How to improve your academic writing

1 Howto improveyouracademicwritingIna recentsu rv ey, academic st affattheUniversityidentifiedtheinterrela tedskills ofwriti ngandreasoningas thetwomostimportantsk illsforsuccessinhighereducation;whenaske dwhich skillsst ud entsmost of tenlacked, writing wasagainat th etopoftheirlis th epu rp os e of thisbooklet?Althoughthenatureofuniversit y-levelstudyhaschangedinrecentyears,notl eastbecauseoftechnology,oneelementhasrem ainedconstant, a re ce nt survey , academicstaffat theUnivers ityid ent ified theinterrelatedskillsofessay-writingandr easoningasthetwomostimportantskillsfor successin highereducation;when askedwhichskillsstudentsmostoftenlacked, essay-writingwasagainatth e topof their list.

2 Needlesstosay,writingab ilityis alsohighly pur poseof thisbookletis toprovideare ferenc e gu idetoso meof themostcommonmis takes in academicwritingan d toheightenyourappre ciatio n of thelo gican d beauty oflanguage, a good commandof whichwillhelpyou tothink moreclearlyandde eply,andhavea positive im pactoneveryaspect of yourac ademic work,no t examplesth at featurein thisbooklet ar ead aptedfromananalysisof first-yearac ademic work,co veringallfa ean alysisfound th at moststudentsaremakingth e same mistakes. Thegoodnewsis th atth es e mistakes canbeeasilycorrectedbylearnin g somesimplerules,andit is ne vertoolatetole is booklethasbe en st ru ct ur ed in totwomainse ct ions: (i) Punctu ati onan d Grammar, and(i i)Reasoning.

3 Th esear e pre cededbysectionsonSt ru ct ur in g anEssayan d Parts of Speech(essent ialreading if youhav e for gotten howtote ll your no unfr om you r ver b).In addit io n therear e alsose ct ions onUseful Ti ps, CommonlyConf used Word s, Wri ti ng Supportat Essex,an d Fur th erRead ing. It canbere adfromcovertocover, or ca n be dippe d in towi th a sp ecificpr oblem in mi yo u wan t to betr uetoyourself tobefaithful towhatyou re all y th ink byex pr essingyourselfclearlyandpre cise ly th en yousho uldcare ab ve ofth e factthatit wi ll improve yo is at the very heart ofac ade mic life.

4 Go od writing mak esa goodstudent. This boo kletpr ov ide s useful gu idan ce an dhe lpfultip s certainto set you onco urseto a clearexpr es sio n of th epl ain se ns e of thin gs, not onl y atuniv ers ity but in th e outsidewo rldas well. An assi milation of itsco nte nt will brin g immediatebe nefits. I rec ommend th at yo ure ad it car efull y befo re you writeyo ur ne xt essay!DrLeonBurnett,DeanofFacultyofHuman itiesandComparativeStudies1. Str uctur ing an Es sa y22. Par ts of Spee ch43. Punc tuati on and Gram mar (the most commonmistakes)63. 1 Badsyn ta x73.

5 2 Inap pro priat e use oftens e73. 3 Incor rect us e ofprepositions83. 4 Incor rect us e ofcolonsandsemi-colons83. 5 Incor rect us e ofapos trophes93. 6 Incor rect us e ofspeechma rks93. 7 Con fus ingsingularandplural103. 8 Us ing unne cessar y words103. 9 Us ing inap pr opr iate orinf orma l phras es103. 10 Not star tin gnew sentenceswhe n appr opriate113. 11 Incor rect use ofcommas113. 12 Mix ingpr on ouns123. 13 Inap pr opr iat e use ofdefinitearticle123. 14 Inap pr opr iat e or inc orr ec t use ofcapital let ters123. 15 Us ing an d ins tead of to 133. 16 Insuff icien tproof -reading134.

6 Re aso ning (t he mos t com mon mistakes)144. 1 Poo r structu re144. 2 Poo r refe ren cing te chn iques144. 3 Poo r or uncle ar reaso ning154. 4 Ge ner alisat ion s154. 5 Sp ecu latio ns an d asser tions154. 6 Poo r cho ice of vo cabulary164. 7 Mis using or mis quot ing a we ll-kno wn phr ase164. 8 Makin g indire ct assu mption s164. 9 Inap pro priat e or inadver ten t use of metaph or165. Use ful Tips176. Co mmo nly Confused Words187. Wr it ing Suppo rt at Es sex198. Fur the r Reading201. Str uc tur ingan Ess ayBef ore we explo re the micro issues of wr iting(g rammar an d punctuation),it may help toth ink ab out th e macro issues, espec ially essaystru ctur e.

7 Wh ile your grammarandpunc tuation may improvegraduallyove r time,you can tak e imme diate and ea sy steps toimprov e the way yo u structureyo ur essays,fo rwhich th e follo wing may be use tr oduct ionThe int ro du cti on is wh ere yo u provi de a route-map fo r the rea der and make cl ea r how yourarg ument wil l de vel op (s ee oppo sit e). Oneeffe ctiv e appro ach is to ou tli ne th e mai n issuesthat you seek to ad dre ss in you r essay . It mayalso be app ropr iate to exp lain ho w yo u interpretthe quest si ze , the intr odu ct ion shouldgenerallybe no mor e than 10% of th e essa n bodyIt is up to yo u to decide on the best way toor gan ise you r essay.

8 Whateveryou de cide,make sur e yo u ad opt a systematicor logicalap pr oach that is transparentto your reader p the m inform ed abo ut the ste ps in you rexpos ition (t he presentationof you r vie wpo int) .You ar e not writ ing a mysteryor th riller , so donot leav e the read er in suspenseun til the end;make your arg ume nt explicit and make su reever y par ag rap h in the main body of you ressay links to th e ones before an d afte r it. If ithelps and if it is appro priat e you cou lddivide you r essay into sectionsandsub sec tions, giving each sectionasub head ing or su mmary in a few words; yo ucan alw ays rem ove subheadingsaft erwar lus ionThe co ncl usion is where you re mind th e readerof wh at you ha ve don e th e ma in issu es youhave addr esse d an d wh at yo u hav e arg ue co ncl usion sh ou ld con ta in no ne w mat er ur con clusio ns sh ou ld be clear, lea vi ng therea de r in no dou bt as to wh at you th ink; yo ush oul d also ex pl ai n wh y you r con clusi ons areimpo rta nt and sig nifican t.

9 As Ste lla Cottr ell(200 3: 154) suggest s, it may al so be a goo didea to link yo ur final se nte nce to th e questi oncon tain ed in the siz e, the conclu sionsh ou ld be no more th an 10% of the renc e list and/ orbi bli ogra ph yAp pen ded to yo ur essay sh ou ld be a list of allth e sou rc es you hav e ref erre d to (a re fe re ncelis t) and /or a list of al l of the sou rc es you haveco ns ulte d but not refer red to wi th in th e essay(a biblio grap hy) . Fi nd ou t wh ich is re qu ire d byyour dep ar tmen t an d wh ich re fe renci ngsystem is pre ferred; it may be th at th ey req ui reboth , eit her sep arate ly or com pYou sho ul d be ableto su m up th eba sic opi nio n or argument of you res sa y in a co upl e of lines.

10 It mayhe lp to do th is befo re you startwr p Ho wever they are wor ded,allass ig nm en t ti tles con ta in a cen tra lque st io n whi ch has to be an swe ur ma in ta sk is to ap ply wh at youkn ow how everbr illi an t your pi eceof wr itin g, if it does not a ns wer theque st io n yo u may get no mark s atall . (Co ttr ell 2003: 154 )Es say Checklis t1. Es say Title Doe s th e essay have the full an d cor re ctessay tit le?2. Introduction Is the re a significan t intro duc tion th atiden tifie s the to pic, purposeand st ructur eof th e es say ? Ar e ke y wo rds or concepts iden tified inthe intr od uc tion?