Online Preparatory English: Reading and Writing
Course schedule:
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Course information
Learning outcomes
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
- identify and select appropriate academic vocabulary
- understand and apply the principles for producing a well-structured, grammatically sound written text
- employ strategies to avoid plagiarism (e.g. paraphrasing, summarising, and correct referencing)
- utilise suitable organisational structures when writing essays for different purposes (e.g. cause and effect, problem-solution)
Content
The Online Preparatory English: Reading and Writing course focuses on key elements of academic English required for writing essays and completing written tasks at the undergraduate level. It covers a range of topics including avoiding plagiarism, academic vocabulary, academic grammar, and various writing structures. Its online activities promote independent, flexible learning and include self-checked, peer-reviewed, and tutor-assessed learning tasks culminating in the production of a short academic essay. During the course, the students learn to identify and select appropriate academic vocabulary, such as using reported speech verbs, and also to exercise greater control of key tenses by recognising the need for tense shifts.
Furthermore, students will acquire important skills in avoiding plagiarism (e.g. paraphrasing, summarising, and referencing) and utilise suitable organisational structures when writing essays for different purposes (e.g. cause and effect and problem-solution). Overall, this course will support students in gaining an insight into academic style in accordance with the formal requirements of university study.
Teacher
Signe-Anita Lindgren
Study material
Provided by the teacher and students
Workload
27 h
Prerequisites
No prequisites.
Evaluation
Quizzes and mini-lectures
- Peer review exercises
- Forum tasks
- Final essay
This is a pass/fail course
Teaching time and location
This course is an online course. There are no lectures.
The teaching time and the location of the course can be found at Sisu information system
- The link leads to Completion methods tab of the course page
- From the top of the page (Version drop-down menu), check that academic year 2025-2026 is selected
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From the blue bar, click Lecture and open the Groups and teaching times tab to see the teaching time and the location of the course. Exam times can be seen by clicking Exam.
The teacher has four (4) weeks to grade the exam submissions starting from the exam date.
Further information
CEFR level: B1
Online learning environment for the course
MyCourses online learning environment is a tool for both students and teachers for communication and managing everyday course work. You need an Aalto User ID to log in to the course's MyCourses workspace and participate in teaching.
Digital workspace of the course:
MyCourses
More details on completing the course will be available at MyCourses closer to the start of the course.
Registration and course fee
Registration for Open University courses is done via the link below:
Course registration
Registration for this course starts on 4.8.2025 at 9.00
Registration for this course ends on 4.9.2025 at 23.59
It is not possible to register before the registration period has started or after it has ended.
The number of participants is limited to 5. Please note: The course is organized if a minimum of 10 students register for it.
This course is organized by the Aalto University Language Centre
The course fee is paid upon registration for each course at a time and it is binding. Familiarize yourself with registration and payment rules as well as other guidelines for students:
Registration, payments and rules
Activating Aalto ID and Multifactor Authentication
You can activate your Aalto User ID the day after the registration and you should activate it no later than the day before the start of the course.
Instructions for activating your Aalto user ID
Once you have activated your Aalto user ID, also enable multifactor authentication. Some of Aalto University's services require multifactor authentication.
Studying at the Open University
Do you need individual study arrangements for health reasons? How can I navigate in campus facilities? Read more about issues related to studying at the Open University. The Studying at the Open University page has gathered useful information about studying.
