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Mastering academic writing
Many students struggle with academic writing skills. From the basics of grammar and punctuation and sourcing and referencing material, to developing an argument and correctly structuring an essay or assignment, there are common mistakes that even confident students make. Here we share a collection of top tips, advice and guidance to help you develop and master academic writing at university.
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Academic writing in 10 steps
Extract from Writing Skills for University: From Day 1 to Dissertation
"People may approach writing in different ways. Some students prefer to write any old thing down on paper, then get more information and come back and edit it later. However, other students prefer to make a plan. This could involve:
- Reading around the topic and making notes
- Highlighting your notes to indicate which information you want to include, perhaps numbering your notes in the order you want to add them to your written piece
- Making a plan for the work – this might include paragraph headings
- Writing a first (rough) draft
- Checking where you need more information or details
- Ensuring each section links with the next
- Editing any spelling and grammatical errors
- Writing your reference list; although you could leave this to close to the end, it is probably better to do as you go along
- Reading through and checking your final draft
- Submitting your work
After you have finished your work and you have received feedback on it, you might want to reflect on what worked well and what you could do differently next time to make the whole writing process easier in the future."
The conventions of academic writing
"Why does academic writing have rules? Good academic writing has various qualities: it is clear, formal, objective and supported. By ‘supported’, I mean that the points you make will be reinforced by evidence, whether this evidence comes from other books that you reference, or points and conclusions you have already written..."
Learn what good academic writing looks like and what your tutors want to see in your written assessments in this free chapter from Academic Writing and Grammar for Students.
What is a social science essay?
"There are different types of social science essay, and essays of different lengths require slightly different approaches (these will be addressed later). However, all social science essays share a basic structure which is common to many academic subject areas."
In a free chapter from Good Essay Writing, you'll learn what’s distinctive about essay writing in the social sciences. It looks at the structure, common pitfalls and the four golden rules for writing a social science essay.
Fixing mistakes in your writing
Mistakes in academic writing can be tricky to fix. Read a free chapter from The Quick Fix Guide to Academic Writing about the mistakes you'll want to avoid and what they mean.
Claiming extra marks through original writing
There's plenty of room for creativity in academic writing, and we can prove it. This chapter from How to Be Original shows you how to innovate and boost your grades, one word at a time.
Take a break from reading
5 practical tips for better essays
Step-by-step approach to writing critically
Other academic writing resources
- Referencing giving you trouble? Find out what it's all about, how it works and how to do it. It's referencing made easy!
- Are you a final-year student? Head over to our support page for guidance on how to best tackle your dissertation.
- Explore our academic writing webinars for more advice from experts.
