Academic Writing Summer Course in Cambridge Ages 16-18

Course Summary

This Academic Writing workshop series as part of ORA’s summer school course is designed specifically for students who wish for support for their morning Broadening Horizons classes.

When they are set an essay (one or more) to do in the morning, this course offers support and guidance to help them complete that writing successfully. Through presentations of different skills, discussion work, exercises and more, students will feel confident in producing a quality piece of writing for their specialist subject. The course will introduce new skills in a non-specialist, straightforward manner, and when students have grasped these skills, they will be invited to try them out in their specialist subject assignment. Tasks will include: writing a diagnostic essay; looking at different types of essay titles; writing paragraphs; linking paragraphs; citing authors and many more.

What to expect from the Academic Writing Summer Course?

During the workshop students will have various assignments and presentations to carry out. The main assignment will be to complete an essay but there will be other assignments such as: analysing titles, planning and research, preparing paragraphs, grammar exercises. In addition students will be asked to prepare a presentation on their essay. It needs to be noted that any work carried out in this workshop series is complementary to the students’ morning workshops. As with all ORA courses, this workshop is based heavily in collaboration, discussion and constructive feedback. Students should be prepared to give helpful feedback to their peers and receive feedback in turn. Understanding how best to implement academic assignment and essay writing, and learn from feedback is a crucial skill for anyone wishing to improve in essay writing, and will be a focus of this course. Students will learn how to give feedback respectfully and how to respond to feedback well.

Course Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will have:

• A firm understanding of what English Academic writing involves in terms of analysis, preparation, development and completion of an essay
• Developed techniques and strategies to produce an essay of the required standard that reflects your particular disciplinary subject areas
• An ability to present and discuss with confidence students’ own and others’ work and to respond to comments on their own work
• Identified and evaluated their strengths and weaknesses in formal writing through a diagnostic test
• Understood what it means to respond to and interpret an essay title
• Received guidance on how to write paragraphs coherently and link them together cohesively
• Learned how to write a précis and/or a report on a graph
• Learned about plagiarism, and prepared and written a bibliography
• Learned about analysing errors
• Participated in Group discussions
• Produced assignments in the tradition of English Academic writing so that they are ready for any future courses

Topics Covered

Topics addressed will include planning and structuring an essay, editing and proofreading, and the correct use of footnotes, references and bibliographies. Students will also learn the fine detail of good academic language, and how to use language that sounds sophisticated without obfuscation. Students will also understand the issues of plagiarism and how to avoid plagiarising other’s work.

The Broadening Horizons Programme

This subject is part of the Broadening Horizons course at Oxford Royale Summer Schools’s Cambridge summer school.

The Broadening Horizons course, for students aged 16 to 18, is suitable both for those who are trying to decide what to pursue in further education, and for those who simply want to learn about a variety of interesting subjects: 30+ study options are available!

Students choose two morning classes and one afternoon workshop to provide a diverse and stimulating curriculum that is tailored to their needs, allowing them to pursue areas of interest or try out something new. Students studying Broadening Horizons in Cambridge get the chance to live and learn in a college of the University of Cambridge.

Learn more about and apply for the Broadening Horizons Programme in Cambridge

Watch the ORA experience video

World-renowned guest speakers

ORA's expert tutoring faculty

Our alumni network and community

Take this course if

Take this course if you want to improve your English writing techniques and styles for future study and academic writing. This course would also suit students wishing to build on their general academic writing skills to complement their chosen subjects in the Broadening Horizons programmes.

Choose your options and apply for Broadening Horizons

The Broadening Horizons programme - our flagship summer course - allows you to combine different subject options to enable a flexible, tailored programme that best suits your academic needs

To view other options, select your choice of options and apply, please visit the main Broadening Horizons Programme in Cambridge page