www.john-paul.org.uk > teach > writing tips

1. Use reliable sources. Primary resources provide direct or first-hand evidence about something (for example, a peer-reviewed journal article, an academic book, an interview, etc.). Secondary sources discuss, describe, summarize, or evaluate primary sources (for example, a newspaper article, a webpage, a blog, a reference book, etc.). In formal academic writing use primary sources to support your argument, and do not use secondary sources like newspaper articles or websites (unless this can be justified because of the topic being discussed). Take care with research literature which is notorious, as this needs to be engaged with critically if it is used in academic writing. For example, ‘learning styles’ (Willingham, Hughes and Dobolyi, 2015; Coffield, Moseley, Hall, & Ecclestone, 2004; Franklin, 2006; Pritchard, 2009; Purdy, 2008; Education Endowment Foundation, 2018).

2. Use recent and relevant sources. Literature from the last 10 years is usually fine to use (see below). Literature from more than 20 years ago should not usually be included (see below). Where necessary, justify why the source is still relevant. With literature between 10 and 20 years old use your judgement. Take care with old policy literature, for example, if the government has changed since it was published or if a more recent policy has been published, as the old source may not be relevant anymore. To get more recent literature on a topic, search for a relevant yet old source using Google Scholar, then click on 'Cited by' and you will find more recent peer-reviewed journal articles and academic books on the same topic. With seminal work (also called pivotal or landmark studies) it is good to include such work and it is not necessary to justify the age. See ‘Cited by…’ in Google Scholar to see how many times a source has been cited by others. Sometimes with older work, one can include a recent paper as an in-text citation alongside the older one to show that the older work is still being discussed in the literature. To get more recent literature, try searching for the old source using Google Scholar, then click on 'cited by' and you will find more recent peer-reviewed journal articles and academic books on the same topic that might be more relevant to use. 

Format documents carefully.

1. Good formatting can save you time, make reading your work easier and make your writing more inclusive (as this helps screen readers).

2. A tab at the start of each paragraph helps your reader see where these start (there is a debate about whether to indent or not, but the Harvard conventions recommend indenting).

3. Double line spacing helps your marker as it makes it easier to read and comment on your work.

4. Justify on both the left and the right as this is the convention for journals and books, so it makes your work look more professional.

5. You could make these formatting changes your default throughout the assignment and for new documents. Highlight any correctly formatted paragraph and using ‘Home’ > ‘Styles’ > [right click on ‘normal’] > ‘Update style to match selection. For a video introduction to how to use formatting styles please click here.

6. Use the ‘Heading 1’ and ‘Heading 2’ styles too as these mean you can include an automatic contents page with page numbers that can be updated easily (useful for long documents like books), and it also means you can see an overview of the document using ‘View’ > ‘Navigation pane’ [tick] which is useful.

Do a good introduction. Here is some advice about things you can include in an introduction:

1. A general statement about the topic. Why does this topic matter?

2. Definitions of key terms. Perhaps consider comparing different definitions in a critical way?

3. A statement about the purpose of the essay (which could include your main points). For example: “It is the purpose of this essay to explore…”. You could use also the words of the essay title to show your understanding of the question.

4. An overview of the key issues you will address in this assignment. You could also explain why you have chosen these areas. This is like a ‘road map’ of the assignment.

5. A sentence linking to the first paragraph of your essay (sometimes called ‘sign-posting’).

Structure paragraphs carefully.

1. A paragraph should introduce the point with a topic sentence, elaborate on it, support it from literature, consider criticisms or alternative positions, sum up and signpost the topic of the following paragraph.

2. Well-structured paragraphs help your reader follow your argument more easily (see 6 below).

3. Please click here for more advice about paragraph structure. 

Include critical thinking in every paragraph.

1. Critical thinking has been described as, "the skill and propensity to engage in an activity with reflective scepticism" (McPeck, 1981). 

2. Research suggests that, “critical thinking is a multidimensional construct, one that comprises cognitive, dispositional, motivational, attitudinal, and metacognitive functions (Miele & Wigfield, 2014)” (Wechsler et al., 2018, p. 116). 

3. Such thinking is challenging as it, “calls for a persistent effort to examine any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the evidence that supports it and the further conclusions to which it tends.” (Glaser 1941, p. 5). 

4. Critical thinking is important, as “what is called for is an exquisite balance between two conflicting needs: the most skeptical scrutiny of all hypotheses that are served up to us and at the same time a great openness to new ideas. Obviously those two modes of thought are in some tension. But if you are able to exercise only one of these modes, whichever one it is, you're in deep trouble.” (Sagan, 1987 quoted in Miele and Wigfield, 2014, p. 519). 

5. For more on what critical thinking is and how to do it, try Halonen (1995), Beyer (1995) and/or academic writing skills support. 

Include strong arguments.

1. The term ‘argument’ is contested (Gallie, 1956). 

2. An argument has three components: “(1) the analysis and evaluation of content knowledge, (2) the writer’s development of a position, and (3) the presentation of that position in a coherent manner” (Wingate, 2012, p. 146).

3. The word analysis comes from a Greek word meaning 'to loosen or untangle'. 

4. The word evaluation comes from a Greek word meaning 'to be of value; to be of worth'.

Do a good conclusion. Here is some advice about what a good conclusion might contain: 

1. Use the conclusion to restate the main argument (see 6 above). Do not summarise (hopefully you already did that in the introduction; see 3 above), but synthesise your points into one main idea. Synthesis is when different ideas or things are joined to make something new. 

2. Evaluate the evidence you used in the assignment that supports this main argument. 

3. Consider how your work may fit into a bigger context.

4. Discuss next steps (i.e. paragraph topics that you have not been able to fit into this assignment).

Cite sources correctly.

1. Use the conventions of your institution carefully (e.g. at CCCU in Education we use 'cite-them-right Harvard'). 

2. Use ‘cite-them-right’ on Blackboard to proof-read your reference list. 

3. Take care to check books in the reference list have the 'place of publication' (as Google Scholar often misses this off). 

4. Consider using Reference Management Software (e.g. students and staff at CCCU have access to RefWorks and may find my video here about this helpful).

Proof-read writing carefully. Correct mistakes and remove unnecessary words and phrases which may be awkward for your reader. This takes time, so try and plan for this.

1. Express ideas clearly, so your reader can follow your argument (see 6 above). Redundant words are often a mistake in academic writing.

2. Consider reading your next assignment to yourself aloud before handing it in and/or in Word try ‘View’ > ‘Immersive Reader’ which will get your computer to read out your assignment to you.

3. Consider asking someone else to proof-read your writing. Some people are very good at this and some are not in my experience.

4. Use the Microsoft Word Editor (Chrome plugin here) and consider carefully any spelling and grammar corrections it recommends (make sure you are using the most up-to-date version of Office which CCCU students and staff can download for free from the university webpage here).

5. Also use the free www.grammarly.com (make sure you set it to UK English). The free Microsoft Office plug-in for Grammarly can be downloaded here.

6. These techniques can help identify mistakes so you can correct your work yourself. Correcting mistakes before you hand in work can make a big difference for your readers (and to the mark you get)

Here is a list of some common mistakes in academic writing to try and avoid. You may find it helpful to use 'Ctrl+F' to find what you are looking for.

1. Ambiguity: try to spot words or phrases that could be interpreted in more than one way and rephrase so they have one obvious meaning. It is OK to use the word ‘I’ in formal writing where necessary, especially to avoid ambiguity. Avoid the word ‘it’ unless ‘it’ is really clear what ‘it’ means.

2. Apostrophes: use them correctly. Click here for a guide.

3. Capitals: click here for advice on when to capitalise and when not to.

4. Caution: in formal academic writing, use restraint when making claims, unless absolutely certain all readers will agree with the point.

5. Citations: in formal academic writing support any claims you are making with reference to literature or your own evidence. These citations help persuade your reader that your argument is supported by evidence. If this is not done, your reader may assume that what is written is simply an opinion.

6. Contractions: in formal academic writing, avoid contractions like “isn’t” or “can’t”. This is a convention of this type of writing (a bit like starting a letter, "Dear Bob,...". Click here for more on this.

7. Correlation: the word 'correlation' has a very specific meaning in quantitative research, so if you use it your reader may have certain expectations about what you're going to do. For more details see here. A good way to avoid this sort of problem is just to pick a different word and add some caution. For example, "there appears to be a relation".

8. ‘et al.’: this abbreviation (used only for in-text citations) needs a full stop as this is short for the Latin term 'et alia' (neuter), which means 'and others'.

9. Focus: avoid straying from the focus of the assignment. Keep the assignment title and instructions in mind as you write. Topic sentences should link with the assignment title (see 'paragraphs' in 4 above). Try to spot this when proof-reading and rewrite or cut the section.

10. Full stops: for in-text citations at the end of a sentence, please put the full stop after the bracket rather than before (see cite-them-right for examples of how to do this).

11. Hyphens: click here for some advice about how to use these correctly.

12. Initials: only use authors’ initials in the reference list at the end, not for in-text citations.

13. Italics: in the reference list use italics for the journal name, and not for the title of the paper. See cite-them-right for examples.

14. Over-reliance: take care not to be over-reliant on a particular source in writing. Basing your argument on a variety of sources can be more persuasive for your reader. You could try finding the source on Google Scholar, and then click 'cited by' (and filtering by date) to find related and recent papers.

15. Page numbers: for in-text citations use page numbers when quoting or paraphrasing (‘p. 99’ for a single page, and ‘pp. 99-100’ for a range of pages).

16. Passive voice: the corresponding active version of the same sentence can make it clear to your reader who is doing the action. Please click here for some more advice about this.

17. Paragraphs: only start a new paragraph when you are going on to a new point. See 'paragraphs' above.

18. Paraphrase: this is good academic practice when done well. Too many quotations in a sentence or paragraph can sometimes disrupt the flow of the writing, and good paraphrasing can help avoid this problem. Acknowledge and cite the original author when paraphrasing. Really powerful quotations should be kept in as these can be very effective in supporting the argument. How about highlighting in your notes the best quotations in one colour (to include) and the quotations making good points, but which can be paraphrased, in another colour? For more information about paraphrasing please see Day (2018, p.140).

19. Plagiarism: express yourself in your own words and cite materials from other sources correctly. If this is not done, then this can lead to plagiarism.

20. Proof: use the concept of ‘proof’ carefully, especially in a social science like education. In some subjects, like mathematics, it is possible to prove things (for example, that 2+2=4, because that is what 2+2 is defined to be). In the natural sciences a hypothesis can only ever be disproved (please click here for more on this). So, knowledge in the natural sciences like physics, chemistry and biology is only ever temporary (i.e. what we have not disproved yet). The idea of ‘proof’ gets much messier in the social sciences. Can we prove anything in complex social contexts like classrooms? To find out more about this you might like to read the start of Tellings (2017).

21. Quotation marks: you may use double or single quotation marks for quotes (according to cite-them-right, available on Blackboard), but do this consistently throughout the assignment. Some writers use double quotations marks for quotations (shorter than three lines) and single ones for emphasis. I would advise this as it helps avoid confusion for your reader between apostrophes in the quotation and the quotation marks. Longer quotations should be left and right indented (justified on both sides) and do not have quotation marks. Please see cite-them-right for examples of this.

22. Structuring around an author: it is better to structure the argument around ideas because these are the building blocks of the argument (Wingate, 2012). For example, avoid: ‘Smith (2003) found that... Jones (2020) argued… Evans (2007) said that...’ etc.

23. Unnecessary: when proof-reading try and spot words and phrases which are unnecessary and remove them. Redundant words are a mistake in academic writing. Try to make the meaning of each sentence as clear as you can. This will help improve the style of your writing and make it easier for your reader to follow your argument (see 'argument' above).

24. Word choice error: take care to use the right words. Word choice errors can be the result of not paying attention to the meaning of a word or trying too hard to use a more ‘academic’ word when a simple one would be more appropriate. Microsoft Word contains a thesaurus you can use by right clicking on a word and selecting ‘Synonyms’. But this needs to be done carefully as a word in a thesaurus can sometimes have a similar, but slightly different, meaning.

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