Student Study Guide - writing skills and reading note-taking精品精品.docVIP

Student Study Guide http://www.aber.ac.uk/language+learning/study_guide/contents.htm#contents 5:???Writing skills After reading this section you should be better able to tackle, plan and execute a piece of writing present your written work carefully and legibly. Writing Expectations The type and amount of writing you will be expected to do will differ according to your subject and module choice. Written assignments may comprise essays, projects, presentations, laboratory reports, reports of field trips or responses to short answer questions. The focus of each type of assignment is usually very different: ???? a laboratory report is likely to be based on your practical sessions and you will be expected to recount what you have observed ???? an essay is likely to be your account of current thinking on a particular topic backed up by examples/illustrations of theory in practice, or examples from?your reading, lectures or seminars. However, whatever you are writing there are certain basic steps which you will need to follow: ? analyse your task gather relevant information and organise it plan the writing draft, edit and proof your work ? Analysing the task This section will focus on essay type assignments, principally because they are common across departments and because they often cause problems. However, you should find the general principles discussed here useful for a variety of types of writing. Read the question and any other instructions through several times. Ask yourself : “What am I being asked to do?” Put boxes round the words which are giving the instructions; words such as outline/discuss/ evaluate/ assess/ compare/ describe/analyse/ give an account of/ justify / trace. Make sure you fully understand what they are asking you to do. Consider the words and phrases which establish what the topic or subject matter is about. Finally, mark the words which define what you are being asked to focus on. Using coloured pens is a good way t