Academic Insights – 9 top tips for... academic writing

My name is Michelle Lawson

and I work as a distance learning tutor

for a university.

Some assignments can be as

short as one and a half thousand words,

but they can go up

to 3000 words in length.

At the end of reading an essay,

is when I've heard the student's

individual voice throughout

the essay, not just

the voice of the material that they've read.

A main problem with academic writing

is actually structuring,

so you've got a clear thread

of argument throughout the essay.

We have things like glossaries

where they can look up particular terms

and what they mean,

so they don't have to

learn them off by heart,

but they need to be able to show

that they're familiar with them,

that they understand them,

and to show that they can

use them when they're

constructing an argument.

I don't think students should

worry too much about making errors

in grammar and punctuation

and spelling,

because that's just one

of the marking criteria.

The main thing is: we're

looking for ideas.

If we can understand it,

then that's the main thing.

I've marked some really

good essays from non-native

speakers of English where they've been able

to show a really deep understanding

of English globally,

because they've come across English

in global contexts themselves.

I have to balance giving

them lots of development points

with still encouraging them and showing

them actually what they

have done well at the same time.

Every university has its own website

for helping with things like

paragraphs and punctuation

and structuring essays.

So it's just a case of finding

which site works for you.

One first step would

be to go to their local library

and get a good study skills book out.

A second step would be

to go onto the internet

and find a university

academic writing website

and there are many of those.

But if they have specific queries

about structuring or punctuation

or grammar or something

it would be logical to ask

their distance learning tutor for help

because we're only too happy to help them.

Go the distance.