Today's colleges and universities are faced with students from increasingly diverse backgrounds. This means lecturers can no longer assume that all students will have the same basic knowledge or skills in essay-writing, note-taking and the ability to discuss a text critically. This book provides a firm foundation for all types of social science writing, plugging the gaps in essential study skills which lecturers do not have time to fill. It provides authoritative guidance and reference in an accessible and comprehensive fashion. Key features include: coverage of all aspects of student writing - including essays, short papers, project reports/dissertations, exam papers, oral presentations; an examination of the concept of self-managed writing strategies and various pre-/co-requisites to effective writing; coverage of the uses of computer technology in libraries and word processors in writing papers; examples of good and bad social science writing compared throughout; problems of level, quality and progression of writing skills in the different years of study; and a checklist of dos and don'ts at the end of each chapter.