Authoring a doctoral thesis is a challenging undertaking for anyone, even more so if English is not your first or main language. Learning to use the language of academic research is an ongoing journey, which is closely bound up with your developing knowledge of your field.
A range of language support and resources are available during the course of your doctorate at no extra cost, including three in-depth writing programmes focused specifically on doctoral-level thesis writing. These programmes are offered by the Doctoral and Research College in conjunction with the University's International Study and Language Institute (ISLI) and are detailed below. In addition, a series of one-off Language for Research sessions is delivered as part of the Reading Researcher Development Programme (RRDP) in the second semester.
Programme 1 – Core Language and Skills for Research Writing
This course takes a practice-based approach to strengthening your sentence and paragraph-level research writing skills.
We use the textbook Grammar Choices for Graduate and Professional Writers by Nigel Kaplan in Semester 1, and the textbooks English for Academic Research: Grammar Usage and Style and Grammar Exercises by Adrian Wallwork in Semester 2. Students can register for either or both Semesters of the course. Each week will focus on a different aspect of research language, including, for example, clause types and combinations, verb forms, language for stance and positioning, and information flow.
Classes will involve analysis of target language features within the context of authentic research texts, controlled grammar exercises, and short weekly writing tasks which will be discussed and workshopped in class and for which you will also receive individual feedback.
This course can be useful for researchers with both lower and higher levels of academic writing proficiency, for the former to develop greater accuracy and control, and for the latter to increase linguistic range and flexibility.
Programme 2 – Doctoral Thesis Writing: Structure and Language
This course will look at all key components of doctoral theses in the sciences and social sciences. Extracts from successful doctoral and published research writing are analysed to develop understanding of useful organisational patterns and important language features within and across key chapter types.
Course content will include the following:
Coherence and voice: achieving a logical flow within and across chapters, guiding your reader through your text, and developing a clear authorial ‘voice’.
Writing your introduction: an organisational framework and language for establishing the relevance of your research focus, identifying your research niche, and outlining the purpose and structure of your thesis.
Writing your literature Review: options for structuring your Literature Review, and language for reporting and synthesising the ideas of other scholars, and establishing your own stance within an ongoing academic debate.
Writing about methods and results: an organisational framework and language for describing and rationalising methodological choices, and experimental and analytical procedures.
Discussion in your thesis: an organisational framework and language for developing arguments, and making claims from your results, including situating them within the wider research field.
Writing your conclusion: an organisational framework and language for identifying key research outcomes, and talking about contribution, implications, limitations, and potential future research.
Writing your abstract: an organisational framework and language for succinctly summarising your work.
Students are encouraged to critically reflect on all lesson content in relation to the writing practices of their own discipline and specific research field.
Programme 3 – Writing and Editing your Thesis with Corpora
This course will equip you with computational tools and techniques to independently increase the accuracy, appropriateness and confidence of your research writing.
You will build a collection of texts – research articles in your own disciplinary field – that can be accessed electronically (a "corpus", plural "corpora") and use it to critically examine the academic language of your field.
You will also make a corpus of your own writing so that you can compare features of it with those of published writing.
You will learn how to use software to help you independently answer questions you have about grammar and usage in written discipline/field-specific academic English, and to discover how expert writers in your area of research express themselves. This programme is aimed at doctoral students who have some written work already completed, such as at least one substantial draft chapter or research article.
Booking places
Places can be requested via the RISIS web portal in the same way that you request places on RRDP courses. Look out for courses starting "ISLI –" in the listings. Doctoral and Researcher College courses are only available to University of Reading doctoral researchers. For further information, contact Dr Joanna John by emailing j.john@reading.ac.uk.
The Academic English Programme
Further academic language input is additionally available from ISLI’s Academic English Programme, including:
- 1:1 Consultations for Writing and Presentations: work with one of our experienced academic English lecturers on a one-to-one basis to improve your writing and presentation skills.
- Academic Language Webinars attend live online sessions focusing on specific areas of academic language.
- Online Courses for Self-enrolment enrol on our flexible online academic writing courses, including Dissertation and Thesis Writing.
- Spoken Language Courses meet other international students and build your fluency and confidence in spoken English.