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Mal Leicester is Emeritus Professor, University of Nottingham. Mal has taught English in schools, Liberal Studies in Further Education, and Philosophy of Education and Adult Education in universities. She has also been a local authority advisor for Multicultural Education and Director of an antiracist community organisation. Before her retirement, Mal was professor of adult teaching and learning at the University of Nottingham. Since her retirement Mal has written a memoir of her beloved daughter’s remarkable life and death—Jane’s Journey: a Medical Story of Survival and Hope. Dr Denise Taylor is an environmental and wildlife conservation professional with a focus on large carnivores, and in particular wild canids. She was awarded her PhD as a mature student in 2012 in the field of environmental education from the University of Nottingham.  Denise has written books and papers on environmental education and canid conservation, and more recently has been involved in education projects on badger conservation in the UK. As an entrepreneur, Denise is the owner and managing director of Bridge PR & Media Services Limited, where she also delivers educational workshops on marketing strategy, and writing content for press and marketing.

This text is a concise and readable beginning step to take towards becoming a competent and thoughtful assignment writer. The authors take time to explain useful, higher level concepts to readers, so they not only know what to do but also why they are doing it. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone who wanted to learn how to prep, analyse and write up work for their assessments.

• Chapter 1: Using the LiteratureChapter 2: Planning Your EssayChapter 3: Criticality: Rational ReflectionChapter 4: Criticality: Critical ThinkingCriticality: Analytic ThinkingChapter 5: OriginalityChapter 6: Presentation and Academic ConventionsChapter 7: Other Forms of AssignmentChapter 8: Oral Assignments: Lectures and Short Talks