On Writing

On this page

  • Lots of advice, tips and examples of how to improve your writing

If you only have 30 seconds

Quick checklist for your writing

You may like to read this first

Myths and facts about academic writing

On drafting

Steven Pinker
Advice for avoiding common but flawed drafts
Seeing your draft in a new light: revision
On the art of drafting

Five Things...

Five things you can do to improve your writing

More from the University of Melbourne

On clarity

The Curse of Knowledge
How to achieve clarity
How to check for critical writing

On key parts of the essay

How to set the right tone
How good is your introduction?
How good is your conclusion?
Advice for sketching a working introduction
Advice for planning the body of your paper
Advice for writing your conclusion

The University of Melbourne

How to write beautiful paragraphs
On using quotes
Can I use ‘I’ in my essay
What are signposts
When should you start to write?
Why and how should you quote?
How to evaluate an author’s ideas positively

More useful videos

The University of Hull

Scientific papers

Be careful with this video. It is not aimed at IB layout, for example you will not need to write an abstract. As always please check in your subject specialist supervisor.

On the whole essay

Has your teacher ever said "you need better flow?" These documents (plus those above) provide insight to finding an answer to that classic teacher comment.

The Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater
How to write critically, conceptually and creatively
Review a piece of critical writing as a model
Common errors in critical writing
Self Check: Evaluating your writing for critical thinking