essay template unsw

• Jump to menu
• Student Home
• Accept your offer
• How to enrol
• Student ID card
• Set up your IT
• Orientation Week
• Fees & payment
• Academic calendar
• Special consideration
• Transcripts
• The Nucleus: Student Hub
• Referencing
• Essay writing
• Learning abroad & exchange
• UNSW Advantage opportunities
• Employability
• Peer support
• International students
• Equitable learning
• Postgraduate research
• Health Service
• Events & activities
• Emergencies
• Volunteering
• Clubs and societies
• Accommodation
• Health services
• Sport and gym
• Arc student organisation
• Security on campus
• Maps of campus
• Careers portal
• Change password

Essay and Assignment Writing Guide

The following resources can provide you with strategies to help you with your essay and assignment writing.

The basics of essay writing

A general outline of the steps to writing essays at university.

• Essay and assignment planning

Some helpful advice and strategies about getting started and constructive planning of your essay or assignment.

• Answering assignment questions

This guide will help you to better answer and understand your essay questions. It also provides a list of common terms used in assignment questions and their definitions.

• Editing checklist

This checklist outlines questions to ask yourself as you are writing your final draft or editing your assignment.

• Writing a critical review

Need to write a critical review? Not sure what it is? See our guide for tips on writing a critical review.

Writing an annotated bibliography

This is an assignment that allows you to get acquainted with the material available on a particular topic. This guide to writing an annotated bibliography offers some general advice on getting started.

• Reflective writing

Many uni assignments feature reflective components. Although they can vary considerably in terms of their style and scope, here are some common elements and tips to get you started with reflective writing.

Essay and assignment writing guide

• Essay writing basics
• Annotated bibliography
• ^ More support

New writing style guide answers all those tricky questions

UNSW Sydney’s new style guide makes it easier to get your message across clearly. 

Should I spell ‘faculty’ with a capital F?​ What about ‘university’ – when does that have a capital U?  Should you always italicise the title of research papers?​ And do titles such as   ‘Deputy Vice Chancellor Enterprise’ have a hyphen, a comma or brackets?  

The answers to these and many other commonly asked questions are provided in UNSW’s new  Writing Style Guide , which has been launched alongside a suite of new resources for UNSW’s  new creative approach .  

The Writing Style Guide, which was developed by the Media and Content team within the Division of External Relations, provides simple and practical advice on expressing yourself concisely, clearly and consistently to your audience.  

It offers general guidance about the basic principles of good writing and includes information about appropriate language when considering issues of equity, diversity and inclusion.  

There is also more detailed information and style rulings on technical points such as formatting, naming conventions, punctuation, spelling variations and commonly misused terms.  

The guide was assembled from the many writing style guides that have been in use at UNSW in recent years and was written in consultation with people from across the University. It is designed to answer all those style questions that you might find yourself asking as you work and is for all staff to use. 

It also introduces a new tone of voice which aims to personify the UNSW ‘personality’ and bring to life the idea behind UNSW’s refreshed brand, ‘ Collective Difference’ . The tone of voice centres around three core principles to guide the language and tone of our written communications when representing UNSW, broadly that we are:  

‘proud not loud’ (ambitious and inspiring)  

‘we’re real’ (conversational and relatable)   

‘natural teachers’ (knowledgeable and curious).   

The  UNSW Writing Style Guide  is available on the  Downloads page  of the  UNSW Brand Hub , which also hosts a new  Visual Style Guide , new fonts for download, and basic templates for all sorts of content.  

The Media and Content team are very keen for feedback on the Writing Style Guide, such as suggestions for extra information or proposed corrections, from users of the guide. Please email  [email protected]  with your thoughts.   

• Log in to post comments