On writing generally
- Understand your task: Whether you have to answer a question in an
exam or have to produce a piece of coursework you need to ensure that
you understand what your task is. The UoM has produced a list of instruction words and you should ensure you
understand what you are to do. This is part of a short online resource
by the UoM Library which takes you through the process of analysing your assignment task to ensure
that you’re clear about what you’re being asked to do, giving you some
useful techniques to ensure that your work remains focused on directly
addressing the question at hand. This phrasebank website
relates to this and will help you to understand how to approach
different type of questions.
- It helps to structure your process of researching and writing and
this source could give you some ideas: Planning and storyboards
- As you write your piece you need to help the reader to see a
structure in your argument. One way in which you do that is by
organising your thoughts in paragraphs. These are two sources which will
helo you understand how to construct paragraphs: The secrets of good paragraph writing and Basic
paragraph structure
On referencing and plagiarism
This online
resource explores the principles behind referencing, highlighting
why it is good academic practice. It outlines when and how you need to
reference, and how to read a reference when following up a source listed
on a reading list or bibliography. (UoM, Learning Essentials)
Here we use the Harvard referencing style and all your referencing
should adhere to this guidance.
(UoM)
The University of Manchester provides a range of resources
for referencing.
If you do not reference properly you can easily fall foul of
University’s plagiarism rules. It is vital that you understand the
regulations. You may want to go through this short online resource
produced by the UoM Library to undestand what palgiarism is and techniques to avoid any
problems.
On writing an essay
Here are things to look out of you write an essay.
- A host of tips are summarised in this document produced by the
University of Manchester Economics Department
- This UoM Library resource outlines a five-step technique you can use
to help you to identify your main arguments, and to organise your
ideas into a coherent structure.
On writing a policy brief
- Tips for writing economics essays,
Economics.help
- How to write a policy brief, UK Parliament
- How to write a policy brief, WikiHow
- Guidelines for writing a policy brief,
Community-Based Monitoring System
- Policy briefs: a guide to writing policy briefs for
research uptake, Resilient and Responsive Health Systems
- How to write a policy brief, International
Development Research Centre
- How to plan, write and communicate an effective policy
brief, Research to Action
- Writing a
policy brief, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Food Security Communications Toolkit, FAO
- Writing policy briefs, FAO
Dissertation
A dissertation is a substantial piece of work and requires careful
planning from finding a topic to the final proof
read. This site by the Economics Network guides you through
many of the important steps.
Proofreading
You finished writing your work? Think again. This resource by the UoM
Library explores three vital elements to proofreading your work - flow,
clarity and accuracy - and gives you a chance to learn about and apply
some techniques to ensure that you check your work properly.
How will your work be assessed?
Here at The University of Manchester’s Economics Department we have
bespoke assessment criteria (for undergraduate students and for Masters students). These may sound rather generic at
the writing stage, but when you read through your or someone else’s work
you should practice finding elements of the respective grade categories
in the work.