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The Writing Guide

Planning, researching, writing, referencing and drafting your assignments

Academic Writing Workshop

Writing at an Academic Level: Essay Skills Workshop

Using this guide

This Guide is a collaboration between Learning Advisors and Librarians to help you tackle the entire process of working on an assignment.

"The First Thing" goes into what an essay or other type of assignment is for, and what you are expected to show in your assignment.

The pages under "The Writing Process" walk you though the steps of understanding your assignment question, taking good notes, planning your assignment and some of the mechanics of writing.

"Finding Resources" provides an introduction to conducting research for assignments.

The "Reading Smarter" page can save you time and effort in reading the seemingly endless amount of information you may find.

The "Sample Essay" is a fake essay designed to show you how essays work.

The pages under "Referencing" show you the basic principles of referencing and give you an idea of what the different styles might be like.

"Writing Resources" links out to some really top-notch resources for writing essays (inlcuding visual guides)

"Exams and Essay Questions" will give you some tips for writing essays on the fly under exam conditions.

Asking for help

Need some advice and assistance?

The Learning Advisors and Peer Advisors can advise you with planning, writing and editing your assignment. Check out their contacts page to see what services they offer:

Librarians can assist you with research, evaluating your sources and referencing. Go to their contacts page to see what options are available:

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Creative Commons Licence
Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International License. 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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