LibAnswers: CLaSS

A good place to start is to review the feedback you have been given by your tutor, and identify specific areas for improvement. Out guide on understanding your feedback has advice on how to use your feedback comments to improve your work. 

Common issues in Academic Writing: 

Grammar and Proofreading 

If you are having problems with punctuation, spelling errors, grammar and other proofreading issues, try our Proof Reading for Grammar Toolkit for some useful tips and strategies.  

Being Critical 

Being critical in academic writing means that you have a well thought out answer to the question. It involves making good use of evidence and having your own commentary on the writing. Our guide to critical writing has advice on how to develop the skills needed to demonstrate criticality in your assignments. 

Incorporating evidence 

In academic writing you need to include a good range of high quality evidence to support your argument and this needs to be appropriately referenced so we can see where it has come from. The Cite Them Right Guide to the basics of referencing explains how to do this. The referencing guide for DMU students covers different referencing conventions. 

Tone and Style 

Academic writing is formal in style and it is important to get the tone right. Ideas are often expressed more cautiously. You can find out more about academic style in our guide. Manchester Academic Phrase Bank has a range of phrases that you can use in academic writing. 

Structure 

Academic writing needs to have a clear structure and one that is appropriate for the type of assignment be it an essay, report or a dissertation. In our skills and assignments section of the website we have advice on structuring different types of assignments.  

If you want more advice on how to improve your work why not book and Academic Writing Tutorial or come to our Drop In.