• St George's logo
  • Kingston and St George’s Faculty of Health, Social Care and Education

Academic Writing for Healthcare Students in Higher Education

Discover the academic writing fundamentals to help you achieve success in your healthcare-related undergraduate degree.

1,181 enrolled on this course

A woman smiling whist looking at a laptop and writing on a notepad.

Academic Writing for Healthcare Students in Higher Education

1,181 enrolled on this course

  • 3 weeks

  • 3 hours per week

  • Digital certificate when eligible

  • Introductory level

Find out more about how to join this course

Boost your confidence in academic writing with help from expert educators

Academic writing forms a significant part of your healthcare degree, and is key to your success at university.

This three-week course from Kingston University and St George’s, University of London will give you the tips, strategies, and tools you need to develop your academic writing skills. In honing your skills, you’ll boost your confidence and be able to focus on your course content to become a motivated and independent learner.

Develop your writing style to use throughout your healthcare course

Your writing style has an impact on the interpretation of your assignments. This course will help you sharpen your English grammar and vocabulary and develop your academic voice to write clearly and concisely.

You will also learn methods to structure and plan your assignments to create comprehensive and effective work.

Understand how to use sources accurately to showcase your critical thinking

The sources of evidence that you utilise are crucial for your assignments.

On this course, you’ll be taught how to find and select sources that are credible, reliable, and that support your writing. In learning this, you’ll be able to elevate your assignments and demonstrate your creative thinking skills through the selection and analysis of appropriate research evidence.

Reflect on your editing and writing skills and evaluate your progress

On completion of this course, you’ll have gained the knowledge and skills to assess and improve your academic writing and editing skills.

With the help of the educators at Kingston University and St George’s, University of London, you’ll be able to evaluate your progress in academic writing and continue honing your skills to pursue your success in studying healthcare.

Syllabus

  • Week 1

    Taking the first steps

    • Introduction to the course

      Welcome to the course! Introduce yourself, meet the educator and understand what we mean by academic writing skills. Find out how the material in the course has helped other students.

    • Getting your grammar right

      In any written work, it is important to get your grammar right! Find out why and practice your skills with some practice activities.

    • Introduction to reflection

      Reflective writing is important in most healthcare assignments. Knowing your own strengths and weaknesses will help you to develop your skills as an academic writer.

    • End of week summary

      A summary of the first week and look ahead to next week's topics.

  • Week 2

    Developing your voice: style and skills

    • Academic writing style

      In this activity, we will be discussing academic writing styles which focus on being clear, concise, and structured.

    • Effective reading and note-taking

      Effective note taking is a key skill that must be mastered to demonstrate a good level of knowledge. It involves developing effective ways to record and retrieve information.

    • Using your own words

      Using your own words when highlighting the main points from academic sources is one of the most important features of academic writing.

    • End of week summary

      A summary of the second week and look ahead to next week's topics.

  • Week 3

    Building your answer to the assignment brief in stages

    • Understanding the assignment

      We consider how you can unpack the assignment question and really understand what it is asking you.

    • Planning the assignment

      We look at the process to plan your assignment, building on the outline, paragraphs and maximising your critical thinking.

    • Using sources for success: what, where and how

      Referencing is key in any academic writing! We will look at referencing and get you to practice referencing.

    • End of week summary

      A summary of the final week of the course and reflecting on our learning experience.

When would you like to start?

Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.

  • Available now

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Apply an academic writing style, appropriate for healthcare
  • Demonstrate competence in the use of essential English grammar
  • Produce well-structured assignments that address a range of assessment questions
  • Demonstrate reflective writing skills
  • Apply appropriate sources of evidence with accuracy to demonstrate critical thinking skills
  • Reflect on your progress as an academic writer

Who is the course for?

This course is designed for healthcare students in higher education who need to build or refresh their academic writing skills.

It would be beneficial for students to complete before or during the early stages of their healthcare course to maximise their potential from the offset.

Who will you learn with?

I am a senior lecturer at Kingston University, St George's University of London where I teach academic writing and study skills to healthcare students.

Who developed the course?

St George's, University of London

St George’s is the UK’s only university dedicated to medical and health sciences education, training and research.

Kingston and St George's Faculty of Health, Social Care and Education

The Faculty of Health, Social Care and Education is a joint enterprise of Kingston University and St George’s, University of London.

Ways to learn

Buy this course

Subscribe & save

Limited access

Choose the best way to learn for you!

$109/one-off payment

$39.99/month

Automatically renews

Free

Fulfill your current learning needDevelop skills to further your careerSample the course materials
Access to this courseticktick

Access expires 10 May 2024

Access to 1,000+ coursescrosstickcross
Learn at your own paceticktickcross
Discuss your learning in commentstickticktick
Certificate when you're eligiblePrinted and digitalDigital onlycross
Continue & Upgrade

Cancel for free anytime

Ways to learn

Choose the best way to learn for you!

Subscribe & save

$39.99/month

Automatically renews

Develop skills to further your career

  • Access to this course
  • Access to 1,000+ courses
  • Learn at your own pace
  • Discuss your learning in comments
  • Digital certificate when you're eligible

Cancel for free anytime

Buy this course

$109/one-off payment

Fulfill your current learning need

  • Access to this course
  • Learn at your own pace
  • Discuss your learning in comments
  • Printed and digital certificate when you’re eligible

Limited access

Free

Sample the course materials

  • Access expires 10 May 2024

Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades)

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

Want to know more about learning on FutureLearn? Using FutureLearn

Do you know someone who'd love this course? Tell them about it...

You can use the hashtag #FLacademicwriting to talk about this course on social media.