Making the 'write' start to the new academic year

All over the world international students are arriving at colleges and universities to start new courses. Most will have to write essays and reports in the first semester, and it’s a good idea to start preparing for these from the start.
 

Some points to remember:

·         Find out what are the writing guidelines for your department – ask your teachers. These should cover topics such as format, font size and system of references.

·         Make a habit of backing up all your work on a memory stick – even your notes. There’s nothing more annoying than losing work you have started.

·         Make a wall chart of your writing tasks for the semester. Work back from the deadlines to calculate how much time you need for reading, note-making and writing the draft. Stick the plan on your wall so you can’t forget it!

·        Don’t put off starting to write for too long. You may feel you need to do more reading, but until you actually begin to write you don’t know how much information you really need.