Your assignments

At Bath Spa you will be asked to complete a variety of assignments: some written, some as presentations, some individually and some in groups.

You will be asked to write essays but you may also be asked to write reports, reflective commentaries, case studies or any variety of these. They will often be longer than you are used to and can feel quite daunting at first. However, there is lots of help available to write your assignments.

• Your tutors will explain what they want you to do. This will also be written in your handbook and you will be given criteria that your assignment will be marked against. Read these carefully - it really helps give you an idea of what your tutor is expecting.
• If you are not sure what exactly is expected - ask. Your tutors will be happy to help and really want you to do well. You can email them or visit during their office hours.
• You will hear the words ‘academic writing’ a lot. This simply means that you write clearly, explain your points well and that you include critical thinking in your writing. Lots of helpful resources are available on the Writing and Learning Centre Community Space in Minerva.
• Critical thinking is really about questioning the material that you have researched. Incorporating this in your writing shows that you have really thought about your content.
• Academic writing also means using the writing skills that you already have. The basics such as good spelling, grammar and punctuation are important. The University of Bristol Grammar website is a great place to practise perfecting your commas and semi-colons. Get ahead of the game and work through their exercises before you start your first assignment.
• Paragraph structure (Point, Evidence, Explain) is crucial to good flow in your writing - this structure is just as important when writing for university as it is for any other writing.
• You will need help with finding material for your assignments. Your Subject Librarian (SL) will help. You will meet your SL during the first term when they will give you an introduction to research skills but you can contact them at any time. Look for their contact details on the library tab in Minerva or your Subject Resources page on the library website.
• If you need to do anything with numbers: statistics for reports, percentages for accounting, wall space measurements for artists our Maths and Stats Advisor, Mary is happy to help. You can book an appointment with her here to help with anything number related.
• Support is available if you have a learning need (reasonable adjustments, special exams arrangements etc.) from our Student Support team. If you suspect you may have dyslexia, complete a dyslexia screening form at any time (scroll down to find the link to the form).
• The Writing and Learning Centre is available to help with planning, writing and referencing your assignment. Bring your work to us and we will talk through areas that could help you improve.

Most importantly, remember that writing is a skill and the more you write, the better you get.

If you haven’t given a presentation before it can be a daunting task to stand up and talk in front of others. However don’t panic, everybody else will be feeling the same as you, even if they don’t show it.

• Expect to be nervous - that is a completely normal feeling when you have to do something different but that adrenaline rush can help you to give a good performance.
• Manage those nerves: take deep breaths in (and out!) to help calm you, stand firmly as this will help you feel more grounded and more in control.
• Plan your presentation exactly as you would an essay: have a good beginning, middle and end.
• Powerpoint is a fantastic tool but consider trying something different like Prezi or Powtoon (see Lynda.com for training videos).
• Practise as often as you can, it really does make all the difference. Being familiar with your presentation will get you over that starting ‘hump’ of nerves and help you get into your stride.
• Like writing, we get better at presentations so take every opportunity to speak in public, at presentations and even during seminars so you get used to the sensation.

Group work is a new experience for many and it can be a frustrating but also a rewarding experience. Working in a group is a really important employability skill and definitely one to put in your CV. Many students find it difficult, at first, to organise work in a group or know how to handle it if someone is not ‘pulling their weight’. Put those latent leadership skills to use and try the following to help your group work:

• Arrange a meeting in plenty of time before your deadline to discuss how you are going to plan the workload.
• Decide at the meeting who is going to do what, write it down and share it so that everyone knows exactly what is expected.
• It is worth adding meetings to a shared calendar (remember that everyone at Bath Spa has Google Calendar) so that you all can keep on track.
• There are lots of different roles when working in a group and you might naturally lean towards one or another. However, be prepared to be the one to organise the next meeting or to write out and share the plan of action. Somebody has to do it, why not you?

You will be used to getting feedback on your work from school, and university is no different. You will get feedback from your tutors on every assignment. Feedback is crucial to helping you learn from past work and improve on this for the future. This is why you will often see it called ‘feed forward’.

• Your assignments will have to be submitted electronically (either via Turnitin or Minerva) and your tutors will mark your assignments, give you grades and write feedback via this electronic platform.
• Read this feedback carefully, if there is something you do not understand or needs more explanation ask your tutor what they meant. They will be happy to explain further. Remember, they want you to do well and feedback is one way to help you improve so they want you to understand it.
• Read this feedback again before starting your next assignment - it will help you avoid similar mistakes and help you improve your work.
• Don’t forget there is lots of help available to help you improve: your tutors, WLC advisors, Subject Librarians, friends, peer group or family. Use it all!