Writing at University
Writing your assignments and essays
There are some basic principles that can be used to plan and write your assignment or essay. Of course, you will need to follow your lecturer’s guidelines and use a style that is appropriate to the task. Below are resources to help you to develop your writing style.
Resources by topic
Writing at University
- The process of academic writing (DOC 121KB) - Detailed description of analysis of the task, research and planning of an essay.
- Who am I writing for? (DOC 42KB) - Discusses who is the reader of a student's work.
- Writing for ESL students - What is an essay? The steps involved in preparing for and writing an essay. Plus other links to writing resources.
- Understanding or making up an essay topic (DOC 47KB) - Questions to ask yourself about the topic.
- Writing better essays 1 (DOC 100KB) - Reading and Writing, Argument and Evidence (10 pages).
- Writing better essays 2 (DOC 117KB) - Organising your essay (16 pages).
- Writing better essays 3 (DOC 59KB) - Expression: Getting it right (incl. the use of "I"). (7 pages).
- Thinking about the structure of your essay (DOC 45KB) - Some steps for checking that your essay has a clear structure. Reading and editing for sense and argument.
- Paraphrasing (DOC 46KB) - How to paraphrase.
A visual guide to writing
- A Visual Guide to Essay Writing (PDF 2,386 KB)
- This e book gives explanations and pictures so you can see how to stucture essays.
Writing in Humanities: Try these simple activities then check your answers
- Critical Thinking (DOC 34KB) - Find out how to do it
Answers to Critical Thinking (DOC 30KB) - Building an introduction (DOC 32KB) - You have to start somewhere
Answers to Building an introduction (DOC 32 KB) - Building a paragraph (DOC 29KB)
Answers to Building a paragraph (DOC 25KB)
Different types of writing
- The introduction of an essay (DOC 45KB)
- Writing an abstract (DOC 44KB)
- What is an annotated bibliography? (DOC 44KB)
- The literature review (DOC 45KB)
- How do I write a review? (DOC 48KB)
Grammar and punctuation
- The five favourite errors (DOC 98KB)
- A guide to using commas (DOC 70KB)
- Apostrophes (DOC 70KB)
- Colons (DOC 43KB)
- Dashes and hyphens (DOC 48KB)
- Parallel structure in sentences (DOC 77KB)
- The use of lists (DOC 58KB)
- Parentheses and brackets (DOC 44KB)
- Punctuation exercises (DOC 42KB)
- Semi colons (DOC 41KB)
- Full stops (DOC 44KB)
