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Can't seem to grasp University academic writing style, help!! :(

I am now in my second year of sociology and social policy degree (i did a year of a law degree prior to this also) and I have never achieved higher than a 62 on an essay or assignment... no matter how hard ive worked! on exams and presentations i have achieved a first... I'm convinced this is because I still write like an A level student instead of an undergrad and know I need to change this before I reach my final year but I am lost as to how to make the change! Can anyone offer any advice on this? my university do offer workshops but they are more on referencing etc and exam tips which I am clued up on, its writing assignments and essays i struggle with! x
Reply 1
Original post by giraffe1993
I am now in my second year of sociology and social policy degree (i did a year of a law degree prior to this also) and I have never achieved higher than a 62 on an essay or assignment... no matter how hard ive worked! on exams and presentations i have achieved a first... I'm convinced this is because I still write like an A level student instead of an undergrad and know I need to change this before I reach my final year but I am lost as to how to make the change! Can anyone offer any advice on this? my university do offer workshops but they are more on referencing etc and exam tips which I am clued up on, its writing assignments and essays i struggle with! x


Try and read lots of academic papers in your area and try an imitate the words and phases they use. "however, therefore, It can be concluded" are words which pop up alot for me. I still struggle with academic writing and layout is really important. So try and get someone who is good to give you a loan of their assignment once you've written yours. that way you won't be influence by what they've written (leads to plagiarism of their work) but you'll be better able to correctly sequence yours.

Hope this helps
Reply 2
It isn't uncommon for people to suffer from the writing like an A Level student problem.

Probably what you need to do is research better - don't rely on text books and basic summaries. That way you will be able to better answer the question rather than doing what most A Level students and weak undergrads do and describe the relevant content but fail to produce an answer to the question. It also isn't possible to do a good 2000 word+ essay in a day or two. I don't know how long you spend on your work but if you aren't spending at least a week or so (not all day every but several hours per day) on major essays then you won't get into the 70s.

Finally, make sure you write and reference well and structure your essay properly (I'm sure that your uni and lecturers/ seminar leaders will offer plenty of advice on this). Stuff like this can seen unimportant but, if you cover the relevant content and make an argument, is probably the difference between a 60-odd and a 65-70.
The general advice, as the others said, is to read academic papers: you will improve your disciplinary knowledge and memorize proper writing styles. You might also buy books on academic writing (you can find plenty out there)... and could ask for some help from tutors (at least they might suggest you good readings on the subject).
Reply 4
Original post by giraffe1993
I am now in my second year of sociology and social policy degree (i did a year of a law degree prior to this also) and I have never achieved higher than a 62 on an essay or assignment... no matter how hard ive worked! on exams and presentations i have achieved a first... I'm convinced this is because I still write like an A level student instead of an undergrad and know I need to change this before I reach my final year but I am lost as to how to make the change! Can anyone offer any advice on this? my university do offer workshops but they are more on referencing etc and exam tips which I am clued up on, its writing assignments and essays i struggle with! x


What feedback are you getting on your essays? Is there anything in particular that your tutors say you are not doing? I've found that a lack of critical analysis is a major problem with undergraduate essays. If you aren't engaging with your research then your essays are in all likelihood too descriptive and not analytical enough. Ask questions of the sources you are reading: do the conclusions the author draws make sense in light of the evidence they present? Is there a fundamental piece of information they have missed? Does another author present a better analysis of the situation and why? Do you agree with the author's conclusions and why? Asking yourself questions like this as you do your research and then including these insights in the construction of your argument will help you be more critical and less descriptive.
Reply 5
Original post by Shelsey
It isn't uncommon for people to suffer from the writing like an A Level student problem.

Probably what you need to do is research better - don't rely on text books and basic summaries. That way you will be able to better answer the question rather than doing what most A Level students and weak undergrads do and describe the relevant content but fail to produce an answer to the question. It also isn't possible to do a good 2000 word+ essay in a day or two. I don't know how long you spend on your work but if you aren't spending at least a week or so (not all day every but several hours per day) on major essays then you won't get into the 70s.

Finally, make sure you write and reference well and structure your essay properly (I'm sure that your uni and lecturers/ seminar leaders will offer plenty of advice on this). Stuff like this can seen unimportant but, if you cover the relevant content and make an argument, is probably the difference between a 60-odd and a 65-70.


Not necessarily. For me how well I do depends on how well I understood the question and how easy it is to add my own point of view, the points I get aren't things I'd have thought of if I'd spent more time on it. My highest essay mark so far, a 76, I spent 2 days writing.
Reply 6
Original post by jelly1000
Not necessarily. For me how well I do depends on how well I understood the question and how easy it is to add my own point of view, the points I get aren't things I'd have thought of if I'd spent more time on it. My highest essay mark so far, a 76, I spent 2 days writing.


I should clarify that when I say a week or so I'm including both reading/ researching and the actual writing process. That said, some essays have taken me well over a week just to write well. Sometimes it does just click - there was one last semester that took me only 3 or 4 days to write but I got 85 for.
Reply 7
Original post by Shelsey
I should clarify that when I say a week or so I'm including both reading/ researching and the actual writing process. That said, some essays have taken me well over a week just to write well. Sometimes it does just click - there was one last semester that took me only 3 or 4 days to write but I got 85 for.


Ah yes including reading time then it would have taken about a week. And wow what subject do you do?
Reply 8
Original post by jelly1000
Ah yes including reading time then it would have taken about a week. And wow what subject do you do?


I do Politics at Queen Mary. I was a little surprised to get 85 I must say - had two or three 80s last year but was under the impression that marks were in effect capped there. I guess that different academics set slightly different limits.
Reply 9
Original post by Shelsey
I do Politics at Queen Mary. I was a little surprised to get 85 I must say - had two or three 80s last year but was under the impression that marks were in effect capped there. I guess that different academics set slightly different limits.


Wow thats amazing!
I do IR at UEA (which includes some Politics modules), we get told how many people got within each 10% so 60-69, 70-79, 80-89, I've only ever seen about 2 or 3 people get marks in the 80-89 catagory in 3 years and 14 modules I've taken.
Reply 10
Original post by giraffe1993
I am now in my second year of sociology and social policy degree (i did a year of a law degree prior to this also) and I have never achieved higher than a 62 on an essay or assignment... no matter how hard ive worked! on exams and presentations i have achieved a first... I'm convinced this is because I still write like an A level student instead of an undergrad and know I need to change this before I reach my final year but I am lost as to how to make the change! Can anyone offer any advice on this? my university do offer workshops but they are more on referencing etc and exam tips which I am clued up on, its writing assignments and essays i struggle with! x



Hey,

I actually work at a UK university and teach academic writing, which is quite straightforward once you have the essay styles in your head and how to approach each.

Try this collection of video guides: https://www.udemy.com/academic-writing-skills-for-university/?couponCode=student+room+forum+Steve

My brother and I made it for people like yourself who are having difficulty making the transition to writing.

If you have any questions, reply of inbox me.

Cheers,
Steve

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