Academic Writing

There are a number of different stages that contribute to the completion of a successful piece of academic writing. Read the presentation which outlines what you could do to execute a successful piece of writing. You can open the slides in another window to view them more clearly.

It is good practice to use a variety of academic vocabulary in your work. This means that the words you use should be as specific as possible and more formal in nature. For example, when talking about the work of a specialist, instead of writing 'Smith says...' it might be better to use the word 'argues' if they are putting forward a point or 'challenges' if they are disagreeing with a point or claim. Complete the academic vocabulary quiz to learn more about the type of language that is appropriate for academic pieces.

The information you include in your assignments should be based upon your research. Sources that are more academic in nature will be based upon evidence and will include references. Identifying fact and opinion in other people's work will enable you to put forward arguments based on research, rather than just stating opinions. Facts will be supported by a variety of different types of evidence such as statistics, case studies, the results of research such as experiments or surveys and potentially diagrams or images. Opinions are based on ideas or believes that are not supported with evidence.

Complete the quiz below to learn more about how facts, opinions and discussions will present themselves in other people's work.

Paraphrasing is an important part of academic writing. Paraphrasing is where in your own words, you restate another person's ideas and credit them within the text of your assignment. Using paraphrasing enables you to retain your own style, whilst also showing your understanding. Some helpful tips to consider when attempting to paraphrase include:

• Using synonyms which are alternative words e.g. an alternative word for 'rise' could be 'increase';

• Using in text references to introduce a paraphrase as this shows the work that follows is not your own e.g. Stone implied the rise in tea bag sales was due to a poor cocoa bean harvest in 2015;

• Rephrasing statistics by changing percentages to fractions and vice versa e.g. 50% could be written as half;

• Re-ordering sentences e.g. change active sentences to passive sentences. If a sentence is written with an active voice the subject of the sentence carries out an action. For example: The student completed their assignment. If a sentence is constructed with a passive voice, an action is done to the subject by someone or something. For example, 'The assessment was produced by the student'.

Academic essays are made up of three important sections:

1. Introduction

2. Body

3. Conclusion

Watch the presentation and the tutorial, then complete the quiz to learn more about the structure of an academic essay and what to include in each section. You can open the slides in another window to view them more clearly.