Academic Writing
Communicating in an academic style through the written word is a skill you will need to develop to get good grades throughout your University career. Learn how to boost your academic writing here.
Specialist Help
General help
If you need help with academic writing skills such as style, structure, using evidence, demonstrating critical analysis, reflective writing and proofreading we recommend you take a look at the following Skills eLearning topics.
Tools for good academic writing
Learn about using an appropriate style for academic writing, writing objectively and with caution, showing the connections between your ideas and the importance of drafting and editing.
- Estimated duration is 40 minutes.
Using evidence in your work
Learn how to paraphrase and summarise evidence correctly in your writing, why it's important to use in text citations and when to use direct quotations
- Estimated duration is 15 minutes.
Approaching your essay
Learn how and when to get started with your first draft, how to structure paragraphs and essays, what to include in an introduction and conclusion and how you can use evidence to write objectively.
- Estimated duration is 20 minutes.
Introduction to referencing
Learn what referencing is, why it is important, the types of information you need to reference and how to identify what you are referencing.
- Estimated duration is 20 minutes.
Critical Writing
Learn about what critical thinking is, how to critically analyse, the benefits of critical thinking and the difference between critical and descriptive writing.
- Estimated duration is 20 minutes.
Proofreading and editing
Learn about the purpose of proofreading your work and useful techniques for proofreading and editing.
- Estimated duration is 15 minutes.
Introduction to reflective writing
Learn what reflective writing is, how to write reflectively and you will be introduced to a useful model for helping you to reflect.
- Estimated duration is 15 minutes.
Creating references using APA 7th Edition
Learn what the APA 7th style looks like in your work, how to use in-text citations, what you reference list is for and how to format you references.
Academic Skills Workshops
Elevate your skills and knowledge with us!
We offer a wide range of academic skills workshops delivered online and in-person on campus. This is a great place to start if you want to:
- Improve your study and research skills.
- Develop your IT and digital skills.
- Focus on your maths and numeracy.
Workshops are added regularly, so keep checking back to see what's new!