Every summer, international students arrive at English-language university courses with an IELTS or TOEFL score to prove their ability in English. Yet these tests only require students to write a short essay of about 300 words, while the same students are often expected to write a 10,000 word dissertation or thesis at the end of their Masters course! How can they bridge that gap in less than a year?
Clearly, there are no easy answers to this situation. These tests may get you a place on a college course, but they offer little preparation for the academic world.
The best approach is to take a course in Academic Writing (see my blog for 18th July: Pre-Sessional or In-Sessional). But all international students need to understand the basic differences between IELTS-type essays and academic papers:
a) Academic work is written in more formal language with precise use of special vocabulary.
b) It contains citations which link to lists of references giving full details of sources.
c) It is based on extensive reading and/ or research.
d) It follows a standard format, and is divided into sections with headings and sub-headings.
For more ideas about writing longer essays see Academic Writing, chapter 4.5 p. 273
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