What ideas did you have?

You might have thought about looking at examples of the types of writing that you want to produce. This is a useful way of familiarising yourself with the conventions of a particular type of writing. You might have a 'bank of assessed work' for your course where you can look at good examples of writing. How does the student build an argument? How do they structure their writing? What kind of language do they use?

You might have thought about reading, more generally, as a way of learning about how to write. When we read academic writing in articles and books, we pick up ideas about how to write. Perhaps you could carve out some time each day for reading.


TIP: Try to set aside some time each day for reading. Make it a habit.

You might want to take notes on how something is written as well what is written when you are making notes. You might, for example, be reading a book and notice that the author introduces something is an elegant way. You could make a note of the expression that is used. Or, perhaps, you are reading an article and notice that the author describes how the article will be structured in a really clear way. You might want to note down some of the general phrases that are used. This way you build up a bank of phrases that are useful to you.