SUMMARY

1 Whenever you write anything which is going to be assessed, you must remember that the reader will not be able to distinguish between muddled understanding which is expressed in a clear way and clear understanding which is expressed in a muddled way.

2 It is important to write English which is sufficiently formal to be appropriate for academic work, without falling into the trap of being pretentious.

3 In order to present your work in the best light, you should follow the conventions of grammar, punctuation, spelling and style, while ensuring that your vocabulary avoids anything that might reasonably be considered to be slang.

4 If you encounter difficulty or doubt when doing written work, remember you can waste a lot of time trying to edit what you have already written until you are happy with it. It is often better to forget the troublesome material and start again. In other words, you should apply the mongoose principle: if in difficulty or doubt, rewrite it.