On 10 June noon, 2022, an interactive and inspiring two-speaker sharing workshop took place in T7-304. This workshop was jointly given by Prof. Huaxiong Huang, Vice President (Academic) of UIC, and Mr. Philip Yeung, the president’s speechwriter. It was the last Academic Writing Workshop of semester 2 of 2021-2022 held by the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL). Titled as The do's and don'ts of academic writing and how to make it readable and interesting, this workshop aims to highlight the linguistic pitfalls to that should be avoided in academic writing, and the preferences for simplicity and clarity. Around 50 colleagues attended this workshop.

In the first part, Prof. Huaxiong Huang analyzed some practical cases of academic writing and shared useful principles of words using. He stated that the Academic Writing Workshop targets to build a platform for English academic writing learners in different levels, and share practical knowledge and methods that are applicable to the audience. Prof. Huang is the Vice President (Academic) of UIC, Chair Professor of Applied Mathematics and a recipient of the Fields Institute Industrial Mathematics Prize. As an applied mathematician, his research covers a wide range of topics, including fluid mechanics and scientific computing, with applications in finance, biology, physiology and medicine. He integrated his teaching and writing experiences, and gave practical advice for writing beginners.

Prof. Huaxiong Huang, Vice President (Academic)   

With an attempt of making academic writing readable and interesting, Mr. Philip Yeung shared some inspirational writing samples and pointed out “language is culture”. Mr. Yeung was educated at the University of Toronto and briefly attended Exeter College at Oxford on a scholarship. He was formerly long-time freelance columnist at the South China Morning Post and a ghostwriter for Hong Kong leaders and celebrities, as well as speechwriter to 12 university presidents. He showed the audience the possibility of playing with words freely and creatively.

Mr. Philip Yeung during the sharing

After the sharing, the speakers entertained questions from the audience on language, culture and academic studies. Prof. Huang and Mr. Yeung shared with the audience their thoughts and insights in a light vein.

Audience asking questions

Mr. Yeung, Attendance Award Winners and Prof. Huang

In order to encourage more participation and feedback, 6 attendees, who came for  the Academic Writing Workshop in semester 2 of 2021-2022 five times or more, were presented with souvenir gifts.

Edited and Reported by CTL