In universities or colleges, the most commonly used method of assessment is often assignments. Assignments are not just pieces of writing, they test your critical thinking, research skills, ability to analyse information, and then demonstrate it in a structured manner using writing skills.
Hence, it is common for students to feel intimidated by the thought of doing assignments, especially at higher levels of education. Here we have curated a comprehensive guide that will provide you with strategies to craft a remarkable assignment that perfectly aligns with your institute’s task details and assignment specifications. So, without further ado let’s dive into it.
Understanding and Deconstructing Assignment Guidelines
It is important that you spend an ample amount of time understanding your assignment requirements before you jump right into working on it. Understanding what is being asked of you in the assignment guidelines thoroughly enables you to narrow down your research area by a large fraction. There are certain things that you should never overlook including grading criteria, learning outcomes, formatting guidelines, and any additional information that needs to be added in your assignment. If you are confused or unclear about any requirement seek help for assignment from your instructor to make things clear before starting to work on your assignment.
Generally, you get an assignment brief that includes all the important guidelines, from your unit number to assignment specifications guiding you on how to achieve maximum grades. It also provides information on structure, direction, approach, and words limitation for the assignment providing an understanding on how in-depth research is needed. Make sure you fully grasp the concepts that you are required to perform research on.
Key Points To Consider
- Words limitation (word count)
- Formatting and referencing guidelines
- Learning outcomes
- Task words and limitation words
- Scope of the assessment
- Research expectations
- Deadline
Selecting a Topic For Your Assignment
Topic selection can be very difficult for many students. Having a wide area of research and study often makes this task even more challenging. The assignment brief does not provide you with a specific topic rather it gives the guidelines and the approach your instructor wants to see in your work. These briefs usually provide certain outcomes that assess how well the student has learned the skills being taught in the class. So, the question is, how do you select a topic that is both relevant for assignment as well as complements the recent studies in the respective field of study? The simple answer is to brainstorm and research.
Quick Research
You are not required to go deep down the rabbit hole at this stage, just do a quick search to gather relevant assignment topics that align well with your objectives and scope.
Brainstorm Ideas
Now after gathering all the necessary information that you need, brainstorm your assignment topic ideas by creating mind maps. List all the ideas that come into your mind and map them out with how all your assignment tasks and objectives align with them considering the relevance alongside.
Conducting Research for Data Collection
The next step in your assignment writing journey is to gather as much relevant information as possible. There can be a few ways to conduct data collection including qualitative collection, quantitative collection, or a mixture of both. The method you select for data collection can drastically affect the outcome of your research.
Assignment Outline Creation
Before you jump straight into writing your assignment, first spend some time on the outline. This approach will help you envision the work better. Strategise what subtopics you want to discuss, how much information there needs to be, and what format you would follow.
Writing an Introduction
Your assignment should start with a strong introduction that is logically structured. To write an impressive introduction you must provide a brief background or context for the topic of your assignment. Make sure it has a clear thesis statement along with a few key points that you are going to cover in your assignment to give an idea of the structure you are going to follow in the body of your assignment to support your argument.
Although, according to the structure of your assignment, crafting an introduction should come first. But, if you want all the introduction components to be present in your work, write it after completing your body paragraphs and conclusion. Doing that will give you access to all the information at hand, all you need is to make the information concise and organise it as per the structure of your approach. Usually, your introduction is approximately 10% of your total assignment word count.
Key Points To Consider
For an effective opening of your assignment, you need to add four basic features while introduction writing:
- A brief background or overview of your assignment topic
- An indication of any parameters or scope that will be covered
- An outline of your essay structure
- A thesis statement
Developing Body Paragraphs
Crafting impeccable paragraphs for your assignment is the most crucial skill as this is where you are going to present all the research you have done. Every paragraph you add should have some key elements. Firstly, it should include a clear main idea which is also known as the topic sentence. This topic sentence must relate to the main argument or thesis of your assignment as a whole. This idea then further goes into explanation by adding more information around it. These additional sentences should provide supporting evidence. This idea should then be explained by additional sentences in which you have a paragraph to your main idea by paraphrasing authentic and credible sources and referencing according to the recommended guidelines of your subject or provided by your instructor.
You can use two different approaches to write paragraphs i.e., a top-down approach where the paragraphs are characterised by increasing specificity from general to specific, or a bottom-up approach where you start with a piece of specific information and gradually relate it to a general perspective. Both approaches have their own importance but some of the elements are common with a slight difference in structure which are as follows:
Topic Sentence
This is the main idea of the paragraph and should relate to the overall issue or purpose of your assignment. Often it will be expressed as an assertion or claim that supports the overall argument or purpose of your writing.
Explanation/ Elaboration
The main idea must have its meaning explained and elaborated upon. Think critically, do not just describe the idea.
Evidence
These explanations must include evidence to support your main idea. This information should be paraphrased and referenced according to the appropriate referencing style of your course.
Concluding sentence (critical thinking)
This should explain why the topic of the paragraph is relevant to the assignment question and link to the following paragraph.
Key Points To Consider
- Does your paragraph have a clear main idea?
- Is everything in the paragraph related to this main idea?
- Is the main idea adequately developed and explained?
- Do your sentences run together smoothly?
- Have you included evidence to support your ideas?
- Have you concluded the paragraph by connecting it to your overall topic?
- Make sure all the sentences in your paragraphs make sense.
- Each sentence must contain a verb to be a complete sentence.
- Avoid sentence fragments. These are incomplete sentences or ideas that are unfinished and create confusion for your reader.
- Also, avoid run-on sentences. This happens when you join two ideas or clauses without using the appropriate punctuation.
Crafting The Concluding Remarks
For an amazing assignment, you should aim to write an impactful conclusion that leaves a lasting impression. Your conclusion should restate your thesis and summarise the key points you have used to prove this thesis. Finish with a key point as a final impactful statement. Similar to your introduction, your conclusion should be approximately 10% of the total assignment word length. If your assessment task asks you to make recommendations, you may need to allocate more words to the conclusion or add a separate recommendations section before the conclusion.
Key Points To Consider
- Have you referred to the assignment question and restated your argument (or thesis statement), as outlined in the introduction?
- Have you pulled together all the threads of your essay into a logical ending and given it a sense of unity?
- Have you presented implications or recommendations in your conclusion? (if required by your task)?
- Have you added to the overall quality and impact of your essay? This is your final statement about this topic; thus, a key take-away point can make a great impact on the reader.
- Remember, do not add any new material or direct quotes in your conclusion.
