Organising

•Organise ideas into logical groups

•Connect similar ideas

•Add relevant information (research, quotes, other supporting ideas

•Make an outline of the order of ideas

•Refer back to the question – do your points answer it?

•Revise if necessary

Introductions

•Road map

•Background info

•Reader is left with no surprises

•No one way of doing it – different approaches

•Don’t have to do it first! Can come back to it later and tweak it.

Typical contents of an introduction

•Catchy start - optional

•Give background information about the subject

•Orientate the reader

•Why it is an important area

•Definitions (where necessary)

•Thesis statement – what are you going to talk about (in order)

•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koPufTAzjwo

Write an

Introduction

This is the topic:

“Discuss some of the problems faced by students when writing an academic assignment”.

Give background then thesis statement.

Example introduction

•Writing an academic assignment is extremely important for students. This will be one of the main criteria that is used to assess their knowledge, which in turn is reflected in the final grade. As Roberts (2009, p.22) puts it, “a student’s ability to write dictates a huge amount in university”. However, for many people, both native and non-native speakers, it is a daunting task and one that raises several challenges particularly in the areas of organisation, style and grammar.

Example introduction

•Writing an academic assignment is extremely important for students. This will be one of the main criteria that is used to assess their knowledge, which in turn is reflected in the final grade. As Roberts (2009, p.22) puts it, “A student’s ability to write dictates a huge amount in university”. However, for many people, both native and non-native speakers, it is a daunting task and one that raises several challenges particularly in the areas of organisation, style and grammar.