Types : Writing : Academic Skills Unit : The University of Melbourne

Types

University of Melbourne study will require you to submit a variety of written texts. If you are studying breadth subjects, the writing requirements of one faculty or discipline may be very different from the requirements that you are used to. Therefore, it is always important to check with your lecturers, tutors, and the faculty style guide to make sure you satisfy the precise requirements. The following sections give you advice on:

Reports(e.g. lab, technical, design)
Research Essays
Literature Reviews
Theses, Reflective Writing (e.g. journals)
Annotated Bibliographies
Abstracts.

Reports

At university, you will be expected to show familiarity with different types of reports such as laboratory, progress, site, feasibility and proposal reports.
Reports tend to be generally divided into three main parts:

Preliminary Information (e.g. title page, abstract, table of contents, list of illustrations)
The Body of the Report
Supplementary Information (e.g. references, appendices)

The body of the report is the most important part. It usually contains the following sections:

Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
Conclusions
Recommendations for action

When writing a report, it is important you use a style which is clear, objective, accurate, and brief.

Since reports can vary in length, detail and content, check with your lecturer/tutor/department on the standard sections and style required before submitting your work.

Site Visit Reports for Engineers (55KB | PDF)
Writing Engineering Design Reports (51KB | PDF)
Writing Science Lab Reports (53KB | PDF)
UG research reports (58KB | PDF)

Useful Links:
http://www.unisa.edu.au/ltu/students/study/assessment/reports.asp
http://unilearning.uow.edu.au/main.html
http://www.canberra.edu.au/studyskills/writing/reports
http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au/onlib/report.html

top of page

Research Essays

One of the most common forms of assessment at university is a written assignment or essay.

In your essays, you are expected to present a particular point of view or ‘argument’ which is

focused on the question or topic and
based on information you have researched.

You are also required to organize your ideas in a logical and coherent way and to express your ideas using an academic style of writing.

Essay questions

Writing an essay usually involves answering an essay question or responding to a statement proposed for discussion. Please refer to Understanding the Question and Brainstorming for further information on how to respond to essay questions effectively.

Your lecturer/tutor may give you:

a list of essay questions to choose from. In general, choose an essay topic that interests you and for which there are resources available.
the freedom to develop your own essay question.

In consultation with your lecture/tutor:

Choose a theme of the subject. Use lecture topics as guides.
Choose a controversial issue to debate.
Apply a general theory to a new or specific area.
Brainstorm a list of questions about your chosen topic.
Use common essay instruction words such as discuss, analyse, argue etc.

Researching your essay

Research is an important part of the process of writing an academic essay. Please refer to the following ASU websites for further information on this topic:

Developing an argument

Once you have gathered significant information from research, consider the main position you are taking regarding your essay question, also called the main “argument” or the “thesis” of your essay.

Your thesis is an answer to the essay question.

Without a clear statement of your thesis your essay may seriously lack focus.
The thesis needs to be stated explicitly in a sentence or two, usually at the end of the introduction.

Essay Organization

Your argument needs to be supported by the evidence you have gathered during your research.

Presenting this evidence in an organized way is crucial to the overall quality of the essay.

Only use the information which is relevant to the thesis.
Classify the evidence you have found into three or four important categories.

Classifying evidence into categories will help you:

refer to the detail more easily
state your thesis more clearly
form the sections or paragraphs of the body of the essay.
- Each supporting reason can be considered a topic and the sentence that introduces each one is called a “topic sentence”.
- The topic sentence is usually placed at the start of a paragraph.
- You should be able to review your entire argument/thesis by reading only the topic sentence of each paragraph.

The following diagram gives you a visual representation of a typical essay structure.

In addition to organization, your essay needs to be written:

in grammatically correct language
using appropriate academic style.

Please refer to the Academic Skills Unit Language and Grammar section for further information on word, sentence and stylistic features of writing.

Finally, writing up your essay according to the above organizational and stylistic features is the first step in a drafting and editing process. Please refer to the following Academic Skills Unit sections for further information on this process.

ASU flyers

The following downloadable flyers provide advice on a range of topics related to essay writing. Look also at the Academic Skills Unit booklet on Tertiary Essay Writing (3.22MB | PDF) for further assistance.

Useful Links:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
http://unilearning.uow.edu.au/main.html
www.monash.edu.au/lls/llonline/writing/general/essay/index.xml
http://web.uvic.ca/wguide/Pages/StartHere.html

top of page

Literature Reviews

A literature review is an examination of the scholarly work that has been carried out on a particular topic. This is an essential part of writing research texts (e.g. a thesis) since a literature review contextualises your research by:

examining the nature of the research topic/question under investigation
comprehensively identifying and evaluating previous work dealing with the topic
determining and assessing the various methodologies used for investigating the topic

As such, an effective literature review

describes, analyses and synthesises material from a range of sources rather than merely cataloguing information
has a clear focus and direction
should be presented in a logical, clear and well-organised manner using an academic style of writing

Where you locate a literature review within your text depends on your aims and the overall structure of your document. A literature review may appear:

as a distinct section
divided as parts across sections or chapters
as an integrated part of an introduction/analysis/discussion section

How you organise a literature review is similarly dependent on your aims and the type of material or topic(s) researched. You may organise your literature review according to:

chronology
order of relevance
themes or topics
a funnel structure, moving from general to specific issues
a compare and contrast structure

As your literature review is based both on your research and on your interpretation of this information, it is important to acknowledge which ideas are yours and which were found in your research. It is equally important to cite sources appropriately. For more information, please visit the website section on documenting your references.

Useful Links:

Postgraduate Essentials: This is an online 12-week course for students commencing a PhD by research, which includes a section on writing literature reviews. See also
http://www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/postgrad/litreview/home.html
http://www.monash.edu.au/lls/llonline/writing/general/lit-reviews/index.xml
CourseWorks: This is an online course for postgraduate coursework students, which also includes information on writing literature reviews.

top of page

Theses

A thesis is a document which reports on research conducted in a particular field of enquiry.

All theses

address a research question. This question has not been previously investigated and defines the general aim(s) of the thesis.
contextualise the research question by reviewing what is already known or thought about the topic. This is called a literature review.
describe what was done in order to address the research question.
- In empirical theses, this usually consists of describing a particular adopted methodology or set of methods used to collect and analyse data.
- In theoretical theses, this usually consists of adopting and justifying a particular theoretical framework since the main methodology used in such theses is analysis of primary source data.
describe the findings obtained.
In empirical theses, this section is usually referred to as the Results.
In theoretical theses, this usually represents the analysis proposed by the author.
discuss how these findings advance previous knowledge on the topic.
acknowledge limitations of the research and suggest areas for further progress in the field.

Structure

Generally, the statement of a research question / thesis aim(s) is located in an introductory chapter, while a summary of the major findings and a discussion of the implications, limitations and areas for future research are located in a concluding chapter.

However, the precise location of the literature review, methodology/theoretical framework and results/analysis section varies considerably across theses.

Usually, empirical theses separate their methodology, results, and analysis and discussion sections into distinct chapters. This structure is referred to as the IMRAD:

Source: Swales, J and C. Feak (2000) English in Today’s Research World: a Writing Guide, Michigan: Ann Arbor

In theoretical theses (especially common in the humanities), the literature review and theoretical framework may be included in the introduction or may be relegated to distinct chapters.

In addition to the above core sections, a thesis generally includes

preliminary information such as a title page, abstract, acknowledgement, table of contents, list of illustrations, and
supplementary information such as references and appendices.

You need to identify the structure that best suits the purpose of your thesis. Familiarising yourself with recent discipline-specific theses can help you determine the type of thesis you are trying to produce. University of Melbourne theses:

are held in the University (PhD) and departmental libraries
may also available via the Australian Digital Thesis Project or the University of Melbourne eprints Repository

Academic style

In writing a thesis, you not only need to demonstrate specialised knowledge in your research area, but you are also expected to present your research using an academic style of writing.

Your writing should

display formality of tone and vocabulary
use discipline-specific vocabulary and engage in the disciplinary discourse
be logical, evaluative, and analytical
appeal to the reader’s intellect, not emotions
be precise, concise, and clear in language
make cautious and realistic claims
cite other authors/experts to substantiate claims

Look at the following downloadable flyers for further assistance with aspects of graduate writing.

Supervision (57KB | PDF)
Writer’s block (53KB | PDF)
Staying Motivated (120KB | PDF)
Developing Originality (62KB | PDF)

Useful Links:
Postgraduate Essentials: http://www.gradstudies.unimelb.edu.au/programs/pge/
www.gradstudies.unimelb.edu.au/current/phdhbk/thesis.html
www.courseworks.unimelb.edu.au/
www.monash.edu.au/lls/hdr/index.html
www.lc.unsw.edu.au/onlib/thesis.html
http://www.unisa.edu.au/ltu/students/research/default.asp
How to write a PhD thesis : www.p hys.unsw.edu.au/%7Ejw/thesis.html
Writing a Dissertation
Thesis-writing for perfectionists (43KB | PDF)
Coursework or coursework?: issues, strategies and tips for postgraduate coursework students (65KB | PDF)
PhD: first thoughts to finished writing
Association for support of graduate students
School of Graduate Research, The University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne Graduate Student Association

top of page

Reflective Writing, Journals and Blogs

Reflective writing is usually written in a more informal, personal style than traditional academic writing but it still must be properly referenced. Requirements for reflective writing tasks will very across subjects and faculties, and may take the form of regular journal entries, blogs or class notebooks. Reflective writing may even form part of a larger essay or report. Click on the link for information on keeping a journal
The following link provides tips on Reflective Writing Practices in Education.

A reflective writing task may require you to do any of the following:

link the material with your own personal views or experiences

ask questions, raise doubts and pose problems

consider alternative viewpoints

interpret events

offer solutions

The reflective thinking process will therefore be demonstrated in your writing.

Some subjects ask you to maintain a weblog or blog. When you write a blog, you should use a range of online functions like internal links between different blogs and external links to other web content. Furthermore, you are usually required to blog regularly – perhaps once a week – and blogs are frequently updated and invite comment from other readers. Blogging is a communal activity so you must always be respectful towards fellow bloggers.

Useful Links:

www.monash.edu.au/lls/llonline/writing/medicine/reflective/1.xml
www.lc.unsw.edu.au/onlib/reflect1.html
www.clt.uts.edu.au/Scholarship/Reflective.journal.htm
www.scu.edu.au/learningassistance/download.php?doc_id=3699&site_id=78
www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet24/farmer.html

top of page

Annotated Bibliography

An annotated bibliography is a list of published research on a certain topic. Like a normal bibliography, "works cited" or "references" list, it provides the bibliographic details of the sources in alphabetical order. In addition, each source has an annotation, i.e. a brief summary of the content and often a critical evaluation. The purpose of an annotated bibliography can be to

review the literature on a certain topic
demonstrate how widely, thoroughly and critically you have read
point out relevant sources on the topic
demonstrate a gap in the literature on the topic
form a starting point for a research project.

When asked to write an annotated bibliography,

be clear about the topic
search for relevant sources
read critically and take notes
cite the sources according to the required referencing style
know whether you are expected to write just descriptive or analytical / evaluative annotations
keeping the purpose in mind, write a brief annotation (usually not more than 150 words) for each source.

Useful links:
http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au/onlib/annotated_bib.html
http://www.csu.edu.au/division/studserv/learning/annotated/
http://www.citewrite.qut.edu.au/write/annotated_bib.jsp
http://tlu.ecom.unimelb.edu.au/pdfs/annotated_bibliographies.pdf
http://www.library.qut.edu.au/learn/learnhow/annotatedbibliography.jsp
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/614/01/
http://library.umcrookston.edu/annotate.htm

top of page

Abstracts & Executive Summaries

For some types of academic writing, e.g. theses, journal articles, conference papers and certain reports, you are required to include an abstract (sometimes called “executive summary”). An abstract is a concise, self-contained summary of a longer piece of writing. If it is included in the text, it appears at the front, before the main body, before the introduction.

Effective abstracts

are within the word limit and often consist of just one paragraph
state the problem or purpose of the main paper
use key words of the longer work
do not include information that is not found in the main text
are clearly written and coherent
have a logical structure
usually don’t contain references.

There are two main types of abstracts. Depending on the type and the academic discipline, abstracts will contain different information. In arts and the humanities, descriptive abstracts are most common. Descriptive abstracts are like an outline or preview of the written work and

are usually very short (often less than 100 words)
describe the main problem or purpose of the main text
provide the main argument or thesis of the longer work
may include some background or context information
may include information about the methodology
usually don’t report on the findings and results.

Informative abstracts are widely used in the sciences and engineering. They summarise the main information from all sections of the main text and

are often about 5-10% of the length of the longer work
describe the main problem or purpose
state the research aim or main focus
include information on the methodology
report on the results or findings
give a conclusion and summarise the implications of the research.

Executive summaries are similar to informative abstracts but usually focus on the findings and the conclusions or recommendations. The information on purpose, research aim and methodology might be briefer than in an informative abstract.

Abstracts are usually written last, once the main paper is concluded. When writing an abstract

be clear what type of abstract you have to write
know the word limit and adhere to it
re-read your main work
write one or two sentences for each aspect you have to summarise
create a coherent paragraph from the sentences you have written down
check the word count and reduce or condense if necessary
edit for flow and expression
proofread for spelling and grammar mistakes.

Condensing the main points of a longer paper into an abstract can be difficult, but even if you are not expected to include an abstract, writing a summary can help you reflect on your work and how the different parts of your text fit together.

Useful links:
www.unisa.edu.au/ltu/students/research/writing/abstracts.asp
www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/abstracts.html
www.adelaide.edu.au/clpd/all/download/Writing%20an%20abstract.pdf
www.ece.cmu.edu/~koopman/essays/abstract.html
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/656/01/

top of page

Academic Enrichment Services Academic Skills Unit

Site menu

Page Quick Links