PSP – Week 5
The Academic Writing Process
Discuss and analyse the six different stage of academic writing.
The Six Stages of Academic Writing
Stage one: Analysing the essay question
Analysing the essay question is an important first step. It helps you to focus your research
and keep you on track to fully answer the question.
When analysing an essay question you need to consider:
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Instruction words/ Question words - what is the essay question asking you to do?
Topic - both the general topic and any limiting or focus words
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Parts/ Aspects - This often may only be one, however some essays will ask you to
consider two parts, e.g. two different issues/ countries' perspectives/ factors
Stage two: Brainstorming ideas
Stage three: Researching and note-taking
Stage four: Outlining
A detailed outline should contain your thesis statement (i.e. your position), paragraph
structure and synthesised sources, so you can use it easily to support the writing of your
essay. Another section which should also be included is the conclusion, as by this stage you
should have a good understanding of how your essay will conclude. You will learn how to
write effective outlines later on in the module.
Stage five: Writing
Finally, you get to write your essay! By this stage you should have a very clear idea of the
whole of your essay. If you prepared a detailed outline in the previous stage, writing the
essay should be quite a straightforward process.
Stage six: Proofreading and editing
This is a very important final stage and it is crucial that you leave enough time to proofread
and edit your own work. You will not only be checking for spelling, punctuation, grammar and
referencing, but also going through the content of your work with a critical eye, asking
yourself the following questions:
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Is the position clear?
Is there any information which is irrelevant?
Do the paragraphs contain explanation and evaluation (and not only description)?
Is it clear how the evidence supports your claims?
Is it clear how your main body paragraphs help to support your position?
Is your structure easy for the reader to follow and understand?
Have you fully answered the question? (not only addressed part of it or the general
topic)
Use these steps for your next essay on Monday, Week 6.
Title: What are the academic problems that higher education students might encounter at
university and how can these be overcome?