Advanced Academic Writing Programme at The Sixth Form College

13 February 2014

As part of our continuing support for students at The Sixth From College, our Advanced Academic Writing Programme is going strong and helping students signed up to the programme to strengthen their exam techniques and see an improvement in their grades.

Academic Writing is a formal style of writing that reflects a logical pattern of reasoning and reflects the students’ ability to interpret a task effectively, providing a coherent and professional response to a question. This is a skill expected of all students applying to University. The benefits of Academic Writing can extend past writing style as it helps to improve exam grades and build confidence. It helps to improve students’ communication skills as it allows them to think critically and objectively, whilst conveying complex ideas in a clear and concise format, which will benefit the student long-term in their chosen career.

Academic Writing is a skill which develops over time, and at The Sixth Form College, we offer our students’ specialised support provided by two of our dedicated support tutors.

The support that the academic writing programme offers includes, help with planning assignments and examination essays, support with timing in examination essays, understanding structure required in academic essays, correct use of subject specific terminology, developing proof reading skills, referencing, citations and constructing a bibliography within assignments.

Student, Lucy Johnston, enrolled on the Advanced Academic Writing Programme after she realised she was struggling with her History grades. Lucy joined the Sixth Form College in September 2013 and is studying A Level History, A Level Textiles and a BTEC in Forensic Science.

Lucy has seen a marked improvement since joining the programme and said, “It has benefitted me enormously as my grades in History have improved and my confidence in writing throughout all of my subjects has increased. It has been a huge benefit being able to work with a tutor on a one-to-one basis, as the work we did could be concentrated on what I needed to do in order to improve my writing style.”

Head of the Advanced Academic Writing Programme at The Sixth Form College, Ashley Vallance, commented, “Lucy’s success within the programme so far is fantastic and it is great to see her confidence develop as her grades continue to improve. The Academic Writing Programme is designed to support students to build upon the skills they already possess and helping them reach their full potential. Improved grades are a great benefit to advanced academic writing whilst obtaining knowledge on things such as referencing, citations and constructing a bibliography within assignments can often give them the upper hand at University where they will be expected to use those skills as a matter of course.”

Please contact the Learner Services Team on 0151 652 5575 if you would like further information on any of the above or view more student comments on the Advanced Academic Writing Programme here.