Logo UK About Library Editorial Office Academic writing Open Science University

Stages of writing an academic text

The actual writing

An accurate outline can make the actual writing process much easier.

 

Outline

It is useful to think and consider in advance what the text of your paper should look like: what you want to write about, what will be the main idea you want to communicate to the reader - i.e. the objective of your paper. The outline should be your support - it is a list of essential points on the topic, where you determine the content and logical order of the different parts of the text, the level of detail given by the type of work, in order to achieve the intended purpose of your work.

Benefits:

  • The logical structure of the text is clearly visible.
  • It will help to maintain "thought control" (in searching, sorting information and writing).
  • Makes it easier to get an idea of the scope of the work and the level of detail needed for each section of the text.

 

Writing

Writing an academic text is a 'dialogue' between your predecessors and you, with you building on their insights and adding your own ideas and new solutions. It is essential to consistently distinguish your current knowledge from the knowledge of others, as well as from your previous work, i.e. to cite (exceptions are generally known facts, even within a particular field).

A professional text consists of 2 components:

It is very rare to write a perfect text on your first try. And if you don't know how to do it, try one of these tips:

  • Prepare an outline before you start writing (see above).
  • Don't think about how to write, but write - later you can edit the text and give it a more perfect form.
  • Start with the part that seems easier to you

  • Don't worry about the scope of the work - don't worry about it, don't think about it, it will make you unnecessarily nervous when you write.

  • Try to write regularly (see Setting the timetable), this will create a habit and make it easier to write. It's also a good idea to find out what kind of environment is best for you to write in ( in the quiet of your home or in the library, in the noise of a café, etc.).

 

Saving your work

Keep saving your work. Save each version of what you have written immediately and regularly. This way you can go back to the text, change it and edit it. It is definitely a good idea to save your work on multiple storage devices (external drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.). This will prevent you from completely losing your work if, for example, your computer breaks.

We use cookies

We use cookies on our website. Some of them are essential for the operation of the site, while others help us to improve this site and the user experience (tracking cookies). You can decide for yourself whether you want to allow cookies or not. Please note that if you reject them, you may not be able to use all the functionalities of the site.