Effective writing

This topic covers part of Stage 6 of the essay and report writing process – effective writing. The topic does not cover grammar, spelling and punctuation; rather, it gives you hints and tips on how to write in formal, academic English. It first looks at how academic writing should not be, and then goes on to look at some rules for effective academic writing - with some humour! Critical writing is covered in detail in the Critical thinking and analysis topic.

  • Information Sheets
  • What would you like to do?
PDF Documents

What do you think of this piece of writing?

Hints on writing in formal, academic English

Varying your writing

Plain English translations!

How to be wonderfully imprecise

Mad dogs and Englishmen emotive language examples

Academic writing

Punctuation checklist

Apostrophes

Homophones

Further reading about effective writing

Effective writing practice task

PDF Documents

Understand how formal, academic writing should not be

Know the rules for writing in formal, academic English (1)

Know the rules for writing in formal, academic English (2)

Learn how I can vary my writing, so that it doesn't become repetitive

See some examples of how to use fewer words to express ideas, instead of waffling

See some examples of writing which doesn't say what it means to say

See some examples of language which should not be used in formal, academic writing

Understand different punctuation marks and their uses

Learn how to use apostrophes correctly

Understand what homophones are and learn about the most common ones

Read more about effective writing

Practice proofreading and test my grammar, spelling and punctuation

 
  •  

Environmental and Process Safety Module

© University of Hull | Contact: David Sowden