GEC5202 English for Academic Studies 2—Self-access activities
Dear students
To help you further enhance your language and communication skills, the English Team
of THEi has compiled a detailed list of websites (i.e., an annotated bibliography) on the
topics covered in GEC5202 English for Academic Studies 2. Check out these websites, try
out some of the activities, ask for feedback if you need any and let your teacher know if
you have any feedback for us.
Happy learning!
THEi English Team
Unit 2 Summarising and Paraphrasing Academic Texts
Citation Language
The APA Referencing Style (or, simply, APA), is one of the most commonly used referencing
styles in academia. It provides a foundation for effective scholarly communication and helps
writers acknowledge others’ work clearly and appropriately in their texts.
Watch a video developed by Victoria University, Australia, about the 7th Edition of the
APA Referencing Guide. Use the ‘cc’ to turn on the captions, if needed. Then read the
overview of the core features, check the examples given and complete the
accompanying quiz to check your understanding: https://libraryguides.vu.edu.au/apa-
referencing/7GettingStarted#:~:text=APA%207th%20is%20an%20'author,Use%20round
%20brackets.
Refer to the official website whenever you have specific questions about your in-text
citations, list of references, paper format, etc.: https://apastyle.apa.org/.
Try the following online citation tools which may help you create your citations with
ease but remember that these tools do not guarantee the accuracy of your citations.
Remember to always double-check and proofread your citations and lists of references:
https://www.citationmachine.net/apa; https://www.scribbr.com/apa-citation-
generator/ and https://www.bibme.org/apa.
School of General Education and Languages, THEi
GEC5202 English for Academic Studies 2—Self-access activities
Academic Word List
Academic vocabulary refers to the words commonly used in the academic context. Compiled by
Averil Coxhead at the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, The Academic Word List
(AWL) is a list of words which appear with high frequency in English-language academic texts.
The following websites will help you explore AWL as well as other vocabulary lists and improve
your command of academic vocabulary.
Explore the Academic Word List (AWL) with its sub-lists and complete the accompanying
exercises: http://www.englishvocabularyexercises.com/academic-word-list.
Check out EAP Foundation’s resources on AWL and try their dynamic tools:
https://www.eapfoundation.com/vocab/academic/awllists/
Study advanced English words with definitions, examples, and word families:
https://www.vocabulary.com/lists/176046
Try these exercises and tests which focus on the use of academic vocabulary in context
(i.e. in sentences and paragraphs): https://www.use-in-a-sentence.com/academic-
vocabulary-exercises.html.
Corpus (corpora in plural)
A corpus is a collection of written or spoken texts stored on a computer and used to study how
language is used. One of the most popular corpora is Corpus of Contemporary American English
(COCA) introduced in this module. If you are keen to explore this corpus further and see how it
can help you improve your use of English, check out these links.
Watch the two tutorial videos from The Grammar Lab and Brigham Young University,
USA, on how to use the COCA : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCLgRTlxG0Y and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmRaS7d-SP8.
If you prefer reading, use this detailed .pdf file that includes details about the new
version of the COCA corpus released in March 2020:
https://www.english-corpora.org/coca/help/coca2020_overview.pdf.
School of General Education and Languages, THEi
GEC5202 English for Academic Studies 2—Self-access activities
Try out the COCA at https://www.english-corpora.org/coca/ by first following simple
registration procedures.
Explore websites of other corpora such as Wed Concordance English v8.2 at
https://www.lextutor.ca/conc/eng/ and British National Corpus at
http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/.
Parts of Speech in Academic Writing
Traditional grammar classifies words into eight parts of speech: verbs, nouns, pronouns,
adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections. Each part of speech explains
how the word is used, not what the word is.
Study the eight parts of speech and complete an exercise developed by the Writing
Centre of the University of Ottawa, Canada, at
https://arts.uottawa.ca/writingcentre/en/hypergrammar/the-parts-of-speech
Explore this area further by using this Walden University guide:
https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/grammar/partsofspeech
If you prefer video lessons, check out Khan Academy and its videos on different parts of
speech (and grammar, more generally) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-6q-
siuMik&list=PLSQl0a2vh4HAbVPn5Gbugtg1o5hfdzEH1.
Summarising and Paraphrasing
Summary refers to a piece of writing in which you present the key ideas or the gist of the
original passage in your own words. A paraphrase is a piece of writing in which you express all
the ideas from the original source in your words and often through changes in sentence and
phrase structures.
Watch two short tutorial videos developed by Southern New Hampshire University, UK,
and Mr. P. to gain an overview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j5igUrCmb0 and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PigfCpCg15c.
School of General Education and Languages, THEi
GEC5202 English for Academic Studies 2—Self-access activities
Understand the differences between summarizing and paraphrasing by going through
the table on the AskAnyDifference webpage: https://askanydifference.com/difference-
between-summary-and-paraphrase/.
For further information and videos on paraphrasing, summarizing as well as quoting,
refer to the materials developed by The University of Arizona Global Campus:
https://writingcenter.uagc.edu/quoting-paraphrasing-summarizing.
School of General Education and Languages, THEi
