Neil Murray – författare

Now in a fourth edition, Contemporary Topics expands on its highly respected approach to developing academic listening and study skills. Organized around realistic college lectures, the text guides learners through carefully sequenced activities in skills such as note-taking, focusing attention, intensive listening, and vocabulary building. It also helps students evaluate their interests and explore possible career paths.

New to This Edition

Other Highlights

Successful Dissertation Writing guides students through the involved process of writing an academic dissertation, developing their ability to communicate ideas and research fluently and successfully.

From conducting research, working with a supervisor, understanding and avoiding plagiarism, right through to using feedback and editing to improve the written piece, it will help students master the more technical elements of producing well-written academic work.

Based on their many years of experience, the authors have structured the book so as to build students' confidence in their own writing ability whilst at the same time respecting conventional ideas of what is, and what is not, acceptable in the academic domain. To reinforce student learning, the material is presented using a wealth of clear examples, hands-on tasks with answers, and logical sequences that build on earlier chapters. The first two sections of the book address the preparation and writing of assignments and research projects, while the third provides a useful toolkit containing reference materials on areas including punctuation, grammar and academic terminology.

The book includes numerous tips and insights and comprehensively covers issues such as:

Based on their many years of experience, the authors have structured the book so as to build students’ confidence in their own writing ability whilst at the same time respecting conventional ideas of what is, and what is not, acceptable in the academic domain. To reinforce student learning, the material is presented using a wealth of clear examples, hands-on tasks with answers, and logical sequences that build on earlier chapters. The first two sections of the book address the preparation and writing of assignments and research projects, while the third provides a useful toolkit containing reference materials on areas including punctuation, grammar and academic terminology.

The book includes numerous tips and insights and comprehensively covers issues such as:

It is perhaps ironic that as the global financial crisis has, in some cases, led governments and institutions to pull back from and/or set more modest goals and associated funding around widening participation, there is an ever-growing sense that the ideals buttressing the widening participation movement are becoming more universally acknowledged by educators across the globe. That acknowledgement has translated into action on the ground via such means as policy formulation, strategic planning and target setting – each of which often reflects local contexts and manifests a regional ‘flavour’. There is also, however, an increasing realisation that there are commonalities in the challenges involved with national or regional initiatives to increase the participation of non-traditional groups in higher education and that the drivers of such initiatives – and ultimately the cohorts they target – stand to benefit considerably from an open exchange of ideas and sharing of experience.

This book brings together current regional perspectives on widening participation as presented by prominent academics, researchers, policy-makers, and students from across the globe. It will create for policy-makers, institutions, and individuals interested in enabling access, a useful and informative resource that will introduce, formulate, shape and reinforce the ideas and aims of the World Congresses on widening access.

As the contributors maintain, in an increasingly globalised market economy and in the face of recent seismic economic, political and social change around the world, it is imperative to both secure existing talent within our populations and uncover and nurture new sources of talent. The series of essays featured in this book will explore, anticipate, and highlight themes underpinning a global movement towards a step-change in thinking, strategies, and policies – one that places youth and students from around the world at its heart.

It is perhaps ironic that as the global financial crisis has, in some cases, led governments and institutions to pull back from and/or set more modest goals and associated funding around widening participation, there is an ever-growing sense that the ideals buttressing the widening participation movement are becoming more universally acknowledged by educators across the globe. That acknowledgement has translated into action on the ground via such means as policy formulation, strategic planning and target setting – each of which often reflects local contexts and manifests a regional ‘flavour’. There is also, however, an increasing realisation that there are commonalities in the challenges involved with national or regional initiatives to increase the participation of non-traditional groups in higher education and that the drivers of such initiatives – and ultimately the cohorts they target – stand to benefit considerably from an open exchange of ideas and sharing of experience.

This book brings together current regional perspectives on widening participation as presented by prominent academics, researchers, policy-makers, and students from across the globe. It will create for policy-makers, institutions, and individuals interested in enabling access, a useful and informative resource that will introduce, formulate, shape and reinforce the ideas and aims of the World Congresses on widening access.

As the contributors maintain, in an increasingly globalised market economy and in the face of recent seismic economic, political and social change around the world, it is imperative to both secure existing talent within our populations and uncover and nurture new sources of talent. The series of essays featured in this book will explore, anticipate, and highlight themes underpinning a global movement towards a step-change in thinking, strategies, and policies – one that places youth and students from around the world at its heart.