General English - Writing
The General Study Skills, Degree Study Skills and TAFE Study Skills sections of the Learning Hub offer information about academic essay writing & exam techniques.
TLS Interactive Learning Blogs: Blogs on many topics important to students
The Writing Center: This site will help you with writing introductions & conclusions. Examples are also provided.
Paradigm Online Writing Assistant: An interactive online writing tutorial.
The Purdue University online Writing Lab: Purdue's OWL is useful for general writing concerns and will also help you with punctuation & grammar.
Academic Writing: Writing module created by Victoria University (in New Zealand). You can practise all aspects of essay writing.
Case Study Report Writing: The site contains sample reports and exercises to help you write case studies.
A Guide to Grammar and Writing: With over 400 references related to grammar and writing you might find your answer here!
An Interactive Grammar and Writing Book: Sentence Sense 17 chapters of information and exercises: start at Chapter One for simple sentence practice. Go to Chapter 8 for problems with run-on sentences, sentence fragments and other usage problems
Blogs and Wikis on the Internet: Write your stories and opinions on a blog or a wiki. This is a type of writing that is available on the Internet for anyone to read. You must read the warning before you go to a blog or wiki.
Essay Writing: This has a good guide to writing an essay of 250-600 words. It uses the 5 paragraph structure and is useful for Elicos 1 – UP2 and IELTS. To guide you through the steps in writing an essay, click on the headings below:
- Constructing an essay
- Thesis Statements
- Outline for basic five-paragraph essay
- Four steps to writing an essay, with outline
- Hooks
- Forecasting
- Pre-Writing
- Revising and Editing
- Guide to approaching a sudden prompt
- Transitions
A Sample Essay: This is a useful model essay showing the basic elements of constructing an academic essay. It is annotated and shows:
- Structure of the essay – introduction, development point by point, and conclusion
- Use of sources - information located by research
- Comments on use of language
Annotated Sample Essay: This annotated essay is suitable for UP students and identifies what makes a good essay.