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Mastering academic writing
Whether you’re working on essays, assignments or dissertations, it can be difficult to get to grips with grammar and punctuation, use sources and referencing correctly, and develop a clear, well-structured argument. Even confident writers can struggle to bring all these elements together.
This page brings together practical tips, expert advice and clear guidance to help you strengthen your academic writing, improve your confidence, and perform at your best across all your written work.
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?
Strong academic writing is clear, formal and evidence-based. Your ideas should be supported with relevant sources—whether that’s through research you cite or conclusions you’ve developed through your own analysis.
This free chapter from Academic Writing and Grammar for Students explains what tutors are looking for in your assignments and how to meet those expectations with confidence.
What is a social science essay?
"There are different types of social science essays, and essays of different lengths require slightly different approaches. 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.
How to improve and fix common writing mistakes
Even strong assignments can be held back by avoidable mistakes. This chapter from The Quick Fix Guide to Academic Writing helps you identify the most common issues in academic writing, understand why they happen, and improve the clarity and accuracy of your work.
How to write more original academic work
There's plenty of room for creativity in academic writing, and we can prove it.
In How to Be Original, you’ll explore how creativity fits into academic work and learn how to express your thinking in a way that strengthens your argument and can help boost your grades.
Take a break and watch: academic writing tips
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.
