Developing your academic writing skills: a handbook

Developing your academic writing skills: a handbook

Creator(s)

Ciara O’Farrell, Marian Fitzmaurice

Organisation(s)

Academic Practice & eLearning, Trinity College Dublin

Discipline(s)

Generic programmes and qualifications, , Teaching & Learning

Topic(s)

Student Success

License

CC BY-NC-ND

Media Format

PDF

Date Submitted

Submitted by

Export Resource Data

Description

This handbook offers you advice on how to approach your academic writing, especially in your transition from second to third level. It provides advice, strategies and writing activities to help you develop your academic writing, and to feel confident in expressing your own voice in your writing.

Benefit of this resource and how to make the best use of it

From the authors: “We hope it will provide you with an overview of the knowledge, skills and good working practices needed to craft your academic writing. It will teach you how to apply the conventions of writing at university level; however, equally important is that you will gain the confidence to develop your own voice as an academic writer, a focus that underpins this handbook. Writing remains one of the main ways you will be assessed in University, so it is an important skill to master. As a craft, writing is a complex task in itself, but it is made all the more challenging in University due to the specialised nature of academic discourse. Writing is also an iterative process and this handbook was designed to reflect this process, divided into sections and tasks to which you can refer or return as you approach and complete the different stages of your academic writing task. This handbook thus provides advice, strategies and writing activities to help you develop your academic writing, and to feel confident in expressing your own voice in your writing.”

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND)

This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC-ND license, permitting redistribution for non-commercial use with proper attribution but prohibiting modifications.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
? This citation is automatically generated and may require adjustment. Always verify it against your style guide.
O’Farrell, C., & Fitzmaurice, M. (2021). Developing your academic writing skills: a handbook. National Resource Hub (Ireland). Retrieved from: https://hub.teachingandlearning.ie/resource/developing-your-academic-writing-skills-a-handbook/ License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND).

Adapting this resource? Share your version!

If you have modified or adopted this resource, share your version here. Tracking adaptations helps us measure impact and connects others with useful updates.

Related OER

This poster offers educators an overview of designing a syllabus on the Canvas learning management system that supports personalised learning pathways. It highlights (1) a gamified pedagogy grounded in gaming principles and (2) adaptive learning strategies using MasteryPaths.

This toolkit draws on our experiences facilitating a SATLE-funded community-engaged learning project that brought students of the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures (UCC) together with people in Cork seeking international protection for a series of three wellbeing and creativity workshops.

The HEA Education for Sustainable Development Spotlight Series 2025: Case Studies Compendium brings together 115 case studies from higher education institutions across Ireland. It showcases how universities and colleges are integrating sustainability and the UN Sustainable Development Goals into teaching, research, curriculum design, assessment practices and community engagement. It offers a comprehensive picture of national ESD activity and provides an accessible resource for educators and policymakers seeking examples of practice-based innovation.