Writing at University

Simple, clear structure

A good structure to your assignment is key to ensuring your reader can follow your argument. If you are writing an essay, your overall structure will be an introduction, main body and conclusion. Our Essay structure guide gives a good overview. Each of these sections has an important role.

Your reader should know from your introduction how you are going to answer the question. This is the major signpost of your essay and should introduce the topic briefly and identify the key points that you will address. It should be around 5% of your word count. Find out more information in our guide: How to write introductions.

The main body of your essay is the bulk of your work, about 80% of your words. Here we should see a logical progression of your argument and references to literature that you have read. Use paragraphs to separate your key ideas and group related paragraphs together. This will avoid your essay jumping around and make it flow.

Finally, a good conclusion will reiterate the main points or revisit the key themes that you have discussed in the main part of your essay. All the points you mention in your conclusion should have already been discussed in the main body of your essay. This should be around 15% of your word count. We have more detail in oure handout: Structuring a conclusion

Paragraphs

You may have heard that the most important feature of a paragraph is that it is one 'big idea'. That means that you should check each paragraph and make sure that all content relates to one topic.

Paragraphs are the building blocks of your essay. Although they might vary according to your subject area and type of essay. Each one should have the same core elements. Look at our Paragraph structure handout for more information. You should also think about organising your topics in a logical order, ensuring that they all relate to your question and learning objectives. Try to make connections between your paragraphs by using linking words and phrases.

Sentence structure

It is a myth that academic writing has to consist of very long, complicated sentences. If you write in this way, your reader will forget what you said at the beginning of your sentence and will soon become lost. Your job as a writer is to present your information and argument to your reader clearly so they are not left wondering exactly what you mean. Each of your sentences should be able to stand alone as a sub point to the ‘big idea’ of your paragraph. A good strategy to check for clarity of phrasing, sentence length and punctuation placement is to read your work aloud.

This doesn't necessarily mean that you are writing an "argumentative" essay, more using a logical progression or thread to guide the reader through your work.  This will depend on your assignment and may vary from a "narrative" that leads your reader through your discussion, to taking a stronger stance with a line of reasoning that builds a case.  Often that stance gets stronger as you move up the academic levels and you develop "your voice".

• Clarity - there is no short cut to this, you need to read and digest the information so you are clear what you want to say.  This sets the agenda for everything else; the structure, evidence to include, line of reasoning.
  
• Plan - organise your information into key points and subsidary points. Essays generally start with a broad topic and then narrow down.
• Use paragraphing (see Structure above) to ensure a clear structure. You can use a reverse outline approach to check this.  You should be able to sum up each paragraph in a couple of words.  This give you an outline of what you have written about.  Is it in the best order?
• Check your paragraph coherence.  Is everything in there relevant to the key point of that paragraph or have you gone off topic?
• Signpost your reader - use major signposts to direct the reader and linking words to develop flow and make your thinking clearer.
• Compare and contrast your evidence but indicate which side you come down on.

If you are making an argument make sure it is sound and not based on fallacy.  Avoid cherry picking only the supporting evidence, make sure you weigh up both sides.  Don't assume causation based on correlation e.g  Just because it rains every time I put up my tent doesn't mean I am making it rain.

Support your writing with evidence (references) that are presented accurately

Academic writing is all about using the literature you have read to support the argument that you present to your reader. Avoid making any statements without supporting them with a reference; for example, if you make the claim girls are better than boys, you need to show your reader evidence of that claim being true, you will not persuade them simply by saying it. So, remember to include supporting evidence, usually references to published literature. Also, try to think about all sides of an argument – you will find that the authors you read don’t always agree and you need to present your own reader with a complete account of the topic. Therefore, you need to show you have considered the different views that exist.

Make sure you reference your evidence correctly.  Check out the Referencing page.

Can I include long quotations in my essay?  

Using more formal and considered language

Academic writing is all about accuracy and your choice of words should be made carefully. Always avoid using informal words and colloquial expressions as these don’t look very professional. For example, try not to include contractions (can’t, isn’t) in your writing, simply write these out in full (cannot, is not).

If you use any abbreviations, for example: OT, NC, make sure you have explained them in full first as well as showing your reader the abbreviation you will use: Occupational Therapy (OT), National Curriculum (NC) from then on you can just use the abbreviation.

Avoiding the use of the first person (I)

In academic writing, you should usually avoid using the first person; for example, never make statements such as: Based upon the literature I have read, I think that… Instead, you need to make it clear in your writing that you are being objective; use statements such as: Based upon the literature, it could be argued that…This shows your reader that you are not presenting your own thoughts and views but providing them with an argument that is based upon the research and evidence in the literature you have read. For more examples of academic phrases, have a look at: www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk. 

Important: if you are asked to produce a piece of reflective writing, the rules are different. Find out more about reflective writing.

Writing is immersive, for editing and proof reading you need to step back to create some distance/objectivity.  You can do this by allowing some time to pass and working on a print-out of your assignment.  Don't try and do it all at once, work in short bursts so that you don't lose concentration. Revisit it a couple of times starting with the bigger picture, structure and argument, before focusing down on individual paragraphs and finally proof reading.

This may look daunting to start with but you will start to develop an awareness of which are your areas of weakness that you need to focus on most.

The University of Leicester has a useful page on the Art of editing

This section will look at:

• Reports
• Annotated Bibliographies

You will find help with other types of assignments on these links literature reviews, reflective writing, dissertations and presentations

Reports

You may be asked to write a report for an assignment. These are quite different in layout to essays so check out our Report Writing Guide for more information.

Annotated Bibliographies

Annotate bibliographies allow for the selection and evaluation of key literature on a topic. They can be used prior to starting a full literature review to provide students with a flavour of the critical thinking which is involved in selecting and using quality literature for a study.

These two links are good summaries of what they involve but do check your assignment brief to ensure you follow your tutor's instructions carefully.

University of Toronto

Staffordshire University

See also our tips for searching and critical reading to help you with this type of assignment.

Feedback on your assignments offer a useful insight into where you have done well. But also, some signposts for areas of improvements. All students will receive feedback to develop their work regardless of how high their mark is. Taking on board that advice and applying it is the hallmark of a successful student.

Our feedback video gives some strategies that you can use. You may be prompted to log in with your university username and password. Use this Feedback template to collate advice from all your assignments. If you find you get similar guidance across different assignments, then this is the priority for you.