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Academic Skills Video Collection: Written Assignments

Videos for study skills

Overview

This section has videos for tips and support on your essay writing skills, such as how to plan your writing, understanding the structure and synthesis of your dissertation as well as offering some tips on writing techniques.

Understanding Questions

Understanding the question is vital to ensuring you get the highest marks for your essays. In this video we look at some of the key words in essay titles, and how they can help you plan your work.

Planning Your Work

Planning an assignment takes time, but some careful consideration of the task can help a big project become much more manageable. Video by Doug Specht, Senior Lecturer at the Westminster School of Media and Communication.

Summarising and Paraphrasing

Two key writing skills at university are summarising and paraphrasing. In the video we give a quick introduction to the key features of each. Do also look at how to synthesise texts, an even more advanced way of writing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei-Eu... Study Skills Book: https://www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk/s...

Synthesising Texts

Synthesising texts is a highly complex skill, but one that will help your work read the highest grades, and make it much more interesting to read. In this video we look at how to synthesise texts that agree with each other, and some that disagree.

General Guide to Writing an Essay

This video guides you through the various stages of writing an essay, from breaking down the assignment question to editing and proofreading before submission. 

The Shape of Essays

In this video we introduce six different types of essay question and show you how to answer them paragraph by paragraph.

Writing a Good Essay Opener

The first few sentences of an essay should hook the reader in and make them want to read more, but how can you make your introductions exciting? In this video we look at 3 ways to start an essay, and some things to avoid.

Writing Thesis Statements

A thesis statement introduces the main ideas of your essay, acts as a guide the the reader, and gives structure to your work. Study Skills Student Guide: https://www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk/s...

Reflective Thinking and Writing

This video will help you to explore reflective thinking and writing more deeply and will provide you with tips and strategies to write more thoughtful reflections. You will also have the opportunity to practise reflecting in two reflective activities.