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Tertiary Access Course Guide: Writing

What is academic writing?

Academic writing is a style of writing with its own rules to follow:

  • Be specific - Academic writing is concerned with facts rather than vague assumptions. 
  • Use evidence rather than emotion - Academic writing is based on a critical evaluation of  ideas and information, rather than on personal beliefs. 
  • Be clear, concise and formal - Avoid colloquial language.
  • Support your arguments with evidence and cite your sources.

Writing skills

Want to know more about how to write an academic assignment?

JCU has lots of online resources to help you:

Keyboard Shortcuts and Hot Keys

Top keyboard shortcuts TAC students should learn:

  1. Cut. CTRL + X
  2. Copy. CTRL + C
  3. Paste. CTRL + V
  4. Undo. CTRL + Z
  5. Hanging Indent. CTRL + T

Writing assignments at uni

Academic writing style

We acknowledge the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first inhabitants of the nation and acknowledge Traditional Owners of the lands where our staff and students, live, learn and work.Acknowledgement of Country

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International License, unless otherwise noted. Content from this Guide should be attributed to James Cook University Library. This does not apply to images, third party material (seek permission from the original owner) or any logos or insignia belonging to JCU or other bodies, which remain All Rights Reserved.

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