Glossary for the Study Skills Toolkit

abbreviation

a short form of a longer word, e.g. abbrev. (abbreviation); cttee (committee)

abstract

a summary of an academic text, which appears at the beginning of the text

acronym

a word which is composed of the first letters of the words it refers to, e.g. VAT = value added tax

adjective

a word which gives more information about a noun, e.g. compatible interface, technical support

adjective phrase

a phrase in which the headword is an adjective. In the sentence 'The new bridge will be the second longest in the world,' the adjective phrase is 'the second longest in the world'

adverb

a word which tells you more about a verb or an adjective, e.g. wireless technology is evolving rapidly, a widely adopted system

adverbial clause

a subordinate clause that begins with an adverb or adverbial phrase

adverbial connector

adverbs and adverbial phrases can join main and subordinate clauses. There are many such adverbials - consequently, in addition, moreover, in the meantime, nevertheless, etc - each indicating a particular relationship between the clauses (e.g. cause and effect, concession, time). Examples: "In the late 1800s, there was a revival of interest in such works"; "The experiment was conducted in secrecy"

adverb phrase

a phrase in which the headword is an adverb or adverbial (an adverb consisting of a group of words). In the sentence 'Results are expected at the end of this year', the adverb phrase is 'at the end of this year'

affix

word element (morpheme) that is attached to the front or back of a base word to form a new word. Example: '-tion' (e.g. communication); 'con-' (e.g. 'context'); 'inter-' (e.g. 'international')

analyse

to examine something carefully and in detail in order to understand it

annotate

add an opinion, explanation or query in note form to a text; abbreviations, symbols and highlighting are often used

antonym

a word which has an opposite meaning to another word, e.g. careless is an antonym of careful

archaic

(words, phrases) which are no longer used today (e.g. thee, thou = 'you')

article

a word such as a/an (indefinite articles), the (definite article) which has no meaning by itself, and which you use in front of a noun or noun phrase, e.g. a database is the electronic equivalent of an indexed filing cabinet

asynchronous

communication (text-based or voice-based) not requiring participants to be present at the same time, e.g. email, discussion board

attribute

to acknowledge (in writing) that a piece of work or an idea is the work of someone else; if you attribute the sources, you can avoid plagiarism

auxiliary verb

in the following example - Researchers have studied... - the auxiliary verb is 'has'

base word

a word or word part from which other words can be made by adding a prefix or suffix. Example: In 'transport',' import' and ' export' the base word is 'port'

bias

a tendency to support or oppose something in an unfair way by allowing personal opinions to influence your judgment (e.g. the biased reporting of political events)

bibliographic record (or entry)

information about a published source; there are conventions governing the kind of information that should be included in a bibliographic record and how it should be set out

bilingual

involving 2 languages; this might refer to a type of dictionary, for example, in which terms are translated from one language to another, e.g. an English-Chinese dictionary

brainstorm

to think of all the ideas related to a particular concept or topic by noting them down or saying them aloud in no particular order

chunk

a 'chunk' of e.g. listening or reading text, refers to a small section or part of it

chunking

instead of focussing on language word-by-word, chunking involves focusing on using language in groups of words which go together ('collocations'). Example: 'The Prime Minister is going to Three groups of words can be 'chunked' in this example: '(The) Prime Minister', 'is going to', 'chair a meeting'chair a meeting'

cite

in academic writing, to name or refer to another writer as the source of information in your text

clause

a group of words consisting of the minimum of a subject (a noun phrase) and a predicate (sometimes just a single verb). A sentence may be composed of a single clause or a number of clauses. Example: 'Note-taking is an important academic skill.' = a single clause or sentence. 'An important academic skill' = a phrase NOT a clause or sentence

cohesion

how the different ideas expressed as sentences in an academic text 'hold together' to create one single text. Cohesive devices include the use of linking words that point forwards, backwards or make clear the relationships between ideas

collocate

to fit together naturally; words which typically go together are said to 'collocate'. Examples: user-friendly; sit down; lose your head; a major consideration; to a certain extent

collocation

this term refers to the way in which some words are frequently used together, e.g. you can 'settle a bill' but not 'agree a bill' because agree and bill are not collocations of one another

colloquial

informal use of language (e.g. the style of speech used socially among friends)

complement (of a subject)

in a clause the part that completes and describes the subject is often referred to as the complement. This may consist of the verb 'to be' or a copular verb and an adjective. Examples: 'This essay is excellent'; 'The business became successful'

compound

a word or words which consist of other words joined or used together to make a lexical item with its own meaning, e.g. a trade deficit (a noun compound), mass-produced goods (an adjectival compound)

concise writing

writing, usually in an academic or formal context, which is uses the minimum number of words to express a point for the meaning to be clear

concordance

through the use of computer software, take a list of the words used in a book or other work (e.g. The Times newspaper) and give the user information about where the words can be found and in which sentences in the text

concordancer

an online tool for searching a body of texts for instances of a particular word or group of words

conjunction

a word or group of words that you can use to join together other words or groups of words, e.g. and, however. A conjunction joins two main clauses. They can be joined as a single sentence or as two separate sentences. Examples of common conjunctions: and, but (coordinating conjunctions); when, because, which(subordinating conjunctions)

connective

a word or phrase used, for example, to order the different stages of a description of a process, e.g. firstly, next, consequently

coordinating conjunction

the words and, but, or, so, nor are co-ordinating conjunctions. They join two main clauses to make a single sentence. E.g. A new species was discovered when the plant was examined

counter argument

an argument that opposes another argument by challenging it or giving a different view

definite article

the determiner, 'the'. See also Article

dependent (or subordinate) clause

a dependent clause is a clause which is added to an independent clause. It cannot stand alone as a sentence as its meaning is incomplete. It is sometimes called a subordinate clause.

dependent prepositions

prepositions which go together (or collocate) with other words (verbs, nouns and adjectives e.g. interested in)

determiner

a word which is used before a noun or noun phrase to modify it, i.e. to make clear which particular person or thing is meant or to give information about quantity, e.g. 'the'/'my'/'Liz's'/'this' computer, 'both' computers

discourse marker

an expression used to highlight a part of speech or portion of a text to a listener or reader. For example, a discourse marker may signal importance. E.g. words and expressions used to show the links between ideas - in discourse or the speaker's attitude. Typical academic discourse markers: e.g. whereas, however, similarly, despite this

discussion forum

a virtual place, often within a Managed Learning Environment/Platform such as Blackboard or Moodle, where a community of people can exchange messages asynchronously to discuss something. Also called a 'Discussion Board'

dissertation

an extended piece of academic writing (c.10000-25000 words in length) on a particular subject required for some university courses

elaboration

to add more information about something or explain what has been said

emoticon

a symbol, also known as a smiley, which uses characters from the computer keyboard to express feelings or intended tone of a communication (e.g. joke). Such symbols are common in informal channels of electronic communication especially chat rooms. For example: ;-) winking smiley, :-( sad smiley

ethical issues

a system of accepted beliefs which control behaviour, especially such a system based on morals (e.g. it is ethically wrong to plagiarise)

evaluate

to form an opinion of the amount, value or quality of something after thinking about it carefully

expository

providing explanation

figurative

descriptive of words or phrases which are used in a different way from the usual meaning; figurative language is often used to give a vivid mental image. Example: The peace talks between the two enemies were torpedoed by the sudden increase in military operations. (Here 'torpedoed' is not used in its 'real' sense, but is used figuratively)

filler

a sound, word, or expression, generally without meaning, that is used by a speaker to fill a pause when he or she speaking; often used while the speaker searches for how to continue. Examples of fillers: sounds: um..., er..., words/expressions: well, you know, you see

finite verb

a verb has two forms - finite and non-finite. A finite verb is the form which shows tense (e.g. past or present), aspect and number (singular or plural). Every sentence must contain a subject and a finite verb, which is its main verb.

flow chart

a schematic way of representing a sequence or process, using a series of text boxes connected by lines and/or arrows. Example: a flow chart representing a manufacturing process

genre

a type of text related to its purpose (e.g. a contract designed to state the conditions of a legal agreement)

gerund

a noun which is made from the 'ing' form of a verb (e.g. Jogging is a good way of keeping fit)

gerund phrase

a phrase beginning with a gerund. e.g. Making a profit is what all companies try to do

gloss (v)

to give a brief definition of something so that the reader or listener has a general idea of what it means

headword

in a phrase the headword is the word that is modified by everything else in the phrase. For example: in the noun phrase 'University lecturers with more than three years' experience' the headword is the noun 'lecturers'; in the prepositional phrase 'in this part of the body' the headword is the preposition 'in'.

hedging

to avoid stating a point too definitely by qualifying it. Examples of ways to hedge: adverbs (possibly, perhaps) modal verbs (could, might, may)

highlight

to attract attention to something or emphasize its importance (e.g. to highlight the main points in an argument)

hypothesis

an idea or explanation for something that is based on known facts but has not yet been proved

idiom

this term is used to refer to a group of words that has a special (or non-literal) meaning, e.g. 'to pull your weight' = to do your fair share of the work like everyone else

idiomatic

containing an idiom. Example: Native speakers of a language usually use a lot of idiomatic language

independent clause

an independent clause is a clause that can stand alone with complete meaning. It is also called a main clause (in a sentence with more than one clause) or can take the form of a simple sentence.

indefinite article

the determiners, 'a/an'. See also Article

infer

to form an understanding or to interpret the meaning of what someone else says or writes, e.g. students infer meanings from what is written in texts or from what teachers say

infinitive

the infinitive is the base form of the verb. It usually occurs with 'To' (e.g. to research) and shows no person or tense. It may also occur without 'to', for example, after auxiliary verbs including modal auxiliary verbs. See also auxiliary verb

infinitive clause

a clause that begins with a 'to + infinitive' form of a verb. For example: To understand the processes involved, it is necessary to ...

infinitive phrase

A phrase beginning with a verb in the 'to + infinitive' form. e.g. To understand this phenomenon we must first examine...

interpret

to explain the meaning of something in another way

intransitive

this term refers to a verb which cannot be followed by a direct object, e.g. 'to fall': the dollar has fallen in value recently

jargon

words or expressions used by a profession which other people find difficult to understand (legal jargon)

literal

the usual or normal meaning of a word. Example: The translation was poor because too many literal meanings of words, based on dictionary definitions, were included

learning object

an item of online learning material

lecture

a formal speech made to an audience, usually made by lecturers in academic programmes where the audiences are students

lexical verb (a main verb expressing content rather than function)

in the following verb group - has been studied - the lexical verb is 'study'. E.g. The two countries had previously signed an economic pact

main clause

a main clause expresses a complete idea and can stand alone as a complete sentence. E.g. The company whose brand had been copied decided to sue

metaphor

a word or phrase used to describe somebody or something in an imaginative way, in order to make ideas or descriptions more powerful or easier to understand. Metaphor consists of language that expresses parallels between things or concepts E.g. The internet is a gateway to a vast amount of information

mindmap

a visual representation of the components or associations of a topic. In the form of a diagram usually radiating from a central theme, concept or object

mnemonic

a memory device, or way of helping yourself to remember something. Example: an invented story containing all the elements that you need to remember

modal

a verb which is used with another verb to express such ideas as possibility, ability, and necessity, e.g. computers can perform a wide range of tasks

modifier

a word, phrase, or clause which qualifies the meaning of a word or word group. Example: The extremely wet and windy weather conditions prevented a further attempt

monolingual

involving one language. This may refer to a type of dictionary, for example, in which definitions are given in the same language as the terms being defined, e.g. a French-French dictionary

multi-word verb

a combination of a verb and a particle (adverb or preposition) that forms a single unit (e.g. look after)

natural languages

a 'natural language' is any of the languages naturally used by humans, i.e. not an artificial or man-made language such as a programming language

navigate

to find your position or the position of your ship, plane, car, or where you are in a website etc. and the direction you need to go in, for example by using a map or website menu

netiquette

short form of Internet etiquette; a set of rules or guidelines to govern online behaviour particularly when posting messages to discussion forums and chat rooms

nominalisation

forming a noun from another word part, often a verb or an adjective. Example: 'communication' in the sentence: communication has been established

nominate

to formally suggest that somebody should be chosen for an important role, prize, position, etc

noun

a word which refers to a person (e.g. programmer), thing (e.g. computer), substance (e.g. ink), place (e.g. library) or quality (e.g. length)

noun clause

noun clauses are clauses that act like nouns in a main clause. There are two main types: those formed from statements, beginning with that; and those formed from questions, beginning with a question word such as how, what, which, why, etc. Example: what the investigation will reveal is not yet clear

noun phrase

this consists of a noun or pronoun with determiners and/or adjectives and/or adverbs and/or verbs, which singly or as part of a group of words functions as a noun phrase. Examples: 'Erasmus was born in Holland in the fifteenth century.'; 'The migration of lemmings takes place when the population density reaches a critical point.

object

the person or thing to which the action described by the verb in a sentence is 'done to' (e.g. 'Cows produce milk.', the object of this sentence is 'milk')

objective (adj)

based on facts rather than personal opinion

organising principle

a method of organising the ideas that form the argument of an essay into a logical order; for example, a writer might organise his/her ideas for an essay by order of topic

paraphrase

a statement in which somebody expresses something that somebody has written or said using different words

parenthesis

extra information, given in addition to the main text in a sentence; commonly written in brackets (parentheses), within the sentence

part of speech

a category of words that share the same use, i.e. represent the same part of speech. Examples: Verbs, nouns, conjunctions

participial phrase

a phrase beginning with a present or past participle. Examples: 'Given the arid conditions, the crop failed.'; 'Having composed the symphony, he abandoned his musical career.'

passive voice

A grammatical structure frequently used in formal or academic writing, in which the subject of the verb is the recipient of the action denoted by the verb. Example: The experiment was conducted in the laboratory by a team of scientists.

phrasal verb

this is a verb combined with a preposition or adverb or both which, when used together, take on a different meaning from the individual words, e.g. 'how did the merger come about?' = How did the merger happen?

phrase

this is is a group of words which form a small unit of meaning within a sentence. A phrase is less than a clause and lacks an active verb.

plagiarism

plagiarism involves the act of copying another person's words or pretending that their ideas are your own especially in academic written work. You must acknowledge the source when you paraphrase another writer's work

plural

a form of a countable word which expresses more than one. Examples: people; topics

post-modifier

a modifier that comes after the word it is modifying. Example: this year the hurricanes were particularly destructive

possessive pronoun

a group of pronouns used instead of nouns to show possession or ownership. Examples: their, our, your, mine, its, ours

precise writing

writing, usually in an academic or formal context, which records all factual detail carefully and accurately

prediction

a reading skill which involves using specific kinds of textual clues such as the title, subheadings, signpost words in order to guess what the text might contain

pre-modifier

a modifier that comes before the word it is modifying. Example: Sufficient sampling of the soil is needed.

preposition

a word or group of words which can be placed before a noun or pronoun to show place, direction, source, method etc., e.g. on the hard drive; the printer is next to the computer

prepositional phrase

a phrase beginning with a preposition. e.g. The human genome was mapped in the late 1990s. Prepositional phrases can act as adjectives or adverbs

pronoun

a word which replaces a noun, e.g. 'e-learning is different from conventional learning insofar as it does not involve face-to-face interaction'

proofreading

the activity of reading a piece of written work in its final stages, e.g. an essay, in order to identify and mark errors for correction

pure idiom

a phrase whose meaning is unrelated to the meaning of its individual words (e.g. kick the bucket = 'die')

qualitative

that can be assessed in terms of its relative quality or positive attributes. Qualitative data provides a subjective measurement or evaluation of something. See also quantitative.

quantitative

that can be measured or assessed using numbers. An analysis based on numerical data or statistics is generally said to be quantitative. See also qualitative.

quotation

To repeat (quote) words that someone else has written. The words are normally presented inside single or double inverted commas (quotation marks) to show that they represent a quotation and are followed by reference details. e.g. "To be or not be: that is the question" (Hamlet 3:1)

redundant

something which is not essential. Example: 'er' and 'um' are redundant fillers in speech; they are not essential to the understanding of what is being communicated

reformulate

change and improve an idea, text or notes after reconsidering it/them. Constantly reformulating your notes in the light of new information helps you to understand them better and keeps your notes in a form that is immediately useful for you

register

a variety of language related to the occupation of the writer (e.g. legal language used by lawyers)

relative clause

a clause beginning with a relative pronoun. There are two types: defining and non-defining. Examples: 'patients who took the new drug recovered quickly.' (Defining or identifying relative clause); 'the study, which took three years to complete, produced no conclusions.' (Non-defining or non-identifying relative clause, N.B. punctuation)

rhetorical question

rhetorical questions are questions used by a writer or a speaker that do not need an answer; their purpose is simply to involve the reader or the listener more fully. E.g. (from a lecture) How can we prevent problems like these from occurring? Well, one way is to...

scan

to read quickly to locate specific information

search string

the terms and symbols you enter in an online search engine. Understanding how to form effective search strings is an important skill for academic researchers

seminar

a typical university learning group in which a small group of students and a tutor make presentations and discuss ideas and concepts related to their subject

sentence

one or more clauses (minimum: subject + verb) that form a single unit in writing

signpost

a word or phrase used in speech or writing to highlight part of the text for the reader or audience; e.g. to introduce the different stages of a talk or lecture - to sum up, let's now consider; to clarify the writer's argument in writing - with regard to..., in conclusion

skim

to read a text quickly in order to get the gist or general idea.

source text

reference to source text in academic writing would be using information in your text which was taken from another text (e.g. by using quotation or paraphrase).

spider diagram

a way of representing graphically a set or sets of relationships between ideas or attributes, especially when brainstorming. Visually this resembles a spider with many 'legs'( connecting lines) and 'feet' (related ideas).

strategy

a method or way of achieving a specific goal especially in language learning; example: a listening strategy, reading strategies

study plan

a plan consisting of a list of your short and long term learning goals including the date by which you aim to achieve them, usually in the form of a grid

subject

the person or thing that 'does' the action described by the verb in a sentence (e.g. 'Cows produce milk.', the subject of this sentence is 'cows')

subordinating conjunction

a subordinating conjunction is used to join a subordinate clause to a main clause. Some subordinating conjunctions are: although, as, before, if, since, than, though, unless, where...

superficial

not detailed - a superficial text would only contain basic or obvious information

synchronous

communication (text-based or voice-based) requiring participants to be present at the same time, e.g. telephone conversation, instant messaging

synonym

this is a word which is similar in meaning to another word, e.g. authentic and real are synonyms

template

a document that has a fixed layout (e.g. headings and columns), but with blank spaces so that you can fill in your own content

text structuring devices

words and expressions that are used by writers to convey the structure of their texts to their readers. E.g. 'firstly', 'subsequently', 'in conclusion'

thesaurus

reference book containing an alphabetical listing of words with their synonyms or words and phrases with similar meanings in different contexts. E.g. the entry for 'book' in a thesaurus might include references to album, novel, or text

thesis

a long piece of writing usually written for an academic degree

topic sentence

a sentence in a paragraph that states the topic or subject of the paragraph and the idea(s) it focuses on

transitive

this term refers to a verb which can be followed by a direct object, e.g. 'to boost something': cheap currencies boost exports

tutorial

meeting between a tutor and an individual student or small group of students to discuss specific subject work and/or broader study-related issues

typographical

features of how text will appear when it is printed e.g. bold, italics, capital letters

uncountable noun

a noun which does not have a countable form e.g. information, research

utterance

something said by someone

variety

a form of language that is different from other forms in terms of its system or content. Examples: a dialect is a geographical variety; the technical vocabulary or jargon of certain professions or subject areas are varieties

verb phrase

a phrase that consists of a main verb and one or more helping verbs. e.g. 'had gone', 'may have eaten', 'was playing'

virtual learning environment

a learning area on the internet where learners access and study a course online.

web quest

A learning project which involves students researching web sites to obtain information to complete the project

word class (or grammatical class)

this is a term which is used to refer to whether a word is a noun, a verb, an adjective, or a preposition etc

WIMBA

A mainly voice-based Internet tool that has synchronous and asynchronous channels for online communication purposes

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