Develop your writing skills
Improve your academic writing in your graduate research degree with these literacy tools offered by Macquarie University.
Even for professional writers, academic writing and literacy can be challenging.
A great way to hone your academic literacy is by joining a Research Writing Group. These are made up of graduate research students in your faculty/department. You can join or start a Research Writing Group by contacting Graduate Research Development at gr.development@mq.edu.au.
For additional research support, head to the Graduate Research Development page.
Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)
OWL is an independent site for brushing up on your grammar and improving your academic writing.
Academic Literacy for Research Students (ALRS)
The Linguistics Department offers a web-based course in ALRS. While the focus is on Human Sciences, the content is open to all graduate research students across the University. Each module involves a discussion of academic writing and examples, followed by a text analysis task. ALRS modules include:
- Writing a thesis proposal
- Writing a Literature Review
- Writing a Research Article
- Expressing Your Voice
- Stance: Interacting with your readers
- Organising an argument: The role of topic sentences
- Constructing cohesive and coherent paragraphs
- Inductive and deductive organisation of arguments
Self-enrol with your OneID.
If you have any problems, please contact GR Development at gr.development@mq.edu.au
StudyWISE
StudyWISE is the academic literacy iLearn space at Macquarie. You can find materials to solve assignment-related questions or build your reading, writing and other academic skills.
Structure and topics
The landing page is designed so that users can see all the topics and select the pages they need. Resources are organised into five sections:
- Uni basics: Get ready to learn
- Key skills: Read, think, argue and write
- Steps in the assignment process
- Assignments and exams, including example assignments in different disciplines
- English language resources
You can select some or all sections of StudyWISE to support you when needed. There is no need to work through the resources in order.
Access and enrolment
Students are automatically enrolled into StudyWISE which can be accessed iLearn homepage under 'Student Support: Skill Building and Help Resources'.
If you cannot find StudyWISE, you can self-enrol using your OneID and password.
The Academic Integrity Module
The Academic Integrity Module for students is a resource created to help you learn about:
- What ‘academic integrity’ is and why it's important
- Acceptable and unacceptable academic behaviours at Macquarie
- What plagiarism is and key strategies to avoid it
- Your responsibilities for academic integrity and your rights under the Macquarie University Academic Integrity Policy.
Once you enrol in the Academic Integrity Module for students, you can access it from your iLearn course list under the category 'Skill Building and Help Resources'.