A Small and Concise Guide

Writing at Masters Level

A small and concise guide

Liverpool Hope University

Produced by the Peer Academic Writing Mentors

Table of Contents

This booklet is designed to accompany you through the transition from undergraduate to postgraduate study. Specifically focusing on Masters level, both taught and research courses, concise information is tailored to the issues that are most frequently experienced by students. Overall, the information booklet is designed to help you become more familiar and confident with academic writing.

Our Service 1

Getting Started: Reading Effectively 2

Beginning the Writing Process 3

Exploring Ideas 4

‘Take-away’ Points and Tips 5

Our Service

The peer academic writing mentor team is a group of postgraduate students studying at either MA or PhD level with varying academic backgrounds and subject specialisms.

We are situated in the Sheppard-Worlock library at Hope Park and the Creative Campus study space. Our ‘writing hub’ provides a quiet and private space where students can access free one-to-one sessions with an experienced mentor.

The work of the writing mentors is borne out of a love for writing and research and the continued desire to share this with others. Our work solely consists of helping students to develop their own writing style in order to maximise good academic practice. The main areas that we cover are essay structure, basic grammar, presenting research in different formats and how to effectively convey ideas and theories.

Getting Started: Reading Effectively

· Attempting to read numerous books and articles from cover to cover is exhausting, daunting and, perhaps, unnecessary.

· Instead, identify the chapters that closely link with your own research interests – does the author use any theories/approaches from other academics or disciplines?

· Choose excerpts, quotes or terms from the text that particularly stand out and chime with your own ideas.

· Remember – writing at ‘M’ level is about deconstructing ideas, philosophies and approaches.

· You can approach this by finding points at which academics agree with one another and develop a point from a different tangent. Also, examine where texts disagree or contradict one another.

· Try having a word document open at this stage – as you are piecing together arguments and etching themes in the field, it is useful to write small sentences and paragraphs to track your thought processes.

Beginning the Writing Process

· Try writing a paragraph from the mindset that you need to convey one point in a bulletin.

· Concise sentences and paragraphs are necessary to display a competent and accessible writing style.

· At the start of every paragraph introduce the one point you will concentrate on. Use the last sentence to refer back to this point.

· One logical way of structuring a paragraph is to make your point and provide an example to develop your concept. Following this, critically analyse your point from one or a variety of perspectives and make a link with other theories or concepts.

· From the reading you have already accomplished, start to reflect on the writing styles of other academics – how do they disseminate theories, deconstruct ideas and form links between paragraphs?

Exploring Ideas

· Writing at ‘M’ level involves showing that you are comfortable with theories and ideas, to the extent that you can begin to explore and identify inconsistencies and philosophical backgrounds to concepts.

· Basically, the act of consciously reflecting on ‘knowing’ processes and identifying inconsistencies in theoretical approaches demonstrates that you are now ready to critically consider concepts and ideologies that will inform your own application of research methods and frameworks.

· Instead of simply stating ideas and popular theories in your academic field of interest – commit to ‘delving deeper’. This involves making a point and studying it from different angles, namely, philosophical, historical, cultural, to name a few. This is a key part of becoming a more sophisticated academic writer.

‘Take-away’ Points and Tips

· In order to minimise stress and hastily gathered ideas that may distract from your enjoyment of the course, make sure that you begin writing as soon as you are aware of an assignment.

· Initially, your assignment may contain unfinished sentences, paragraphs or hastily written points. This is a fantastic start!

· If you are experiencing a period of ‘writer’s block’, revert back to the ‘power of five’: write down five words, sentences or points, and see if this helps to make a start.

· Approach your initial thoughts by thinking about how you can develop them. What points logically derive or enhance each other? Remember you want your reader to feel led by your essay structure, they should not have to struggle to make links between theories and concepts – present your ideas in a digestible and concise format.

· Do not feel daunted by writing at Masters Level – by commencing postgraduate study you have already made the first big leap! Just remember that academic writing at this level requires constant deconstruction. Rather than stating a point and moving on, you should aim to consider it from different angles and philosophical perspectives. In turn, this will demonstrate that you understand the variety of methods by which knowledge is produced.