Writing

Knowing your subject is not enough to pass your University examinations.

You need to write clear, well-organised and well-argued essays, in the correct academic style.

How to improve your writing skills

Do not panic and do not give up!

Ask for help from your tutor, email us at language-support@yorksj.ac.uk or visit the Study Skills pages.

Reading will help with your writing. If you need to write essays, read essays. Ask your tutor for some examples. 

Writing essays and assignments

This is one of the skills you are at university to learn. Firstly, you need to fully understand the topic and the objective of your assignment. Read the assignment task (and its Marking Criteria) very thoroughly. Then read it again. If you're still not completely sure, ask your tutor.

These resources may be helpful for you:

• Study Success resources - These information documents can help you with academic writing.
• epax Study Skills - A free academic writing skills course.
• Grammar - Links to grammar resources.
• Vocabulary - Links to vocabulary resources.
• Oxford Learners Dictionaries - A very useful academic word list.  
• Academic Writing at Heriot-Watt University - A good academic writing course.
• Essay writing - Advice from the University of Reading about essay writing.
• Report writing - Advice from the University of Reading about report writing. 
• Assignment planning tool - a very useful tool from the University of the West of England in Bristol.

It is very important that you feel comfortable talking to your tutor. They are there to support you.

You can also write a paragraph, on any topic, and send it for feedback to language-support@yorksj.ac.uk.

Please note, we are not allowed to correct your language for assignments but we can give you some general feedback.