Academic Writing Essentials: Strong Introductions and Active Verbs

Graduate Student Development Program Offers a Workshop on Academic Writing Essentials: Strong Introductions and Active Verbs

Date and Time:

Tuesday; 7 April 2026

1:00 – 2:30 PM

Venue: Online on Microsoft Teams https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/36358440310801?p=RDc7N5w2VNW05DhiQL 

Target Audience

This workshop is primarily for students in Master or Doctorate programs who wish to consolidate and improve their academic writing skills.

Workshop Leader

Dr. Usman Khalid
Department of Economics and Finance
College of Business and Economics

Workshop Description

The session focuses on two of the highest-impact areas of academic style: constructing introductions that orient and compel the reader and writing with strong, active verbs. Together, these skills determine whether a reader engages with your argument from the first sentence — or loses confidence before they reach it.

The first part of the workshop will examine what makes an academic introduction effective. We will look at how strong introductions establish context, signal a clear problem or gap, and lead the reader purposefully toward a thesis or research question. Participants will practice diagnosing weak openings and restructuring them for greater impact.

The second part will focus on writing with strong, active verbs. We will cover four practical techniques, i.e., writing in an active voice, avoiding nominalization (the habit of turning verbs into nouns), choosing verbs that are specific and informative rather than vague and generic, and structuring sentences so the main verb arrives early and clearly. Each technique will be practiced through guided editing exercises. By the end of the session, participants will leave with a set of concrete editing strategies they can apply to their own writing immediately, whether they are drafting a thesis chapter, preparing a journal submission, or revising a seminar paper. Resources

Handouts will be provided for the editing exercises. Participants may find it useful to bring examples of their own academic writing to the session.

Registration

No registration is required

Feedback

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Workshop Feadback link.