Skip to main content

Get Ahead, Stay Ahead: Writing style - Academic writing conventions

When: —
Venue: Online

Get Ahead, Stay Ahead is a series of study and writing skills workshops running throughout September, designed to help you prepare for university before the start of the academic year.

This online workshop will discuss the academic writing conventions of formality, objective tone, cautious language and ways to avoid saying ‘I’ in your assignments.

How can I sound more appropriately academic? Why can’t I say ‘I’ or state my opinions? What is cautious ‘hedging’ language? This online workshop will cover the academic conventions of formality, neutral tone, cautious language and ways to avoid saying ‘I’, including ways to express objectivity.

This online workshop will take place on Microsoft Teams.

The resources and recordings will be found after the workshops on the Birkbeck Study Skills Moodle module (student login required) in the Get Ahead, Stay Ahead section.

This workshop will repeat on Thursday 7th September at 6pm and Tuesday 19th September at 1pm.

Birkbeck Study Skills also run study and writing skills workshops throughout the academic year.

Please note these workshops are intended for current or prospective Birkbeck College students only.

This year’s full series of pre-sessional workshops is as follows:

Study skills:

  1. Time management and organising your studies
  2. Apps and software for study and organisation
  3. Academic reading, lectures and note-making techniques
  4. Academic reading and note-makingusing apps & software
  5. Developing your concentration & focus for study
  6. Writing & delivering effective presentations
  7. Critical thinking skills
  8. Quoting, paraphrasing and avoiding plagiarism
  9. Introduction to Moodle - an online live demonstration
  10. Zotero for Postgraduates

Writing skills:

  1. Writing essays and assignments: an overview
  2. Assignment writing strategies using apps & software
  3. Writing Style: Academic writing conventions
  4. Writing Structure: Organising your assignment
  5. Writing Grammar: Sentence structure and punctuation

Contact name: