Background knowledge

Resources > Background knowledge

To write a good academic English text, you must first have detailed background knowledge on the subject area. In addition to reading, another way to acquire such knowledge is to listen to relevant podcasts.

Big ideas
Concepts explained
BBC Radio 4
Books worth reading


Big ideas

The following are a collection of short audip-clips (approx. five minutes per file) that consider some of the most significant ideas in history, with topics ranging from beauty and freedom to technology and morality.

big-ideas---beginings---04
01. BEGINNINGS (animations & audio-files)

BIG IDEAS: WHO AM I
02. WHO AM I? (animations & audio-files)

big-ideas---being-human---02
03. BEING HUMAN (animations & audio-files)

Big Ideas - Knowledge
04. KNOWLEDGE (animations & audio-files)

big-ideas---beauty---04
05. BEAUTY (animations & audio-files)

BIG IDEAS: LOVE
06. LOVE (animations & audio-files)

big-ideas---freedom---01
07. FREEDOM (animations & audio-files)

BIG IDEAS: SOCIETY
08. SOCIETY (animations & audio-files)

big-ideas---the-good-life---03
09. THE GOOD LIFE (animations & audio-files)

big-ideas---right-from-wrong---02
10. RIGHT FROM WRONG (animations & audio-files)

BIG IDEAS: JUSTICE
11. JUSTICE (animations & audio-files)

big-ideas---technology-and-change---04
12. TECHNOLOGY (animations & audio-files)

^ Concepts explained

ASTRONOMY (60-seconds-thought)
01. ASTRONOMY (audio & animation)

MICROGRAVITY (60-seconds-thought)s
02. MICROGRAVITY (audio & animation)

THOUGHT (60-seconds-thought)
03. THOUGHTS ON THEORY (audio & animation)

THEOLOGY (60-seconds-theology)
04. THEOLOGY (audio & animation)

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE (60-seconds-thought)
05. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE (audio & animation)

MONEY (60-seconds-thought)
06. MONEY (audio & animation)

ECONOMICS (60-seconds-thought)
07. ECONOMICS (audio & animation)

EUROPEAN UNION (60-seconds-thought)
08. THE EUROPEAN UNION (audio & animation)

^ BBC Radio 4

bbc-radio-four-philosophy
01. PHILOSOPHY ARCHIVE (audio)

bbc-radio-four-science
02. SCIENCE ARCHIVE (audio)