Study Skills and Academic English

There are loads of sites out there to help with university study skills. Some of them are better than others, so why not start with Uuniversity of Leicester's very own Student Learning Centre?

You will need your university log in details. Once you are in you will find the link to resources in the best place to start. In here you can find resources not just for writng and presentations but also for IT skills such as getting more out of MS Office.

Of course other universties have equally good websites to help their students. One of the best is Using English for Academic Purposes from the University of Hertfordshire. This has lots of advice, practice exercises and tests. Have a look here, if you want to practice your note taking from reading or from listening.

And then there are also sites which are based in other countries. Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s Centre for Independent Language Learning is interesting because it has audio and video to help you practice.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a probably the world's most famous online encyclopedia. Wikipedia is interesting because it is written and edited by volunteers. Wikipedia is a great website for helping to practice your English reading skills. One idea is to use the random article button on the side bar.

Some people have questioned whether you can trust Wikipedia. Here's an article on this subject called Wikipedia and the Meaning of Truth.

Vocabulary

Here are some ideas for praciticing and developing your vocabulary. First of all you should get yourself a good Advanced Learner's Dictionary. The dictionaries from Oxford, Cambridge, Macmillan and Collins are all good. The reason you should use an Advanced Learner's Dictionary is because they contain so much more information about each word or phrase.

If you just have a few minutes to spare the vocabulary quizzes on the BBC are a good way to learn everyday and idiomatic language. There are loads to do and they are organised by topics.

If you are interested in the meaning and origins of English phrases and idioms then this is worth checking out. For example do you know where OK comes from?

And finally here's a different way to see the vocabulary of a text or website. Paste in some text or just a website and Wordle creates a word cloud. Here's a word cloud for this blog. The word which appear a lot are the big ones.

Some Other Blogs I Recommend...

Here's the first one you should have a look at - it's Sky's blog. Apart from having a cool name, Sky has a cool looking blog!

Another one is by a young Chinese rapper. Find out who it is - here! And here's one from a guy called Ricky - why not have a look and leave him a comment? Check out Adrain who is happy to be home! Pamela tells us about herself and her family here. Shirley has just started her blog here.

These are two of my favourites - one is by Kevin and he tells us about one of his friends from home. In the other, David tells us about someone you might know!

This one has just been started. We're just waiting for Bill to make his first post.