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I am using an automatic transcript service as it is not possible for me to do it on my own and I cannot afford human transcription at the moment. The service claims to have about 95% accuracy, which means there will still be some mistakes, so my apologies for having a less than perfect transcript, but I hope I can afford human transcription soon and I will solve this problem. However, the service is pretty good, and the transcript is almost perfect.
Transcript
Welcome to a new episode from English plus podcasts. Today’s episode is about vocabulary. And this episode is for advanced learners. We will talk about study and academic work. We will learn words to describe study and exams, academic writing, and other aspects of higher academic study. And now, before we start, let me remind you that you can find the transcript of this episode in a link.
[00:00:27] I will leave in the description and you can also become a patron of the show. On Patrion. I will leave a link to that in the description as well. You can become a patron of the show. You can support us and receive a PDF practice worksheet. With every single episode we release this way, you will support us and you will invest in your own English learning.
[00:00:47] So without further ado, let’s start with today’s episode. It is about study and academic work. Now let’s start by reading an excerpt and we will stop while reading this excerpt to talk about some key words that we will learn from this episode. Now, this first excerpt is about study and exams. Before an exam, some students cram for it, even if you’re a genius, you will have to do some revision.
[00:01:11] If the exam happens every year, you can revise by looking at past papers. So he, let me stop and talk about cram for it. C R a M cram for an exam. What does that mean now to cram for an exam means to study in a very concentrated way for a short time. That is to cram for an exam. Even if you’re a genius, of course, a genius is an exceptionally clever person.
[00:01:35] You still have to do some revision. And if the exam happens every year, you can revise by looking at past papers. What are past papers? Uh, past papers are exam papers from previous years. So here we have Graham for exams, genius, do some revision, revise, obviously, and past papers. Now let’s continue. Some things can be memorized or learned off by heart, but throat learning is not sufficient for most subjects.
[00:02:03] It is also possible to use mnemonics. So here we have a couple of words we need to talk about first memorize when you memorize something, of course you learn it by heart. You can repeat what you learned without looking at it. That is you learn it by heart, or you learn it off by heart. But we said here, rote learning R O T E dash learning.
[00:02:25] What does that mean? Rote learning is not sufficient for most subjects. I wrote learning is learning purely by repetition without doing anything else. Just repeating, repeating until you learn. Well, that might be useful for some studies or for some subjects, but it’s not sufficient for most subjects. And it is also possible to use mnemonics and pneumonics is very special because it is spelled M N E M O N I C S.
[00:02:51] Mnemonics. What does that mean? Mnemonics are tricks that help you remember something? For example, I, before E except after C is a mnemonic for English spelling. And if you remember that you will remember that there is an E in friend, but there is an EDI in receive. So just for example, and now let’s continue our little excerpt.
[00:03:10] However, all things considered. The best idea is to bury yourself in your books and to study intensively until you know, the subject inside out. So here we have a couple of expressions. We want to talk about the first one obviously is buried yourself in your books. Now, when you bury yourself in your books, what does that mean?
[00:03:30] It means to spend the maximum time study. And when you study intensively, it means you study in a very focused way. And finally until, you know, this subject inside out, inside out means completely, you know, it completely inside out. So that being said, we will move from talking about studying exams, to talking about academic writing.
[00:03:53] Now you all know about academic writing, but we hear all the time that there’s a composition essay, project portfolio, dissertation thesis. What are they? And what is the difference between them? Want to start by the easiest and shortest one, the composition, the composition could be just 50 to a hundred words.
[00:04:12] And it’s often used for schoolwork. An essay is longer than composition. It is more serious and usually it consists of hundreds or thousands of words. If you want to make it a little bit bigger, you have an assignment. A long essay, often part of a course. And usually we have thousands of words. There’s also the project.
[00:04:33] It’s like the assignment, but the emphasis is on the student’s own material and topic. And there’s also the portfolio. The portfolio is a collection of individual pieces of work and it may include drawings or other examples of creative work, as well as writing. It’s not only about writing, it can also apply to drawing or photography or any other kind of creative work.
[00:04:55] And then we go to the purely academic specially for postgraduate studies. We have the dissertation, the I S S E R T a T I O N dissertation and dissertation is a long research-based work, perhaps 10 to 15,000 words sometimes longer. And it is usually done to get a degree or diploma. Now this is degree.
[00:05:17] Greek could be a master’s or a PhD sometimes. And there is the longest of all, which is called the thesis. T H E S I S the thesis it’s a very long, original research based work and perhaps 80 to 100,000 words. And that’s usually for a higher degree, for example, to get a PhD. Now let’s talk a little bit more about academic writing.
[00:05:39] We will talk about common things that happen, common problems and some good ideas that you should keep in mind. When you want to approach any kind of academic writing. I will read an excerpt and of course, I will stop to talk about the keywords that we have in this excerpt. So let’s start with this. It’s a good idea.
[00:05:57] To start with a mind map when preparing an essay, always write a first draft before writing up the final version here, we have two key words I would like to focus on, and that is the mind map. And the first draft. Now the mind map is a diagram that lays out ideas for a topic and how they are connected to one another.
[00:06:17] That’s what we call the mind map. And the first draft is obviously the opposite of the final version because it is the first and the rough version. So always write a first draft before writing up the final version. And now let’s continue. Your essay should be all your own work. Plagiarism is a very serious offense in colleges and universities.
[00:06:38] It is an increasing problem because it is so easy to cut and paste from materials available on the internet. And students have to sign a plagiarism form to say that the work they’re handing in is all their own and that they acknowledge any sources they have used. So here we have plagiarism. PLA G I a R I S M plagiarism.
[00:07:02] What does that mean? We said here plagiarism is a very serious offense. In colleges and universities, plagiarism is using other people’s work as if it was yours. So remember it’s not bad and it’s not forbidden to use other people’s works, but you need to acknowledge the sources. And that is another word we have in this excerpt as well.
[00:07:23] You need to acknowledge any sources you have used when you acknowledge the source, you give details of the source. You say that I’ve taken this part from this book or from this writer or whoever, but you acknowledge the sources, but if you don’t acknowledge the sources and if you claim that this work is your own.
[00:07:42] That is called plagiarism. And as we said here, sometimes students have to sign a plagiarism form. And in this plagiarism form, they say that the work they are handing in is all their own. So it is that serious. So we have plagiarism and acknowledges keywords here. Now let’s continue. There’s usually a deadline.
[00:08:01] After the essay is submitted, it will be assessed. And usually you can get feedback. So here there is usually a deadline. Now, what is the meaning of deadline? The deadline is the date by which you must hand in the work. Sometimes we have strict deadlines and you can’t extend the deadline and you will have to wait for next semester, for example.
[00:08:22] So the essay is submitted and that means handed in, but submitted is a formal way of saying hand in and then it will be assessed. A S S E S S it will be assessed and assessed means it will be evaluated and given a grade. And finally, you can get feedback. The feedback is the comments from the teacher or the tutor.
[00:08:43] So that was about academic writing. And we’ve learned some good words we can use to talk about academic writing and more importantly, to differentiate between the different kinds of academic writing. And now let’s move on to talk about aspects of higher academic study. Now university academics carry out research and are expected to read academic journals, which published papers or articles on specialized subjects.
[00:09:08] Now, here we say, carry out research. And that is the more formal way of saying do research. Of course we can say do research, but carry out is more formal. And they’re expected to read academic journals journals. Here are magazines with academic articles. We do not use the word magazine to talk about this kind of academic publication.
[00:09:29] We say journals, these which publish papers or articles on specialized subjects. Now let’s continue. If a library does not have a copy of a book or journal, you may be able to access it online, or you can usually get it through an interlibrary loan. Now here you can access it online. Of course you can get hold of it on the internet.
[00:09:50] And there is the important keyword here, and that is an interlibrary loan. What is the meaning of, you can get it through an interlibrary loan. Now, the interlibrary loan is a system where libraries exchanged books and journals with one another. So let’s continue open educational resources are particularly convenient for many students.
[00:10:12] Now, here we have open educational resources. Now we talked about interlibrary loan, and now we’re talking about open educational resources. What does that mean? Open educational resources are online materials that can be freely used by teachers and students anywhere for educational purposes. And now let’s continue.
[00:10:30] Academic study can be very demanding. And some students drop out, but the majority survive till finals and become well-qualified members of their future professions. So here it is not for everybody. Academic study is not for everybody. Sometimes people find it very demanding, so tough. So they drop out.
[00:10:50] What does it mean to drop out? That needs to leave the course before the end. And now if you use it with school, that means to leave school cool. Before you finished school or to leave college before you finished college or obviously university, but sometimes we can just use it for one subject, not for the whole thing, you know, just like you drop out a subject or you drop out a class sometimes, but sometimes you can drop out to school, university or college.
[00:11:14] And then we continued and talked about to survive till finals now finals here in plural. That means the last exams before the end of a college or university course. And finally we used well qualified members. These people become well-qualified members of their future professions. That means with the right formal qualifications needed to become members of their future professions.
[00:11:37] Now with that being said, we have talked about studying exams. We’ve talked about academic writing, different types of academic writing, plagiarism and other stuff. And we talked about some other aspects of higher academic study. I hope you found the new words we talked about in this episode useful, and I hope you’ve learned something new to use in your talk about study and academic work.
[00:11:58] Let me remind you that you can find the transcript of this episode in the link. I will leave in the description and you can become a patron of the show on Patrion to support English plus podcasts. And you will also get a PDF practice worksheet with every single episode. We release that being said, thank you very much for listening.
[00:12:14] This is Danny. Your host. I will see you next time.
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