The First Semester 2025 (Spring/Summer Terms)

This course is a common subject at the Graduate School of Engineering which students obtain two credits. It consists of two types of lectures – ‘Intensive Writing Lectures’ and ‘Intensive Presentation Sessions’. Each lecture has a two-day class on Saturday and there are four classes in total. It is compulsory to attend all classes in order to earn 2 credits.

Course Objectives

This course starts with Intensive Writing Lectures on learning how to write scientific and technical papers in English, followed by Intensive Presentation Sessions taught by native English teachers. Students will gain a basic knowledge and understanding of key concepts which they can use to improve their academic papers in English and to make their English presentations more effective at international conferences, through these in-depth and practical lessons.

Course Details

There are two styles of lectures – one taught in Japanese and the other is in English. Students need to specify their preference upon the enrollment application, either Japanese lecture or English one. Both lectures are held face-to-face on Saturday on the same days as follows.

・Lecture 1 – 26th April / 10:30-16:15
・Lecture 2 – 10th May / 10:30-16:15
(Students must attend both lectures.)

■Intensive Writing Lecture 1– How to write scientific and technical papers in English
This lecture focuses on learning logical flow, structure and grammatical tips for writing academic papers. Students will improve their skills on writing Introduction, Method and Materials, Figures and Tables as well as appropriate expressions and grammatical usages, especially articles and numbers, working on various exercises. Students will be also given the clarification about the paper submissions.

■Intensive Writing Lecture 2 – How to improve scientific and technical papers in English / Tips for effective English presentations
This lecture focuses on learning how to write further details such as Result, Analysis, Conclusion, Acknowledgments, References, Abstract and Title, and how to avoid plagiarism. Students will improve their skills of English expressions and grammatical usage, especially tenses, passive forms, adjectives, relative clause, prepositions, modal verbs and infinitives. The lecture also includes learning techniques for doing presentations at international conferences such as preparations, Q&A sessions and using PowerPoint as well as for making use of online translation tools.

This lecture is taught face-to-face by native English teachers on Saturday as follows. Students will be divided into small groups so that each student can get detailed instructions individually from the teacher.

・Session 1 – 31st May / 9:00-17:15
・Session 2 – 21st June / 9:00-17:15
(Students must attend both sessions.)

■Intensive Presentation Session 1
Students will do their presentations in English on their own research, and feedback and suggestions on improvement will be given by the teacher. Students will learn and practice speaking their introductions and conclusions. This session will also cover words and expressions which help students provide a structure for their presentations, particularly the body. Guidance with handling questions from the audience will also be given.

■Intensive Presentation Session 2
Building on the Session 1, this session focuses on presentation delivery aspects such as pronunciation, intonation, eye contact and body language. By improving these skills, students will be able to make their presentations more persuasive and effective. Each student will give their presentation a second time, and this time it will be evaluated as part of their final grade.

★Schedule
・Presentation: 10 minutes (12 ppt slides)
・Theme: Your Own Research
・Audience: Other Students at Graduate School

Enrollment / Contact

Grading System

1. Attendance at all four lectures is mandatory. Credits will not be given to those who miss any lectures or sessions.
2. All assignments and presentation slides must be submitted to meet the deadlines.

To Audit

It is available for both ‘Intensive Writing Lectures’ and ‘Presentation Sessions’. However, credits will not be given.Students need to complete the following application process for enrollment by the deadline.

Course Registration / Application Deadline

Students must complete the application process below by the deadline.

■For Credits
(1) Register for this course on the ‘Web Registration System’ just the same as other specialized courses.
(2) Complete to fill in the Google Form on the link below.

■To Audit
Complete to fill in the Google Form on the link below.

Link to Google Form
*Click on this link for the application form. It is displayed only if you log in with your Google account associated with ELMS, so please make sure to log in to ELMS first. If you log in with another Google account, ‘Not Found’ is shown.

The Deadline: Monday 14th April

(If the capacity of the application is exceeded, we will discuss it individually.)

Contact / Inquiry

CEED Office (L200)
TEL: 011-706-7168
Email: ceed-int◆eng.hokudai.ac.jp (Replace ◆ with ‘at’ mark.)