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Seven tips to help you improve your academic writing

These tips, first published together on our Substack channel, come from our  Consultant Fellows, who have a whole host of useful information for anyone who is interested in academic writing available on their blog. The following techniques have been drawn from the Three Key Tips series of articles.

1. Katie Grant: “Use your essay title to structure your assignment.”

To make sure you’ve completely understood what’s being asked of you, dissect the title into:

• instruction (e.g. analyse, compare and contrast, discuss),
• topic,
• aspect of the topic (the particular angle),
• boundaries (the limits of your essay).

For example:

How does the behaviour of green caterpillars differ from the behaviour of red caterpillars?

How does/differ (instruction); behaviour (aspect); caterpillars (topic); green and red (boundaries—don’t discuss brown or yellow caterpillars).

Keep your essay title and your analysis of it in mind as you write – are you still answering the question or have you gone off-topic? Be honest!

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2. Anna Barker: “How to start planning your assignment.”

Make it visual

Work with coloured pens and a large sheet of paper. Draw a mind map with the essay question in the middle and your ideas for answering the question branching out from the centre. Start with what you already know about the subject. Then do your research using books and journal articles. Add ideas from the materials to your mind map.

Once you’ve done that, see if you can group some of your ideas together. Start turning each of your ideas into a sentence, which can be the ‘topic sentence’ (the focus) of each paragraph.

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3. Esther Selsdon: “Make effective notes.”

In lectures and workshops use active listening. The speaker may signpost significant ideas with phrases such as, ‘I will now discuss the three main ways…’ Use these signals, and any slides or images, to think critically about what the lecturer says.

You don’t need to write down every word so decide what’s important and then create topic headings on the left of the page. As the lecture progresses, add related sub-topic headings under each main heading. List the core information as bullet points under each subheading. Underline key words and highlight important ideas and information.

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4. Cath Senker: “Read effectively.”

• Read the abstract to check the article is relevant to your topic.
• Scan the introduction and the conclusion. You will see what the article covers and the author’s main findings.
• Go to the most relevant sections and search for the main points – they are usually outlined in the topic sentences, which is often the first sentence of the paragraph. Make a note of what the author is saying in your own words.
• Read through your notes. You should be able to follow the line of argument.
• Finally, once you’ve identified the most relevant sections, read them to gain a general understanding. Read again and note down questions or ideas that occur to you. Now evaluate the article against others you have read on the topic. Does this author agree or disagree with them? What are the strengths and weaknesses of their argument? Think about how you can use this source for your assignment.

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Based on original research by Trevor Day and the Effective Reading Model, developed by Cath Senker, Dr Chris Brown and Ruth Bowles, University of Sussex.

5. Anna Barker: “Think critically.”

When you’re thinking critically, you compare different points of view about a topic to enable you to form an opinion of your own – an argument – that you support with evidence.

Critical thinking requires you to step back from a topic and examine it from all angles. Think about the last time you had to weigh up the pros and cons of something: buy an iPad or spend the money on books? Order in or cook?

Now apply this to your academic work. Get into the habit of considering an issue from more than one perspective. Write down what you think and then identify what the opposing view would be. You could draw a table with columns for the different viewpoints. Set aside time to think through the issues and to discuss with your peers – they may be able to spot a flaw in your arguments.

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6. Anna Barker: “Use accurate ‘reporting’ verbs.”

Reporting verbs help your reader understand how an academic presents their work. Does the author argue, state, refute, claim, observe or suggest?

Look through your essay and underline your reporting verbs. Group the verbs into three categories: neutral, tentative and strong.

• A neutral reporting verb, such as states, explains or describes, tells us what the writer says in factual terms but doesn’t given any clue as to the writer’s intention.
• A tentative verb is used when a scholar is speculating or suggesting: implies, speculates, hypothesises, recommends.
• A strong verb is used when a writer wishes to convince their readers of their argument: argues, contends, maintains, rejects.

Decide whether you have used the most suitable verb in each case. For example, ‘suggests’ creates a different impression of the author’s intentions from ‘argues’:

a) Following her UK study, Badawi suggests that online learning does not improve student engagement. She recommends further research using international data.

b) Drawing on extensive international studies, Badawi argues that online learning does not improve student engagement.

In a), the verbs suggests and recommends tell us that Badawi is tentative about their findings due to the limited study sample. In b), the verb argues shows that Badawi believes strongly in their study findings.

Think about widening your vocabulary if you have default verbs you tend to overuse. Try using a thesaurus to help you.

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7. Cath Senker: “Ask for help from your peers.”

Verbalising your thoughts will help you to clarify them. Set up regular meetings and ask each other questions, such as:

• Can you explain your main argument?
• What does the key literature say about this topic?
• What are you trying to convey in this chapter/section?

If you’re unsure of the answer, talking it through may help. You might need to do more thinking or research to refine your ideas.

If you hit a minor glitch your peers might be able to help. Maybe you’re new to the data analysis tool you’re using, but another student knows it well and can help.

Reach out for support if you’re struggling to stay focused, and discuss ways to keep on track. You could set each other deadlines to complete stages of your research project.

Academic writing should be clear to an intelligent reader outside the field. If you sense you may have assumed too much knowledge in a page or two of your writing, send the section to a student from a different discipline and ask if they understand or you need to explain it better.

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