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Writing is hard. However, your time in the ADF has given you the skill of perseverance to take on challenges and practice them until you reach your goal. Academic writing is a complex process that involves more than just putting together words and ideas. By the time you graduate, you may still not like writing as much as you like, for example, your favourite sport, but you will be comfortable with yourself as a writer and at ease with writing.
Writing is a communication tool. In their book, Elements of Style, Strunk and White (2000) outline what makes writing effective:
Always use clear, precise language, even when expressing complex ideas; engage your reader’s attention through examples, illustrations, and anecdotes; avoid opaque jargon; vary your vocabulary, sentence length, and frames of reference; favour active verbs and concrete nouns; write with conviction, passion, and verve.
Sword, H. (2012). Stylish academic writing. Harvard University Press. https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674065093
Academic writing is the hallmark of a university degree, and you will have time and opportunity to develop your writing skills in a variety of tasks and assignments that require critical thinking, careful analysis, and thorough research to develop well-supported arguments and nuanced perspectives.
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Argumentative writing aims to persuade the reader to accept a particular point of view. It presents a claim or thesis and supports it with evidence and reasoning.
Its features include:
Examples of this include persuasive essays ,debates, position papers, opinion/editorial pieces.
Discussion writing involves exploring various viewpoints or aspects of a topic without necessarily advocating for a specific position. It often involves examining multiple perspectives and fostering dialogue.
Its features include:
Examples of this include essays, academic discussions, forum posts, group discussions, roundtable discussions.
This writing style is similar to argumentative writing, as persuasive writing aims to convince the reader to adopt a particular viewpoint or take a specific action. It often appeals to emotions as well as logic and evidence.
Its features include:
Examples of this genre include opinion pieces or short essays, advertisements, political speeches, fundraising appeals.
Report writing involves presenting factual information in a structured and organised manner. It aims to inform the reader about a specific topic, event, or issue, often based on research or investigation.
Its features include:
Examples of report writing include Laboratory, practical, or field trip reports, journal papers, business reports, investigative journalism.
Reflective writing involves exploring personal thoughts, feelings, and experiences related to a particular topic or event. It encourages self-awareness, critical thinking, and deep understanding. It is used more often now in education to give students an opportunity to reflect on their learning.
Its features include:
Examples of reflective writing include personal essays, journal entries, reflective essays, self-assessment assignments.
Academic writing holds a very high standard in spelling and grammar. However, there are tools and resources to help you to get this right.
Many word processors have built-in help with spelling and grammar, but you must be aware of what you are trying to say and read autocorrections very carefully…there are many examples of autocorrect blunders.
Your university will have guides to help you with spelling and grammar, but here are a few guidelines to get you started:
You will be aware of the difference between Australian and American spelling.
They are all correct, but when writing for an assignment, pick one style and stick to it. Do not change between the two. You can set your word processing software to Australian English to avoid a mix of spellings. When quoting from an American text, you must keep the original spelling.
Subject/verb agreement. This means that a singular (one) subject must have a singular verb.
Commonly confused words
There are many, but these are the most common in academic writing.
Affect / Effect
The word ‘affect’ means ‘to produce an effect on’. Your attitude to study will affect how successful you are.
The word ‘effect’ means ‘the result of an action’ or, as a verb, ‘to bring about or make something happen’.
One side effect of the medication is drowsiness.
Accept / Except
The verb ‘to accept’ means ‘to agree’ or ‘to receive’.
She accepted their gift with many thanks.
The verb ‘to except’ means ‘to exclude’.
I can meet you any day next week except Wednesday.
Apart from your own institution’s reliable guide to spelling and grammar, The Australian government Style Manual has an easy-to-navigate interface and clear guidelines for everyone:
Assessment is the method that educators use to determine the learner’s academic progress, skill acquisition, or educational needs. The tools used to assess learners’ progress are many and varied, and the more commonly used ones are described in the Assessment types section.
The main categories of assessment used in a university setting are formative and summative.
Formative assessment
Formative assessment is implemented throughout the semester so that the teacher and the students themselves can monitor learning and provide ongoing feedback that can help students identify their strengths and weaknesses and target areas that need work. Formative assessment can include weekly mini quizzes, engagement with the unit’s discussion forums, drawing concept maps ofthe material covered to date, and an oral or written reflection activity to clarify understanding.
Summative assessment
Summative assessments are designed to assess the learning of the participants and are conducted at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against a standard or benchmark. The students receive a grade that indicates their level of performance against the learning outcomes. Summative assessments are typically weighted more than formative assessments and can include final exams, a large project report, a presentation and report, a practical demonstration of a series of complex tasks, or a portfolio of a variety of tasks completed during the semester.
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An academic essay is a focused piece of writing that develops an idea or argument using evidence, analysis, and interpretation.
When you write an academic essay, you must show your understanding of an assessment task by answering the question directly.
This involves:
A report is a formal piece of writing that conveys precise information about an issue, a situation, a problem under investigation, a field trip, or an experiment that has been conducted.
Many disciplines, including business, education and health sciences, use reports each with different requirements regarding format, structure and content. Always check with your course instructor and course documentation for what is specifically required in your discipline.
Reflection is a growing genre in academic writing and assessment. It encourages you to be subjective and think about your personal response to the learning activities. Reflection allows you to develop your views on topics or situations; it can raise your awareness of possible areas you need to improve or identify gaps in your knowledge.
Reflective writing enables you to consolidate your knowledge and develop your academic identity as a student and a professional in training.
A Literature review is a survey of relevant scholarly articles and journal papers on a particular topic. You will use the library resources and search engines to source these articles and gather an overview of current thinking, identify methodologies and any gaps in the available research.
These can range from a short three-minute PowerPoint presentation of what you have learned to a longer, more complex presentation that incorporates a Q and A session at the end.
This is the preparation of a short video on an assigned or chosen topic uploaded into the Learning Management System and/or shown in class. It also incorporates a Q and A session.
This will cover the material up to the point of the test and may include formative weekly tasks or a high-stakes summative assessment.
To learn more about how to approach an assessment, critical thinking, and academic integrity, select here.
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