Four Feathers Writing Guide

There are many things you can do to prepare yourself to share your knowledge with your audience:

1. Approach sharing your ideas with a good heart and mind. If you have worries related to academic writing, please Book an Appointment with the Writing Centre so that we can help you. If you would like help with other types of worries, please schedule an appointment with a counsellor, and to see a range of the topics they can assist you with, please visit Counselling and Learning Strategy.
2. Think about who the audience is for your work, and what do they expect from your writing? Just as information presented to Elders would be different from a story told to children to make sure the tone and approach was age appropriate, your writing will also have a different style and tone, depending for whom you’re writing. For example, though your direct audience will likely be your instructor, academic writing is often presented in a way that someone in the broader academic community could understand the information. Taking that approach means you need to explain your thinking without relying on your audience already being familiar with your topic. For more information, please see Who Is Your Audience?
3. Developing a detailed plan is an essential step in preparing to write. Once you have a detailed plan to follow, the writing is just a matter of bringing the story together, versus trying to write a story without knowing what you’re going to say. People use many different ways to plan, and there isn’t one correct way; rather, please use an approach that makes sense to you, such as a(n):
   • Outline (see Finalize Your Document Plan)
   • Concept map or spider’s web (see Creating a Document Plan, which is a 14:34 section of the Introduction to Academic Writing video)
   • Pyramid (see Organizing Your Report: The Pyramid Outline)
   • PowerPoint presentation (see Plan Writing With PowerPoint)
   • Tree (see The Essay Tree: Planning GCSE Exam Answers for an example of a tree used for a high school class that could be adapted for your work)

For more information regarding planning your work, please watch Creating a Document Plan, which is a 6:33 section of the Introduction to Academic Writing video, Body Paragraphs, and More Planning Resources.