposting language which is used in a spoken lecture to indicate certain things, such as the inclusion of new information, comparison, exemplification or summarisation.
Related readers: Listening Skills, Gist, Specific and Detail Listening, Listening for Lecture Cues
The third section of a dissertation or thesis in which the writer provides a detailed summary of the most important research which has been conducted about the essay topic.
Related readers: Dissertations, Theses, The Literature Review
M
The first type of (postgraduate) degree available at university, usually completed within one or two years of continuous on-campus or distance-learning study.
Related readers: Getting Qualified, Bachelor’s Degrees, Master’s Degrees
The fourth section of a dissertation or thesis in which the writer provides a detailed description of the particular methods which were used to collect the primary research.
Related readers: Dissertations, Theses, The Methodology
A special type of verb such as can or should which cannot be conjugated and which adds modality (possibility, permission, etc.) to the verb phrase.
Related readers: Word Types, Verb Functions, Modal Verbs
The pieces of a word which are used to build words, which may include bases, roots and affixes (see prefixes and suffixes) in the study of morphology.
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Words, Affixes
A type of citation in which more than one source is listed within the same set of brackets to indicate that the same claim or piece of evidence is taken from multiple sources, such as (Smith, 2010; Jones, 2012; Zhang, 2020).
Related readers: Referencing, Referencing Features, Citation Types
N
A type of citation (which demonstrates a combination of writer and source voice) that is usually found at the end of a piece of information with all its elements inside brackets, such as (Smith, 2010).
Related readers: Referencing, Referencing Features, Citation Types
The small cards which are used during a presentation to prompt the presenter’s memory as to the content of their presentation.
Related readers: Presentation Skills, Scripts and Notecards
When the details of a presentation, publication or discussion are written in note form, whether using a personalised notetaking style or a method such as Cornell notes, margin notes or mind mapping.
Related readers: Study Skills, Mind Mapping, Notetaking
The most common word class in any language, nouns are used to describe objects, ideas and events (such as chair, love or Christmas) and may be pluralised and made possessive.
Related readers: Words, Word Types, Nouns
O
A phrase function (like a subject or a complement) in which a noun or noun phrase acts as the receiver of the action of the verb, such as English in he studies English.
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Phrase Functions, Subjects and Objects
Also known as a roadmap, the outline is a element of an introductory paragraph that provides the reader with a brief list of the main ideas of the essay in the same order as presented in the body.
Related readers: Essay Writing, Introductory Paragraphs, Outlines
P
The pattern of having to repeat grammatical elements with the same grammatical pattern when listed together, as in I came, I saw, I conquered.
Related readers: Academic Language, Phrases, Parallel Structures
When one author takes another author’s ideas or evidence and writes that information in different words while maintaining the same or similar meaning.
Related readers: Writing Skills, Paraphrasing
In grammar, a type of language structure using be + past participle in which the agent of the action is absent from the structure or placed into a by phrase, such as in the exam was completed by me.
Related readers: Word Types, Verb Functions, Passive Constructions
When a piece of research is checked by other professionals or academics for accuracy and to help guarantee quality, reliability and veracity.
A special type of verb + adverb/preposition combination such as clock in or shut down which carries idiomatic meaning and which is is uncommonly used in academic contexts.
Related readers: Word Types, Verb Functions, Phrasal Verbs
When one author uses or copies another author’s work or research without providing clear acknowledgement in the form of citations and references.
Related readers: Study Skills, Plagiarism Avoidance, Referencing
When two words which look identical have different meanings, such book in the expressions read a book and book a table.
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Word Meanings, Homonyms and Polysemes
A collection of academic assessments such as drawings or essays which are collated together into one document or folder to form a single assignment.
Related readers: Assignments, Portfolios
As a word class, prepositions (at/on/over) are unique in that they pre-modify nouns and noun phrases, providing information about space, time or manner.
Related readers: Words, Word Types, Prepositions
A preparatory language-based course provided usually to non-native speakers of English who are about to begin studying for a bachelor’s or master’s degree.
Related readers: Getting Qualified, Pre-sessional Courses
The original data resources or investigations that might be used as a source of information, such as a recording or a diary, or a journal article that includes details about its own research.
Related readers: Referencing, Sources and Search Terms
When the author of a piece of work carefully checks that work before submission for features such as formatting, spelling and grammar.
Related readers: Writing Skills, Editing and Proofreading
As a word class, pronouns (I/you/she) are unique in that they can be used in place of nouns to describe people, animals and objects.
Related readers: Words, Word Types, Pronouns
The symbols which are used to show pauses, divisions or grammatical relations within a written text, such as a full stop (.), a comma (,), a semicolon (;) or a colon (:).
Related readers: Punctuation, Colons and Semicolons, Commas
Q
In grammar, quantifiers (some/many/few) are a type of determiner that is used to specify the number or amount of a noun.
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Word Types, Determiners
The precise or subtly modified words of one author used in another author’s work, usually provided alongside citations and within quotation marks.
Related readers: Referencing, Citation Types, Quoting
R
A document provided by a module convenor or tutor which details the recommended sources that students should read to complete a course or module.
Related readers: Reading Skills, Reading Strategies
The speed at which someone can read, usually measured by comparing the length of reading time with the number of words in order to determine words-per-minute.
Related readers: Reading Skills, Improving Reading Speed
The methods which are used to read more efficiently, such as skimming, scanning and reading for detail.
Related readers: Reading Skills, Reading Strategies
The act of challenging a particular aspect of an argument, usually indicated in the topic sentence of a body paragraph directly after a concession.
Related readers: Essay Writing, Body Paragraphs, Conceding and Rebutting
An element of a concluding paragraph in which the author provides solutions, future considerations and recommendations to the reader about the essay topic.
Related readers: Essay Writing, Concluding Paragraphs, Recommendations
A piece of text at the end of a piece of research that acknowledges a source being used as supporting information for that work, such as: Jones, R. (2020) Example reference. London: Publishers.
Related readers: Referencing, Referencing Features, References and Reference Lists
Elements such as Name of author, Year of publication and Source title which are used to build a referencing feature such as a citation, endnote or reference.
Related readers: Referencing, Referencing Features, References and Reference Lists
An alphabetical/chronological list of all the sources which are read and cited within a piece of research, placed at the back of that research with careful ordering and formatting.
Related readers: Referencing, Referencing Features, References and Reference Lists
The features which are used by writers to acknowledge sources within a piece of research, including citations, endnotes, footnotes, references and reference lists.
Related readers: Referencing, Referencing Features, References and Reference Lists
A piece of software such as Zotero or Mendeley that helps students and researchers to manage and organise the referencing features included in their work.
Related readers: Referencing, Referencing Features, Referencing Management Software
The elements, formatting and ordering rules which are required when following a particular style of referencing such as Harvard, Chicago, MLA or Oxford.
Related readers: Referencing, Referencing Features, Referencing Styles
A type of citation that identifies the repetition of a source within a text, showing that the information being cited is from the same source as in the previous citation.
Related readers: Referencing, Referencing Features, Citation Types
The verbs which are used alongside integral citations to report or discuss another author’s ideas or research, such as argue, claim or state.
Related readers: Vocabulary, Academic Language, Reporting Verbs
A physical or digital storage space for sources, such as in a library or online database.
Related readers: Research Skills, Conducting Digital Searches, Finding Academic Sources
An element of a concluding paragraph in which the author concedes to the limitations of their research and highlights to the reader the gaps for future investigations.
Related readers: Essay Writing, Concluding Paragraphs, Research Gaps
The detailed document which tutors use to evaluate an assessment, involving numerous criteria such as coherence and cohesion or delivery depending on the assessment type.
Related readers: Course Management, Building Rubrics
S
A financial grant given to students who are in financial difficulty or who excel at a subject, usually to complete a bachelor’s, master’s or doctorate degree.
Related readers: Applying for Scholarships, Bachelor’s Degrees, Master’s Degrees
The combination of search terms and Boolean operators which can be used to narrow or expand search results within a search engine in order to better find valuable sources.
Related readers: Research Skills, Sources and Search Terms
A word or phrase (commonly noun phrases) that is used to narrow or expand search results within a search engine in order to find valuable sources.
Related readers: Research Skills, Sources and Search Terms
A type of citation in which the author of a piece of work wishes to cite a primary source that they have only read about in a secondary source, such as (Smith, 2010, cited in Jones, 2020).
Related readers: Referencing, Referencing Features, Citation Types
A source that describes or discusses the unique research of another (primary) source but which does not necessarily detail any new research itself.
Related readers: Referencing, Sources and Search Terms
A type of punctuation mark (;) which is used to join two independent clauses or a list of phrases or words.
Related readers: Punctuation, Colons and Semicolons
An ungrammatical sentence which is usually formed when a single dependent clause has no adjoining independent clause to complete it, such as in Because I like English.
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Sentence Structures, Sentence Run-Ons and Fragments
An ungrammatical sentence which is formed when two or more independent clauses are improperly joined together, such as I like English, I study it every day.
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Sentence Structures, Sentence Run-Ons and Fragments
A computer programme such as Turnitin that helps students and tutors find instances of potential plagiarism by comparing the uploaded work with a large existing database.
Related readers: Referencing, Referencing Management Software, Turnitin and Test Your Text
A sentence which is made of only one independent clause, such as I study English.
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Sentence Structures, Simple and Compound Sentences
Unlike a lecture, a seminar is traditionally when students and tutors participate together in class with discussions and various task-based activities.
Related readers: Lectures and Seminars
Similar to a club, an academic society is a collection of like-minded people who work together to complete a goal, whether a sport, an activity or an intellectual pursuit.
Related readers: Getting Experienced, Clubs and Societies
Any text such as a book, interview or website that is used to add supporting information to an academic assignment or piece of academic research.
Related readers: Sources and Search Terms, Research Skills, Finding Academic Sources
The details of a source that are needed in order to correctly reference that source, such as the precise name of the author (Smith) or the precise year that source was printed (2019).
Related readers: Sources and Search Terms, Research Skills, Finding Academic Sources
The use of summarising and paraphrasing techniques in order to include numerous sources within the same paragraph, such as to debate the same topic.
Related readers: Sources and Search Terms, Research Skills, Synthesising Sources
The type of source which may be used to provide supporting information in a pieces of academic research, such as a book, a journal article or a digital magazine article.
Related readers: Sources and Search Terms, Research Skills, Finding Academic Sources
The gaps in a piece of text between words, sentences, paragraphs and visual data which are used to distinguish these items more clearly for the reader.
Related readers: Essay Writing, Essay Formatting
This is the writer’s opinion about the essay topic, indicated first in the introduction but repeated in the topic sentences of the body section as well.
Related readers: Essay Writing, Introductory Paragraphs, Stance
A phrase function (like a complement or an object) in which a noun or noun phrase acts as the doer of the action of the verb, such as he in he studies.
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Phrase Functions, Subjects and Objects
In English grammar, agreement is shown between a subject and its verb, such as how I plays is incorrect but I play demonstrates correct subject-verb agreement.
Related readers: Word Types, Verb Functions, Subject-Verb Agreement
A type of conjunction which is used to join subordinating clauses and phrases, such as however, because and while.
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Word Types, Conjunctions
When one or more authors’ ideas are abbreviated, paraphrased and synthesised in order to create a much shorter version of the original text.
Related readers: Writing Skills, Paraphrasing, Summarising
An element of a concluding paragraph that summarises the main ideas presented in the body section of an essay, briefly detailing also the key findings of the investigation.
Related readers: Essay Writing, Concluding Paragraphs, Summary of Main Ideas
The final sentence of a body paragraph in which the writer summarises the main idea(s) of the paragraph or transitions from one main idea to another.
Related readers: Essay Writing, Body Paragraphs, Summary-Transition Sentences
A language structure which indicates the absolute form of something, usually by adding -est to an adjective, such as fastest or smartest (she is the smartest person in the room).
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Affixes, Comparatives and Superlatives
The main section of a body paragraph in which the writer provides evidence, examples and explanation from sources in order to support the topic sentence.
Related readers: Essay Writing, Body Paragraphs, Supporting Details
The piece of a word which contains at least one consonant and one vowel, such as con- or -tains in contains.
Related readers: Word Structures, Pronunciation Skills, Syllables
When a word has a similar meaning to another word, such as how big and large are synonyms of each other (related to antonym).
Related readers: Grammar Practice, Word Meanings, Antonyms and Synonyms
T
The student version of the Turnitin software which enables students to check their own assignments for possible instances of plagiarism by highlighting similarity with other authors’ works.
Related readers: Referencing, Plagiarism Avoidance, Turnitin and Test Your Text
An extended academic essay of between 40,000 and 100,000 words, usually completed as the primary assessment of a doctorate degree (PhD).
Related readers: Essay Writing, Theses
An element of a concluding paragraph that reminds the reader (in different words) of the introductory thesis statement and writer’s stance.
Related readers: Essay Writing, Concluding Paragraphs, Thesis Restatements
An element of an introductory paragraph that provides the reader with the argumentative focus of the essay (the thesis) and an outline of the body sections’ main ideas.
Related readers: Essay Writing, Introductory Paragraphs, Thesis Statements
The Test of English as a Foreign Language which is designed to measure the proficiency in English of non-native speakers.
Related readers: Careers Advice, CAE, IELTS Tests
An element of a body paragraph that reminds the reader of the essay topic and introduces the main idea(s) being discussed in that paragraph.
Related readers: Essay Writing, Body Paragraphs, Topic Sentences
A verb which can take one (monotransitive), two (ditransitive) or three (tritransitive) objects in a grammatical structure, as in give me the book.
Related readers: Word Types, Verb Functions, Verb Transitivity
A piece of software which is designed to check similarity between submitted research or assignments and a large database of uploaded sources in order to suggest instances of plagiarism.
Related readers: Referencing, Plagiarism Avoidance, Turnitin and Test Your Text
U
An academic institution which typically accredits and awards bachelor’s, master’s and PhD qualifications.
Related readers: Getting Qualified, Bachelor’s Degrees, Master’s Degrees
A Uniform Resource Locator (also known as a web address) is used to identify an online resource such as a web page, uploaded file or digital image.
Related readers: Research Skills, Conducting Digital Searches
V
A class of words that demonstrate an action (kick), state (love) or occurrence (happen) and which can be conjugated to show tense, aspect and modality.
Related readers: Word Types, Verb Functions, Verbs
In English grammar, this is the expression of passages of time through the verb phrase in simple (study), continuous (studying) and perfect (have studied) forms.
Related readers: Word Types, Verb Functions, Verb Aspect
In English grammar, modality (ability, permission, future, etc.) is expressed on the verb phrase via hedging language and modal verbs such as may , will and could.
Related readers: Word Types, Verb Functions, Verb Modality
The expression of absolute time in an expression via the form of the main verb, which in English may be the present (study) or past (studied) (modality is used to show the future not tense).
Related readers: Word Types, Verb Functions, Verb Tense
Whether or not a verb can take an object (transitive vs. intransitive), and how many objects that verb takes.
Related readers: Word Types, Verb Functions, Verb Transitivity
Any visual tool which is used to enhance a performance or presentation, such as a poster, a handout, a PPT presentation or a whiteboard.
Related readers: Presentation Skills, Using Visual Aids
The final task of a PhD in which the doctorate student is required or orally defend their research in front of a panel of experts.
Related readers: Essay Writing, Theses, The PhD Viva
The specific words you have learned or are attempting to learn.
Related readers: Vocabulary, Academic Language
The author which communicates an idea or argument in a piece of work is said to have voice: this can be the writer’s voice or the voices of external sources which provide supporting evidence.
Related readers: Writing Skills, Balancing Voices, Synthesising Sources
The open-mouthed sounds within a word, usually represented by the graphemes a e i o u in the English language.
Related readers: Word Structures, Pronunciation Skills, Syllables
W
The amount of words permitted in an academic assessment and the record of that number at the end of an essay or assessment, often within a range of +/–10%.
Related readers: Essay Writing, Essay Formatting
A method of identifying words depending on their placement in a sentence and their grammatical rules, such as nouns , adjectives or verbs.
Related readers: Words, Word Types, Word Forms
A grouping of the same words which have different forms when in different classes, such as how inform, informative and information are in the same family.
Related readers: Words, Word Types, Word Forms
A description of the shape of a particular word, depending on its word class and whether it has any attached prefixes or suffixes.
Related readers: Words, Word Types, Word Forms