Writing your PhD First-Year Report

This course is intended for PhD students in their first year who are currently working on their First Year Report.

Week 1: Academic discourse 

  • To understand and identify the key elements of academic discourse.
  • To explore and discuss the genre and conventions of first-year PhD reports.
  • To read and analyse a lay summary and produce your own.

 

Week 2: Writing introductions

  • To explore the functional elements and organisation of report introductions using Swales' CARS model.
  • To analyse sample introductions, discuss variations, and introduce useful language features.
  • To begin drafting parts of your introduction.

 

Week 3: Reviewing literature

  • To explore the key purposes and complexity of literature reviews.
  • To understand various organisational patterns for structuring literature reviews. 
  • To draft a section of your literature review.

 

Week 4: Proposing research

  • To understand the components of a well-structured methods section, including research questions and timeline.
  • To participate in an informal practice session simulating your first-year review board meeting.
  • To draft a section outlining your research methodology.

 

Week 5: Individual Tutorials

  • To clarify issues arising from the course materials.
  • To discuss tutor feedback in more detail.
  • To suggest further English language and academic literacies development. 

  • In-person – Fridays, 10:00 – 12:00
  • Online – Mondays, 10:00 – 12:00

The in-person course will be offered at the Holyrood Campus; the online course will use Microsoft Teams or Collaborate Ultra. 


This course is designed to support University of Edinburgh research students in their first year as they prepare their First-Year Report. It focuses on enhancing academic literacies essential for scholarly writing. Through lectures, analysis of authentic reports, and weekly tasks, you will learn about the typical structures and language features of these documents.

The content and learning objectives are the same for both the in-person and online versions of the course.

Classes are dedicated to presentations and discussions, allowing you to engage deeply with the content. Course materials will be available on Learn Ultra.

Plan to dedicate approximately 3 hours per week to the course, including assignments and pre-reading. Each week, you can submit a short piece of writing for your tutor to review and provide written feedback on, focusing on effective and meaningful academic discourse. In the final week (week 5), you'll have a one-to-one tutorial to address any remaining questions.

By the end of the course students should have a better understanding of:

  • ways of structuring the content of the report
  • ways of organising the different sections of the report
  • appropriate language for the different sections of the report and how to use that language accurately
  • any specific language areas that will need further work 

This course is intended for PhD students in their first year who are currently working on their First-Year Report. The course will be repeated in Semester 2. 

For the first semester, priority for places will go to those who started their PhD programme in Semester 2 of 2023/24. Note this course is *not* open to those doing an MSc by Research, and any applicants who are on such a programme will be cancelled from the course.


From Monday 9th September, you can register for this course in the Event Booking section of MyEd. You will find the course by clicking the 'News and Events' tab, then clicking on 'Training and Event Booking' and selecting 'English Language Education' in the 'Provider' dropdown menu. 

You will be informed whether you have a place after the deadline has passed on 13th October.


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