- Check the draft; does it capture the meaning and ideas from the original source?
- Add your citation, using the appropriate referencing style dictated by your department.
- Finalise your writing - this may take time and you may re-write a paraphrased section multiple times as your overall piece of academic writing develops.
# Analytical writing
- Writing analytically is important for academic writing.
- Analytical writing engages with and applies theoretical concepts
- Evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of ideas
- Unpacks the significance of evidence
- Synthesises and engages with sources to support and create an overall argument
- Ask yourself the following:
- What does this evidence mean? What is its significance?
- How does this point relate back to my central argument?
- What is the connection between the different ideas?
- What does this theory reveal about this particular topic?
- Further tips:
- Evaluate the evidence; do not just state it
- Unpack the meaning of terms, ideas and definitions
- Synthesise secondary material into your overall argument
- Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of other arguments or studies
- Engage with theory and apply it to your argument
