A Tip Sheet from the

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT TEACHING UNIT

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT TEACHING UNIT (AATU)

For writing the text you need to: 17. revisit your introduction to check that it reflects what you have written in your essay; 18. check over your final draft by reading it aloud for errors and inconsistencies in both the ideas you are trying to convey and for errors of grammar, punctuation and spelling; 19. check that all the presentational features are in place line-spacing, page numbers, and School cover sheet including personal identification and note of the task you are submitting; and now 20. visit some of the action point sources below to ensure that you are doing things correctly.

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Academic Writing - How to Write Essays for University

I Facts about academic writing I Tips to help you with preparing written assignments I Key points about essays in particular
ACADEMIC WRITING FACTS as a student you may be expected to produce academic writing including: traditional essays or reports learning logs reflective journals case-studies literature reviews. Each requires a slightly different approach in structure and content. Learning how to do this takes practice, but your style will develop with each assignment you complete. Always bear in mind that academic writing is part of your training as a graduate and the skills you develop as an academic writer, if well-learnt, will be regarded as an asset by future employers. ACADEMIC WRITING TIPS I Be sure to consult your course handbook to establish any specific writing requirements that you need to follow with regard to the presentation and content of your submission. I Write grammatically in Standard English following the conventions of punctuation and spelling. I Use appropriate professional language to show your command of your subject. I Express your ideas in clear, unambiguous text to make the grade. (See Action Points). I Observe some basic presentational routines put your name/matriculation number on each page of your work (use the header/footer function); number the pages; create layout that follows the conventions of the subject (for example, headings and sub-headings in report style); use minimum of 1.5 line-spacing and a default font such as Times New Roman or Arial to present your work. I Cite all the sources that support the ideas you present in your text consistently following a standard citation method, for example, American Psychological Association [APA], Harvard, Modern Languages Association [MLA] Michigan or Vancouver styles. (See the Write Attributes module on My Dundee for comprehensive guidance on these and other styles, their application and strategies to avoid plagiarism).

ACTION POINTS WHAT YOU CAN DO NEXT

TO HELP YOURSELF DEVELOP YOUR WRITING SKILLS
For more detailed coverage and tips you should consult the following resources, for example, for:

www.dundee.ac.uk/aatu/plus.htm
' University of Dundee 2009. Printed on recycled paper. www.dundee.ac.uk/studentservices/pconnect/ The University of Dundee is a Scottish Registered Charity, No SC015096

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT TEACHING UNIT

Assessment www.dundee.ac.uk/advancedundee/D/d006t.htm Citation and referencing styles www.dundee.ac.uk/advancedundee/F/f029s.htm Note-taking (follow the trail) www.dundee.ac.uk/advancedundee/D/d021t.htm Plagiarism (follow the trail) www.dundee.ac.uk/advancedundee/D/d018p.htm (See also Write Attributes module on My Dundee for guidance on citation without plagiarising.) Quotations (follow the trail) www.dundee.ac.uk/advancedundee/F/f029s.htm Reading for university www.dundee.ac.uk/advancedundee/D/d028s.htm Time management (follow the trail) www.dundee.ac.uk/advancedundee/A/a021s.htm

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Academic Writing - How to Write Essays for University

ESSAY WRITING FACTS WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW I Length: for undergraduate essays this is usually given in the task instructions or in the course handbook. I Penalties may be imposed if the word count falls below or above 10% of the total wordage. I Essays, especially in non-scientific subjects, are responses to tasks to which there is not necessarily a right or wrong answer, so there is no point in trying to second-guess what your lecturer wants as the correct answer; what is being looked for is your answer a well-constructed and well-argued response to the task based on evidence from the literature that supports of your viewpoint. I Consider the due date for the submission, your other commitments and decide how much time you can devote to completing the task. I All writing takes time and thought to produce and will depend on your familiarity with the topic, your understanding of the task, time needed to research and read around the topic and your experience as a writer at this level. There is no hard and fast rule about how long it takes to write an essay. I Clearly, knocking something together the evening before the day of submission is as bad as spending weeks on the activity. I What is achievable by one person might be unrealistic for another; only you can decide how much time you have to devote to the activity. The important thing is to be realistic in your planning and set yourself some target deadlines, for example, for reading, planning, writing, reviewing and editing.

TWENTY ESSAY WRITING TIPS

For preparatory planning you need to: 1. visit Advance@Dundee on: www.dundee.ac.uk/advancedundee/F/f002t.htm on essay-writing (follow the trail); 2. find sources of necessary material to provide you with a deeper understanding of the topic, seeking help from your Liaison Librarian if you have difficulty in tracing suitable sources; 3. analyse the task you have to do, frame an outline plan and expand your plan as you read your source material; 4. as your reading deepens your understanding of the topic, confirm your viewpoint; and 5. construct your essay outline from your original plan by looking for contrasting features, similarities, causes and effects, problems and solutions, positives and negatives. Otherwise look for themes, such as: short-medium-long-term causes/implications. For preparatory reading you need to: 6. avoid getting bogged down by reading too much material this is often a symptom of procrastination justifying further reading as a means of finding the perfect answer. In fact, its an avoidance strategy to delay the commitment of forming a viewpoint and beginning to write; 7. make sure, instead, that you read at least one general source and then read material that covers more specific aspects of the topic. Theres little point in reading three general texts telling you the same thing; and 8. set a time limit for your reading; then youll have time to integrate key ideas from your reading into your plan. For writing the text you need to: 9. write your introduction as a draft to which you will return once you have completed; 10. place the topic in the wider context of your subject and outline briefly how the paper will provide your response to the task. (Avoid clichs such as In this essay I will cover. Instead, use more academic structures such as, This paper considers [examines, explores, argues the case for/against]); 11. work systematically through the key points you identified in your outline; 12. make sure that you make good use of paragraphing at this stage as this will determine the ease with which the marker will be able to read and understand the logic of your work; 13. support your ideas with references from the literature (called citations) (See Action Points); 14. compile your reference list as you write so that you dont omit a key citation; 15. when you reach the end of each section, on a separate paper, note your key conclusion for that section. When you are finished this will provide a list of key points for the concluding part of your essay; 16. for the conclusion, revisit the topic that you set out to examine; outline what the key points of your discussion were and make a strong concluding statement that commits you to a viewpoint even if it is one which states that you remain undecided;
2009 Dr Kathleen McMillan, Academic Skills Advisor, Academic Achievement Teaching Unit, University of Dundee

ACTION POINTS:

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www.dundee.ac.uk/aatu/plus.htm

If you would prefer to discuss any aspect of your learning on a one-to-one basis, then contact the Academic Achievement Teaching Unit for an appointment with an Academic Skills Tutor: Tel: 01382 384308. Further information on: www.dundee.ac.uk/aatu I For help with issues relating to number and maths, email countmein@dundee.ac.uk I For help with undergraduate academic writing, email writing@dundee.ac.uk I For help with postgraduate academic writing, email justwrite@dundee.ac.uk