Academic writing for doctoral students

Academic writing courses

Writing courses linked to the ESA

 
Before the Early Stage Assessment (ESA)

Preparation for Academic Writing helps those who score level 1 on DACR A1 reach the level required to start Academic Writing 1.

Academic Writing 1 and Academic Writing 2 are sequential core courses to help those who score level 2 on DACR A1 prepare for writing the ESA report.

Academic Writing 1&2 (Condensed) is a fast-track, condensed course for those who score level 3 on DACR A1 to develop their academic communication before the ESA. 

After the Early Stage Assessment (ESA)

Improving Academic Writing is a programme of guided and targeted writing support to enable those scoring level 1 or 2 on DACR A2 to work on their writing and boost their progress.

 

To better understand how our writing provision ties in with the doctoral milestones, please refer to this flowchart.

‌Please note that because these courses are progressive, you can only take 1 of them per term.

Higher-level* writing provision available at any stage

(*those who score level 4 on DACR A1 or who are exempt from the Requirement or who progress from the pre-ESA courses)

Advanced Academic Writing is for those with a high level of language proficiency, and focuses on effective communication at research level. This course is suitable for those whose priority is practising and improving their academic STEMM writing in general.

Writing a Research Paper is for those with a high level of language proficiency who are at the stage of writing papers for publication. This series of workshops specifically focuses on training you to use research papers in your own field as input to create effective writing models and identify relevant language features.

In collaboration with the Graduate School, the Thesis Writing Retreat provides a focused opportunity to make major advances in writing the doctoral thesis in a supported, structured environment.

Please note that you can only take 1 doctoral writing course/workshop series per term. This is so that we can enable as many people as possible to join a course.

Please note that the former Chemistry building on the College's South Kensington campus (see A3 on this map) now has spaces designed for self study. Level 4 has silent study spaces and Level 5 has independent learning spaces. If you are on campus, you may wish to benefit from the latter for our online courses, workshops and consultations.