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Meet the Teachers

It’s a great feeling to help other people learn and it’s always interesting because there’s always something new to learn.

Based in: Europe/Vienna Teaching Experience: 18 years Specialisms: English pronunciation, English writing, IELTS preparation Offers classes through: Skype, WhatsApp, WeChat, MS Teams, Google Meet, BOTIM

I will give you examples you can understand and feedback you can use. I look forward to seeing you in a lesson!

Based in: America/Denver Teaching Experience: 12 years Specialisms: Conversational English, IELTS preparation, Business English Offers classes through: Skype

My classes will be fun and interesting, but focused on your progress. I want you to learn English that is useful to you for personal, professional or academic purposes.

Based in: Europe/Lisbon Teaching Experience: 26 years Specialisms: English pronunciation, Academic English, Business English Offers classes through: Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, WeChat, MS Teams, Google Meet, FB messenger, BOTIM, Discord

Sonya Jacobs

I take the excitement I have for life and inject it into my teaching.

Based in: Pacific/Funafuti Teaching Experience: 18 years Specialisms: Conversational English, English writing, IELTS preparation Offers classes through: Skype, Zoom, FB messenger

Kathryn Jenkins

I take time with my students to find out about their needs, interests and objectives so that I can tailor lessons specifically for them to enjoy their learning experience and progress quickly. My lessons are organised, relevant and fun.

Based in: Europe/London Teaching Experience: 13 years Specialisms: Cambridge Exam preparation, Academic English, Business English Offers classes through: Skype, Google Meet, WhatsApp, Zoom

Gareth Morgan

I use the communicative approach in teaching so be prepared to do a lot of speaking in our classes. I look forward to teaching you!

Based in: Asia/Shanghai Teaching Experience: 29 years Specialisms: Conversational English, English writing, IELTS preparation Offers classes through: Skype, Google Meet

With many tried and tested lessons ready to go I will guide you through classes where you do the talking!

Based in: Europe/Rome Teaching Experience: 21 years Specialisms: Conversational English, English writing, IELTS preparation Offers classes through: Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, Google Meet, Whereby, Viber, FB messenger, BOTIM

Dragana Mancic

Everything I do in class with you is completely and entirely tailored, adapted and adjusted to suit your personal specific learning needs!

Based in: Europe/Belgrade Teaching Experience: 27 years Specialisms: Conversational English, Academic English, Business English Offers classes through: Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, Viber, FB messenger, BOTIM

Liam Pollock

I feel that I am particularly good at building rapport with students and allowing them to feel more relaxed and confident when using English. Research shows that people learn best when they are relaxed and enjoying themselves, and so I aim to make sure that students feel this way at all times.

Based in: Europe/London Teaching Experience: 9 years Specialisms: English pronunciation, IELTS preparation, Academic English Offers classes through: Skype, Zoom, MS Teams

Natasha Budd

I believe in working closely with you to help you get that job, pass that exam or just become an excellent communicator in English.

Based in: Africa/Johannesburg Teaching Experience: 20 years Specialisms: IELTS preparation, Cambridge Exam preparation, Business English Offers classes through: Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, Google Meet, BOTIM

Brian Breivik

I have significant experience teaching young adult students in preparation for university entrance on foundation and diploma courses in tertiary education, as well as preparing students to sit the IELTS exam.

Based in: Asia/Phnom_Penh Teaching Experience: 30 years Specialisms: Conversational English, English pronunciation, IELTS preparation Offers classes through: Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, Google Meet, FB messenger

Federico Pasquale

I am highly motivated, enthusiastic and detail-oriented. I am committed to student learning and support and I always do my best to help my students achieve their learning goals whether they are learning English for pleasure, travel, work or taking an international exam such as IELTS.

Based in: Europe/Rome Teaching Experience: 14 years Specialisms: Conversational English, IELTS preparation, Cambridge Exam preparation Offers classes through: Skype, Google Meet, Zoom, MS Teams

Susan Stevenson

I will listen carefully to your needs, aims and interests and between us we will work out a plan for your classes. Every lesson is designed to suit you and as well as passing your exam or whatever else you need, I want you to enjoy the lessons and have fun.

Based in: Europe/London Teaching Experience: 16 years Specialisms: IELTS preparation, Cambridge Exam preparation, Business English Offers classes through: Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, FB messenger, Facetime

Audra Lajauskiene

I am passionate about seeing my students succeed; I love watching my students improve in every lesson, and I am especially happy when they exceed their own expectations.

Based in: Europe/Dublin Teaching Experience: 6 years Specialisms: Conversational English, Teaching children and young learners, Business English Offers classes through: Skype, MS Teams, FB messenger

Sioban Ingram

Learning a new language can be a daunting experience but we’ll break it down into smaller, more manageable chunks and work on a plan to achieve your language goals.

Based in: Europe/Dublin Teaching Experience: 16 years Specialisms: Conversational English, Cambridge Exam preparation, Teaching children and young learners Offers classes through: Skype, Google Meet, WhatsApp, Zoom

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We publish a lot of free lessons, including video lessons and listening lessons, which you can use to learn about spoken English, English grammar, English pronunciation, and much more.

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On average, most students start to feel some progress within 2-3 months; they notice they can do things they couldn’t do before. However, everybody is different, and we don’t want to make promises we can’t keep. We suggest you focus on goals, rather than how long it will take. If you need to improve your spoken English, then we will help you to do that. It might take more time; it might take less time; the important thing is that you reach your goal.

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If you want to study something simple, or just practise something which you already know a lot about, 30-60 minutes a week could be enough.

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If you want to make the fastest possible progress, then 4-5 hours a week will help you to learn and make progress quickly.

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The 13 Best Academic English Courses Online

Academic English is a bit different from everyday English . It’s more formal and often uses more advanced vocabulary .

You need to know academic English to write college essays, create a lab report or literature analysis, read and understand college texts and get by in many other areas of college life.

Luckily, you don’t have to go anywhere to improve your college English.

You can just take an online academic English course . Here are my 10 favorite options!

1. A Beginner’s Guide to Writing in English for University Study at the University of Reading 

2. ielts academic test preparation at the university of queensland, australia , 3. english for academic study at coventry university, 4. academic english online at macmillan english, 5. academic english: writing at coursera, 6. english for academic purposes online at the open university, 7. how to write an essay at uc berkeley, 8. academic english online at the queen mary university of london, 9. english for admission and achievement at arizona state university, 10. ielts preparation at the british council, 11. academic english at the universiteit van amsterdam, 12. academic english course at utrecht university, 13. academic writing at the university of edinburgh, what is an academic english course, should you take an academic english course, before you begin: tips on learning academic english.

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

Restrictions: Minimum level of IELTS 4.5 (recommended)

Price: Free

This short course is a great way to become familiar with academic English writing. You’ll learn everything from choosing the right topic for your essay to how to edit and assess your own text.

I like the course because it also teaches specific parts of writing an essay in English, such as the key to writing longer sentences, how to use linking words and subordinators (that, although, because, etc.) and other elements which make your academic writing look more polished. 

 The course requires a weekly commitment of about three hours of study on top of the course content, but you can study at your own pace.

Restrictions: None

This course is specially designed to help prepare students for the IELTS academic exam . The IELTS is an English exam taken by non-native English speakers who want to study and sometimes immigrate to an English-speaking country. Common countries that require IELTS qualifications for migration include New Zealand, Australia and Canada. 

In fact, many foreign universities also require international students to have a particular level in an IELTS exam before enrolling in a course. Because of this, the IELTS Academic test preparation course is very thorough and goes over every topic you’ll need to know.

In this course, you can expect to improve your English skills ( reading , writing , speaking and listening ) in a way that’ll help you do well on the exam. Plus, because the focus of the course is on exam preparation.

This course will take about eight weeks and is entirely self-paced, so you can take your time or speed things up if you’re feeling confident. 

If you’re a beginner-level learner and you want to develop the very basics of academic English , this is the course for you! The course prepares you for working or studying in an academic English setting by focusing on building, pronouncing and understanding key vocabulary.

The course will even teach you how to use the pronunciation guides in a dictionary effectively, which is something even native speakers struggle with!

What I especially like about the course is the fact that it also explores aspects of academic culture in the United Kingdom. This means you’ll learn what to expect in a UK academic space, and British English pronunciation and vocabulary.

Best of all, unlike most academic courses, this one is beginner-friendly. It may also be a useful academic English course to take if you’re overseas and want to learn a bit more about what study in an English-speaking country is like. In that case, it would supplement a regular English learner course quite well.

Please note that the course is only four weeks long, which makes it great for a quick introduction!

Price: £5-£17 BGP (about $6-$31 USD) per course

You might recognize the name MacMillan for their textbooks, and their online course stays true to the textbook format. This “course” is actually a collection of textbook-style material that you can access from any mobile device. The textbooks are designed to be used by teachers and students, but they can also be used for independent study.

This course isn’t as easy to get as the others on this list, since you need to contact a person to buy it. Because this is a well-known and much-respected company, though, it’s worth your time to do so.

Price: A monthly subscription to Coursera is required to access this course, but you can apply for financial aid

Coursera has gathered five courses that, together, will teach you how to write a fantastic research paper for a college course. Do the full five-course program, or select any individual courses you’re interested in.

Restrictions: The course takes place once a year every year in October

Price: £1584 GBP (About $2,013 USD). The high price reflects the fact that participants can get credits to use towards their own university completion. (Check with your university to make sure they accept the credits before beginning.)

This course is a combination of independent study and tutor-led study. Each student will have a tutor to help them through the course. Expect lots of reading and writing, and some speaking and listening. The course covers different aspects of an academic English environment, from writing papers to communicating with others in the university.

Restrictions: None.

Price: Free, with the option to get a certificate of completion for a fee

Learn what it’s like to study at a US university by taking this online course, brought to you by the University of Berkeley in California.

This course teaches how to compose a great essay for an academic purpose and how to edit it through many interactive assignments (on topics that you care about!). You’ll learn all the terms and parts of academic essay writing, how to write good sentences and paragraphs, how to edit your own work and more. There’s also a digital workbook you can use for your assignments.

This isn’t so much a “course” as it is a free online resource to help you grasp the basics of academic writing. The topics are categorized under grammar, writing, speaking and reading in an academic context.

You can take the given exercises right away to figure out what you already know about the topic and what you need to work on. You can also scroll down the page, click “Show Review” and click on the given link in the sentence that starts with “The following website contains further explanation and practice…” for a quick refresher on the topic.

Restrictions: At least 95% on your placement exam

Price: $475

As you can see from the minimum requirements and the price, this isn’t a program you can just get into by hitting the “Enroll” button.

But if you’re willing to give it a try, you’ll be rewarded with a rigorous (intense) 8-week course where you’ll learn how to write academic papers, listen to academic lectures, test your comprehension of academic text and more. 

Price: Starts at approximately $175

Are you looking for a private, expert tutor to help you pass the IELTS?

Through the British Council’s IELTS Coach program, you can tailor your IELTS course to suit your needs. You can go through the website for a taste of what they have to offer, and if you like what you see, you can choose between their Express, LITE and Intensive packages .

Restrictions: Must be at least B2 (upper intermediate) level

Price: €45 (roughly $50)

This academic English course (which you can take both online and on-campus) covers writing, speaking and vocabulary.

You will be assigned essays that are at least 1,000 words long, expand your academic English vocabulary, improve your pronunciation and more. You will also review or learn the differences between formal and informal English so you can adjust the tone of your academic writing accordingly.

Restrictions: Must be at least intermediate (B1/B2) level

Price: €280 (roughly $308)

Like many of the other courses on the list, this one focuses on academic writing. You will learn how to read and comprehend academic texts, make presentations based on your research findings and be able to differentiate between formal and informal writing.

They recommend that you spend at least two to three hours a week for the course, which runs for eight sessions of nearly two hours each. 

In this course, you’ll find material about writing a first-year report (an analysis of your first year at university), or an advanced research paper. The course is intended for students with an advanced level of English, so it’s a good resource if you’re applying for a higher education position where you’ll need to write a thesis in English.

In a regular English course, you’ll probably learn grammar, helpful vocabulary, writing and reading, how to speak and pronounce things correctly and other important parts of the English language. In one lesson, you might do spelling drills , practice grammar points or speak with your classmates. 

These skills are all taught so that you can use English in your life and communicate with others in the language.

An academic English course is different.

While you might still learn these essential skills in an academic English course, courses will focus more on the world of academics—universities, colleges and other institutions of higher learning. Because of this, academic English courses are usually more formal and advanced.

For example, you might learn how to write a journal entry or a short story in a regular English class, but an academic course might ask you to write a research paper or an essay.

The most common reason to study academic English is to prepare for study at an English-speaking university or college. Another reason is to improve existing academic English skills for a career in education, science or any other industry that requires knowledge of formal, structured writing and language. 

As you’ve seen above, some additional examples of skills you may learn in an academic English course are:

• writing formal papers such as case studies and reports
• reading a text to form an opinion (not just to understand it)
• learning vocabulary specific to your area of study
• debating an idea (not just asking and answering questions)
• listening and note taking to summarize ideas (an activity known as a “dictogloss”)

College English involves reading, speaking and—most of all—writing. Online English courses may seem like a great and easy way to learn, and a lot of times they are. But you’ll need to make sure this method of learning is right for you before you begin.

Take an online English course if:

• You’re an intermediate to advanced English learner . Most courses assume you know basic English grammar, sentence structure and vocabulary.
• You have the time for it. Online courses require you to dedicate your own free time to studying. Do you have the time for extra lessons in your schedule?
• You’re planning to go to college soon (or are already in college). Academic English isn’t something you’ll need to know for writing a Facebook post, for example. It’s rarely used outside an academic environment like colleges, institutes, some jobs and a few other places. If you’re not planning to go to any of those places, you might want to study a different kind of English.
• You learn well on your own. Some online courses have instructors, but students don’t usually receive one-on-one help. Some other courses let you take the course at your own pace, completely on your own. If you have a tutor, or if you study well on your own, an online course is a good idea.

Whether you take a course on your own, or study along with the instructors and other students, here are some tips that’ll help you make the most of your online course:

• Create a schedule. Some courses require two hours a week; others require much more. See how much time you’ll need for your course, and create a schedule around your daily life to make sure you actually have time to complete the course.
• Decide on a pace. Will you follow along with the course schedule, or work on your own?
• Choose a course based on your style of learning. If you learn best from watching videos , choose a course that uses videos to teach. If you learn best through writing, reading or anything else, find a course that fits your needs.
• Choose a course based on your English skill level. Not all courses are for the same level of English. You won’t get as much out of a course if you’re struggling to understand the materials. Find a course that challenges you, but doesn’t frustrate you.
• Choose a focus. Do you want to learn more about how to read, write or speak in an academic English environment? Keep in mind that some courses only cover writing.

Once you understand what you want from an online academic English course, and you know how you plan to study, you’re ready to begin looking for the right course for you.

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Focus on Fluency: Top 15 Textbooks To Help You Speak English

Table of Contents

Choosing what textbook to use is a difficult decision. And if you want to improve your fluency, it gets even more challenging, since most English textbooks don’t focus much on speaking. 

To make things easier, we’ve made a list of the best 15 textbooks that will actually help you become fluent in English. And if you’re looking for something budget friendly (i.e., free), jump down to the bottom!

Textbooks With a Focus on Speaking

The first four are good English textbooks designed specifically to get you speaking.

Practice Makes Perfect: English Conversation

Published by McGraw-Hill, Practice Makes Perfect was written for intermediate students trying to improve their English conversation skills. Each chapter starts with a real-life dialogue, followed by conversation tips, expressions commonly used in American English and practice exercises. 

One advantage of this book is that it comes with recorded dialogues that can be accessed online and in its mobile app, so unlike many other options, you don’t need a CD player.

Nice Talking With You

Nice Talking With You is a Cambridge series that is designed to get beginners speaking from day one. Each lesson has learners working on conversation questions and strategies, which they then apply to the listening and speaking exercises.

Level 1 is designed for false beginners (those who have studied English before but don’t speak it) and Level 2 is for elementary and pre-intermediate students. 

Also published by Cambridge, Let’s Talk is a course that helps students become fluent in American English through a variety of communication activities, while still covering grammar, vocabulary, listening and other aspects of the language. 

This series consists of Level 1 , Level 2 and Level 3 .

Collins Easy Learning English

Collins Easy Learning English is a series of books produced by the company behind Collins English Dictionary . The series includes two books on conversation: English Conversation Book 1 for beginners and English Conversation Book 2 for intermediate students.

Each book has 14 units that feature how English is used in different everyday situations. There’s also some business English for beginners.

Textbooks That Start Conversations

If you just want to dive into the world of conversation and don’t need exercises or explanations, the books in this section are for you.

Discussions A-Z

Discussions A-Z is a series from Cambridge that is filled with engaging discussion activities. The intermediate and advanced books both have 26 units, each focusing on a different topic.

Compelling Conversations 

Compelling Conversations: Questions and Quotations on Timeless Topics is a book designed to encourage meaningful conversations among advanced learners. Each of the 45 chapters provides thought-provoking questions and quotations along with a list of relevant vocabulary words.

1000 Conversation Questions

Published in 2016, 1000 Conversation Questions is exactly that: 1,000 questions — no more, no less. These questions are divided into 100 topics that come up in conversation, such as aging, cleanliness, family values and more.

If you like this book, you may find another one by the same author helpful too: 500 Grammar-Based Conversation Questions . Published in 2014, this book introduces the most commonly-taught grammar patterns, followed by questions that let students practice them in conversation.

101 Conversations in English

If you want to study real-life conversations to improve your ability to communicate with locals, then 101 Conversations is the series for you. Both 101 Conversations in Simple English and 101 Conversations in Intermediate English tell a story through 101 short dialogues set in London.

Textbooks That Teach Vocabulary

To have a conversation, you need vocabulary. The textbooks below don’t just teach any words; they teach the words and expressions that you’ll definitely hear and use in conversation!

Conversational American English: The Illustrated Guide to Everyday Expressions of American English

McGraw-Hill’s Conversational American English teaches 3000 American English expressions through illustrations. It also covers 350 common themes in everyday conversation, from politely leaving an event to asking someone for their name again.

Speak English Like An American

Speak English Like An American teaches over 300 commonly-used American English idioms and uses stories to show learners when and how to use them. You can try out a chapter for free in the online course .

If you find this book helpful, you can check out the sequel, More Speak English Like An American , or other books by the same author: Speak English Around Town and Speak Business English Like An American .  

Each of these books comes with an app you can download to listen to the audio recordings.

Shortcut to English Collocations

If you enjoy learning idioms, then you might like this book as well: Shortcut to English Collocations (sample included) . Published in 2017, this book introduces 2000 of the most common collocations.

Collocations are words that are often used together. For example:

• “take a shower” (instead of “do a shower”) 
• “make friends” (instead of “get friends”)
• “come to an end” (instead of “reach an end”)

Knowing collocations makes you more fluent, as they allow you to speak in chunks instead of individual words. So check out Shortcut to English Collocations if you want to give your fluency a boost.

Oxford Word Skills

While Oxford Word Skills doesn’t directly help with fluency, we think it deserved to be mentioned, as it is one of the most highly-recommended vocabulary-learning resources available.

The three books each contain 2000 words that have been carefully selected for usefulness in real-life conversations. Students who find these books helpful can also check out the two additional ones on idioms and phrasal verbs . 

The books also come with free activities that you can use to check your mastery of the words.

Other Textbooks

Finally, if you want a more comprehensive learning experience, here are some textbooks that teach all four skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking) but still have strong speaking exercises.

American English File

American English File (sample included) is another series that takes learners from A1 to C1 level in American English. In addition to teaching vocabulary and grammar, each chapter has plenty of speaking exercises and pronunciation tips to get students speaking confidently.

Cutting Edge

Cutting Edge (sample included) is a British English textbook series that has students practice new vocabulary and grammar in context. Each lesson guides students toward achieving a particular communication goal.

New Total English

New Total English (sample included) is a textbook series which helps students develop all four language skills from A1 to C1. The books use plenty of authentic texts and photographs which will bring students out of a classroom and into the real world. 

Wrap-up 

At Engoo, we’ve helped thousands of students become fluent in English with our own English “ textbook .” Our lesson materials are completely free and open to the public, so anyone can use them whether they are a student with us or not.

• Our Conversation lessons will prepare you to talk about things like your favorite celebrities , countries you’d like to visit , and how often you exercise .
• Our Daily News lessons will get you talking about all sorts of topics, from health and tech to travel and environmental issues.

While our materials are great for self-study, you’ll learn much more by studying them with one of our tutors . So sign up for a lesson today and give it a try!

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• How to Make Your Coursework as Good as It Can Possibly Be

Many GCSE and A-level subjects are assessed in part by coursework in addition to exams, meaning that the mark you receive for coursework contributes to your overall grade. Many students prefer coursework, because it’s a chance to showcase your academic abilities away from the high-pressured environment of the exam room, making it ideal for those who don’t perform to the best of their abilities in exams. However, the time you have available for coursework, in contrast with the time constraints of the exam room, can lull some students into a false sense of security. Coursework is arguably just as challenging as exams, just in different ways – and, given the fact that you have more time, much higher standards are expected of you in coursework than in exams. Careful planning and research are needed for successful coursework, as well as strong data-gathering and essay-writing skills. In this article, we look at how to produce excellent coursework, from planning to proofreading. This information might also be useful to you if you’re planning on attending an Oxford Summer School this summer.

What is coursework?

GCSE and A-level coursework typically takes the form of an extended essay or project. Its objectives vary from one subject to another, but there’s usually an emphasis on the student conducting independent research into a topic of their own choice. Thus coursework often takes the form of some sort of investigation; it may, therefore, help to have your ‘detective’ hat on as you explore, investigate and analyse your topic. You can usually work on your coursework at home, though it’s sometimes completed under controlled conditions through sessions at school. To give you a better idea of how coursework varies from one subject to another, here are some examples:

• English – English coursework usually takes the form of an extended essay with a title of your choice. You’re usually given a choice of themes and/or texts to explore, and you could choose a format such as a comparison between a set text and another one.
• Geography – Geography coursework usually focuses on the gathering, reporting and interpretation of data designed to answer a particular geographical question. You could investigate usage of a shopping centre, for example, or look at erosion on a particular beach.
• Sciences – coursework for science subjects often takes the form of a scientific project or experiment that you conduct and report on yourself.

Before you start work on your coursework, it’s essential that you have a thorough understanding of the rules. Failing to conform to the rules – inadvertently or not – may result in your coursework (or possibly even your entire qualification) being disqualified, so it’s a serious matter.

• No plagiarism – this is particularly dangerous given the ready availability of relevant information on the internet these days. Make sure everything is in your own words; you’ll need to sign a declaration stating that it’s your own original work.
• There’s only so much help your teacher can give you . They can provide guidance on what you need to include, and on what the examiners will be looking for. You can ask them questions, but they’ll usually only be able to check through your first draft once and offer broad hints on updating it.
• Check the word count , and stick to it. Find out whether footnotes, appendices and bibliographies are included in the word count.
• Check what topics you’re allowed to do your coursework on; if there’s an exam on this topic, you’ll almost certainly have to choose a different one for your coursework.

Choose your topic wisely

Ideally, choose something you’re genuinely interested in, as your enthusiasm will come across and you’ll find it more enjoyable to write. If there’s something you’ve been working on for the course so far that you’ve particularly enjoyed, you may be able to focus more on this as part of your coursework. For science coursework, you’ll need to choose something to investigate that you can measure, change and control; it should be what’s called a ‘fair test’, meaning that you have to acknowledge all the controls you use in the experiment and why. Try not to pick a topic for which the scope is too vast, as you’ll struggle to research it properly and you’re unlikely to do it justice, and it’ll be hard to keep within the word limit. Ask your teachers for some guidance on choosing your topic if you’re not sure what to write about; they might even tell you a bit about what previous students have done to give you some inspiration.

Plan how long it’s going to take

Never leave your coursework until the last minute, even if this is your normal approach to essays and it usually works for you. Make sure you understand when the deadlines are, including time for submitting a first draft for comments from your teacher. Then schedule blocks of time for working on it, allowing plenty of time before the deadline to cater for any unexpected delays. Allow ample time for making corrections based on teacher feedback on your first draft, and keep some time aside before the deadline for final editing and proofreading. Because actual deadlines are few and far between, you’ll need to take responsibility for the writing process and impose some deadlines on yourself to ensure it’s finished in time. Write down your deadlines on a calendar, with the coursework broken into stages and dates assigned to each, by which time each task should be complete. You can base your stages on the next few points in this article – research and data gathering, a structure plan for the piece of work, writing up, and so on.

Conducting your research and gathering data

As coursework is primarily a research exercise, the research phase is crucial, so don’t be tempted to skimp on it and go straight to writing up. Use as many different resources as you can to gather data: books, journals, newspapers, television, radio, the internet and anything else you think might be relevant. For science and Geography coursework, you’ll need to base your work on a hypothesis, so the research stage should start by coming up with at least one hypothesis, otherwise your research will lack direction. The research phase for some subjects may involve site visits for gathering data, so allow plenty of time for this, particularly if you need your parents to drive you somewhere to do so. If it’s a scientific experiment you’re conducting for your coursework, you’ll need to pay careful attention to planning the experiment using rigorous scientific methods (also noting what Health and Safety precautions you are taking), as well as reading up on the background and theory so that you have an idea of what to expect from the outcome of your experiment. In the research stage, make notes about what you expect to happen, so that you can later compare your expectations with what actually did happen. The experiment itself also forms part of the research and data-gathering stage for your science coursework; in the write-up stage, which we come onto shortly, you analyse and write up the results.

Plan your structure

Once you’ve completed your research, the process of writing up begins. Before you get down to the actual writing, however, it’s advisable to write a plan for how you’re going to structure it – essentially an essay plan for English coursework and other subjects for which the coursework is based on an extended essay. It’ll look slightly different from an essay plan for science subjects and others that revolve around project work, but the principle is the same: plan out what order you’re going to present your information in. For big projects, this is particularly important, because with a lot of information to convey, you risk being disorganised and waffling.

Writing up your project

For any coursework, but particularly coursework based around an extended essay, you’ll need to perfect your essay-writing abilities. For science coursework, writing up your project also involves data analysis, as you interpret the results of your experiment and work your notes into formal scientific language.

When you’re writing up, it’s important to find a place where you can work quietly, without distractions that could cause you to make careless errors. You wouldn’t want noise or distractions when you were in an exam room, so treat your coursework with the same reverence.

Supporting materials and images

For some subjects, namely the sciences and Geography, it would be appropriate to include images, graphs, charts, tables and so on in your coursework. For example, for Geography coursework, your extra material could include annotated images and maps of the site you’re talking about, plus tables, graphs and charts. An appendix could then detail your raw data; if, for example, your coursework focused on the results of a survey, you could put the raw survey responses in an appendix and provide summaries and analysis in the main body of the coursework.

Footnotes and bibliography

As we said earlier, it’s important that you always use your own words in your coursework to avoid the possibility of falling foul of plagiarism rules. However, it’s acceptable to quote from another source, as you would in any piece of academic writing, but you must make sure that you state where it is from and use quotation marks to show that it’s a quote from somewhere else. The best way of citing another work is to use a footnote; word processors will allow you to insert one, and it just puts a little number at the end of the sentence and another in the footer of the document, into which you put the name of the author and work, and the page within that work that the quote can be found. At the end of your piece of work, include a bibliography that includes a list of every external source you’ve used in the creation of your coursework. Stick to a set formula when including books. A common format is: Author Surname, Initial. (Date) – Title of Book , page number For example: Lewis, C.S. (1960) – Studies in Words , p. 45 When you get to university, you’ll be expected to include footnotes and bibliographies in all your essays, so it’s a good habit to get into and coursework gives you good practice at it.

The final pre-submission check

Having completed a first draft, received feedback from your teacher, and honed your work into a finished piece of coursework, have a final check through it before you send off your coursework for submission.

• Sense check : have a read through your completed piece of work and check that it all makes sense. Make sure you haven’t contradicted yourself anywhere, or repeated yourself, or laboured the point. If there are any facts that you may have meant to look up to double check their accuracy, do so now.
• Word count : ensure that the completed work falls within the word count, and double check whether the bibliography should be included in the word count. If you’ve exceeded it, you’ll need to work through the piece and tighten up your writing, omitting unnecessary information, reordering sentences so that they use fewer words, and so on.
• Proofread : check your spelling and grammar, and ensure that there are no typos. Don’t just use the spellcheck – go through it with a fine toothcomb, manually, and if you can, ask someone to read through it for you to see if they spot anything you haven’t.
• Formatting : check that you’ve included page numbers, and that the font and line spacing is consistent throughout the work. Ensure that the font is plain and easy to read, such as Arial or Times New Roman.
• Bibliography : check that you’ve included everything, that the format is the same for all sources mentioned, and that the right information is included for each.

Once this stage is complete, you’re ready to submit your coursework along with your declaration that it’s entirely your own work. Get ready for a feeling of immense satisfaction when you finally send off your hard work!

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Man allegedly drugged wife's dinner then invited more than 50 other men over to rape her

Some 51 men are accused of raping Gisèle Pélicot, a mother of three, after she was allegedly drugged by her husband at the family home in Mazan, a commune in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur

• 16:23, 2 Sep 2024
• Updated 16:37, 2 Sep 2024

A mum who was allegedly raped by multiple strangers after being drugged by her own husband today faced them all in a packed court room .

Gisèle Pélicot, a 72-year-old French woman, waived her legal right to anonymity on Monday at the opening of the trial of Dominique Pélicot, 71, and 51 other men.

All are accused of aggravated rape in a trial at the Vaucluse Criminal Court, in Avignon, which is due to last for four months. Twenty of them, including Pélicot, are in custody, while the others remain on bail.

Asked to confirm his name and address at the start of proceedings, Pélicot said: "My home is prison, you know it". Ms Pélicot, a mother-of-three, was supported by her adult children as she stood in the public gallery, listening to evidence.

The family home, in nearby Mazan, allegedly became a crime scene over almost a decade, when streams of men were invited to attack Ms Pélicot. Her husband is said to have used an online platform called coco.fr to contact them between 2011 and 2020.

Detectives have listed a total of 92 rapes committed by 72 men, 51 of whom have been identified.They are all being tried alongside Mr Pélicot , a former employee at French utility company, EDF.

In evidence from previous hearings, he said all the men who slept with his wife ‘knew she was drugged’ without her knowledge. Pélicot said ‘all had free will’ and ‘could have left the premises’ at any time.

Presiding Judge Roger Arata announced first thing on Monday morning that Ms Pélicot would be granted her wish for ‘full publicity’ until the end of the trial.

"Proceedings will be public," said the judge, who is president of a bench composed of five professional magistrates. Ms Pélicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus, said: "She could have opted for a closed trial, but that’s what her attackers would have wanted."

Despite this, it would be a ‘horrible ordeal,’ said Mr Camus, adding: ‘For the first time, she will have to live through the rapes that she endured over ten years.

The Pélicots shared a large family house and – outwardly – were highly respectable pensioners with family members who visited regularly. Neighbours spoke about them as ‘lovely people’ who held parties around their swimming pool, in a well-kept garden, according to court evidence.

In fact, Pélicot was allegedly a serial rapist who moved his family from greater Paris in 1991, and later allegedly set up the sex ring. It involved advertising on a site for ‘partners’ on an online forum called ‘Without Her Knowing’.

Participants would discuss performing acts on unwitting partners, and then film their depravity, before storing the videos on a USB drive dubbed ‘Abuses’. In Pélicot’s case, the data eventually fell into the hand of police, who confirmed it enabled them to identify the 92 cases of rape. Of the 83 men involved, 51 aged between 26 and 73 were identified and arrested by the police.

Pélicot is said to have sedated his wife by putting tablets of a powerful anxiolytic drug into her evening dinner. He then invited strangers from the online forum into the couple's bedroom, so that his wife could be raped while unconscious. All were told to wash their hands, and not to wear aftershave, so she would not sense they were strangers.

Investigators only learned about the horror in 2020, when Pélicot was arrested in a supermarket in Carpentras for filming up the skirts of other customers.

When police searched his camera phone, and equipment kept at his home, they found all of the abuse images. Alleged rapists involved in the case include civil servants, ambulance workers, soldiers, prison guards, nurses, a journalist, a municipal councillor, and truck drivers.

A fireman accused of raping Ms Pélicot wore his uniform during the attack, one video shows. The fireman's computer contained 728 images of children being sexually abused, say prosecutors.

Some of his accomplices claimed they had no idea the sex was not consensual while one denied it was rape, saying: "It's his wife, he does what he likes with her." The trial continues, and is due to last until December 21.

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