Resource Pages

In academic writing, ideas must stick together logically (cohesion) and make sense as a whole (coherence). This Resource Page will help you write logical and smooth connections between ideas. 

Academic writing is a type of formal conversation where you need to engage your readers by telling them what you will do in your paper and its sections, how you will organize the content, and what you have done in previous sections. This is called Signposting, and with this Resource Page you will learn how to use it in your papers.

This Resource Page shows you strategies for critical academic reading depending on your reading purposes — whether for class discussions, selecting literature for an assignment, or including ideas from selected readings into your paper — to maximize your understanding and insight.

Professors often instruct you to "take a stance" and "use your voice and the voices of others" in your written work. This Resource Page will help you understand what stance and voice are and how to use them effectively in academic writing.

Direct quotes are often used when you want to emphasize the author's specific wording, particularly when it's a unique or influential phrasing. They require proper attribution to the original source to avoid plagiarism.  This Resource Page will help you understand what direct quoting is and why it’s important in scholarly work.

Integrating others’ research into your own writing is essential for your assignments. This Resource Page will help you learn effective strategies for integrating others’ research. 

Once you’ve searched and organized the literature for your assignment, the next step is to analyze each source you have selected and develop your own ideas for your review. This Resource Page provides you with strategies to analyze sources and develop ideas for your literature review writing.

You may ask: “Why are assignments so common at OISE instead of exams? Why do most OISE instructors use assignments to grade students?”. This Resource Page will help you navigate the process of understanding assignment instructions and planning.

Once you have gathered the relevant literature for your assignment and read it in detail, you need to organize key information and notes systematically. This Resource Page will help you find strategies and a system to organize your literature and notes.