The Academic Writing Process

This section provides an outline of the processes involved in writing an essay or a report, or other written material for assessment purposes. For a more detailed discussion of the aspects of academic writing which are covered here, refer to Academic Writing is...: a guide to writing in a university context, written by Terri Morley-Warner.

To write well for academic purposes means understanding how academic texts are constructed. It also means learning effective strategies for the research and preparation of an assignment, to save you time and frustration!

The guide has been divided into the following sections:

Academic Writing as a Construction Process
- how to view the process of constructing a text
- interpreting the task: what & how?
- researching and reading
- thinking & sorting to get to a plan
- mind map
Planning the body of the assignment by paragraphs
- topic sentences & signal words
- headings
- drafting & editing
- the introduction
- the conclusion
Polishing & proofreading: moving towards a final version

Continue to: Academic Writing as a Construction Process