Academic Writing Guides: Briefs, Arguments & Literature Reviews

Build your own answer from the assessment question, verified sources and clear reasoning. Follow the sequence below or start with the task currently blocking your draft.

Understand and plan

Identify the task, audience, required evidence and marking criteria.

Decode your assignment brief
Plan an essay structure
Understand critical discussion

Work with evidence

Use sources accurately and explain how they support or qualify your position.

Integrate evidence into paragraphs
Synthesis versus summary
Annotated synthesis example

Develop a literature review

Connect studies by the issue they address rather than producing a list of summaries.

Write a literature review
Distinguish review types
Evaluate an academic article

Tools and next steps

Use free calculators and planners to check arithmetic and organise your workload. Their estimates do not replace programme rules, supervisor guidance or assessment instructions.

Browse the complete article archive or explore research methods guides and university assessment guides.