You’re probably thinking to yourself – I know how to write essays and assignments. You’ve got this far by doing academic writing, right?
You’re probably thinking to yourself – I know how to write essays and assignments. You’ve got this far by doing academic writing, right?
But the kind of writing you are asked to do at university might be different to what you have done before. Writing a good assignment is both a challenge and one of the rewarding aspects of study. It’s a useful skill for life as well, whether you’re writing an email, a blog post, or a report.
You’ll come across several different styles of academic writing while you’re at university, from descriptive, analytical, argumentative, reflective etc. Whilst we won’t cover all the different styles of academic writing, there are some shared characteristics and techniques that can help you in the writing process.
We’ve broken it down to five stages to help develop your academic writing but there isn’t a specific order you have to follow – you’ll go backwards and forwards with these steps throughout the academic writing process. Be flexible with these steps and find what works best for you.
Get ahead and plan the task:
Procrastination is the thief of time, and the sooner you get ahead of your assignments, the more time you’ll have to refine the assignment and feel confident about your work.
You don’t need a sentence-by-sentence plan but whether you’re mind-mapping, star-bursting, storyboarding or just writing an old-fashioned list, take a moment to brainstorm all your thoughts and ideas around the assignment task/question. Consider:
- What’s your opinion or argument going to be?
- What do you already know and what do you need to find out?
Research
Research is an essential tool that can help you enhance your assignment. It can help you uncover new things or clarify things you are not sure about, all of which can strengthen your argument.
If you’re not sure where to get started, make use of the reading lists provided to you. This list will usually include textbooks, journal articles and websites, as well as the availability of the material at the library. While you do not have to read every single word of every book listed, this can be a good starting point for wider reading and research. Consider:
- If you are using material that is not on the reading list, think critically about its relevance and reliability.
- Keep a clear record of where you found information/ideas so that you’re not at risk of academic misconduct.
- Consider using techniques such as highlighting text in a different colour or using a separate document to keep track of your source material.
- Familiarise yourself with your school’s referencing style. Make citations as you do your research so that it’s clear where you’ve borrowed the idea from. This will help save time when you need to put your references/bibliography together.
Organise and link material.
So, you’ve read 20 journal articles, 3 books and listened to 1 podcast but how do all these ideas link together to help your argument?
Developing a strong argument requires you to synthesise your sources, which means combining multiple sources that share similar ideas. Consider:
- What are the similar ideas?
- What are the differences or contrasting ideas?
- What key issues or themes emerge and how do they relate to each other?
Once you’ve combined the sources that share similar ideas, you can break this down into your individual paragraphs to build your argument. A well-structured paragraph will contain one main point or idea and give your assignment a linear structure where each point builds on each other.
Actually write [and rewrite].
This is probably hardest part of academic writing. It's amazing how quickly every single chore you’ve been putting off comes to mind right before you have to do an assignment. Whether it's cleaning your workspace, grabbing a quick coffee, doing the washing up, or looking at online shopping research materials - I know because I did all those things before sitting down to write this article. But it’s always better to do something rather than nothing!
You don’t have to write the whole 2000-word assignment in one sitting. Use the Pomodoro Technique and set aside fixed intervals of time to work. You can even break this up into a specific word count, so you have a manageable goal to work towards.
Academic writing is objective and formal. You should aim to use formal language, but you don’t need to use long words, so put the thesaurus away and avoid using words that are antiquated. You want your writing to be precise, concise, and clear. If you’re struggling to get the ‘right words’, start out by writing freely and rewrite it once you have built the structure of your argument.
You might take a deep sigh of relief as you type in that last full stop, pleased that the essay is finally done. But take the time to read through your first draft. You don’t want to miss out on those couple of marks over grammatical errors or spelling mistakes.
Reading through that first draft also gives you the opportunity to polish up your prose without the pressure of writing a full piece of work in one go. Check if your points follow each other in a logical order, taking the argument forward. Consider:
- Is everything in the right order?
- Is everything relevant?
- Have your arguments been developed in enough depth?
- Have you provided evidence and clear references?
Where you can find support:
Academic writing is just one skill in achieving your full potential in your academic career. This comes under an umbrella of other essential skills like effective note taking, time management, active learning, organisation and knowing how to utilise different resources and support. But you’re not alone in any of this. Royal Holloway provides excellent resources such as libraries, online databases, and academic support. Make the most of these to improve your learning experience and your academic skills!
The Centre for the Development of Academic Skills (CeDAS) aims to enable all taught students at Royal Holloway to achieve their full academic potential.
They offer 1:1 tutorials, drop-ins and workshops. These activities, delivered both online and in-person, address key aspects of academic writing and communication, maths, stats, numeracy, and studying independently.
Check out their Study Skills for Academic Success reading list!
The purpose of this list is to showcase the range of academic support services and resources available at Royal Holloway. The list is not exhaustive, but here you will find information about the different services available at Royal Holloway.
You will find the CeDAS Academic Skills page for your school on Moodle under My Courses - or just click here.
If you have any questions, email cedas@rhul.ac.uk
Module leaders and teaching staff can provide support and advice to answer specific academic-related queries. Find out your lecturer's office hours and use them! You can use this time to discuss your course content, get advice on assessments and get feedback for essays. The people teaching you at university are experts within their area of study, so make sure to use their knowledge and take their advice.
If you’re struggling, you don’t need to suffer in silence. Asking for help could be the best thing you do, especially considering the wide range of support available.
Why not join a drop-in at the Advice Centre or reach out to one of our friendly advisors? The Advice Centre offers free, impartial and confidential advice to all students at Royal Holloway across a broad range of topics including academic and wellbeing issues. Or, for specialised wellbeing support, use the University’s Wellbeing services.