Preparing for Assignments

Using Moodle

The best place to start with most of your assignment work is Moodle. This is where you will find all the key information you need, prepared by your lecturers and tutors. If you are finding Moodle difficult to navigate, try working through the guidance prepared for you - link below.

Time Management

Tips on overcoming barriers to time management, techniques for using time well and ideas for long-term time management.

Positive time management methods

It can help to think about your study in terms of how, when and where, if you want to make use of your time effectively...

HOW should I study?

• PLAN what you are going to learn in advance. Set yourself goals, and keep reviewing your progress.

• Divide study into MANAGEABLE CHUNKS (and be realistic about how long you can study for).

• Get HELP from others (try working with a study group to discuss ideas).

• End on a POSITIVE NOTE (try not to end your study session on something you don’t understand).

WHERE should I study?

• Think about your own PRIVATE STUDY SPACE (is it a comfortable study environment? Think about light, noise, your seating position etc.).

• Somewhere with good access to RESOURCES. Without this, your study will be very disjointed. Is it better for you to study at home, or to go to the library and be surrounded by books? This is up to you.

• Avoid INTERFERENCE. If you are surrounded by distractions, this will severely inhibit your ability to study effectively. Try to remove opportunities for procrastination, such as TVs, your phone or (if possible) friends, housemates or family members.

Barriers to time management (and how to avoid them)

Perfectionism 

The pursuit of unrelenting standards can be a barrier to success. Striving to do your best is not the same as perfectionism.

How do I overcome perfectionism?

• You could try keeping a thought diary, to check just how much you focus on unrealistic goals. Use this evidence to identify and address your perfectionist tendencies. 

• When you have a piece of work/exam coming up, identify how much time you have to complete the task, and try to adjust your expectations accordingly. Remember to be realistic (you need to acknowledge how much work you can actually do in the time available).

Procrastination

Perfectionism can be a form of procrastination, and procrastination arises from unhelpful rules or assumptions about what we expect of ourselves/others/the world. When we detect that we feel uncomfortable about doing something, our natural reaction is to avoid it.

How do I overcome procrastination?

• Our underlying motivations are the best route to help us stop procrastinating.

• If you have an assignment that you don’t want to write, but know that completing your work will help you achieve other goals, you can often use this determination to get started.

More information on Procrastination can be found at this link

Reading Strategies

If you have been presented with a reading list for part of your course, you may be wondering whether you have to read everything on it. The good news is that the answer is usually “no”!

Reading for university is a skill which you can learn fairly quickly. The key is to be selective and effective.

How to decide if you need to read a source

Preview the text.

• Is the title relevant to your topic? What about the author - do you recognise their name?

• If there is an abstract? Read that to get more information - Does it seem like a useful source? 

• Do the main section headings or chapter titles look relevant? 

 Skim the text

•  Run your eyes over the paragraphs to pick up the main ideas. 

•  Note any bold print or graphics – are they useful to you? 

• Can you see any keywords or phrases which may be relevant to your topic? 

Scan the text

• When you notice a key phrase, stop and read in more depth. You may want to begin to make notes at this stage. 

• Look out for marker words such as 'therefore', 'however', 'for example', 'in addition to'. 

• See if you can identify the relationship between a key idea and the evidence used to support it, then try to predict what you think is going to come next. This lets you practise your general understanding before and during reading. 

Some things to consider after you have read a source

Final tips (speeding up your reading speed)

• Academic texts can be difficult to read, particularly if you are new to the subject.  With practise your reading will speed up as your brain becomes more used to seeing unusual words and complex ideas.

• However, remember that it is not always important to read quickly.  You may be able to "speed-read" a business case study or a novel, but you may have to slow down for more specialist texts and articles (or detailed data and instructions) in order to understand the topic.

• Changing pace throughout a text can be a good idea, as it can help to maintain concentration and focus.

Factors affecting reading

Try experimenting - Good luck with your reading!

Note Taking

Whether you are making notes in lectures, from textbooks/journals or for revision purposes, this handout offers some suggestions for different note-making techniques that you may wish to try university.

There are many strategies available for making notes. Below are just a few which you may find useful in lectures, seminars or personal study, depending on your preferred approach to learning:

Cornell notes:

• This technique can be useful in lectures or private study. Use our templates, or prepare the margins in your notebook. 

• Use the larger section to write your notes as normal, and use the section on the left to write key words you notice. Use the bottom section to write down references/names which are mentioned,

Visual/auditory methods:

• These can be helpful if you have a visual/aural learning style. They involve using keyword triggers, colours, illustrations and logos. For example, when creating pattern notes, simply draw what you hear and create links, perhaps starting in the middle of a page with a key concept and working outwards. The more you practise, the easier it will be to develop your own rules for images and colours that represent things.

Some traditional methods:

• Index cards can be an effective method of categorising your notes into chunks. Try keeping key topics to a single card and use memory triggers or keywords to distil the information.

• Linear notes are a way of summarising a 'stream of data' such as a book or lecture. If you read a book from cover to cover, you may sometimes find yourself using linear notes to write down the subject matter in your own words, using the headings and structure of the book. They are logical and simple, but are not always the best way of learning things, because you can make them without really engaging with the content.

Procrastination

Procrastination is not laziness; you are choosing to do something else instead of the task that you know you should be doing. It is very common for people to procrastinate and these are some of the many reasons why we procrastinate (not an exhaustive list):

• Not knowing what needs to be done

• Not knowing how to do something

• Not wanting to do something

• Not feeling in the mood to do it

• Believing you work better under pressure

• Waiting until the right time

• Delaying one task in favour of another

It is habit forming and although we know it causes stress and can drain you of energy, it can be a difficult habit to break.

How to stop procrastinating

Break down your big tasks into smaller, bite sized chunks. Whilst this makes the ‘to-do’ list longer, it also makes it more achievable. You get the satisfaction of ticking off tasks quicker providing immediate gratification.

Put a date next to each item on the list and be strict with yourself about completing them.

Put together a schedule. If you work better in short, intensive bursts, add 30 - 60 minutes into your routine (more than once a day if needed). Set an objective for each scheduled time, put down the distractions and get it done. When you have completed your objective, tick it off and move onto something else. When putting together your schedule, as well as scheduling tasks, add time for you, for example to relax, exercise, socialise, do chores and sleep. These things are important to keep you happy and healthy.

By working in short bursts you are less likely to put it off or become distracted/bored. Remember it is generally harder to start a task than to complete it.

Reward yourself at the end of a session or the day and look at what you have accomplished rather than what is left to do.

For more information or for help setting up a schedule, contact us.

Reference:

Cherry, K. (2022, November 14). What is Procrastination? Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/the-psychology-of-procrastination-2795944

Getting Started with your Assignment

When writing an assignment, you may have a clear idea about how to answer the question and structure your work. However, this is not always the case. We often meet students who ask:

Step 1: Check what you have been asked to do

• Use our handout on interpreting questions to make sure you are confident about this.

• Read your assignment instructions and check your unit handbook for any tips and guidance on producing this piece of work (these sometimes provide recommended structures or frameworks to follow).

Step 2: Do your research

This stage of the process involves finding information on the topic of the assignment. Your lecture and seminar notes are good starting points, as are texts recommended on your unit reading list. 

For tips on how to find useful information, speak to the library staff. 

Step 3: Use your research to come up with ideas for your assignment

• In order to turn your research into a well‐structured assignment, you need to find a way of organising it. One method of doing this is to create a grid to break your research into themes.

• Use one axis to note the source (books, journal articles, websites etc.) and the other axis to record themes that occur. Your grid can be structured like this:

• To begin with you may not be sure which themes to choose, but you will become more confident as you start to read different sources and populate the grid. This process takes time, and you may have to read several sources to work out what the main themes on the topic are.

• Wherever you feel a theme has occurred within a source, you may want to provide a quote or brief summary, and a citation (so you can retrieve the information again easily if you need it).

• Some themes will be more substantial than others, which may help you decide which ones to focus on when writing your assignment.

• You can then structure your work around these themes (e.g. one paragraph per theme), showing what different writers think on each topic (examples, and arguments for and against a point of view).

Once you have started to populate it, the grid might look like this:

Step 4: Use a concept map to set out your assignment plan/ideas

• Diagrams such as concept maps can help you plan out the different parts of your assignment. These involve the use of a central theme in the middle of the diagram, with points and sub‐points branching off.

• If you have a good idea of what is involved, you could use a concept map to plan out your assignment early on in the process (i.e. before step 2). However, if you aren’t sure where to begin, it may be best to do it after you have done some reading (step 3).

An example of a concept map:

Step 5: Start writing

You will hopefully now have enough ideas to begin writing. If not, get in touch with your course team or Academic Skills Tutors to discuss your planning further. Our handouts on structuring an assignment and building an argument will help you with the next stages of the process. Good luck!

For further information try one of our recommended texts:

Cottrell, S. (2019). The study skills handbook (Fifth ed.). Macmillan Education UK. 

Burns, T., & Sinfield, S. (2022). Essential study skills : the complete guide to success at university (Fifth edition.). SAGE Publications, Inc.  

Interpreting your assignment task

It is natural to have concerns when starting to produce an assignment, and many of them can be overcome with planning and stress management. However, if you develop the skills for interpreting the assignment questions, you will be in a much stronger position when producing future assignments.

How can I make sense of the assignment task?

Taking the question or task apart

Assignment questions in business and law subjects can be broken down into three main components:

• Task words

These words are usually the easiest to identify within the question. Task words give instructions, or tell you what to do. For example, 'discuss', 'evaluate' or 'critically assess'. 

• Statement/content words

These words or phrases usually make up the biggest part of a question. They are often in the form of a statement for you to evaluate. Where task words tell you what to do, the content tells you what to do it with. However, not all questions will include a statement or many content words. In this case, they will certainly contain specific terms.

• Specific terms

These are subject-specific words or phrases which may require evaluating. For example, in the question “outline Modigliani & Miller’s dividend irrelevance hypothesis”, the specific term would be the dividend irrelevance hypothesis.

Examples:

“Critically discuss if and how non-audit services threaten independence, and why is it important for Ethical Standards to restrict certain non-audit services.”

Task words: critically discuss       

Specific terms: non-audited, independence, Ethical Standards

“Discuss whether Imran has a claim for misrepresentation and identify his available remedies. Illustrate your answer with relevant law.”

Task words: discuss, identify, illustrate              

Specific terms: misrepresentation, remedies

Command Verbs/Task Words

Academic words are used in assignment titles and marking criteria to tell you what to do. This is a guide to the most common ones and what they are asking from you.

Analyse: Examine in detail identifying the most important points.

Compare: Show how two or more things are similar and the relevance or consequences of these differences. 

Contrast: Lay out two or more arguments to identify the differences. Indicate if and why these differences are important. You may also be asked to indicate which argument is preferable.

Critically discuss: Looking at the arguments for and against something and weighing them up according to their strengths and weaknesses.

Define: Present a precise meaning.

Describe: Give the main characteristics or features of something.

Discuss: Write about the most important aspects, the arguments for and against and the implications of, something.

Evaluate: Assess the importance or value of something. You will usually need to give the evidence for and against.

Examine: ‘Look closely’ at something, thinking and writing about the detail, and questioning it where appropriate.

Explain: Give reasons why something happens or is the way it is.

Justify: Give evidence to support an argument or idea, why decisions or conclusions are made with consideration of objections.

Outline: Give the main points and/or main structure.

State: Clearly give the main features. Be aware, this is not usually in a list or bulleted form.

Summarise: Draw out the main or most important parts of something.

Cottrell, S. (2019). The study skills handbook. Macmillan International Higher Education.

McMillan, K., & Weyers, J. D. (2012). The study skills book.