Academic writing

A short video outlining some key elements for writing at university.

If you do not see the video, please click on the link to view it (you will leave this page):

What is academic writing?

Top tips

Find out the conventions for different types of writing in particular disciplines:

1. Check the course and department websites for examples or explanations. 
   Useful advice on specific genres:
   • The book review or article critique,
   • Writing an annotated bibliography,
   • The literature review,
   • The comparative essay,
   • Writing about history,
   • Writing in the sciences, and
   • The lab report.
2. Seek guidance from your professor.
3. Look for handbooks and guides on how to write in specific disciplines.
4. Undertake research on different types of documents by looking at what is available on the internet. For example, putting in the words “discussion papers for conferences” brings up a wide variety of discussion papers for a conference audience.
5. Writing in Engineering, University of Toronto. Rhetorical patterns.

What is an academic paper?

Summary writing

Summary writing

Enhance your learning

In this video, Grammar Squirrel and her friends perform some experiments in the field before finding out first-hand why it is so important to be accurate when using numbers and units in their science writing. They learn the importance of getting unit abbreviations right, as well as picking up some tips for making numbers easy to interpret.

If you do not see the video, please click on the link to view it (you will leave this page):

Numbers and units