Planning Assignments
FIGURING OUT WHERE TO START
Planning assignments is crucial to make sure that your work meets all the assessment criteria, and that you answer in sufficient depth and detail for this level of study. It may be tempting when you are set an assessment to just start working on it, but taking the time to plan in detail, and work through each of the stages below, will make your work more focused and effective, saving you lots of time in the long-run.
Stages of planning an assignment:
Every assessment you are set this year will be accompanied by an assessment brief and grading descriptors; these are key to success in your assignments so you should begin by reading through these. Do you understand exactly what you need to do to pass the assessment and achieve your target grade? Double check the intended word count, form of submission, and deadline.
Look for 'task words' in the assignment brief or assessment criteria. Is it asking you to identify, analyse, investigate? Check the task words resource below to make sure you are responding to exactly what is required for the task.
Next, read the other, topic-specific, words in the task. Do you know enough about these to answer the question already, or do you need to do more research? Decide what sources will be useful to you for the assignment, and where you can find further information if you need it.
Research. Before being able to write a plan for your assignment, you need to make sure you have a good understanding of the issues you need to cover. Set aside time for preliminary research so that you know what key points you will have to make in your assignment.
Write an outline plan. Although the type of assignments you write will vary, the basic structure of any academic work will need to include the same stages. The resources below will help you with this.
Essay chunks.pdfBreaking down your assignment into chunks
The structure of a written assignment should always contain three basic parts: your introduction, the main body of your writing, and the conclusion. This simple diagram from edenskills.co.uk reminds you of these parts, and suggests how much weighting should be given to each of them. Remember that your introduction and conclusion should both be short compared to the main body of your writing, and that you might want to consider writing them last.
Task words in assessment briefs.pdfTask words in assessment briefs
The first step with any assignment is making sure you understand what it's asking you to do. Check the task/ activity words: are you required to investigate, analyse, or identify? This helpful resource from the website dnamatters.co.uk lists 30 different tasks assignments might require, and defines exactly what is meant by each term.
Essay planning resource.pdfEssay planning resource
If your assignment is an essay, try this simple outline plan from dnamatters.co.uk. It provides the basic formula you will need to follow.
Tips for writing a critical essay.pdfTips for writing a critical essay
This resource from the University of Plymouth goes into much more detail about how to approach writing an essay at this level. It provides an extensive list of dos and don'ts, to make sure that your essays are critical rather than merely narrative or descriptive.