tUNEup your academic writing
Featured Links
These workshops are drawn from a variety of online sites and will assist you to work independently with your academic writing. Each academic writing link will offer you a variety of sites to suit your learning style. Some of these sites are in the form of online workshops with interactive exercises, quizzes and feedback. Other links are in a format you may download and print. You are encouraged to explore the links to develop and hone your skills or use them to solve a particular problem that you may be experiencing.
General writing skills
- Understanding academic writing
- Referencing: What are the rules at UNE?
- Postgraduate writing
- More links
Understanding academic writing | |
| Uni Learning (University of Wollongong) Just click on the padlock and work your way through the menu. This impressive site covers all you would need to know to get you started on academic writing. It has an easy to follow navigation system and interactive exercises with automated feedback. A must for beginners and for those who just want to improve their academic writing skills. PLEASE NOTE: You will find information on 'referencing' in these workshops. The UNE Referencing Guide contains the referencing standards required of UNE students. Keywords: effective writing | academic writing | sentences | essays | reports | reading | note-taking | critical thinking | The Writing Workshop (University of New South Wales) The writing process has been divided into four stages: researching for writing, preparing for writing, writing, and reflecting on writing. The skills you will be required to develop for each stage have been analysed and supported by workshop activities. This site is very well-planned and developed to support student writing. Worth bookmarking! Keywords: writing stages | question analysis | essay structure | researching | referencing | effective reading | note-taking | drafting | revisions | mechanics | style | editing |
| Essay writing (James Cook University) 'This module introduces you to the process of essay writing - from analysing the question through to the final redrafting and editing.' It has a selection of model essays from various subject areas. It is a helpful and pleasantly presented introduction to the basics of essay writing. Keywords: writing process | question analysis | mindmapping | information gathering | essay structure | essay planning | writing | editing | redrafting checklist | essay samples | assessment | Report writing (University of Canberra) You may be required to produce 'workplace' type writing instead of the traditional academic essay in some assessment tasks. Report writing is a typical professional duty. This site provides information on the structure of typical reports. Keywords: essays and reports compared | report structure | presentation and style |
| Essay writing handouts (University of New England) You will find here a set of user-friendly handouts on all aspects of essay writing. Print out these handy resources or get your information from the screen. Refer to them when you need information for your assignment and essay writing. Keywords: question analysis | writing style | writing essays | revising and editing | literature review | formal report | scientific report | scientific and technical writing
| Paragraph types handouts (University of New England) You will find here a set of user-friendly handouts on how to structure different kinds of paragraphs. For example, you may be required to argue, classify, compare and explain in the one essay. These handouts clearly describe the language structures you will need to know to write these kinds of paragraphs. Print out these handy resources or get your information from the screen. Refer to them when you need information for your assignment and essay writing. Keywords: argument | classification | compare and contrast | definition | description | explanation | illustration | recount |
Referencing: What are the rules at UNE? | |
| UNE Referencing Guide(University of New England) Get in style. The UNE Referencing Guide is a useful resource for students grappling with how to use the author-date and footnoting referencing systems. Keywords: guidelines | author-date | footnoting | discipline preferences | plagiarism | Harvard | intext referencing | reference list | referencing web pages | non-discrminatory language | Referencing handouts (University of New England) You will find here a set of user-friendly handouts on all aspects of referencing for academic writing at UNE. Print out these handy resources or get your information from the screen. Refer to them when you need information for your assignment and essay writing. Keywords: quotes | author-date | footnoting | annotated bibliography | reference list
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| Avoiding Plagiarism: Information for students (University of New England) 'Good scholarship necessarily requires building on and incorporating the work of others. This use must be appropriately acknowledged. Whenever you employ the thoughts, words, drawings, designs, statistical data, computer programs, performances or other creative works of others, either by direct quotation, by paraphrasing or by the use of another's ideas, you must clearly identify the author and the source through the use of proper referencing.' This site outlines UNE's plagiarism policy and the penalties that may apply. All students are advised to read this thoroughly. Keywords: plagiarism | author | source | penalties | definitions | Internet sites | common knowledge | group work | direct quotations | paraphrasing | Keeping track (Avoiding plagiarism) (University of New England) 'The whole process of finding and using information can be very confusing unless you keep track of where you looked, and where you found useful material. If you don't approach this issue in a careful and logical manner, you will spend much of your time going over the same ground.' This site offers you further information and practical advice about how you can avoid plagiarism in your academic work. Keywords: plagiarism | bibliographical details | sources | Endnote | referencing styles | recording strategies |
| Summarising (RMIT University) This is an excellent, short workshop that makes the process of summarising very clear. It also teaches you how to read for meaning so you can summarise effectively. There are information sheets and interactive online activities to assist you with your learning. Keywords: summary | author’s original idea(s) | degree of certainty | referencing | citation | notetaking | key points | acceptable summary
| Paraphrasing (RMIT University) ''Many people find it difficult to write things in their own words and end up copying. This unit will help you learn to write information and ideas you have read in textbooks without copying.’ If you are experiencing difficulties with writing the ideas of an author in your own words, then this short, online workshop is very helpful. It shows you how to paraphrase so that you avoid problems with plagiarism.' Keywords: plagiarism | paraphrase | copying | sentence structure | vocabulary | process for paraphrasing | acceptable/unacceptable paraphrase |
Postgraduate writing | |
| Postgraduate pages: Research (University of South Australia) This comprehensive site identifies the issues faced by postgraduate writers and provides a variety of links to sites with information on each topic. It is an excellent overview for starting out on postgraduate writing tasks or if you are looking for answers to specific questions. Worth bookmarking! Keywords: proposal writing | thesis supervision | thesis topics | research | writing a thesis | time management | literature review | How to write a PHD thesis (University of NSW) 'This guide to thesis writing gives some simple and practical advice on the problems of getting started, getting organised, dividing the huge task into less formidable pieces and working on those pieces. It also explains the practicalities of surviving the ordeal.' Keywords: outlining | style | word processing | thesis structure | abstract | literature review |