Skip main navigation

Further learning

Are you considering applying to study in the UK? If you don’t have British A-levels or equivalent qualifications, the IFP from the University of Reading provides you with a pathway …

Further learning

Are you considering applying to study in the UK? If you don’t have British A-levels or equivalent qualifications, the IFP from the University of Reading provides you with a pathway …

Verb tenses

In this video Jonathan explains why it is essential to use correct verb tenses in your academic writing. To help you identify the correct verb tense, Jonathan recommends you ask …

Cautious language

In the academic world knowledge is socially constructed, that is to say that for new ideas or knowledge to be widely accepted, substantial evidence has to be provided and where …

Impersonal language

At various points in the course it has been mentioned that there seems to be more use of impersonal language in academic writing. This may involve avoiding the use of …

What next?

Congratulations on completing an Intermediate Guide to Writing in English for University Study. We hope you’ve enjoyed the course and it has helped you to improve your academic writing skills. …

Support for your writing

Writing as a collaborative activity Writing is often regarded as a solitary activity, and to a certain extent this is true. Even on collaborative writing projects, most initial drafting of …

Feedback

Now that you’ve completed the exercise in the previous Step, let’s look at how Erla structured the conclusion to her essay. 3 – In summary, Iceland has been growing significantly …

Patrick’s essay: the conclusion

In this video Jonathan returns to Patrick’s essay; this time to examine and dissect the conclusion. As you will see, typical features of an essay conclusion include: a re-statement of …

Conclusions to essays

The conclusion is one of the most challenging parts of the essay to write. You have included all your main points, put forward your viewpoint, hopefully supporting these with references …

Feedback

Now that you have completed the exercise, take a look at how Erla structured the introduction to her essay. 4 – Over the last few decades there has been a …

Patrick’s essay: the introduction

In this video Jonathan returns to the example of Patrick’s essay about food waste, to examine and dissect the introduction. As you will see, Patrick’s essay includes many of the …

The introduction

Your introduction should give the reader an idea of the main focus of the essay, and include some of the following features: a move from the general theme to the …

Planning

Sometimes students think that writing a plan is a waste of time but in fact, it helps give clarity and structure to the way your final product will look. The …

Week 4 Summary

This Week you explored how to: reference credible sources in your academic writing correctly paraphrase information and process data to support your ideas, claims and generalisations, and to demonstrate your …