Structuring written work

Some assignments have a standard format, such as lab reports or case studies, and these will
normally be explained in your course materials. For other assignments, you will have to come up
with your own structure.

Your structure might be guided by:

 the assignment question. For example, it may list topics or use wording such as ‘compare
and contrast’.
 the subject matter itself, which may suggest a structure based on chronology, process or
location, for example
 your interpretation of the subject matter. For example, problem/solution, argument/counter-
argument or sub-topics in order of importance
 the structure of other texts you’ve read in your discipline. Look at how the information is
organised and sequenced. Make sure you modify the structure to suit your purpose to avoid
plagiarism.

Essays
Essays are a very common form of academic writing. Like most of the texts you write at university,
all essays have the same basic three-part structure: introduction, main body and conclusion.
However, the main body can be structured in many different ways.

To write a good essay:

 know if you’re expected to write an analytical, persuasive or critical essay

 clearly structure your main body and paragraphs
 use appropriate referencing
 use academic language.

Reports
Reports generally have the same basic structure as essays, with an introduction, body and
conclusion. However, the main body structure can vary widely, as the term ‘report’ is used for many
types of texts and purposes in different disciplines.

Find out as much as possible about what type of report is expected.

How to plan your structure
There are many ways to come up with a structure for your work. If you’re not sure how to approach
it, try some of the strategies below.

During and after reading your sources, take notes and start thinking about ways to structure the
ideas and facts into groups. For example:

 look for similarities, differences, patterns, themes or other ways of grouping and dividing the
ideas under headings, such as advantages, disadvantages, causes, effects, problems,
solutions or types of theory
 use coloured highlighters or symbols to tag themes or categories of information in your
readings or notes
 cut and paste notes in a document
 physically group your readings or notes into piles.
It’s a good idea to brainstorm a few different ways of structuring your assignment once you have a
rough idea of the main issues. Do this in outline form before you start writing – it’s much easier to
re-structure an outline than a half-finished essay. For example:

 draw some tree diagrams, mind-maps or flowcharts showing which ideas, facts and
references would be included under each heading
 discard ideas that don't fit into your overall purpose, and facts or references that are not
useful for what you want to discuss
 if you have a lot of information, such as for a thesis or dissertation, create some tables to
show how each theory or reading relates to each heading (this is often called a 'synthesis
grid')
 plan the number of paragraphs you need, the topic heading for each one, and dot points for
each piece of information and reference needed
 try a few different possible structures until you find the one that works best.
Eventually, you’ll have a plan that is detailed enough for you to start writing. You’ll know which
ideas go into each section and, ideally, each paragraph. You will also know where to find evidence
for those ideas in your notes and the sources of that evidence.

If you’re having difficulties with the process of planning the structure of your assignment, consider
trying a different strategy for grouping and organising your information.

Making the structure clear

Your writing will be clear and logical to read if it’s easy to see the structure and how it fits together.
You can achieve this in several ways.
  Use the end of the introduction to show the reader what structure to expect.
 Use headings and sub-headings to clearly mark the sections (if these are acceptable for your
discipline and assignment type).
 Use topic sentences at the beginning of each paragraph, to show the reader what the main
idea is, and to link back to the introduction and/or headings and sub-headings.
 Show the connections between sentences. The beginning of each sentence should link back
to the main idea of the paragraph or a previous sentence.
 Use conjunctions and linking words to show the structure of relationships between ideas.
Examples of conjunctions include: however, similarly, in contrast, for this reason, as a result
and moreover.

Introductions
Most of the types of texts you write for university need to have an introduction. Its purpose is to
clearly tell the reader the topic, purpose and structure of the paper.

As a rough guide, an introduction might be between 10 and 20 percent of the length of the whole
paper and has three main parts.

 It begins with the most general information, such as background and/or definitions.
 The middle is the core of the introduction, where you show the overall topic, purpose, your
point of view, hypotheses and/or research questions (depending on what kind of paper it is).
 It ends with the most specific information, describing the scope and structure of your paper.
If the main body of your paper follows a predictable template, such as the method, results and
discussion stages of a report in the sciences, you generally don’t need to include a guide to the
structure in your introduction.

You should write your introduction after you know both your overall point of view (if it is a
persuasive paper) and the whole structure of your paper. Alternatively, you should revise the
introduction when you have completed the main body.

Paragraphs
Most academic writing is structured into paragraphs. It is helpful to think about each paragraph as a
mini essay with a three-part structure:

 topic sentence (also known as introductory sentence)

 body of the paragraph
 concluding sentence.
The topic sentence introduces a general overview of the topic and the purpose of the paragraph.
Depending on the length of the paragraph, this may be more than one sentence. The topic sentence
answers the question 'What's the paragraph about?'.

The body of the paragraph elaborates directly on the topic sentence by giving definitions,
classifications, explanations, contrasts, examples and evidence, for example.

The final sentence in many, but not all, paragraphs is the concluding sentence. It does not present
new information, but often either summarises or comments on the paragraph content. It can also
provide a link, by showing how the paragraph links to the topic sentence of the next paragraph. The
concluding sentence often answers the question ‘So what?’, by explaining how this paragraph
relates back to the main topic.

You don’t have to write all your paragraphs using this structure. For example, there are paragraphs
with no topic sentence, or the topic is mentioned near the end of the paragraph. However, this is a
clear and common structure that makes it easy for the reader to follow.

Conclusions
The conclusion is closely related to the introduction and is often described as its ‘mirror image’. This
means that if the introduction begins with general information and ends with specific information,
the conclusion moves in the opposite direction.

The conclusion usually:

 begins by briefly summarising the main scope or structure of the paper

 confirms the topic that was given in the introduction. This may take the form of the aims of
the paper, a thesis statement (point of view) or a research question/hypothesis and its
answer/outcome.
 ends with a more general statement about how this topic relates to its context. This may
take the form of an evaluation of the importance of the topic, implications for future
research or a recommendation about theory or practice.

Types of academic writing

The four main types of academic writing are descriptive, analytical, persuasive
and critical. Each of these types of writing has specific language features and
purposes.
In many academic texts you will need to use more than one type. For
example, in an empirical thesis:

 you will use critical writing in the literature review to show where there
is a gap or opportunity in the existing research
 the methods section will be mostly descriptive to summarise the
methods used to collect and analyse information
 the results section will be mostly descriptive and analytical as you report
on the data you collected
 the discussion section is more analytical, as you relate your findings
back to your research questions, and also persuasive, as you propose
your interpretations of the findings.

Descriptive
The simplest type of academic writing is descriptive. Its purpose is to provide
facts or information. An example would be a summary of an article or a report
of the results of an experiment.

The kinds of instructions for a purely descriptive assignment include: identify,

report, record, summarise and define.

Analytical
It’s rare for a university-level text to be purely descriptive. Most academic
writing is also analytical. Analytical writing includes descriptive writing, but
you also re-organise the facts and information you describe into categories,
groups, parts, types or relationships.

Sometimes, these categories or relationships are already part of the discipline,

sometimes you will create them specifically for your text. For example, if
you’re comparing two theories, you might break your comparison into several
parts, for example: how each theory deals with social context, how each
theory deals with language learning, and how each theory can be used in
practice.

The kinds of instructions for an analytical assignment include: analyse,

compare, contrast, relate, examine.

To make your writing more analytical:

  spend plenty of time planning. Brainstorm the facts and ideas, and try
different ways of grouping them, according to patterns, parts,
similarities and differences. You could use colour-coding, flow charts,
tree diagrams or tables.
 create a name for the relationships and categories you find. For
example, advantages and disadvantages.
 build each section and paragraph around one of the analytical
categories.
 make the structure of your paper clear to your reader, by using topic
sentences and a clear introduction.

Persuasive
In most academic writing, you are required to go at least one step further
than analytical writing, to persuasive writing. Persuasive writing has all the
features of analytical writing (that is, information plus re-organising the
information), with the addition of your own point of view. Most essays are
persuasive, and there is a persuasive element in at least the discussion and
conclusion of a research article.

Points of view in academic writing can include an argument, a

recommendation, interpretation of findings or evaluation of the work of
others. In persuasive writing, each claim you make needs to be supported by
some evidence, for example a reference to research findings or published
sources.

The kinds of instructions for a persuasive assignment include: argue,

evaluate, discuss, take a position.

To help reach your own point of view on the facts or ideas:

 read some other researchers' points of view on the topic. Who do you
feel is the most convincing?
 look for patterns in the data or references. Where is the evidence
strongest?
 list several different interpretations. What are the real-life implications
of each one? Which ones are likely to be most useful or beneficial?
Which ones have some problems?
 discuss the facts and ideas with someone else. Do you agree with their
point of view?
To develop your argument:

 list the different reasons for your point of view

 think about the different types and sources of evidence which you can
use to support your point of view
 consider different ways that your point of view is similar to, and
different from, the points of view of other researchers
 look for various ways to break your point of view into parts. For
example, cost effectiveness, environmental sustainability, scope of real-
world application.

To present your argument, make sure:

 your text develops a coherent argument where all the individual claims
work together to support your overall point of view
 your reasoning for each claim is clear to the reader
 your assumptions are valid
 you have evidence for every claim you make
 you use evidence that is convincing and directly relevant.

Critical
Critical writing is common for research, postgraduate and advanced
undergraduate writing. It has all the features of persuasive writing, with the
added feature of at least one other point of view. While persuasive writing
requires you to have your own point of view on an issue or topic, critical
writing requires you to consider at least two points of view, including your
own.

For example, you may explain a researcher's interpretation or argument and

then evaluate the merits of the argument, or give your own alternative
interpretation.

Examples of critical writing assignments include a critique of a journal article,

or a literature review that identifies the strengths and weaknesses of existing
research. The kinds of instructions for critical writing include: critique, debate,
disagree, evaluate.

You need to:

  accurately summarise all or part of the work. This could include
identifying the main interpretations, assumptions or methodology.
 have an opinion about the work. Appropriate types of opinion could
include pointing out some problems with it, proposing an alternative
approach that would be better, and/or defending the work against the
critiques of others
 provide evidence for your point of view. Depending on the specific
assignment and the discipline, different types of evidence may be
appropriate, such as logical reasoning, reference to authoritative
sources and/or research data.

Critical writing requires strong writing skills. You need to thoroughly

understand the topic and the issues. You need to develop an essay
structure and paragraph structure that allows you to analyse different
interpretations and develop your own argument, supported by evidence.