Academic Skills Project - Modern Languages

This page contains details of the ASP workshops run by the School of Modern Languages. For further information and to register for these workshops, contact the School ASP Coordinator Natalia Hernandez Somarribas by email at nhs1@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Programme details:

Semester 1:

Date: Week 3 (Monday, Thursday or Friday), Audience - first and second years

Tutor: Manuel del Callejo

Learn the essential aspects of academic referencing in a dynamic workshop focused on the needs of first-year Modern Languages students. Understand how to properly credit sources, avoid plagiarism, and navigate the most common citation styles used in universities around the world.

Intended Learning Outcomes: Learn how to properly use the most common academic citation styles, with focus on the one used by the School of Modern Languages.
Date: Week 4 (Monday, Thursday or Friday), Audience: First and Second Years.

Tutor: Ariana Serafinceanu

This workshop will provide students with guidance for navigating a number of scholarly platforms (EBSCOhost, WorldCat, Oxford Reference), as well as with insight into the different categories of academic sources that they should be looking for according to their intended product, and how to identify the best sources within those. I will also present a breakdown of types of academic sources (journal articles, essays, critical anthologies, monographs, etc.)

Intended Learning Outcomes: This workshop will clarify the process of researching and selecting the best academic sources for students. After attending the workshop, students will be able to utilise a number of scholarly platforms and identify optimal academic sources in different formats.
Date: Week 5 (Monday, Thursday or Friday), Audience: First and Second Years

Tutor: Ariana Serafinceanu

This workshop will cover techniques for enhancing the clarity and depth of essays. It provides concrete methods for recognising and amending common weak spots in undergraduate essays, as well as offering tips for developing their arguments at a high level. For instance, the workshop will cover writing conclusions in consideration of their broader discipline/field of research.

Intended Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to communicate in a more clear and engaging way through their essay writing. They will be able to identify missing information from their essays effectively and synthesise their arguments convincingly.
Date: Week 7 (Monday, Thursday or Friday), Audience: First and Second Years

Tutor: Alia Taifi

This workshop introduces students to the role of secondary literature in academic writing and how to engage with it critically. We will discuss when and why to use theory, what we mean by a theoretical framework, and how to position scholarly texts in relation to primary material. Students will learn to treat secondary sources as participants in a dialogue that shapes their own argument.

Intended Learning Outcomes: By the end of this workshop, students will be able to use secondary sources critically and with confidence to support clear, theoretically informed arguments.
Date: Week 8 (Monday, Thursday or Friday), Audience: First and Second years

Tutor: Kendra Löwer

Oral presentations are probably one of the most dreaded types of exams at university - at least for many students. If you count yourself among them, or simply want to sharpen your presentation skills, then you're in the right place! Together, we'll explore what makes a presentation truly effective. You'll also learn practical strategies to manage anxiety and prepare with confidence for a variety of assessments. Before long, presentations and other exams will hopefully feel less daunting, and you'll approach your next one with greater ease and self-assurance.

Intended Learning Outcomes: Presenting a paper and engaging with questions; create captivating presentations, communicate clearly, manage timing and use of body language; prepare before an exam
Date: Week 9 (Monday, Thursday or Friday), Audience: First and Second years

Tutor: Caroline May

This workshop introduces students to the building blocks of literary analysis, focusing on essential terminology and interpretative strategies. Through short texts and collaborative exercises, students will practice identifying literary devices and analyzing how language and structure create meaning.

Intended Learning Outcomes: By the end of the session, students will be able to identify and apply key literary terms (e.g., narrator, setting, stylistic devices) and perform a basic literary analysis of a short text using appropriate vocabulary. They will also begin to understand how form and content interact in literature.
Date: Week 10 (Monday, Thursday or Friday), Audience: First and Second years.

Tutor: Pauline Preisler

This workshop provides an introduction into close reading of novels. After a short discussion of the term novel, students will get tips how to analyse the structure of a novel and how to identify key sections. Moreover, they will familiarise themselves with language registers and different type of narrators and analyse a selected section of a novel they read in their seminars.

Intended Learning Outcomes: The students reflect the genre of novel. They have gained an overview of methods for analysing the structure of a novel and for identifying key sections. The students define language registers and different type of narrators. They are able to identify these registers and type of narrators in their analyses of novels.

Online
Date: Week 10 or 11 (Monday, Thursday, Friday), Audience: First and Second years

Tutor: Kendra Löwer

Have you ever felt lost in a forest of figurative phrases while analysing a poem? Have you ever been confused by the meaning behind alliterations' playful but perplexing patterns of pronunciation? Then you’re in the right place! In this workshop, we’ll dive into the world of poetry analysis and learn the key steps to successfully examine a poem’s form, structure, language, and more.

Intended Learning Outcomes: Analyse lyric sources by examining form, structure, language, imagery and literary devices.

Academic Skills Project - Modern Languages

Programme details:

Semester 1:

Workshop 1: Guide to Academic Referencing (footnotes, endnotes, bibliography)

Workshop 2: How to Find Academic Sources for Essays

Workshop 3: Tips for Better Essays

Workshop 4: Joining the Conversation: Using Secondary Sources in Academic Writing

Workshop 5: Effective oral presentation in exams and general skills for exam preparation

Workshop 6: Introduction to Literary Analysis and Literary Terminology

Workshop 7: Literary analysis of novels

Workshop 8: Literary analysis of poetry/verse