The PhraseBook for Writing Papers and Research in English is used in many institutions by students and teachers. Example courses include:

  • Communication Skills
  • English for Academic Purposes (EAP)
  • English for Specific Purposes (ESP)
  • English Language and Study Skills
  • English Language Support
  • Programme for International Research Students

 

A focus on writing

The PhraseBook is both a useful classroom tool for teachers and a self-study book for students. Rather than concentrating on rules and exceptions as many books, the PhraseBook for Writing Papers and Research in English focuses on writing, providing the tools for students to write in their subject.

Phrases are grouped by topic to follow the structure of university and research writing, such as Introducing work, Arguing for and against, Analysis and explanation, Reviewing other work, Presenting results, Summarizing and Conclusions. Writing Help sections give advice on style, grammar and punctuation in university and research writing.

The PhraseBook also includes a thesaurus, a glossary of university and research terminology, abbreviations and Greek and Latin terms, British and American differences, and a reference section.

 

Using the PhraseBook in the classroom

The PhraseBook is suitable for both independent study and classroom teaching. Below are a number of recommendations for teachers.

We recommend that students start with a sample of their own writing, which they use as they work through the PhraseBook. This has a number of advantages:

  • Rather than working on texts that are irrelevant or uninteresting, students work on their own writing, helping them to improve their real work
  • Each section of the PhraseBook encourages students to think about different aspects of their writing, for example in Writing Help style, spelling, punctuation and grammar
  • Each section is followed by practice exercises
  • The main part of the book provides a corpus of phrases, thematically grouped, for use in teaching. Students work through the PhraseBook, expanding their text with phrases from each section. This helps students to think about the different parts of a text and how to structure their argument
  • The PhraseBook includes examples of many of the most frequent words in academic English. These are marked in italics: students should take special care to understand and use these in their writing. Writing exercises at the end of each section suggest practising these most frequent forms by composing new phrases for their text
  • Next, the PhraseBook thesaurus encourages students to improve their vocabulary, by suggesting alternative expressions, helping them to give their writing greater richness and variety
  • The final glossary and reference sections list common terms in university and research writing, helping students to decipher academic vocabulary and familiarize themselves with university and research terminology

After working through the PhraseBook, students will have produced a better written, more polished text.