Welcome to the webpage for the second in the series of writing workshops by the Center for Professional Communication at GRIPS. In this workshop, Using Academic Vocabulary, Part 1, students will become familiar with several facets of academic vocabulary. More specifically, those facets include

For your pleasure, here is the nifty handout for tonight's class—enjoy. In addition,

 Knowing a Word 

As you certainly know, GRIPS has a fine library with considerable access to academic publications. The following databases are available.

  • ✓ Meaning: the core meaning of a word
  • ✓ Form(s): permutations, the different types of a word (e.g., noun, verb, adjective)
  • ✓ Use(s): collocations, grammatical function(s), constraints on use

 The Nature of Academic Vocabulary 

This section includes random and perhaps related links concerning the nature of vocabulary. Professor O'Neill will explain :-)

An interesting webpage on word roots and prefixes from Learn That Word

the Academic Word List

Online vocabulary practice

University of Victoria AWL practice links (third subheading from the top of the page)

 Strategies for Learning Vocabulary 

One "strategy" is, of course, to simply sit down and grind through vocabulary lists and the like; you might call this the brute force method. However, continue reading for some rather more refined and likely more effective methods.

Creating and maintaining a vocabulary notebook has been found to significantly help students learn new vocabulary (Fowle, 2002; Schmitt & Schmitt, 2002; Walters & Bozkurt, 2009). (Go ahead and admit it: you like APA citations, right?) Assuming you accept this notion, here are some vocabulary notebook guidelines, and here you'll find an example and, just for fun, a second example.

Another time-tested strategy is to read. Read lots. Read very much. Read more after that. In short, read.

A further strategy is to use new vocabulary in some fashion in which you actively produce language. By this we mean use a new vocabulary word (or phrase) to make new sentences. Incorporate new words into your academic English when giving presentations, when writing papers, and simply when being academic.

Some people are also fans of flashcards, and note that flashcards are especially useful when riding crowded trains! Of course, the very act of making flashcards helps you learn a new word, and it certainly qualifies as active learning if you include an example that you create.

URL: www.jimelwood.net/students/grips/workshops/academicvocab1.html

The logos were created on Cool Text.

Date last updated: November 6, 2015 * Copyright 2015 by Midas, Cyrus, and all the other lunatics.