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This is a great visual guide to help students understand the questions they should ask when writing assignments.

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This is a brief guide to using GoogleDocs. You may find it very helpful for collaborating on tasks at university.

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Dear students, if you would like some listening practice, then watch this video created with TED ED. Whilst you watch the video, there are some comprehension questions I would like you to answer. There is also a reflection question at the end of the video.

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Video from TED YouTube Channel

Hans Rosling discusses population growth in the last 50 years, and the increasing gap between industrialized and developing nations.

Additional Resources for you to Explore

I would like you to consider the benefits of watching this TED talk.
How might watching a TED talk like this prepare you for study at university?

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Hans Rosling: Global population growth, box by box

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Video from TED YouTube Channel Hans Rosling discusses population growth in the last 50 years, and the increasing gap between industrialized and developing nations. Additional Resources for you to Explore I would like you to consider the benefits of watching this TED talk. How might watching a TED talk like this prepare you for study at university?

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Dictionaries are very useful when students need to check the meaning of words whilst reading. However, they should be used sparingly because students' reading loads at university can be quite high; there simply isn't time to check every single word. It is also wise to avoid translating, often the translation can be incorrect, inappropriate, or not the correct word form. I recommend Wordnik because it provides a range of definitions from many dictionaries, examples, synonyms and links to texts which have used the word.

I also suggest these sites:
https://www.powerthesaurus.org
and
https://www.thesaurus.com
and
https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/host-country

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Middle English, from Old English lufu; see leubh- in Indo-European roots.

From Middle English love, luve, from Old English lufu ("love, affection, desire"), from Proto-Germanic *lubō ("love"), from Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ-, *leubʰ- ("love, care, desire"). Cognate with Old Frisian luve ("love"), Old High German luba ("love"). Related to Old English lēof ("dear, beloved"), līefan ("to allow, approve of"), Latin libet, lubō ("to please") and Albanian lyp ("to beg, ask insistently"), lips ("to be demanded, needed"), Serbo-Croatian ljubiti, ljubav, Russian любовь, любить.

From Middle English loven, lovien, from Old English lufian ("to love, cherish, sow love to; fondle, caress; delight in, approve, practice"), from the noun lufu ("love"). See above. Compare West Frisian leavje ("to love"), German lieben ("to love").

From Middle English loven, lovien, from Old English lofian ("to praise, exalt, appraise, value"), from Proto-Germanic *lubōnan ("to praise, vow"), from *luban ("praise"), from Proto-Indo-European *leubʰ- ("to like, love, desire"), *lewbʰ-. Cognate with Scots love, lofe ("to praise, honour, esteem"), Dutch loven ("to praise"), German loben ("to praise"), Swedish lova ("to promise, pledge"), Icelandic lofa ("to promise"). See also lofe.

From the phrase Neither for love nor for money, meaning "nothing".

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Middle English, from Old English lufu; see leubh- in Indo-European roots. From Middle English love, luve, from Old English lufu ("love, affection, desire"), from Proto-Germanic *lubō ("love"), from Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ-, *leubʰ- ("love, care, desire"). Cognate with Old Frisian luve ("love"), Old High German luba ("love").

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Dear students, this video is an brief introduction to academic style. There are audio clips and quizzes to help you to become more familiar with the key aspects of academic style when writing academic assignments.

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Easily create beautiful interactive video lessons for your students you can integrate right into your LMS. Track students' progress with hassle-free analytics as you flip your classroom!

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No introduction is exactly the same, however, there are some common features, such as an opening sentence and a thesis statement. The elements of structure in the introductions have been highlighted to help you identify other common features.

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Here is a website you could use next time read an article. You can cut and paste text from the article, then it will identify the challenging words and simplify them. It will then also create a quiz and word list which is sent to your email account.

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Dear students,
I would like to share this app with you. Perhaps you have watched a video on YouTube that you enjoyed but thought 'this is just to long to share, how can I skip to the good stuff?'. Well now that is possible with EDpuzzle. It allows you to trim videos down to a suitable length, add questions, open questions or multiple choice, record audio comments and share with your friends. If you would like to find out more, simply follow the link below.

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Make any video your lesson. Edit a video by cropping it, adding your voice or embedding questions. Then, track your students with powerful hassle-free analytics.

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Once you have pasted your text into, simpler vocabulary is highlighted in yellow. The example in the screenshot below was taken from the Guardian:

The Guardian. (2017) Delhi doctors declare pollution emergency as smog chokes city. [Online] The Guardian.

Accessed at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/07/delhi-india-declares-pollution-emergency-as-smog-chokes-city Accessed 7/11/2017.

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YouTube can be a great source of information to support students with learning English as a foreign language. in this link, you'll find a couple of videos to teach you the basics of academic style.

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In this Word document you will find a list of sites that you'll find useful during your time at BPP University.

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Websites from learning technologies course.docx

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Hopefully you have looked at the link to the AWL. You may now be wondering how can I check whether I am using enough words from the AWL? One option is attached below, another option is the AWL highlighter on EAP Foundation: http://www.eapfoundation.com/vocab/academic/highlighter/
You simply cut and paste sections of your assignment into the yellow text box, then it analyses your text. The yellow words are from the AWL. What is also quite useful about this site is that it puts all the words into alphabetical order. This could help you to identify whether the vocabulary in your assignment is repetitive.

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Web VP Classic v.4 ** One-word VP-Classic NEW Jan 2018 - Corpus based school subject lists (MSVL - Middle School Vocab. Lists)

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Example of assignment analysis using AWL Vocabulary Profiler

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Example of assignment analysis using AWL Vocabulary Profiler

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The analysis below shows the percentage breakdown of an essay written for a post graduate course in education. The kind of vocabulary you use in your assignments will differ depending on the subject.

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Rewordify simplifies the vocabulary from a text making it easier for students to read. All you need to do is cut and paste your text into the yellow box.  Alternatively, you can past the URL into the box, return to the webpage, and it will highlight difficult vocabulary for it. It also provides an instant dictionary as you scroll over the words.

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One other way that rewordify can help students is with identifying parts of speech. Plagiarism is a serious offence at university, one way to avoid that is by paraphrasing. It helps if students are familiar with word forms in order to paraphrase. Once students are aware of this, it becomes easier to change the word form, for example, manage (verb) can be changed to management (noun), and then used as either the subject or the object of a sentence.

Another use of rewordify is in academic presentations. Native speakers tend to stress nouns and main verbs as these convey the message. Words like prepositions and articles are often unstressed, and spoken much more quickly because they are not as important. Therefore, using Rewordify to identify parts of speech can help students to make their presentations much clearer.

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Manchester Phrasebank contains core phrases which will help students to structure their assignments. It covers everything from introductions, to methodology sections and referring to literature.

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UEFAP is a one stop shop for students' academic needs. It covers how to reference, word forms - nominalisation (turning verbs and adjectives to nouns), and paragraph structure.

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Using English for Academic Purposes: Information and Advice for Students in Higher Education

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Student Minds is the UK’s student mental health charity. Often when students feel stressed, they may feel they are alone and there is no one to turn to. This charity provides trained counsellors for students to discuss their issues. There is an expression, a problem shared, is a problem halved.

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Student Minds is the UK&#39;s student mental health charity. Peer interventions can change the state of student mental health. We deliver research-driven training and support to equip students to bring about positive change on their campus.

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There's no rule for collocations, you need to read and note collocations to learn them. Fortunately, there is a website that can aid your learning.
Another site you can use is:
http://www.just-the-word.com/
or,
https://www.wordandphrase.info/

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When you cite from an article or book, you should aim to use a combination of summarising and paraphrasing. You also need to use a reporting verb if your citation is author prominent. Students are usually familiar with 'states' and 'according to', however, this is limited as there can be a range of stances and strength of arguments conveyed by reporting verbs. This guide provides information as to how you can express different functions, and to what extent your stance is similar to the author of the text you have cited from.

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This music video teaches students the grammar of modal verbs and main verbs through recent pop songs.

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Using photographs in your presentation slides

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Using photographs in your presentation slides

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You will need to present during your studies at BPP. It can be difficult at times to find high-quality pictures to include. So, take a look at this website for free pictures.

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4.5 million+ Stunning Free Images to Use Anywhere - Pixabay - Pixabay

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Find your perfect royalty-free image or video to download and use. ✓ Royalty-free ✓ No attribution required ✓ High quality images.

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Quite a few international students need support with grammar. So, I have added this page, you can search for an area of grammar, for example, past simple, and then find explanations and exercises.

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English Grammar Online - Reference and Explanations - Learning English

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English Grammar - Easy Explanations - Materials for Teaching and Learning English

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This is another useful site for visual aids in presentations. It is used to explain a process and has several pictures and clips that are ready to use.

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Make animated videos in minutes. With the help of simpleshow's AI-powered animation maker you can create explainer videos quickly and easily.

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When students include references in their essays, the sources have to be introduced and commented on. This document shows how students can achieve this and maintain their own style whilst writing.

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This document explains why students need to paraphrase, as well as the what and how of paraphrasing.

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This site helps students to write end of text references. Another site that is very useful is Zotero: https://www.zotero.com
https://www.refworks.com/

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Cite This For Me™ was launched in October 2010, we began with the mission of helping students quickly create citations. Since then, the Cite This For Me™ citation generator has assisted millions of students across the world including in the United Kingdom, Canada, United States, Australia, and beyond.

Our tools are designed to help you quickly prepare an entire bibliography or reference list. Even if you know very little about references, our forms and automatic citation features can help guide you through the process and tell you what information is needed. This means less guessing for you and an easier citation process!

Nearly any style you can think of is supported by the Cite This For Me™ citation generator, including Harvard referencing, APA (American Psychological Association) style, MLA (Modern Language Association) style, Chicago style, Vancouver, and thousands of others.

Citing isn't something you usually think about, but it's important nonetheless. You already do it in your everyday life without realising it. Have you ever said, "I heard on XYZ News that . . . ", or "I read in XYZ that those two celebrities are dating", or even "Mom said that you can't do that". By saying where you got your information, you are casually citing a source.

We do this because it gives credibility to what we say, but also because it credits the originator of the information. It also allows others to follow up if they need more information. Formal citing done for papers and projects takes this a step further. In addition to the reasons mentioned above, citing sources in academia provides evidence of your research process and helps you avoid plagiarism.

Plagiarism is a word you never want to hear describing your work. You've probably seen headlines in the news and heard stories in school about the negative consequences of plagiarism. It's not good but it is preventable. By creating references and citations with Cite This For Me™ tools you're taking steps to help avoid this.

Click the button "Create citations" to begin. You'll be prompted to choose a source type and guided through the rest of the citing process. For source types like websites, journal articles, and books, the Cite This For Me™ citation generator automatically tries to find your source's information based on details you provide. That could be anything from the author's name to the source's URL to the article's DOI number. This makes citing more efficient and helps you easily create references and citations for your paper in a timely manner.

Beyond simply creating references or citations, most citation styles have additional guidelines about paper formatting, in-text citations, and other details. Cite This For Me™ citation guides cover a lot of this additional information, so your paper is more properly prepped and less likely to get points taken off for these details. The guides cover several citation styles, but the most popular are Harvard referencing, APA format, MLA format, and Chicago style.

A good paper references several sources. Multiply that with the several papers most schools assign in a year, and you get dozens of sources that will need to be cited within your academic career. That's a lot of references to create, sort through, and keep track of.

That's where Cite This For Me™ Premium comes in. With a premium account you can cite as many sources as you want, organize the sources into bibliographies, and save ALL of those bibliographies so you can easily refer back to your references. It's a great way to manage your bibliographies and cite with confidence.

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Cite This For Me: Harvard, APA, MLA Reference Generator

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Automatic works cited and bibliography formatting for MLA, APA and Chicago/Turabian citation styles. Now supports 7th edition of MLA.

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In order to avoid wasting time writing essay content that may later need to be revised or deleted, it is advisable to plan before you begin writing assignments. This link contains guidance on how to plan the content and structure in assignments.
Below are some examples of what an essay plan looks like:

https://www.vu.edu.au/sites/default/files/campuses-services/pdfs/working-plan.pdf

https://www.thestudygurus.com/.../%5BTSG%5D%20Essay%20Plan%20Template.pdf

https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/as/libraryservices/.../Short-Guide-Essay-Planning.pd.

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Planning an essay : Skills Hub: University of Sussex

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Check the title, idea or plan with your tutor. He or she might have expectations you haven't realised and may spot a problem with the basic idea. (Luke Martell, Professor of Political Sociology at the University of Sussex).

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In week five we looked at the arguments surrounding the NLW in the UK. There were some new items of vocabulary, and other words that perhaps you are less familiar with. If you would like further practice of these terms, then you can use this quiz which may help with retention of such terms.

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Start studying National Living Wage texts. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools.

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Personal reflections reports are very different from the academic style students are expected to use in most university assignments. For start, you can use personal pronouns, in fact, it is essential. To start with, you need to state what you have learned from an experience, and then think critically as to what you could do in the future to improve.

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The Oxford 3000 Word List contains the most useful words in the English language. These words are used with a high frequency. In fact, these words appears in spoken and written texts approximately 85% of the time. I have added the list in this link: https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/wordlist/english/oxford3000/
If you would like to check your text for these words, the link is below.

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Oxford Text Checker at Oxford Learner's Dictionaries

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The Oxford Text Checker will check the vocabulary in any text against one of three wordlists. See more at oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com.

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Web Corp is another tool that students, or indeed anyone, can use to analyse text. A URL can be posted into the search box, or you can paste text from a document, and it will analyse the text not only for frequency, but also concordance. Below I have analysed one of my essays on student autonomy in Higher Education. If you click on the words, you can then see the word 'student' highlighted in blue. Looking at the example sentences can help students to understand how the word functions in a setence, and which words collocate with it. I checked 'students', the results show the most frequent collocation is 'international students'.

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research and development unit for english studies

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WebCorp: Using the World Wide Web as a corpus - a rich source of linguistic information.

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A review of literature helps to ground your work in the wider academic context of your study. You need to show the reader you have knowledge of your field if you are to convince the reader that your research question is relevant. You need to 'address' a gap in the field, this can form the basis of your research project.
If you are unsure how to write these statements,  you can use Manchester Phrasebank for more guidance.

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This site contains web-based resources and materials designed for students to develop and broaden their skills in academic English.

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· To encourage you to think about your writing process, with a view to improving it · To suggest techniques you can use at the prewriting stage: to better access, record and organise your own ideas on a topic · To help you benefit from peer and tutor feedback that you receive on your work · To encourage more efficient proof-reading of work before submission

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This site is a fantastic tool for use in presentations. It helps data come alive and will make your presentations more interesting to watch. It was used by the late, great Hans Rosling, (see TED talk above) to entertain and educate his audiences.

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Animated global statistics that everyone can understand

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Prepare for Success is an interactive web learning tool for international students who are getting ready to come to the UK for study in further or higher education. It contains learning resources which are activity-based to help you find out about different aspects of academic life in the UK and the skills needed for effective study.

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Prepare for Success is an interactive web learning tool for international students who are getting ready to come to the UK for study in further or higher education. It contains learning resources which are activity-based to help you find out about different aspects of academic life in the UK and the…

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Jstor is full of academic articles, conference papers and reviews that can be used to provide supporting evidence in students' academic assignments. Most of the articles are peer-reviewed, which is important because the evidence should be from reliable and academically credible sources.

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JSTOR is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources.

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Who said learning can't be fun? In the Google document below is a range of YouTube videos on various aspects of academic writing, and the typical mistakes students make in their academic writing. Click on the links to learn more about academic discourse and grammar.

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Before you plan your assignments, it is important to read the question carefully so that you understand what you are expected to do. Make sure you understand the topic, but you also need to know how you will approach the question. For example 'compare' would indicate that the writer must look at two or more theories. 'Evaluate' may also require a comparison, in addition to  analysis, and eventually a final judgement that one idea is suitable, or applicable, than another in that particular context.

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Student Learning Advisory Service - University of Kent

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We are here to support all students, from foundation to PhD, to achieve their academic potential. Our appointments and workshops are both online and face-to-face.

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You will learn about the academic word list in week one. This list consists of 570 headwords which frequently occur in academic writing. You can get started by practising with this list. Please ask your teacher to add more words from the AWL to the Quizlet throughout the pre-sessional.

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Start studying Academic word list. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools.

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Yes, they are the same language, however, there some differences in vocabulary choice, spelling, tense and pronunciation. Generally, so long as you are consistent in your use, you can decide which you prefer. Some of you may well go on to work for companies that trade in the US. Nonetheless, you are now studying in the UK, hence you should aim to use EE, or BE (British English).

Here is a link for spelling:
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/spelling/british-and-spelling

The link below is for vocabulary.

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American and British English - Vocabulary - A - M

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Differences in American and British English - Learning English Online

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This dictionary is useful if you wish to understand the colloquial terms you might hear on the street, or in a nightclub. Sometimes, more informal terms can be more appropriate in a seminar context.

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Urban Dictionary, November 26: Tragedeigh

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(Pronounced: tragedy) When parents overcomplicate the spellings of names in order for their child's name to sound ✨u n I q U E✨. That's a tragedeigh. These aren't to be mistaken for names from other languages, though. Some examples include Londynn (London), Crimzynn (Crimson), Ashleigh (Ashley), and Myrrandah (Miranda).

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Depending on the subject of study, master's degree students will have to conduct primary research. This might be qualitative or quantitative. This website is perhaps more beneficial to students carrying out quantitative research, but either way, it can help researchers to sen, and more importantly, collect surveys from participants with greater ease.

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It is important to write your essays according to required academic conventions of your university. This includes vocabulary, references and also style. Academic work needs to be suitably formal and objective, therefore, students should avoid contractions, personal pronoun and emotional language. Please see the attached guide and links for details.
https://twp.duke.edu/sites/twp.duke.edu/files/file-attachments/academic-style-guide.original.pdf

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Students often make mistakes with uncountable nouns, in academic writing many nouns are abstract, therefore they cannot be counted. It is helpful to learn some of the most common of these nouns so that you avoid mistakes with articles and plurals. This website contains the most common uncountable nouns, as well as tips and advice for usage.

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A list containing the most common uncountable nouns with tips and advice. Countable and uncountable nouns are some of the most common mistakes that students make in English. This page will explain everything to you.
Download PDF: Uncountable Nouns List
Countable nouns are nouns which can be counted in numbers. For example, one house / two houses. When we use countable nouns, we use the article "a" and the plural "s" (a house, two houses).

Uncountable nouns are nouns which can't be counted. For example, information. It is not possible to say one information/ two informations. The word "information" can't be counted using numbers. It can never have a plural "s". It can never have an article "a" or "an". And it can never be quantified with any number.

Most uncountable nouns relate to:

liquids (milk, water)

abstract ideas (advice, chaos, motivation)

powder and grain (rice, wheat, sand)

mass nouns (furniture, hair, transportation)

natural phenomena (sunshine, snow, rain, weather)

states of being (sleep, stress, childhood)

feelings (anger, happiness, enthusiasm, courage)

gas (oxygen, air)

How much ...? = uncountable nouns / How many ...? = countable nouns /

These = countable / This = uncountable

many = countable / a lot of = uncountable (and countable)

not many = countable / not much uncountable (we use "much" with negative uncountable nouns)

To express an amount of an uncountable noun, you must use other words.

some information = a piece of information

some clothing = one item of clothing / two items of clothing

some equipment = a piece of equipment / two pieces of equipment

some water = a cup of water / two glasses of water

I have put the most common words in bold. Some words are both countable and uncoutable - I have put a note next to those words.
A-F Uncountable Nouns G -M Uncountable Nouns N-S Uncountable Nouns T - Z Uncountable Nouns
Some nouns can be both countable and uncountable.

Room = has two meanings. One is countable and one is uncountable.

If this is about a room in a house, it is countable.

If this is relating to space "there isn't much room in this place", it is uncountable.

Hair = this can be countable and uncountable depending on how you use it.

"There is a hair in my soup". This refers to only one strand of hair and is countable.

"He has a lot of hair". This refers to the mass of hair and is considered uncountable.

Business = this can be countable and uncountable.

"He is going to Paris on business". This is uncountable.

"I will take my business elsewhere". This is uncountable and means I will take my custom to another shop.

"He studies business at school". This is uncountable.

"I am planning to start a new business". Countable.

This is a difficult one with a lot of exceptions. Here's a link with a list of rules for the word business / countable and uncountable.
Other Irregular Uncountable Nouns
light / paper / time / work /

For details of irregular uncountable nouns, follow the link.

Fill in the gaps using one of the following: many / much / a lot of.

1. ............. wildlife are losing their habitation due to deforestation.

2. I haven't heard .......... news about the recent events in Europe.

3. There aren't .......... sports lessons offered in the school curriculum.

4. I can't go out to tonight because I've got ............ work.

5. It is often thought that people who have only traveled in their own country don't have ................ tolerance for others compared to people who have been abroad.

6. ............ literature that students read at school is classical.

7. ........... education policies are designed to protect students but ensure a high level of learning.

Answers
Fill in the gaps with on of the following: is / are.

1. Silence ......... essential in libraries to ensure that people can concentrate on what they are reading.

2. There ....... a lot of company advertising during major sports events.

3. Shopping ........ one of the most popular leisure activities for women.

4. There ........ a lot of information available online about IELTS.

5. There .......... a lot of traffic in city centers during rush hour.

6. There ........... not enough money spent on research for cancer.

7. Water ........ essential for plants to thrive.

8. I think that childhood ........ one of the best times of a person's live.

9. The management procedures ......... difficult to understand.

10. Not enough aid .... given to third world countries.

Answers Recommended

Main IELTS Pages
Develop your IELTS skills with tips, model answers, lessons, free videos and more.

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A list containing the most common uncountable nouns with tips and advice. Countable and uncountable nouns are some of the most common mistakes that students make in English. This page will explain everything to you. Download PDF: Uncountable Nouns List Countable nouns are nouns which can be counted in numbers.

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This is a map of the wheel-ruts of modern English. Etymologies are not definitions; they're explanations of what our words meant and how they sounded 600 or 2,000 years ago.

Many of the words used in academic writing derive from Latin, Greek and French, so you may find it helpful to use this site.

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Etymonline - Online Etymology Dictionary

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The online etymology dictionary (etymonline) is the internet’s go-to source for quick and reliable accounts of the origin and history of English words, phrases, and idioms. It is professional enough to satisfy academic standards, but accessible enough to be used by anyone.

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Some students worry about speaking because they struggle to article and pronounce certain sounds and words. Your first language may well have an impact on the way you learn, and speak, your second language. I suggest you research typical errors you will encounter when you use your second language. Below is a site detailing the pronunciation mistakes of Chinese learners of English. You could use this in conjunction with an interactive phonemic chart.
http://www.onestopenglish.com/skills/pronunciation/phonemic-chart-and-app/interactive-phonemic-chart-british-english/

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Is your mother tongue Mandarin? Read our article, with audio, about some common pronunciation errors Mandarin-speakers make in English.

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The music of languages is called intonation, and it’s something you probably don’t even think about when speaking your native language. Intonation is the rise and fall of your voice when you speak. In a presentation, or seminar, intonation helps the audience to maintain interest, or to show you are interested in other speakers.

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Two people just walked by you, speaking in a foreign language.

You didn't understand a word, but you still somehow know what language they were speaking.

How can that be?

All languages have their own distinct melody, or music. To know what I mean, take a look at this video. The girl in the video is not actually speaking any of the languages, she's just using sounds with the right speed, tone and stresses.

This music of languages is called intonation, and it's something you probably don't even think about when speaking your native language. Intonation is the rise and fall of your voice when you speak. Many times, it's just as important as your words in expressing what you want to say.

That's why when you're learning English, you shouldn't just learn what to say, you should also learn how to say it.

So to help, I'm going to show you seven situations where intonation matters in English, with examples of each type.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere.Click here to get a copy. (Download)

How Intonation Changes Meaning

Using the right intonation can actually change the meaning of your words. Think of your voice as a musical instrument. As you speak, your voice gets louder and softer, places emphasis on certain parts, and goes up and down the notes. The notes of your voice are called its pitch, and the change in pitch is what we call intonation.

For example, say this sentence out loud:
"How you doin'?"
This looks like a simple, very informal way to ask someone how they're doing. It's not grammatically correct (it should say "How are you doing?"), but it's easy to understand.

When you said it out loud, you probably started on a low note and rose up to a higher note on the "doin'."

Now listen to Joey from the TV show "Friends" say it in this video. He stresses the word "you" instead, which gives the phrase a completely different meaning. His version of this simple greeting is suggestive (hinting at something sexual) and a bit flirtatious (he's flirting). (Of course, his facial expression doesn't help!).

And it doesn't stop there! Something as simple as the word "really" can have many different meanings depending on your pitch. A rising pitch shows surprise, a falling pitch shows disbelief. Not changing your pitch at all can sound sarcastic (when you say one thing but mean the opposite).

So imagine that your friend just told you he won the lottery. How you say the word "really" will influence how he thinks you feel about this (and might influence whether he shares his prize money!).

It can also explain why sometimes people don't seem to understand you even when you use the right words and grammar.

The Main English Intonation Patterns

There are two main American English intonation patterns:

Falling: This is when your voice lowers its pitch at the end of the sentence, and it's the most common pattern in American English. Use this for most regular statements and questions that are not yes or no questions. Hear it here.

Rising: This is when your voice raises its pitch at the end of the sentence. Use this when you're asking a yes or no question or to show disbelief or anger. Hear it here.

This is a simplified explanation, and there are a number of other different ways you can change your pitch to change your meaning. But if you can learn these two main patterns well, the rest will follow! You'll find out more about them in a bit, but first it's important to learn how to study intonation.

Tips on Practicing English Intonation

To improve your intonation, you will first need to become aware of it. So before you do anything, record yourself speaking. Choose a paragraph that has different kinds of sentences, like the first few sentences in a book you're reading ( here's one you can see online, just click on the book cover on the left to "look inside").

Now that you have a recording of yourself speaking, you can listen to it and hear what needs work. Does your voice sound flat? Does it rise and fall in a way that sounds natural? Do you "sound" like a native speaker?

Shadow read with a video. Shadow reading is when you read along with a video or audio clip. Find a video with subtitles on YouTube or choose any of the videos on FluentU (they're all conveniently subtitled!).

Here are a few tips that will help you get the right sound in your English speech:

FluentU takes real-world videos-like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks -and turns them into language learning experiences.

There are many different types of videos, as you can see here:

FluentU makes it easy to watch and understand native English videos with interactive captions. Tap or click on any word to see what it means, learn how to use it, hear it pronounced and more.

For example, if you tap on the word "brought," then you see this:

You can learn any video's vocabulary with FluentU's fun quizzes. Swipe left or right to see more examples for the word you're learning.

The videos are organized by genre and level, so it's super easy to find the ones that work for you. FluentU also keeps track of your learning, then suggests videos and examples perfect for you.

Start using FluentU on the website or download the FluentU app from the iTunes store or Google Play store.

Mark up your text. Make markings on the text that show where your pitch should rise and fall. You can draw arrows above the words or use lines-whatever works for you.

Exaggerate. Practice your intonation by exaggerating it, which means making it much bigger than it should be. For example, when your pitch is supposed to go up, go really high! You won't speak like this in a conversation, but it's a good way to become more aware of intonation when you speak.

Use a pitch detector. A pitch detector like the one on Get Instinct is usually used for tuning musical instruments. However, since your voice is an instrument, this is a good chance to see your voice's ups and downs (and maybe check how in-tune your singing is).

Try different intonations. Choose one sentence and say it in many different ways. Raise and lower your pitch, put stresses on different words, and just play around with it. Try recording yourself and then listen to how you sound. What makes you sound angry? Surprised? You can learn a lot from just trying different things.

Here's how to use FluentU to shadow read: Watch a short segment, and then watch it again and speak along with the video. Try to match the speed, stress and pitch.

Using these tips should make you more aware of how you're speaking. But when do you use which type of intonation? We're glad you asked!
"Are you going to school tomorrow?"
7 Cases Where Intonation Matters in English
"Why are you going to school tomorrow? It's Saturday!"
Remember that there are other ways to use your voice and pitch to change the meaning of your words. For example, the rhythm and speed of your voice, or where you place the stress in the sentence can also change the meaning. The situations below should give you a good place to start, but always be listening for other ways you can improve the way you speak English!

1. Asking questions

For yes or no questions, use a rising intonation at the end of the sentence.
"I've been playing the violin for seven years."
For most other types of questions, use a falling intonation at the end of the sentence.

Hear it: In this clip the first few questions use a falling intonation, but when the speaker asks "Can I get a tour?" his intonation rises since it's a yes or no question.

2. Making statements
"I love chocolate, strawberry and pistachio ice cream."
Most regular statements (those which just state facts or information; not statements which clarify or emphasize anything) use a falling intonation at the end of the sentence.

Hear it: In this clip from "America's Got Talent," the young comedian Leo answers questions from the judges with this intonation. When he says how old he is and what he does, his answers are statements, and you can hear his voice lower in pitch on the last word.

3. Listing things
"I can't believe he gave you a ride home!"
Items on a list use a rising intonation until the final item, which uses a falling intonation.
"I am so excited for you."
Hear it: You can hear the rising and falling pitch in this video, when vlogger Estee lists what she likes about the bread and what ingredients it has. Listen to her voice when she says the words "like," "bread," Voegels" and the different ingredients of the bread. Every time her pitch goes up, it's a sign that she's not done with the list yet.

4. Expressing feelings

High-energy emotions like happiness, excitement, fright and annoyance usually use a rising intonation. The example below, for example, can be joy, excitement or annoyance depending on the situation.
"I hope you got the red scarf." "I hope you got the red scarf."
Boredom, sarcasm and disinterest often use a falling intonation. For example, the sentence below would sound very sarcastic if you said it in a low pitch. With the sarcastic tone, it would mean that the speaker actually isn't excited at all.

Hear it: The Disney Pixar movie "Inside Out" is all about expressing feelings and emotions, and this clip is a great example of how your voice betrays your emotions. Twelve seconds into the clip, Disgust says, "Hold on, what is that?" with a falling intonation on "that." This shows disgust, since it's not a yes or no question, so it shouldn't rise in pitch. Later on, at around 00:35, Anger starts talking and his voice rises about halfway through his sentences to show how angry he is.

5. Stressing the importance of something
"I thought he liked dogs but he actually likes cats."
Use rising intonation on specific words in a sentence to emphasize their importance. The first example below emphasizes the "red" and implies (suggests) there were choices in color. The second emphasizes the "scarf" and implies there were choices in items.
"You should exercise every day, but I know you don't have the time."
Hear it: The very first line in this clip is an example of emphasizing something using intonation. The emphasis is placed on the words "name," "safe" and "what" as a way of getting the point across. (The point is that names make things feel safe, and by naming something a dinosaur it becomes less threatening.)

6. Contrasting between things

Use a rising intonation and place a stress on the two things you want to contrast.
"It's a beautiful day, isn't it?"
You can also use this intonation to point out things that seem one way, but are another way.

Hear it: This video explains how to compare and contrast. Start at 0:42, and notice how the speaker stresses the bold words in the following sentence: "When people talk about a book versus a movie made from the book, they are..." to place emphasis on the two things being compared.

7. Using tag questions

Use rising intonation on questions at the end of a sentence which require the clarification or opinion of your speaking partner. These are called tag questions.
Experience English immersion online!
Hear it: This video highlights the tag questions in the conversation, so you can see and hear exactly how they work and what they sound like.

Remember, intonation can turn a happy comment into a sarcastic one, or turn a statement into a question. Pay attention to the way you speak and you'll be understood a lot better!

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere.Click here to get a copy. (Download)

If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to learn English with real-world videos.

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Intonation for English Learners: When to Change It and How to Learn It

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Two people just walked by you, speaking in a foreign language. You didn't understand a word, but you still somehow know what language they were speaking. How can that be? All languages have their own distinct melody, or music. To know what I mean, take a look at this video.

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Your mouth shape, the position of the tongue and lips in relation to the teeth, as well as the hard and soft palate, are the facial articulators that aid pronunciation. Using a visual guide in correlation with the phonemic chart can help you to master difficult phonemes and words in English.
http://www.rose-medical.com/mouth-positions.html

https://www.mimicmethod.com/ft101/vowel-height/

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English Pronunciation Skills - Teaching Tips and Resources
Teaching English pronunciation can be a challenging task. Help your English students master those tricky words using our pronunciation resources including teaching tips, apps, interactive phonemic charts, recordings of past webinars and our excellent series of pronunciation videos with Adrian Underhill.

Pronunciation Videos
An exclusive series of short videos about pronunciation, pronunciation learning and how to teach pronunciation. Adrian Underhill offers practical advice to help teachers teach their students to master pronunciation of the English language.
Watch the pronunciation skills videos

Our Previous Pronunciation Webinars
Our previous webinars on pronunciation, teaching with phonics and how to help your English students master those difficult sounds. These webinars feature popular authors such as Adrian Underhill, Jill Leighton and Chris Bowen.
Watch the webinar recordings

Sounds - The pronunciation App
The ultimate mobile English pronunciation aid, for students and teachers. Based on the best-selling "Sound Foundations" by Adrian Underhill, Sounds helps you study, practise and play with pronunciation wherever you are.
Learn more and download

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
English Pronunciation Skills - Teaching Tips and Resources Teaching English pronunciation can be a challenging task. Help your English students master those tricky words using our pronunciation resources including teaching tips, apps, interactive phonemic charts, recordings of past webinars and our excellent series of pronunciation videos with Adrian Underhill.

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This AWL consists of 570 headwords which frequently occur in academic writing. It may help you to make more appropriate choices in your writing and speaking. For example, instead of a phrasal verb like 'set up' you could use the word 'establish'. You should aim to include 8 - 12 % of words from this list in your writing.

http://www.eapfoundation.com/vocab/academic/awllists/

If you would like to learn more about the AWL then you can revise the terms with this Quizlet:
https://quizlet.com/_2ek9sj

The AWL is divided into 10 sub-lists, the Quizlets can be accessed below:

List 1: https://quizlet.com/59877186/academic-word-list-sublist-1-flash-cards/
List 2: https://quizlet.com/59877167/academic-word-list-sublist-2-flash-cards/
List 3: https://quizlet.com/_zibj6
List 4: https://quizlet.com/_zible
List 5: https://quizlet.com/_zi22z
List 6: https://quizlet.com/_xxg4b
List 7: https://quizlet.com/_zib8y
List 8: https://quizlet.com/_zibcd
List 9: https://quizlet.com/_zibe3
List 10: https://quizlet.com/_zibft

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Presenting trends and numerical data in your academic work.

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Presenting trends and numerical data in your academic work.

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For a printer-friendly PDF version of this guide, click here

This guide offers practical advice on how to incorporate numerical information into essays, reports, dissertations, posters and presentations. The guide outlines the role of text, tables, graphs and charts as formats for presenting numerical data. It focuses on issues that should be addressed when presenting numerical data for different audiences and highlights ways that will maximise the impact of such data and ensure that they are easy to read and interpret.

Other useful guides: Bar charts, Histograms, Pie charts.

Introduction

It is likely that there will be occasions when you have numerical information that you want to include in your work, for example figures and other statistics from secondary sources (such as books, journal articles or newspaper reports); the results of experiments; or data that you have collected and analysed as part of a project or dissertation. Such information can be used to illustrate an argument or convey complex or detailed information in a concise manner.

There are three main methods of presenting such information:

it can be incorporated into the main body of text;

it can be presented separately as a table; or

it can be used to construct a graph or chart.

Determining which of these methods is the most appropriate depends upon the amount of data you are dealing with and their complexity. The choice about whether to use text, tables or graphs requires careful consideration if you are to ensure that your reader or audience understands your argument and is not left struggling to interpret data that are poorly presented or in an inappropriate format. It is crucial to remember that when using a table or graph the associated text should describe what the data reveal about the topic; you should not need to describe the information again in words.

Including numbers in the main body of text

Numbers are most effective in the main body of the text of an essay, report or dissertation when there are only two values to compare.

For example:

86% of male students said they regularly ate breakfast compared to 62% of female students.

If you are discussing three or more numbers, including them within the main body of text does not facilitate comprehension or comparison and it is often more useful to use a table incorporated within the text.

For example:

53% of male students said that they always ate breakfast, 33% said that they usually did, and 14% said that they never ate breakfast.

Is more clearly expressed as:

Male students said they ate breakfast:

Always 53%

Usually 33%

Never 14%

In order to help the reader compare the numbers it is also useful to list them according to their magnitude (e.g. from large to small) unless there is a particular pattern or trend in the data that you want to highlight.

In general, numbers are usually given as digits rather than spelt out in the text, e.g. 400 rather than four hundred. However, in some academic journals the convention is to spell out whole numbers between one and ten and use values for all other numbers - so you may wish to find out what the usual practice is within your own discipline.

Presenting numbers in tables

Tables are used to present numerical data in a wide variety of publications from newspapers, journals and textbooks to the sides of grocery packets. They are the format in which most numerical data are initially stored and analysed and are likely to be the means you use to organise data collected during experiments and dissertation research. However, when writing up your work you will have to make a decision about whether a table is the best way of presenting the data, or if it would be easier to understand if you were to use a graph or chart.

This section of the guide identifies the appropriate uses of tables, and discusses some design issues for constructing clear tables which are easy to interpret. The points covered in this guide apply equally to primary data that you have collected yourself, and to data that you have found in secondary sources and which you wish to include in your work. The latter may already be presented as a table in the original work but you do not have to reproduce it exactly. It may be that you only require an extract from the table to support your argument, or that the design of the table could be improved, or that you wish to merge information from two different publications. There is no problem in doing any of these as long as you ensure that you reference the original source of the data in your table.

When to use tables

Tables are an effective way of presenting data:

when you wish to show how a single category of information varies when measured at different points (in time or space). For example, a table would be an appropriate way of showing how the category unemployment rate varies between different countries in the EU (different points in space);

when the dataset contains relatively few numbers. This is because it is very hard for a reader to assimilate and interpret many numbers in a table . In particular, avoid the use of complex tables in talks and presentations when the audience will have a relatively short time to take in the information and little or no opportunity to review it at a later stage;

when the precise value is crucial to your argument and a graph would not convey the same level of precision. For example, when it is important that the reader knows that the result was 2.48 and not 2.45;

when you don't wish the presence of one or two very high or low numbers to detract from the message contained in the rest of the dataset. For example if you are presenting information about the annual profits of an organisation and don't want the underlying variability from one year to the next to be swamped by a large loss in a particular year.

Table design

In order to ensure that your table is clear and easy to interpret there are a number of design issues that need to be considered. These are listed below:

Since tables consist of rows and columns of information it is important to consider how the data are arranged between the two. Most people find it easier to identify patterns in numerical data by reading down a column rather than across a row. This means that you should plan your row and column categories to ensure that the patterns you wish to highlight are revealed in the columns. It is also easier to interpret the data if they arranged according to their magnitude so there is numerical progression down the columns, although this may not always be possible.

If there are several columns or categories of information a table can appear complex and become hard to read. It also becomes more difficult to list the data by magnitude since the order that applies to one column may not be the same for others. In such cases you need to decide which column contains the most important trend and this should be used to structure the table. If the columns are equally important it is often better to include two or more simple tables rather than using a single more complex one.

Numbers in tables should be presented in their most simple format. This may mean rounding up values to avoid the use of decimal places, stating the units (e.g. £4.6 million rather than £4,600,000) or using scientific notation (e.g. 6.315 x 10-2 rather than 0.06315).

All tables should be presented with a title that contains enough detail that a reader can understand the content without needing to consult the accompanying text. There should also be information about the source of the data being used; this may be a reference to a book or journal, or could indicate that the data are results from an experiment carried out on a particular date.

Where more than one table is being presented it is standard practice to give each one a unique reference number, and in larger pieces of work, such as dissertations, a list of tables with their page number is usually provided in addition to the contents page.

The formatting of the table should not resemble a spreadsheet where each entry is bounded by a box since this makes it difficult to read across rows or down columns. However, the design of the table should help the reader interpret the data and so the use of lines and/or bold text to separate headings from the body of data, or highlighting/shading specific rows or may be effective. Avoid large gaps between columns since this also makes it difficult to read along a row.

Examples of poor and better practice in the presentation of data in tables

Poor example

(Adaptation of Table 1 (below), originating from Regional Trends (2000), Issue 35, Section 8, Table 8.16, Crown Copyright).

This is a poor example because:

the table lacks a title

the source of the information is not provided

row titles straddle two lines

each cell is bounded as if in a spreadsheet

the alphabetical listing of regions results in a non-numerical ordering of data down the columns

Better example

Graphs

Graphs are a good means of describing, exploring or summarising numerical data because the use of a visual image can simplify complex information and help to highlight patterns and trends in the data. They are a particularly effective way of presenting a large amount of data but can also be used instead of a table to present smaller datasets. There are many different graph types to choose from and a critical issue is to ensure that the graph type selected is the most appropriate for the data. Having done this, it is then essential to ensure that the design and presentation of the graph help the reader or audience interpret the data.

A summary of the types of data that can be presented in the most common types of graphs is provided below and this is followed by some general guidelines for designing readily understandable graphs. There is more detailed information on the uses and good design of particular types of graph in the companion study guides covering bar charts, histograms, pie charts, line graphs and scatter plots available from the Student Learning Centre.

Types of Graph

Bar charts

Bar charts are one of the most commonly used types of graph and are used to display and compare the number, frequency or other measure (e.g. mean) for different discrete categories or groups. The graph is constructed such that the heights or lengths of the different bars are proportional to the size of the category they represent. Since the x-axis (the horizontal axis) represents the different categories it has no scale. The y-axis (the vertical axis) does have a scale and this indicates the units of measurement. The bars can be drawn either vertically or horizontally depending upon the number of categories and length or complexity of the category labels. There are various ways in which bar charts can be constructed and this makes them a very flexible chart type. For example, if there is more than one set of values for each category then grouped or component bar charts can be used to display the data. Further details about each of these different types of bar chart can be found in the associated study guide Bar Charts.

Histograms

Histograms are a special form of bar chart where the data represent continuous rather than discrete categories. For example a histogram could be used to present details of the average number of hours exercise carried out by people of different ages because age is a continuous rather than a discrete category. However, because a continuous category may have a large number of possible values the data are often grouped to reduce the number of data points. For example, instead of drawing a bar for each individual age between 0 and 65, the data could be grouped into a series of continuous age ranges such as 16-24, 25-34, 35-44 etc. Unlike a bar chart, in a histogram both the x- and y-axes have a scale. This means that it is the area of the bar that is proportional to the size of the category represented and not just its height Further information on constructing histograms is available in the associated study guide Histograms.

Pie charts

Pie charts are a visual way of displaying how the total data are distributed between different categories. The example here shows the proportional distribution of visitors between different types of tourist attractions. Similar uses of a pie chart would be to show the percentage of the total votes received by each party in an election. Pie charts should only be used for displaying nominal data (i.e. data that are classed into different categories). They are generally best for showing information grouped into a small number of categories and are a graphical way of displaying data that might otherwise be presented as a simple table. The study guide Pie Charts gives more details about designing pie charts and using them to compare data.

Source: Social Trends 30, Visits to the most popular tourist attractions, 1981, 1991 and 1998, Tables 13.14, Crown Copyright.

Line graphs

Line graphs are usually used to show time series data - that is how one or more variables vary over a continuous period of time. Typical examples of the types of data that can be presented using line graphs are monthly rainfall and annual unemployment rates. Line graphs are particularly useful for identifying patterns and trends in the data such as seasonal effects, large changes and turning points. As well as time series data, line graphs can also be appropriate for displaying data that are measured over other continuous variables such as distance. For example, a line graph could be used to show how pollution levels vary with increasing distance from a source, or how the level of a chemical varies with depth of soil. However, it is important to consider whether the data have been collected at sufficiently regular intervals so that estimates made for a point lying half-way along the line between two successive measurements would be reasonable. In a line graph the x-axis represents the continuous variable (for example year or distance from the initial measurement) whilst the y-axis has a scale and indicates the measurement. Several data series can be plotted on the same line chart and this is particularly useful for analysing and comparing the trends in different datasets.

Source: Office for National Statistics, Reproduced under the terms of the Click-Use Licence.

Scatter plots

Scatter plots are used to show the relationship between pairs of quantitative measurements made for the same object or individual. For example, a scatter plot could be used to present information about the examination and coursework marks for each of the students in a class. In the example here, the paired measurements are the age and height of children in 1837. In a scatter plot a dot represents each individual or object (child in this case) and is located with reference to the x-axis and y-axis, each of which represent one of the two measurements. By analysing the pattern of dots that make up a scatter plot it is possible to identify whether there is any systematic or causal relationship between the two measurements. For example, in this case it is clear from the upward trending pattern of dots that children's height increases with age. Regression lines can also be added to the graph and used to decide whether the relationship between the two sets of measurements can be explained or if it is due to chance.

Source: The Penny Magazine, 15 July 1837. Charles Knight & Co.

Good graph design

Although there are many different types of graph, there are a number of elements that are common to the majority of them such as axes. This section provides some general guidelines to help you design your graph and ensure that you apply these elements in a way that will help the reader or audience interpret the data you are presenting.

Components of a graph

The different components of a graph are identified in the diagram on the next page and this is followed by a description that highlights some of the specific design and presentation issues related to each component.

Chart area

The chart area defines the boundary of all the elements related to the graph including the plot itself and any headings and explanatory text. It emphasises that these elements need to be considered together and that they are separate from the surrounding text. The boundary of the chart area can be imaginary rather than defined by a frame.

Plot area

The plot area is the region containing the data. It is bounded by the x- and y-axes to the bottom and left side. The frame can be completed by drawing around the top and right sides too, but this is not essential.

The x-axis

The x-axis is the horizontal line that defines the base of the plot area. Depending upon which type of graph is being considered different locations on the x -axis represent either different categories (such as years) or different positions along a numerical scale (such as temperature or income). Details are placed just below the x-axis and an axis label is usually provided to clarify the units of measurement. However, if the category details are mentioned somewhere else such as in the title of the graph, or are very obvious (such as years) then it is not necessary to include an axis label.

The y-axis

The y-axis is the vertical line that usually defines the left side of the plot area, but if more than one variable is being plotted on the graph then the vertical lines on both the left and right sides of the plot area may be used as y-axes. The y-axis always has a numerical scale and is used to show values such as counts, frequencies or percentages. Intervals on the scale are marked by numbers and tick marks, indicating the major divisions, to the left of the y-axis. Like the x-axis, the y-axis usually has a label that provides details of the units of measurement. The label is often written vertically to follow the line of the y-axis but can instead be placed just above the top of the y-axis.
In order to best highlight a trend in the data, it may be necessary to start the y-axis scale at a point other than zero. In such cases the starting value on the y-axis should be clearly labelled and the readers' attention drawn to the non-zero start by breaking the y-axis just below the first value as shown in the example opposite.

Gridlines

Gridlines are the vertical and horizontal lines placed within the plot area to help read values from the graph. The gridlines should be subtle and not detract from the data. In the case of simple graphs it is not always necessary to include them. Gridlines are usually drawn at regular intervals based on the major divisions of the y-axis scale.

Title

All graphs should include a title that summarises what the graph shows. The title should identify what is being described (e.g. speeding offences detected by automatic cameras) and the units of measurements (e.g. percentages, total number, frequency). The title may be placed within the chart area, as in the example above, or above or below the chart.

Reference to source of information

If the graph you are presenting is based on data from another publication then you should acknowledge the source of the original data somewhere within the chart area or title. If however, the graph is based on data that you have collected yourself then there is usually no need to provide details of the information source since this is usually clear from the accompanying text.

Other design considerations

Use of colour and shading

In bar charts, histograms, and pie charts, shading and colour are often used to distinguish the areas representing different categories. The choice of which colour combinations and shading patterns to use is ultimately a personal matter but there are some general points that will help ensure your chart is easy to interpret.

If there is a natural order or sequence to the data you are plotting then the colours or shading patterns used to represent the categories should reflect this so that the colours of adjacent areas grade from dark tones to light tones or vice versa.

In the example below therefore, A and D show a better use of shading than B. The darkest colours should also be placed at the bottom of the column otherwise they dominate the bar and can give the impression that it is top heavy. For example compare A and C which show the same colour sequence but in reverse order. Similar optical effects can occur with the use of some shading patterns. For example the patterns used in E are too busy and make distinguishing the different areas of the bar difficult. In F, the use of vertical lines results in the apparent lengthening of the bottom area of the bar whilst the horizontal lines have the effect of shortening the upper area of the bar when in fact the two areas are equal in size.

3D effects

Many PC-based graphing packages offer the possibility of producing graphs and charts with a 3D effect. However, in general the use of 3D makes it much more difficult to interpret the data presented in chart or graph because the false depth and perspective that are added to the chart make reading and comparing values extremely difficult. This can be seen in the example given here where it is difficult to judge the heights of the columns and the use of perspective results in some bars covering parts of others.

Source: The Home Office Statistical Bulletin, Motoring Offences, England and Wales 1997, Crown Copyright

Similar problems occur with the use of 3D in pie charts which make it difficult to judge the size of the slices. Even when they represent similar sized categories, those slices at the rear of the chart automatically appear smaller than those at the front due to the false perspective.

Where next?

This guide has outlined the role of text and tables as formats for presenting numerical data and summarised the most common graph types and the types of data that they can be used to present. The guide has focussed on providing general design and presentation advice for making numerical data easy to read and interpret. More detailed information about the individual graph and chart types and any specific design issues related to them can be found in the companion study guides: Bar charts, Histograms and Pie charts.

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For a printer-friendly PDF version of this guide, click here This guide offers practical advice on how to incorporate numerical information into essays, reports, dissertations, posters and presentations. The guide outlines the role of text, tables, graphs and charts as formats for presenting numerical data.

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Citing from internet sources is becoming more common in academic writing. However, some lecturers feel frustrated about the length of the URLs provided in references. So, use this site to help you to shorten these URLs.

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URL Shortener - Short URLs & Custom Free Link Shortener | Bitly

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Bitly’s Connections Platform is more than a free URL shortener, with robust link management software, advanced QR Code features, and a Link-in-bio solution.

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Some assignments will require additional documents and evidence of research, for example, research consent forms, or internal company reports. You will need to keep a record of these in the appendix of your research assignment, report and dissertation.

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Research Guides: Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper: Appendices

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The purpose of this guide is to provide advice on how to develop and organize a research paper in the social sciences.

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One of the most common mistakes for students of all nationalities is when to use an article. Some language don't have articles, and others are gendered, so theses tend to be tricky to master. Uncountable nouns tend not to need articles, unless you use a quantifier, such as a pint of milk. As academic writing requires a number of abstract nouns, it's worth reviewing these.

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Reports have a very different structure from essays, for one, you can use more headings, tables and figures, and reports are generally more informative than discussive. This guide covers the main differences between these genres of writing.
https://libguides.reading.ac.uk/reports/structuring#s-lg-box-10944804

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This app allows you to add music or audio to your video clips.

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Summarising and paraphrasing should be used in conjunction to avoid plagiarim. This website can typically reduce news articles by about 75%, at present this works mostly for newspaper article, but look out for the future of summarised academic texts!

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u/autotldr: Automatically summarizes long Reddit posts and submissions. Powered by SMMRY.

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You will find a lot of information about the English language on this site. You can learn English words, practise grammar, look at some basic rules, prepare for exams, do tests or just have fun playing games. Enjoy yourself with more than 900 exercises online.

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Grammar & Vocabulary

You can look up basic grammar rules in our Grammar section. We provide vocabulary lists, useful phrases and sentences, idioms, sample letters and information about English-speaking countries in our Vocabulary section.

Tests & Exams

Check your English with our Tests and Complex Tests. You can prepare for exams with our Exercises for Exams.

English & School

You can download Worksheets for students and Teaching Ideas for teachers of English as a second language. You find our exercises selected in Levels. Each exercise can be identified by a four digit Task Number.

English & Free Time

In our Games section you can solve Crosswords, play Hangman or Find pairs of words and pictures. Read News in English or English Texts.

English Forum

Join our English Forum to discuss special questions about the English language.

News and Updates

Here you see the latest news on englisch-hilfen.de.

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Learning English - Exercises, Grammar, Vocabulary, Tests, Games

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Learning English - Grammar, Vocabulary, Exercises, Tests, Games and Exams - Teaching and Learning English

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During your presentation, you may wish to avoid standing behind the computer monitor so that you can interact with the audience. Now there are apps where you can download clickers onto your phone so that you can be more natural, and use gestures when you deliver presentations.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwj9ltrvuqPgAhUSRK0KHeyhA_0QFjABegQIBxAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fsupport.apple.com%2Fen-us%2FHT204378&usg=AOvVaw1CeeplJL7L2i3K9sAXEywv

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You may need to give longer presentations at university. At times it can be difficult to interact with the audience and ensure they are engaged. Polling sites allow your audience to interact, answer questions and share their opinions. Site like Slido can help you to collate information and present audience responses in real time.

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It's how you include everyone
in your meetings

Slido gives you everything you need to engage your participants, capture their views and make everyone feel connected - whether you're running a team call, training or an all-company meeting.

Intuitive and easy

The attendees can join without any logins or downloads, and the setup for hosts takes only minutes.

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With Slido's 5 types of polls, Q&A, quizzes and surveys, you can engage your participants in a variety of ways.

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Start with our forever-free Basic plan, or get more from Slido for only €10 per month.

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Slido is the ultimate Q&A and polling platform for live and virtual meetings and events. It offers interactive Q&A, live polls and insights about your audience.

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Again, this is another fun video as grammar does not have to be learned from text books.

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"Weird Al" Yankovic - Word Crimes (Official 4K Video)

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Students often make mistakes with uncountable nouns, in academic writing many nouns are abstract, therefore they cannot be counted. It is helpful to learn some of the most common of these nouns so that you avoid mistakes with articles and plurals. This website contains the most common uncountable nouns, as well as tips and advice for usage.

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A list containing the most common uncountable nouns with tips and advice. Countable and uncountable nouns are some of the most common mistakes that students make in English. This page will explain everything to you.
Download PDF: Uncountable Nouns List
Countable nouns are nouns which can be counted in numbers. For example, one house / two houses. When we use countable nouns, we use the article "a" and the plural "s" (a house, two houses).

Uncountable nouns are nouns which can't be counted. For example, information. It is not possible to say one information/ two informations. The word "information" can't be counted using numbers. It can never have a plural "s". It can never have an article "a" or "an". And it can never be quantified with any number.

Most uncountable nouns relate to:

liquids (milk, water)

abstract ideas (advice, chaos, motivation)

powder and grain (rice, wheat, sand)

mass nouns (furniture, hair, transportation)

natural phenomena (sunshine, snow, rain, weather)

states of being (sleep, stress, childhood)

feelings (anger, happiness, enthusiasm, courage)

gas (oxygen, air)

How much ...? = uncountable nouns / How many ...? = countable nouns /

These = countable / This = uncountable

many = countable / a lot of = uncountable (and countable)

not many = countable / not much uncountable (we use "much" with negative uncountable nouns)

To express an amount of an uncountable noun, you must use other words.

some information = a piece of information

some clothing = one item of clothing / two items of clothing

some equipment = a piece of equipment / two pieces of equipment

some water = a cup of water / two glasses of water

I have put the most common words in bold. Some words are both countable and uncoutable - I have put a note next to those words.
A-F Uncountable Nouns G -M Uncountable Nouns N-S Uncountable Nouns T - Z Uncountable Nouns
Some nouns can be both countable and uncountable.

Room = has two meanings. One is countable and one is uncountable.

If this is about a room in a house, it is countable.

If this is relating to space "there isn't much room in this place", it is uncountable.

Hair = this can be countable and uncountable depending on how you use it.

"There is a hair in my soup". This refers to only one strand of hair and is countable.

"He has a lot of hair". This refers to the mass of hair and is considered uncountable.

Business = this can be countable and uncountable.

"He is going to Paris on business". This is uncountable.

"I will take my business elsewhere". This is uncountable and means I will take my custom to another shop.

"He studies business at school". This is uncountable.

"I am planning to start a new business". Countable.

This is a difficult one with a lot of exceptions. Here's a link with a list of rules for the word business / countable and uncountable.
Other Irregular Uncountable Nouns
light / paper / time / work /

For details of irregular uncountable nouns, follow the link.

Fill in the gaps using one of the following: many / much / a lot of.

1. ............. wildlife are losing their habitation due to deforestation.

2. I haven't heard .......... news about the recent events in Europe.

3. There aren't .......... sports lessons offered in the school curriculum.

4. I can't go out to tonight because I've got ............ work.

5. It is often thought that people who have only traveled in their own country don't have ................ tolerance for others compared to people who have been abroad.

6. ............ literature that students read at school is classical.

7. ........... education policies are designed to protect students but ensure a high level of learning.

Answers
Fill in the gaps with on of the following: is / are.

1. Silence ......... essential in libraries to ensure that people can concentrate on what they are reading.

2. There ....... a lot of company advertising during major sports events.

3. Shopping ........ one of the most popular leisure activities for women.

4. There ........ a lot of information available online about IELTS.

5. There .......... a lot of traffic in city centers during rush hour.

6. There ........... not enough money spent on research for cancer.

7. Water ........ essential for plants to thrive.

8. I think that childhood ........ one of the best times of a person's live.

9. The management procedures ......... difficult to understand.

10. Not enough aid .... given to third world countries.

Answers Recommended

Main IELTS Pages
Develop your IELTS skills with tips, model answers, lessons, free videos and more.

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A list containing the most common uncountable nouns with tips and advice. Countable and uncountable nouns are some of the most common mistakes that students make in English. This page will explain everything to you. Download PDF: Uncountable Nouns List Countable nouns are nouns which can be counted in numbers.

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This dictionary is useful if you wish to understand the colloquial terms you might hear on the street, or in a night club. Sometimes more informal terms can be more appropriate in a seminar context.

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Urban Dictionary, November 26: Tragedeigh

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(Pronounced: tragedy) When parents overcomplicate the spellings of names in order for their child's name to sound ✨u n I q U E✨. That's a tragedeigh. These aren't to be mistaken for names from other languages, though. Some examples include Londynn (London), Crimzynn (Crimson), Ashleigh (Ashley), and Myrrandah (Miranda).

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When you synthesize sources, you will need to indicate whether authors and researchers agree or disgaree. Using connectors like neither/nor will show where experts and writers disgree in their field of research.

https://thewritepractice.com/how-to-use-either-neither-or-and-nor-correctly/

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Neither, neither ... nor and not ... either - English Grammar Today - Cambridge Dictionary

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Neither, neither ... nor and not ... either - English Grammar Today - a reference to written and spoken English grammar and usage - Cambridge Dictionary

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Connectors, or conjunctions, are an easy way to join cluaes together and expand simple sentences into longer compound and complex sentences. There are various categories to signal the relationship between the clauses, for example, to compare and contrast, or add additional information.

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Prepositions can be tricky for many students regardless of their first language. They indicate the relationship between objects and time. Some of these are more abstract in their use, making it harder to understand whether you have used the correct prepositions. You can also use a site like Flax which should help you to understand how prepositions function in a sentence.

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Printer Fabulous!

Recognize a preposition when you find one.

Prepositions almost always indicate location. Often, this location is in the physical world.

Here are three examples:

The puppy is
on the floor.

The puppy is
beside the shoe.

The puppy is
with a friend.

On, beside, and with are all prepositions. With the other words that make up the prepositional phrase, they are showing where the puppy is.

In addition, prepositions can show location in time. Read the next three examples:

At midnight, Jill craved mashed potatoes with grape jelly.

In the spring, I always vow to plant tomatoes but end up buying them at the supermarket instead.

During the marathon, Iggy's legs complained with sharp pains shooting up his thighs.

At, in, and during all help to show where we are in time.

Because there are so many possible locations in space and time, the list of prepositions is long:

Prepositions

about
above
according to
across
after
against
along
along with
among
apart from
around
as
as for
at
because of
before
behind
below
beneath
beside
between
beyond
but*
by
by means of

concerning
despite
down
during
except
except for
excepting
for
from
in
in addition to
in back of
in case of
in front of
in place of
inside
in spite of
instead of
into
like
near
next
of
off
on

onto
on top of
out
out of
outside
over
past
regarding
round
since
through
throughout
till
to
toward
under
underneath
unlike
until
up
upon
up to
with
within
without

* But is very seldom a preposition. When it is used as a preposition, but means the same as except-Everyone ate frog legs but Jamie. Usually, but functions as a coordinating conjunction.

Understand how to form a prepositional phrase.

Prepositions frequently introduce prepositional phrases, which will usually follow this pattern:

Here are examples:

At school

At = preposition; school = noun.

According to us

According to = preposition; us = pronoun.

By chewing

By = preposition; chewing = gerund.

Under the stove

In the crumb-filled, rumpled sheets

In = preposition; the, crumb-filled, rumpled = modifiers; sheets = noun.

Realize that some prepositions have split personalities.

Five prepositions can also function as subordinate conjunctions: after, as, before, since, and until. When these five are subordinate conjunctions, both a subject and a verb will follow, forming a subordinate clause.

Read these examples:

After Sam and Esmerelda kissed goodnight

After = subordinate conjunction; Sam, Esmerelda = subjects; kissed = verb.

As Jerome buckled on the parachute

Before I eat these frog legs

Since we have enjoyed the squid eyeball stew

Until your hiccups stop

When only a noun, object pronoun, or gerund follows (with or without modifiers and/or objects), you have just a prepositional phrase.

Consider these examples:

After the killer calculus test

After = preposition; the, killer, calculus = modifiers; test = noun.

As a leader

Before dancing

Before = preposition; dancing = gerund.

Since the breakup

Until her

Until = preposition; her = pronoun.

Printer Fabulous!

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Printer Fabulous! Prepositions almost always indicate location. Often, this location is in the physical world. Here are three examples: The puppy ison the floor. The puppy isbeside the shoe. The puppy iswith a friend. On, beside, and with are all prepositions. With the other words that make up the prepositional phrase, they are showing where the puppy is.

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Relative pronouns are used to introduce an object, or idea, as well as identify the object being referred to in previous or following sentences. It is also a great way to connect clauses to create more complex sentences.

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