Bachelor of Early Childhood Education and Care (Birth-5)

Academic Writing Skills Fact Sheet – The Writing Process

Students differ in the way they approach assessments, but there are 10 main steps you can follow.
Before you begin reading and writing, make sure that you understand the question. This will
help you decide what to read and will ensure you take relevant notes. Look for the following:
 Direction/task words: These are the words such as analyse, discuss, explain
 Content words: These are the areas you need to focus on such as models, skills,
development
 Limiting words: These are the words that limit or restrict the task in some way, such
as by a specific topic or time period.

COMMON TASK WORDS

 Analyse: Break down an issue into its components or essential features and explain
STEP 1 how they relate to each other
ANALYSE THE  Compare: Identify 2 or more views about the same issue; discuss similarities and
QUESTION differences
 Discuss: Consider an issue from various points of view, including key points for and
against, and draw a conclusion
 Evaluate: Judge or assess the worth of something, supported by relevant evidence
 Examine: Investigate an issue carefully and in detail; present implications
 Explain: Give a clear and detailed account, including description and analysis of an
issue or event

At the same time as you are analysing the question, examine the marking criteria carefully.
From using both the question and the marking criteria, you should have a clear indication of
what your academic is expecting you to do in the assessment.

You will probably already know something about the topic from your lectures or readings.
Brainstorming will help generate more questions to direct your reading.
STEP 2 Write the topic in the centre of the page and then write a free-flow of ideas that come into
BRAINSTORM your head – relevant and less relevant. Then examine what you have written and consider
THE TOPIC what is relevant.

Brainstorming leads to a better understanding of what you need to find out and will help give
your reading greater focus.
 For most written assessments you will be expected to formulate an argument or thesis or
take a position on an issue. This is most important because, without it, your writing could
look like a collection of summaries of vaguely related literature.
Therefore, have your response or your argument clear in your mind and on paper. It will be
included in your introduction and should flow through every paragraph to the conclusion.

STEP 3 ARGUMENT

CREATE A  The argument contains your answer to the question, or your position on a topic or

PRELIMINARY issue.

ARGUMENT/PO  It is not a factual statement, but a claim that you support throughout your

SITION assessment.
 Your initial response to the issue raised by the question may be tentative, based on
what you already know about the topic and may need to be modified as you read.
 Having a clear initial argument in mind will ensure your assessment has clarity of
purpose.
 The argument is the backbone of your written assessment, with supporting evidence
and examples providing substance.

Think about the evidence you can use to support your argument/position. In the early stages

STEP 4 of planning, you might not have identified the exact sources, but you should consider the

THINK ABOUT type of evidence that will strengthen your argument or support your position.

THE EVIDENCE
EVIDENCE TYPES
YOU COULD
 online journals
USE
 articles
 books

Using ideas from your brainstorming session, create a basic plan for this assessment structure
and content. This will give direction to your research.
Think about how you will sequence your ideas and the examples and supporting evidence you
will include under each topic or subtopic.
STEP 5
MAKE A
Your plan will show you which aspects of the question you need more information on. As
PRELIMINARY
your ideas develop and change from your reading on the topic, you can prepare a modified
PLAN
and more detailed plan.
PLAN OUTLINE

The TOPIC AREA of my

proposed assessment is…

The QUESTION I have set

for myself is…

My THESIS STATEMENT
is…

1.

THREE STRONG
2.
ARGUMENTS that support
my thesis are…
3.

1.

TWO OR THREE
ARGUMENTS that are in 2.

opposition to my thesis
are… 3.

MY MAIN SOURCES OF
INFORMATION are…
 Subject guides usually provide reading lists and guidance about the sources that are
appropriate for a particular assessment.

SOURCES
Sources need to be:
STEP 6
 credible
READ AND
 authoritative
MAKE NOTES
 current
 relevant
 appropriate for the task you have been given

As you find information that is relevant, write it down. In making notes, try to summarise key
points in your own words rather than copying word for word.

After completing most of your reading and note-taking, you will be able to complete a
detailed plan to guide your writing. Your plan should clearly show how you are going to
approach the task and the organisation of ideas.

It is a good idea to read through both the question and the assessment criteria again at this
stage to see if your plan matches the task you have been given.

PATTERNS OF ORGANISATION
 It is your responsibility as the writer to ensure that your message is clearly
communicated to the reader.
 A clear pattern of organisation will help you think and write with greater clarity.
STEP 7
STRUCTURE YOUR ASSESSMENT
REVISE YOUR
Written assessments should have a clear beginning, middle and end.
PLAN
 Introduction: Your introductory paragraph should have a statement or point of view
which is your response to the topic, and it should preview what will be discussed in
the assessment.
 Body: The body will present the arguments you use to support your statement or
point of view.
 Conclusion: Your conclusion will summarise the key points discussed in the
assessment, bring the discussion to a close and restate the original statement or point
of view.
TEMPLATE
INTRODUCTION

THESIS STATEMENT
TOPIC 1
TOPIC 2
TOPIC 3
BODY
TOPIC SENTENCE 1
i. Evidence

ii. Example

iii. Explanations from

Experts

TOPIC SENTENCE 2
i. Evidence

ii. Example

iii. Explanations from

Experts

TOPIC SENTENCE 3
i. Evidence

ii. Example

iii. Explanations from

Experts

IN CONCLUSION
Topic 1
Topic 2
Topic 3

Concluding THESIS
STATEMENT (Point of
view on the topic)
 Once you know how you will approach the question and have written a plan, you can fill in
the gaps. A written assessment is your answer to a particular question and needs to have a
clear voice that flows throughout the piece, from the opening line to the concluding
statement.

ACADEMIC STYLE
 Avoid subjective language: ‘I’ ‘We’ “Our’
 You don’t have to change the way you think, you just have to change the way you
express yourself.
 It is a tradition and convention in academic writing to write with minimal reference to
yourself as an author. The reason for this lies in a tradition of needing to present
your work ‘objectively’.
 Academics want to know what you think in your writing, but presented as a rational,
researched, objective argument. For this reason you also need avoid using personal
opinion and emotive language; instead you let the ‘facts’ – or your reasoned
argument – make the point for you.
 Avoid using the pronoun ‘I’:
STEP 8
One way is to let the assessment “speak for itself”: for example:
WRITE YOUR
 “I show…” becomes “The report shows…”
ASSESSMENT
 “I interpret the results as…” becomes “The results indicate…”
 “In my opinion…” becomes “It is clear from the research that…”
 “I believe that…” becomes “Smiths research (2016) finds that…”
 “In my view…” becomes “The consensus of scientists is clear that..”
 Avoid the first person is:
Instead of writing “We administered the questionnaire…” write “The
questionnaire was administered…” Other examples include:
 “I surveyed the literature…” becomes “The literature was surveyed…”
 “I took a sample…” becomes “A sample was taken…”
 “I undertook the study…” becomes “The study was undertaken…”
 “I propose to…” becomes “It is proposed to…”
 “In this report I will examine…” becomes “The report examines...”
 Avoid colloquial speech
Everyday expressions that are actually informal ways of speaking are not
appropriate for inclusion in academic writing. Examples of informal speech are
‘everyone knows that ...’, ‘get them to ...’, ‘it happens heaps that ...’, ‘for ages ...’,
‘really big’ etc.
  Academic language must be precise and very direct in its intended meaning. These
are some formal alternatives to informal expressions
 ‘everyone knows that ...’ becomes ‘it is commonly understood among
educators that ...’
 ‘get them to ...’ becomes ‘invite /encourage the children to...’
 ‘it happens heaps that ...’ becomes ‘it is a common occurrence…’
 ‘for ages ...’ becomes ‘over many years / months...’
 ‘really big…’ becomes ‘considerable / immense / exceptional...’
 Avoid using phrasal verbs. Examples of phrasal verbs are ‘get up’, ‘put into’, ‘find out’.
Replace these verbs with more formal single verbs such as ‘rise’, ‘contribute’ and
‘discover’. Other examples include:
 ‘looked at…’ becomes ‘examined…’
 ‘Got together…’ becomes ‘merged…’
 Avoid using unsophisticated adjectives such as ‘good’, ‘bad’, ‘big’, ‘little’. For example:
 ‘Bad…’ becomes ‘Negative…’
 Avoid using adverbs such as ‘really’, ‘very’, ‘just’. For example:
 ‘really big…’ becomes ‘considerable/dramatic/explosive…’

PARAGRAPH STRUCTURE
A well-structured paragraph should contain one key point which is usually found in your
opening sentence. The remaining sentences provide support and evidence and should have a
clear connection and relevance to your key point. The final sentence in your paragraph should
bring the ideas of the paragraph together and can provide a link to the next paragraph.

TOPIC SENTENCES
A topic sentence communicates the focus of the paragraph. A good topic sentence refers to
the thesis of the assessment, as well as the subtopic which will be discussed in support of the
point of view. The topic sentence is usually direct, concise and written in your own words as
should signal to the reader your argument and the evidence are connected.

LINKING WORDS AND PHRASES

Linking words and phrases will ensure your assignments reads smoothly and your ideas are
communicated clearly. Think how best to order and link information within your paragraph.
Some useful linking devices include words and phrases such as:
• Another example of this is…
• In addition…
• While X claims…, Y claims that…
•
 LINKING AND JOINING WORDS – THE SECRET OF WRITING
Namely For example For instance
EXPLAINING IDEAS Such as In other words
Already stated That is
Firstly Secondly Then
PUTTING IDEAS IN Meanwhile Next Finally
ORDER Initially Afterwards Later
Further Lastly Most importantly
In addition Moreover Furthermore
Also Too Besides
ADDING TO IDEAS
Likewise Similarly In like manner
In a similar way
Never the less However But
Yet Still On the other hand
COMPARE AND By contrast Rather On the contrary
CONTRAST All the same Notwithstanding None the less
After all For all that At the same time
Conversely Despite this Though
Because On order that So that
CAUSE AND EFFECT Consequently For For that reason
Thus As a result
Therefore So Thus
Hence In conclusion All this suggests
All in all Finally that
CONCLUSION
All this evidence Consequently This resulted in
Points to To sum up All this leads to
As a result

INCORPORATING EVIDENCE
There are three main ways to incorporate evidence into your writing:
– Direct Quotes
STEP 9
– Paraphrases
REFERENCE
– Summaries
YOUR SOURCES
With the inclusion of someone else’s ideas or words you must remember to cite your source
within the body of the assessment and to include the course in your reference list.
 QUOTING
It is important that when including quoted material in your writing you check:
– That is it accurate
– That it is within inverted commas “….”
– That the page number is recorded.
Quotes should be kept to a minimum and used for
– A definition
– Statistical information
– An authors stated position
– A specific example from a primary text
PARAPHRASING AND SUMMARISING
Much of what you write in assessments will involve discussing and showing that you
understand the ideas of other writers. Paraphrasing and summarising is putting the ideas of
others into your own words. These ideas still need to be referenced appropriately.
Suggested steps for paraphrasing:
• Read the original passage several times to make sure you understand it
• Look up the meaning of words or terms you are unsure of and use words you
understand to explain the idea.
• Change the sentence structure.
• Compare your paraphrase with the original text to ensure the meaning has not
changed.
• Incorporate the paraphrase into your text so it clear that it is someone else’s idea.
• Correctly cite the source of the paraphrase and include it in your reference list.

EDITING
 Ideally leave your draft for a day or two, so that you can examine it from a fresh
perspective.
 When reading your draft, you should be able to see why each piece of information is

STEP 10 included and how it connects with every other piece of information.
EDIT AND  If you read something that you think does not belong in your answer to the question,
PROOFREAD consider removing it altogether or replacing it with something more relevant.
PROOFREADING
 Proofreading is the skill of identifying and correcting inconsistencies of language and
presentation.
 Every written assessment should be carefully read, reread and reread again by you
and anyone else willing.

Source: This fact sheet has been developed using The Australian Catholic University ACU Study Guide: Skills for
Success; Monash University Online Writing; and TAFE NSW Sydney Ultimo Teaching Academic Writing