Introduction to Academic Writing

Essays and other forms of academic writing are a popular means of assessment in this School and indeed at most universities. There are two main reasons.

• These kinds of writing are regarded as the best way of testing a student's understanding and learning.
• They are absolutely central to learning and development in higher education.

In other words, academic writing itself is a very powerful means of learning about a topic and about the writing process because it requires a lot of thinking over time. In this section about academic writing, we hope to give you some tips, advice and ideas to develop successful writing skills.

Learning Outcomes
When you have finished this section, you will have achieved:

• an understanding of the key features of a good essay;
• further development in your critical analysis skills and reflective writing:
• an appreciation of how to set about writing a good essay.