Writing

Academic writing essentials
Nine steps to a finished assignment
1. Planning your writing
2. Understanding the question/task
3. Brainstorming the question/task
4. Structuring an outline
5. Researching and reading
6. Refining your outline
7. Writing your first draft
8. Editing your writing
9. Proofreading your writing
For an example of following these steps see a guide to writing an essay [PDF 152KB]. (If you would like any of the information on this page made available in an alternate format please contact Julianne East (j.east@latrobe.edu.au).
Academic writing essentials
Writing for an audience
Imagine your audience is not really a lecturer/tutor, but distant readers. These readers haven’t explored your materials, so you need to:
- identify and explain the things you're writing about
- give examples to help them follow your ideas
- give facts to show them what your ideas are based on
- tell them where your information came from.
Referencing
Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing is important because it shows you understand the source well enough to write it in your own words. It also gives you a powerful alternative to using direct quotes, which should be used infrequently. More about paraphrasing [PDF 17KB].
Referencing and academic integrity
Universities are very careful about acknowledging where information and ideas came from. Your faculty has specific ways of referencing and you need to know these rules. Find out more about academic integrity.
There are a number of different ways of referencing – check with your subject coordinator on which style your subject requires. You can use the Library’s academic referencing tool to help you write your references.
Resources
Grammar and punctuation
- Errors [PDF 18KB]
- The five favourite errors [PDF 30KB]
- A guide to using commas [PDF 28KB]
- Apostrophes [PDF 21KB]
- Colons [PDF 11KB]
- Semi colons [PDF 13KB]
- Full stops [PDF 10KB]
- Dashes and hyphens [PDF 19KB]
- Parentheses and brackets [PDF 13KB]
- Structure in sentences [PDF 20KB]
- Punctuation exercises [PDF 12KB]
- Selected sites on grammar topics [PDF 62KB].
Editing your work
You should give yourself enough time to review your essay a day or so after you finish writing with a fresh eye. Things to check for include:
- structure and style
- grammar and punctuation
- clarity of expression
- spelling errors that may not have been picked up by the spell-checker
- consistency in your referencing.
Other writing resources
Essay writing
- A visual guide to academic writing: Essay writing guide [PDF, 2.26MB]
Report writing
Writing in the sciences
- Write Reports in Science and Engineering by Sydney University, UNSW, ALTC
- Sample lab report from University of Wisconsin
- Psychology lab reports in APA format by PsychWeb
- Linking words and expressions for writing in the sciences [Word Doc 13KB]
- Sample first year biology report [Word Doc 18KB]
ESL students: try these writing activities to get started.


