Academic English support and workshops
Develop your confidence in using academic English with our free workshops, courses and advice appointments that you can attend alongside your studies.
The Language Zone also provides free support, activities and resources to help you improve your English language skills independently.
Support for undergraduate and Masters students
Workshops and webinars
Skills@Library offers free workshops and webinars to all undergraduate and Masters students.
If you use English as a foreign or second language, these workshops will help you to revise key language points and develop your confidence in writing clearly and successfully.
Academic English support from your School
Your School may offer workshops and academic English support specific to your area of study.
Find out about workshops and learning opportunities from your school.
Advice appointments
Book an appointment with a Learning Advisor who will work with you to develop your academic skills and strategies on a range of topics, including academic writing, critical thinking and finding information.
Writing Space
Our Writing Space is an informal space for you to work on assessments and develop strategies for improving your academic writing.
Our friendly student academic writing mentors can help you to get started on your written assignments. There is no need to book – just turn up.
Online academic skills resources
In addition to workshops, Skills@Library has online resources and materials that can help you with writing essays and reports.
Discovery theme modules (undergraduates only)
If you're an undergraduate student whose first language is not English (and you have not previously studied in an English-speaking country), you can choose to study one of the following modules to develop your skills:
- English for Academic Study
- English for Communication
- English and Intercultural Communication
- Language through Literature and Place: Reading Yorkshire
- Using Writing
You will find these modules under the subject 'English Language Unit'. Find out more about Discovery modules.
Support for postgraduate researchers
The Language Centre offers support to help you develop your academic language and communication skills.
You can attend the following workshops if you’re:
- a PGR at the University
- at any stage of your research degree
- using English as your first or additional language.
You can take part as often as you wish.
Academic language: complexity, precision and style
This workshop will help you to develop your academic writing.
You will learn how to:
- choose the right level of language
- be precise
- choose a suitable tone for your research
You will learn about how different language choices affect how readers interpret and evaluate your work. By looking at examples of academic writing, you’ll gain the skills to make informed decisions and take control of your own writing.
This workshop is two hours long
Workshop dates
Tuesday 11 November 2025, 10am – 12pm, Edward Boyle Library, Level 13 Research Meeting room 1.
Book your place on the Academic language: complexity, precision and style workshop.
Criticality
Criticality is one of the most common and confusing terms in education.
This workshop will help you to analyse and evaluate information and use it to build your own arguments in your writing.
You’ll explore what criticality means in your discipline and how it appears in different parts of a thesis. You’ll explore how language and structures can help you to better show criticality in your writing.
This workshop is two hours long
Workshop dates
Wednesday 12 November 2025, 10am – 12pm, Edward Boyle Library, Level 13 Research Meeting room 1.
Dealing with negative emotions when writing
This workshop will help you to:
- handle negative emotions
- overcome writer’s block
- increase your motivation to write
Attendees will explore common challenges for research writers, such as low confidence, anxiety and imposter feelings.
You will have the chance to share your experiences and explore strategies to help you manage negative emotions.
This workshop is two hours long
Workshop dates
Wednesday 19 November 2025, 10am – 12pm, Edward Boyle Library, Level 13 Research Meeting room 1.
Book your place on the Dealing with negative emotions when writing workshop.
Focused academic language for PGRs with lower level of English language proficiency
This workshop will help you if you struggle to communicate clearly in your academic writing.
You will explore common and basic errors and will be provided with the tools to fix basic language mistakes in your writing.
Using examples of common student mistakes, you will learn how to increase the accuracy and clarity of your writing.
This workshop is two hours long
Workshop dates
Wednesday 5 November 2025, 10am – 12pm, Edward Boyle Library, Level 13 Research Meeting room 1.
Structuring the thesis
At this workshop you will learn how to structure your thesis.
You will analyse the structure of the thesis at different levels:
- the thesis as a whole
- individual chapters
- sections within chapters
- individual paragraphs
By exploring the different ways to structure a thesis, you will be better prepared to structure your thesis in a way that can communicate your research more effectively.
This workshop is two hours long.
Workshop dates
Tuesday 18 November 2025, 10am – 12pm, Edward Boyle Library, Level 13 Research Meeting room 1.
Voice and authoritativeness in academic writing
This workshop will help you to develop the confidence to write as an expert.
You will:
- explore how expertise is demonstrated in writing in ways that are convincing to the reader
- analyse how language shapes the writer’s position
This workshop will give you the skills to present your research persuasively.
This workshop is two hours long.
Workshop dates
Tuesday 4 November 2025, 10am – 12pm, Edward Boyle Library, Level 13 Research Meeting room 1.
Tuesday 2 December 2025, 10am – 12pm, Edward Boyle Library, Level 13 Research Meeting room 1.
Book your place on the Voice and authoritativeness in academic writing workshop.
Writing an abstract
Learn how to write abstracts for your dissertation, journal articles or conference proposals.
If you have limited experience of writing abstracts, this workshop will give you the chance to learn more about the different social and linguistic aspects of abstracts.
This workshop is two hours long.
Workshop dates
Wednesday 3 December 2025, 10am – 12pm, Edward Boyle Library, Level 13 Research Meeting room 1.
Writing as a process
Learn how to approach research writing as a process.
In this workshop you explore different approaches you can use in your own writing to:
- get started on your research writing
- balance reading and writing
- manage your writing frequency
- manage your time
- revise efficiently
This workshop is two hours long.
Workshop dates
Wednesday 26 November 2025, 10am – 12pm, Edward Boyle Library, Level 13 Research Meeting room 1.
Individual consultation
The Language Centre offers 30-minute one-to-one consultations on how to improve your academic writing and communication.
Register for an individual consultation.
How to book your consultation
- Complete the consultation booking form
- Select time you would like to attend. You will be given a choice of two in-person sessions or one online session.
- If none of the times suit you, you can suggest a different date. Please note that the response to your request may be delayed if you request a different date.
- Upload a sample of your writing if you would like to receive feedback. Please upload your sample in a Word document so that we can add comments to it.