Five Writers: Which one are you?: Introduction

Writing is an integral part of university learning.  Writing, as a form of communication, is also a lifelong skill, essential in most workplaces for graduates across all disciplines. For some first-year students completing a university writing assignment can be a struggle.  You may already have had feedback on written assignments stating any combination of the following remarks: Be more critical, More analysis needed, Grammar needs attention, Improve your structure, Develop your argument, Referencing needs work, Plagiarism!

Producing a coherent and interesting piece of work (from making sense of an assignment title, to gathering thoughts and ideas together, to incorporating salient ideas from readings, right through to the actual writing process) can seem like a daunting task for many students.   Feedback on a student’s first written assignment can therefore often be disheartening.  Most often what is needed is an understanding of the ways in which you need to adapt what you already know and do in writing, to the writing that you have to complete at university level.