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This skill helps you read faster and helps you understand the meaning of words whose meaning you don't know.

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This skill helps you read faster and helps you understand the meaning of words whose meaning you don't know.

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1) First reactions to Thailand's giant new opium museum in the Golden Triangle are confused: pleasant surprise at cool air after the intense tropical heat, but then disorientation, shock, even fear. Visitors enter the 100-acre complex through a long, dark, mist-filled tunnel, which winds into the base of a hill past bas-reliefs of distorted human figures before emerging suddenly into bright sunlight in front of a field of poppies. "This is the mystery, the contradiction of opium," says Charles Mehl, head of research for the Mae Fah Luang Foundation, which has just completed the $10 million museum. "Opium is one of the very best drugs we have for treating chronic pain and bringing relief from suffering. But it can also be one of the worst, destroying lives if it is used for recreation or exploited for commercial gain."

2) Built into a hillside by the Mekong River on the northern tip of Thailand, the museum lies at the heart of the Golden Triangle. Chiang Saen town is about 470 miles north of Bangkok, overlooking the junction of the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. The Golden Triangle is a largely lawless region that last year produced more opium and heroin than Afghanistan and more synthetic stimulant pills than all the rest of the laboratories in Southeast Asia put together, drugs agencies say.

3) Western backpackers and busloads of other day-trippers pour daily into the picturesque Chiang Saen district, in Chiang Rai province, to buy souvenirs on the Mekong's banks. Some try illicit puffs on opium pipes in nearby villages. The museum, which will open officially early next year, aims to exploit this tourist business, luring the curious with the promise of entertainment and impressive audio-visual displays in English and Thai. But as visitors progress down the labyrinthine corridors that stretch across three floors, the warnings against narcotic abuse gradually become more powerful. "People think at first they know what they will see -- a quaint presentation about hill tribes growing opium. But that's only a small part of the story," said Mehl.

4) Mae Fah Luang has fought a 15-year battle against drug-taking and addiction in Chiang Rai province, establishing what the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) says is probably the best anti-drugs crop-substitution program in Asia. Lessons from that program, which has succeeded in the nearby Thai mountains of Doi Tung in part by offering farmers of opium poppies a better income from alternative crops such as coffee and macadamia nuts, are built into the museum. But it also offers a thorough lesson in the history of opium, its derivatives such as heroin and laudanum, and explains how the drugs trade has helped change the world for hundreds of years.

5) Thought to have been used first along the coast of the Mediterranean, archaeologists say the earliest evidence of opium was found in Switzerland dating from the Neolithic period. It was a popular sedative in ancient Egypt and Greece before spreading to northern Europe and Asia and becoming a key commodity that was exchanged for Chinese tea and other spices by the British and Dutch. With 360-degree special effects, the museum traces the 19th century opium wars between Britain and China before looking at prohibition in the 20th century and official efforts, often spectacularly unsuccessful, to stop the use of illegal drugs.

6) The museum asks visitors to themselves decide what could be the best approach to narcotics -- prohibition, drug eradication schemes, decriminalisation or legalisation -- but it pulls no punches on the tragedy and trauma inflicted by drugs on abusers. A final, heart-wrenching gallery recounts the powerful true stories of victims of drug abuse around the world through intimate video testimonies by their families.

7) "The feelings which develop through a visit to the museum change toward the very end when there is evidence of the death and suffering that drug abuse produces," said Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the Vienna-based UNODC. "The end message is very strong, namely that use of drugs should be fought. Society has to use all its instruments, which means law enforcement for sure, but not only law enforcement. Prevention and treatment are equally important."

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Guessing meaning from context - IELTS Reading

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1) First reactions to Thailand's giant new opium museum in the Golden Triangle are confused: pleasant surprise at cool air after the intense tropical heat, but then disorientation, shock, even fear. Visitors enter the 100-acre complex through a long, dark, mist-filled tunnel, which winds into the base of a hill past bas-reliefs of distorted human figures before emerging suddenly into bright sunlight in front of a field of poppies.

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This resource helps you improve your grammar using the present simple and the present simple negative.

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This resource helps you improve your grammar using the present simple and the present simple negative.

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Simple Present Tense (Present Indefinite) | Grammarly

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The simple present is a with two main uses. We use the simple present tense when an action is happening right now, or when it happens regularly (or unceasingly, which is why it's sometimes called present indefinite). Depending on the person, the simple present tense is formed by using the root form or by adding - or - to the end.

The other is to talk about habitual actions or occurrences.

Pauline practices the piano every day.

Ms. Jackson travels during the summer.

Hamsters run all night.

Typically, when we want to describe a temporary action that is currently in progress, we use the present continuous : Pauline can't come to the phone right now because she is brushing her teeth.

How to form the simple present

In the simple present, most regular verbs use the root form, except in the third-person singular (which ends in - ).

For most regular verbs, you put the negation of the verb before the verb, e.g., "She won't go" or "I don't smell anything."

How to make the simple present negative

The formula for making a simple present verb negative is do/does + not + [root form of verb]. You can also use the contraction don't or doesn't instead of do not or does not.

Pauline does not want to share the pie.

She doesn't think there is enough to go around.

Her friends do not agree.

I don't want pie anyway.

I am not a pie lover, but Pauline sure is.

You aren't ready for such delicious pie.

How to ask a question

The formula for asking a question in the simple present is do/does + [subject] + [root form of verb].

Common verbs in the simple present

The verb to be in the simple present

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Simple Present Tense: How to Use It, With Examples

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The simple present is a with two main uses. We use the simple present tense when an action is happening right now, or when it happens regularly (or unceasingly, which is why it's sometimes called present indefinite). Depending on the person, the simple present tense is formed by using the root form or by adding - or - to the end.

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This resource will help you how and when to put adverbs of frequency

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This resource will help you how and when to put adverbs of frequency

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Adverbs of Frequency are adverbs of time that answer the question "How frequently?" or "How often?". They tell us how often something happens. Here are some examples:

1. daily, weekly, yearly

2. often, sometimes, rarely

You probably see a difference between a) and b) above. With words like daily we know exactly how often. The words in a) describe definite frequency. On the other hand, words like often give us an idea about frequency but they don't tell us exactly. The words in b) describe indefinite frequency.

We separate them into two groups because they normally go in different positions in the sentence.

Adverbs of Definite Frequency

Examples:

hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly

every second, once a minute, twice a year

once, twice, once or twice, three times

Adverbs of definite frequency, like all adverbs of definite time, typically go in END position. Look at these examples:

Most companies pay taxes yearly.

The manager checks the toilets every hour.

The directors meet weekly to review progress.

Sometimes, usually for reasons of emphasis or style, some adverbs of definite frequency may go at the FRONT, for example:

Every day, more than five thousand people die on our roads.

Adverbs of Indefinite Frequency

Look at these examples of adverbs of indefinite frequency:

Adverbs of indefinite frequency mainly go in MID position in the sentence. They go before the main verb (except the main verb "to be"):

We usually go shopping on Saturday.

I have often done that.

She is always late.

Occasionally, sometimes, often, frequently and usually can also go at the beginning or end of a sentence:

Sometimes they come and stay with us.

I play tennis occasionally.

Rarely and seldom can also go at the end of a sentence (often with "very"):

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Adverbs of Frequency are adverbs of time that answer the question "How frequently?" or "How often?". They tell us how often something happens. Here are some examples: daily, weekly, yearly often, sometimes, rarely You probably see a difference between a) and b) above. With words like daily we know exactly how often.

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This will help you improve your critical thinking skills, especially the ability to personalize

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This will help you improve your critical thinking skills, especially the ability to personalize

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Two key curriculum trends are affecting educational publishing: the movement toward personalized learning and the need for critical thinking lessons. Personalized learning is influencing how curriculum is being developed and also how students' work and learning is being assessed. Since 2012, 15 states have incorporated personalized learning into their curricula, implementing policies ranging from waiving regulations to setting up innovation zones. New Hampshire is the state spearheading the trend, and across the nation, many districts are following suit, using digital online courses and products to implement personalized learning. This impacts the product development of key players in the education market. The bar has been raised as districts demand digital products that allow them to customize their curricula to meet personalized learning and assessment goals. [1]

Education Week recently surveyed educators about personalized learning. The survey found that while many educators are in favor of it, the implementation of and the professional development for personalized learning is not at all consistent.[2]

How to Implement Personalized Learning

It is proving difficult to come up with consistent approaches to when, how, and at what grade levels personalized learning should be introduced. Are upper elementary students too young to track their own learning and set their own learning goals? Will they know when they have enough content knowledge to move on within curricula? What does a teacher do about immature students or students who lack motivation in learning?

Personalized learning requires behavioral "rules" that govern a student's independent work. Do students have the skill sets necessary to do this work? And how will students demonstrate what they have learned and "prove" that they have acquired the content knowledge to move forward? According to the survey, the majority of educators do not have students set their own learning goals. Often the reluctance to allow students to set goals has to do with students' maturity levels, students' lack of familiarity with state or district goals, and the fact that students and teachers are still accountable for summative assessments.

Research has shown that when students' personal interests are integrated into lessons, students are more motivated and focused on learning. Learning about things that interest students or presenting information in ways that are meaningful to students engages them and allows them to more easily reach goals and objectives.[3] Thus, many educators have begun to incorporate and integrate topics of interest to students into their lessons.

Another concern with personalized learning in the classroom is that while students learn to work independently they may be missing the learning experience that comes from whole class and collaborative group work and discussions. Collaboration teaches skills that are vital in building 21 st century skills, as students will need to know how to work as part of a team. They will need to know how to listen to others, analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information from a number of sources in order to make inferences and draw conclusions. Therefore, students need to know how to think critically, alone and as part of a team.

Critical Thinking and Personalized Learning

Critical thinking is part of personalized learning in that critical thinking is often self-directed, self-disciplined, and self-monitored. However, students benefit from seeing how others think about the topics or information. Having students work critical thinking lessons independently and then coming together to share their learning and thinking allows them to see different approaches and how others analyze, evaluate, and synthesize materials. The analysis and evaluation flow from the topic and information presented, so the critical thinking approach to materials is adaptive. Students observing how others think about topics and information allows them to adapt their own thinking and advance their critical thinking skills. Critical thinking is a life-long learning experience so people continually adapt and change their strategies. [4]

Since one of the tenets of personalized learning is that students self-direct and self-monitor their learning, they need to know how to think critically about the content they are learning on their own, without continuous guidance from a teacher. Lessons should be structured so that the students are thinking critically about the information they are reading or hearing throughout the lesson. This means that they are linking what they are learning, analyzing and evaluating information, and are finally able to synthesize what they have learned. Thus, critical thinking and personalized learning work hand-in-hand.

How Are Learning Companies Responding to Personalized Learning and Critical Thinking?

Learning companies are responding to the demand for critical thinking lessons as they create personalized learning courses. Learning objectives are focused on students' critical thinking skills. Included in these lessons are the more traditional formative assessments. The assessments, which are usually content-related-such as answering multiple-choice questions-allow for instant analysis of student understanding of subject or topic. These types of lessons also feed into the competency-based movement as well as the implementation of NGSS (next generation science standards) and the trend to develop civics lessons and 21 st century skills.

Within all content areas, such as ELA, mathematics, and science, critical thinking is a natural component of lessons. Learning companies are exploring the different and best ways to develop these lessons.

Victory's Critical Thinking Tool (CTT)

At Victory, we have been monitoring the trends and research on both personalized learning and critical thinking. To answer these needs in the marketplace, we have developed a series of digital templates that are used to structure critical thinking lessons. The structure allows students to work independently on the lesson and to come together with the rest of the class at specific points to share learning, combining personalized and traditional teaching practices.
The lesson templates are built around interactive activities that require students to effectively analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information as they progress through a lesson. In our prototype lessons, activities include formative assessment and competency-based projects. The prototypes are aligned to topic-related standards and employ and are based on Bloom's Taxonomy and Universal Design. With our critical thinking lesson templates, lessons can be developed for all curriculum areas, such as ELA, mathematics, science, and social studies/civics, or lessons can be cross-curricular.

One of the great advantages to these templates is that teachers are able to track their students' thinking processes as it unfolds, and students are able to follow their own thinking as it develops and to see the patterns of thought that are emerging in their work.

We would love to show you how our prototype lessons work at several grade levels. Talk to us about how we could develop critical thinking lessons that meet your need for personalized learning, formative assessment, and competency-based learning.

See: The Critical Thinking Tool

Reference

[1] https://www.inacol.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/iNACOL_ANationalLandscapeScanOfPersonalizedLearning.pdf

[2] https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2019/11/06/data-heres-what-educators-think-about-personalized.html?r=1087516396

[3] https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1081372.pdf

[4] https://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/defining-critical-thinking/766

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Personalized Learning, Critical Thinking, and Formative Assessment

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Two key curriculum trends are affecting educational publishing: the movement toward personalized learning and the need for critical thinking lessons. Personalized learning is influencing how curriculum is being developed and also how students' work and learning is being assessed. Since 2012, 15 states have incorporated personalized learning into their curricula, implementing policies ranging from waiving regulations to setting up innovation zones.

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This resource helped me use the presente continous 

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This resource helped me use the presente continous 

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https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/english-grammar-reference/present-continuous

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This helped me understand how to give reasons for a sentence

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This helped me understand how to give reasons for a sentence

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https://myenglishteacher.co.uk/2021/06/23/ways-of-giving-reason-in-english/

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This resource helped me identify a reason

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This resource helped me identify a reason

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https://blog.britanico.edu.pe/como-usar-conectores-de-razon-y-resultado-en-ingles/

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This resource is used to understand pronouns

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This resource is used to understand pronouns

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https://webapps.towson.edu/ows/proref.htm

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This resource is used for the past simple of be

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This resource is used for the past simple of be

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https://www.grammar.cl/verbs/past-tense-of-be.htm#:~:text=The past tense of BE is WAS or WERE.

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This resource has some rules on how to put verbs In the past simple.

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This resource has some rules on how to put verbs In the past simple.

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https://www.english-grammar-revolution.com/past-tense-verbs.html

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This resource helped me understand how to analyze an argument

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This resource helped me understand how to analyze an argument

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https://www.brainfuse.com/jsp/alc/resource.jsp?s=gre&c=37192&cc=108840

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This resource was very helpful for me to take notes in class.

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This resource was very helpful for me to take notes in class.

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Do you sometimes struggle to determine what to write down during lectures? Have you ever found yourself wishing you could take better or more effective notes? Whether you are sitting in a lecture hall or watching a lecture online, note-taking in class can be intimidating, but with a few strategic practices, anyone can take clear, effective notes. This handout will discuss the importance of note-taking, qualities of good notes, and tips for becoming a better note-taker.

Why good notes matter

In-class benefits

Taking good notes in class is an important part of academic success in college. Actively taking notes during class can help you focus and better understand main concepts. In many classes, you may be asked to watch an instructional video before a class discussion. Good note-taking will improve your active listening, comprehension of material, and retention. Taking notes on both synchronous and asynchronous material will help you better remember what you hear and see.

Post-class benefits

After class, good notes are crucial for reviewing and studying class material so that you better understand it and can prepare appropriately for exams. Efficient and concise notes can save you time, energy, and confusion that often results from trying to make sense of disorganized, overwhelming, insufficient, or wordy notes. When watching a video, taking good notes can save you from the hassle of pausing, rewinding, and rewatching large chunks of a lecture. Good notes can provide a great resource for creating outlines and studying.

How to take good notes in class

There's a lot going on during class, so you may not be able to capture every main concept perfectly, and that's okay. Part of good note-taking may include going back to your notes after class (ideally within a day or two) to check for clarity and fill in any missing pieces. In fact, doing so can help you better organize your thoughts and to determine what's most important. With that in mind, it's important to have good source material.

Preparing to take good notes in class

The first step to taking good notes in class is to come to class prepared. Here are some steps you can take to improve your note-taking before class even begins:

Preview your text or reading assignments prior to lecture. Previewing allows you to identify main ideas and concepts that will most likely be discussed during the lecture.

Look at your course syllabus so that you know the topic/focus of the class and what's going to be important to focus on.

Briefly review notes from previous class sessions to help you situate the new ideas you'll learn in this class.

Keep organized to help you find information more easily later. Title your page with the class name and date. Keep separate notebook sections or notebooks for each class and keep all notes for each class together in one space, in chronological order.

Note-taking during class

Now that you are prepared and organized, what can you do to take good notes while listening to a lecture in class? Here are some practical steps you can try to improve your in-class note-taking:

If you are seeking conceptual information, focus on the main points the professor makes, rather than copying down the entire presentation or every word the professor says. Remember, if you review your notes after class, you can always fill in any gaps or define words or concepts you didn't catch in class.

If you are learning factual information, transcribing most of the lecture verbatim can help with recall for short-answer test questions, but only if you study these notes within 24 hours.

Record questions and thoughts you have or content that is confusing to you that you want to follow-up on later or ask your professor about.

Jot down keywords, dates, names, etc. that you can then go back and define or explain later.

Take visually clear, concise, organized, and structured notes so that they are easy to read and make sense to you later. See different formats of notes below for ideas.

If you want your notes to be concise and brief, use abbreviations and symbols. Write in bullets and phrases instead of complete sentences. This will help your mind and hand to stay fresh during class and will help you access things easier and quicker after class. It will also help you focus on the main concepts.

Be consistent with your structure. Pick a format that works for you and stick with it so that your notes are structured the same way each day.

For online lectures, follow the above steps to help you effectively manage your study time. Once you've watched the lecture in its entirety, use the rewind feature to plug in any major gaps in your notes. Take notes of the timestamps of any parts of the lecture you want to revisit later.

Determining what's important enough to write down

You may be asking yourself how you can identify the main points of a lecture. Here are some tips for recognizing the most important points in a lecture:

Introductory remarks often include summaries of overviews of main points.

Listen for signal words/phrases like, "There are four main..." or "To sum up..." or "A major reason why..."

Repeated words or concepts are often important.

Non-verbal cues like pointing, gestures, or a vocal emphasis on certain words, etc. can indicate important points.

Final remarks often provide a summary of the important points of the lecture.

Consider watching online lectures in real time. Watching the lecture for the first time without pausing or rewinding can help force you to focus on what's important enough to write down.

Different formats for notes

There is no right format to use when taking notes. Rather, there are many different structures and styles that can be used. What's important is that you find a method that works for you and encourages the use of good note-taking qualities and stick with it. Here are a few types of formats that you may want to experiment with:

1. Cornell Notes: This style includes sections for the date, essential question, topic, notes, questions, and a summary. Check out this link for more explanation.

2. Outline: An outline organizes the lecture by main points, allowing room for examples and details.

3. Flowchart/concept map: A visual representation of notes is good for content that has an order or steps involved. See more about concept mapping here.

4. Charting Method: A way to organize notes from lectures with a substantial amount of facts through dividing key topics into columns and recording facts underneath.

5. Sentence Method: One of the simplest forms of note taking, helpful for disseminating which information from a lecture is important by quickly covering details and information.

Consider...what's the best strategy for you: handwritten, digital, or both?

Taking notes in a way to fully understand all information presented conceptually and factually may differ between students. For instance, working memory, or the ability to process and manipulate information in-the-moment, is often involved in transcribing lecture notes, which is best done digitally; but there are individual differences in working memory processes that may affect which method works best for you. Research suggests that handwriting notes can help us learn and remember conceptual items better than digital notes. However, there are some pros to typing notes on a computer as well, including speed and storage. Consider these differences before deciding what is best for you.

Handwritten Digital

Easier to create diagrams and illustrations

Faster; easier to take higher volume of notes

Sometimes better for visual learners

Easier to edit and reorganize for later studying

Provides more focus for students prone to digital distraction

Can be backed up, shared, searched, etc.

Can be better for comprehension and retention of conceptual information

Can be better for comprehension and retention of factual information

Follow up after class

Part of good note-taking includes revisiting your notes a day or so after class. During this time, check for clarity, fill in definitions of key terms, organize, and figure out any concepts you may have missed or not fully understood in class. Figure out what may be missing and what you may need to add or even ask about. If your lecture is recorded, you may be able to take advantage of the captions to review.

Many times, even after taking good notes, you will need to utilize other resources in order to review, solidify, question, and follow-up with the class. Don't forget to use the resources available to you, which can only enhance your note-taking. These resources include:

Office Hours: Make an appointment with your professor or TA to ask questions about concepts in class that confused you.

Academic Coaching: Make an appointment with an Academic Coach at the Learning Center to discuss your note-taking one-on-one, brainstorm other strategies, and discuss how to use your notes to study better.

Learning Center resources: The Learning Center has many other handouts about related topics, like studying and making the most of lectures. Check out some of these handouts and videos to get ideas to improve other areas of your academics.

Reviewing your notes: Write a summary of your notes in your own words, write questions about your notes, fill in areas, or chunk them into categories or sections.

Self-testing: Use your notes to make a study guide and self-test to prepare for exams.

Works consulted

"The Pen is Mightier Than the Keyboard: Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking." Mueller, P., and Oppenheimer, D. Psychological Science 25(6), April 2014.

"Note-taking With Computers: Exploring Alternative Strategies for Improved Recall." Bui, D.C., Myerson, J., and Hale, S. Journal of Educational Psychology, 105(299-309), 2013.

"How To Take Study Notes: 5 Effective Note Taking Methods." Oxford Learning. Retrieved from https://www.oxfordlearning.com/5-effective-note-taking-methods/

"Preparing for Taking Notes." The Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved from http://tutorials.istudy.psu.edu/notetaking/notetaking2.html

"Listening Note Taking Strategies." UNSW Sydney. Retrieved from https://student.unsw.edu.au/note-taking-skills

"Note Taking and In-Class Skills." Virginia Tech University. Retrieved from https://www.ucc.vt.edu/academic_support/study_skills_information/note_taking_and_in-class_skills.html

"Lecture Note Taking." College of Saint Benedict, Saint John's University. Retrieved from https://www.csbsju.edu/academic-advising/study-skills-guide/lecture-note-taking

"Note Taking 101." Oregon State University. Retrieved from http://success.oregonstate.edu/learning/note-taking-tips

"Note Taking. Why Should I Take Notes in Class?" Willamette University. Retrieved from http://willamette.edu/offices/lcenter/resources/study_strategies/notes.html

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 License.
You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Learning Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

If you enjoy using our handouts, we appreciate contributions of acknowledgement.
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Effective Note-Taking in Class - Learning Center

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Do you sometimes struggle to determine what to write down during lectures? Have you ever found yourself wishing you could take better or more effective notes? Whether you are sitting in a lecture hall or watching a lecture online, note-taking ... Read more

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Explorations in English Language Learning

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In certain writing tasks that you are required to do for university, for example essays, you will be asked to give your opinion on the topic at hand. There are several different ways to do this: A distinction is made between expressions and phrases that emphasize your views explicitly and those that reflect your opinion implicitly. In this article, you can find out which expressions are best in which context and how to create variety.

While it is possible to say that, as a general rule, implicit expressions that reflect your opinion in a more subtle way are mostly preferred in academic writing, there are also cases in which it might be useful to overtly state your view by using phrases that contain the personal pronouns "I" and "my" to make clear that it is your point of view that you are focusing on right now. Thus, there is no such rule as "Never include "I" in essays." The key is to use these kinds of expressions when they suit your purpose, so for instance when you clearly want to distance yourself from a certain view. Moreover, avoiding "I" can lead to awkwardness and vagueness, so it can sometimes be more effective to use the first person. Personal pronouns unmistakably show when and where exactly you are building on or departing from your sources of information. Thus, they underline the originality of your ideas and views, which, in turn, improves your writing style.

While this only applies to some academic fields and text types, as far as the Humanities and essays or term papers are concerned, it is generally considered appropriate to use the first person, as your instructor will be interested in reading your original analyses and interpretations. But beware: Don't confuse giving your personal opinion with writing about your personal experience! Your experiences and anecdotes do not have any place in academic term papers whatsoever, whereas they might be included in some contexts for example when you are asked to write a more personal and less academic text in your language classes. To make sure, always ask your instructor.

Moreover, you should be aware of the fact that some expressions more convincingly underline your assertions than others and that your arguments will always need sufficient explanations and defense. Hence, expressions such as "I think that..." or "I believe that...", which we often find in speech but less in academic writing, are weaker and less convincing than "I assert that...", "I am convinced that...", "I have no doubt that..." or "I hold the impression/ view that...".

Furthermore, we often find the phrases "In my opinion, ..." and "In my view, ..." in academic writing and professional reports. To a lesser extent, we have expressions such as "To my mind,...", From my point of view" and "As far as I am concerned"; These three phrases are also rather used in speech than in writing.

Another useful way of explicitly stating your opinion is to employ structures that contain adjectives, such as "I consider it important/ crucial/ essential/ useful/ likely/ ... to ..." or "I deem it necessary/ proper/ appropriate/ ... to ...". If you are not quite so adamant about your opinion yourself, you can also utilize weaker expressions such as "I am under the impression that ...", "I suppose that ...", "I assume that ...", "I presume that ..." or "I conjecture that ...".

Impersonal expressions, on the other hand, reflect your opinion implicitly. Again, there is the possibility to use structures that contain evaluative adjectives, as is the case with phrases like "It is convenient/ difficult/ hard/ impossible/ reasonable/ easy/ ... to ..." or "It is apparent/ arguable/ doubtful/ obvious/ remarkable/ desirable/ noteworthy/ conceivable/ ... that ...".

In your academic texts, you can furthermore employ structures that consist of "It is worth + present participle of a verb + that", frequently used collocations being "It is worth examining/ investigating/ remembering/ recalling/ noting/ stressing/ pointing out/ emphasizing/ ... that ...". There are moreover evaluative adverbs that stress your opinion, examples for this being "Interestingly, ...", "Arguably, ...", "Obviously, ...", "Evidently, ...", and "Surprisingly, ...".

As you can see, there are plenty of possibilities to express your personal opinion in your academic writing tasks and to create variety in doing so. Including different types of phrases and varying expressions while sticking to the requirements of the writing task at hand will improve your overall writing style.
Sources:

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Writing Center: „Should I Use ‚I'?"

Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners (2007): „E. Expressing Personal Opinions." London: Macmillan, IW 15-16.

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Academic Writing: How to Express Your Personal Opinion - Explorations in English Language Learning

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In certain writing tasks that you are required to do for university, for example essays, you will be asked to give your opinion on the topic at hand. There are several different ways to do this: A distinction is made between expressions and phrases that emphasize your views explicitly and those that reflect your opinion implicitly.

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You can use the modal verb should to talk about expectations or predictions. Using should to talk about prediction is usually based on the evidence or events that are seen. Remember, should is a modal verb, so, you have to use a bare infinitive after it.

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Talking about "Prediction" in the English Grammar

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You can use the modal verb should to talk about expectations or predictions. Using should to talk about prediction is usually based on the evidence or events that are seen. Remember, should is a modal verb, so, you have to use a bare infinitive after it.

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an act or instance of speculating: such as; assumption of unusual business risk in hopes of obtaining commensurate gain; a transaction involving such speculation... See the full definition