While you may be tempted to skip over the planning stage because of time constraints, a good plan makes every phase of assignment writing easier and faster.
You should spend a few hours to a day on your initial plan.
What is required in your assignment
This should only take a few minutes. Answer some basic questions to outline what you need to do in your assignment:
What type of assignment is it?
- For example, is it an essay, report, literature review or something else?
- Is there a specific format you need to follow?
How long should the assignment be?
- This gives you an idea of how complex, in-depth or concise the assignment should be.
- Stay close to your word count. Your total word count may be within 10% of the required word length. For example, in a 3000 word assignment you should write no fewer than 2700 words and no more than 3300 words.
Is there a restriction on which sources of information you can use?
- Does the lecturer restrict sources to academic articles only?
- How old can your sources be? Are you restricted to current theory only?
What referencing style are you required to use?
What are the presentation guidelines?
Are there any specific requirements in the assignment's marking guide?
How to interpret the assignment question
This may take an hour or more, depending on the complexity of the question.
Read the question and identify the command words, topic and focus. For more complex questions, look for the implied question.
- Divide the question into chunks.
- Look for keywords relating to the topic.
For short-answer assignments with many questions, link the questions to specific sections of the study guide, readings or lecture notes.
Check the meaning
Look up any words or terms you don't know in your course notes, study guide, textbook or dictionary.
If the assignment question includes a direct quote, try to locate a copy of the source article, paper or text. This helps you to identify the context of the writer's statement – you may need to consider any supporting evidence for the author's position when writing your assignment.
Identify the 3 main parts of the question
Normally, there are 3 main parts to assignment questions: the commands, topic and focus.
Commands
Commands Command words tell you what to do. There may be one or more command words in a question.
When interpreting an assignment question, it is important to identify the type of task you are being asked to carry out. To do this, look for command words that tell you what to do.
Common command words include:
| Command | Task |
|---|---|
| Account for | Give reasons, explain why something has happened. |
| Analyse |
Break the subject up into its main ideas & evaluate them. |
| Assess | Judge the value of a subject critically. |
| Comment |
Discuss, explain & give your opinion on the ideas expressed. |
| Compare |
Show the similarities & differences between 2 or more subjects. |
| Criticise |
Make your judgement about the views expressed & support your judgement with evidence. |
| Define |
Give the meaning of a word term, distinguishing it from closely related subjects, sometimes by examples & illustrations. |
| Describe |
Give a detailed account of the characteristics of a subject. |
| Discuss |
Investigate & present the different aspects of a problem or subject, usually in support of a position or argument. |
| Evaluate |
Appraise or estimate the worth of something, to some extent an explained personal opinion. |
| Examine | Inquire into & consider a problem carefully. |
| Explain |
Clearly state & interpret the relevant details of a subject's character, causes, results & implications. |
| Generate |
Propose new ideas or new interpretations of available subjects. |
| Hypothesise |
Propose a supposition which can be used as a basis for testing conclusions. |
| Illustrate |
Explain or clarify a problem using examples, diagrams or figures. |
| Integrate | Draw 2 or more subjects together in a logical related way. |
| Interpret |
Explain the meaning of something. Make it clear & explicit. Evaluate it in terms of your own knowledge. |
| Justify |
Provide the reasons for your conclusions or for the statement made in the question. |
| Outline |
Give the main features or general principles of a subject. Leave out minor details. |
| Prove |
Show the truth of a statement by argument, experiment or test. |
| Relate | Establish the connection between 1 thing & another. |
| Review | Survey & critically examine a subject. |
| State |
Describe the subject in precise terms or state an exact meaning. |
| Summarise |
Make a concise account of the main ideas, without explanatory details or examples. |
Implied questions
If the task is not explicitly stated, look for relationships between the words and phrases in the assignment topic to figure out what you need to do.
Example 1
'Electoral procedures differ between New Zealand and Australia. Discuss.'
The word 'differ' suggests that this is a comparison and/or contrast question.
Example 2
New Zealand is a leading exporter of agricultural products to the UK and other countries and is therefore contributing to the production of greenhouse gases. Are New Zealand agricultural exports really having this effect?
The word 'really' suggests that this question is asking you to evaluate the evidence.
Example 3
The pressure on New Zealand health systems is politically, socially and economically determined. Discuss this with reference to prescription medicine allocation.
The word 'determined' suggests that this is a cause-and-effect question.
Topic
Topic The topic is the general area for your discussion.
Determine the topic or topics by asking 'what?' after each command word.
- Discuss what?
- Compare and contrast what with what?
- Explain what?
- Summarise what?
Focus
Focus The focus is the specific area of the topic that you must concentrate on.
Sometimes, there is more than 1 focus in a question. Identify the topic by extending the strategy above.
Discuss – what? – in relation to what?
Forming a thesis statement
Some assignment types require a thesis statement – a sentence or 2 outlining your answer to the question.
Complex questions
Some assignments are complex – you may need to perform more than 1 task to complete the assignment. Break the question into small chunks to find all the different sections that you need to cover to answer a question fully.
For example:
'Define Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Describe how they apply to an online marketing environment.'
You can break this assignment question into 3 'chunks'.
1. Define Maslow's hierarchy of needs
a. Understand the chunk: Define Maslow's Hierarchy.
b. Brainstorm the topic; ask yourself questions about the topic.
c. Note down in your own words your next action.
2. Describe online marketing
a. Understand the chunk: Describe online marketing
b. Brainstorm the topic: What is online marketing?
c. Note down in your own words your next action: What research do you need to do?
3. Describe how Maslow relates to the different facets of the online marketing environment.
Brainstorming ideas for your assignment
Brainstorming generally takes around 15 to 30 minutes.
Brainstorm ideas for your assignment, including key points you should research for your assignment:
- Look at your study guide or lecture notes for key concepts and study objectives to find starting points.
- Which parts of the course does this assignment relate to?
- Ask yourself 'What do I know about this already?'.
- Make a mind map of the topic.
- Make a list of the major points.
If you are a distance student, request any recommended reading materials from the library early as it will take time to mail them out to you.
Making an initial plan
Your initial plan may take a few hours to draft.
List major themes and points, including the areas that you need to research. If you are writing an essay, develop a draft thesis statement.
The initial plan will often change as you research and write your assignment.
Organising points in an assignment
Once you have identified the command words and interpreted the assignment question, plan how to structure your assignment. We recommend you do this when you are researching the topic.
Depending on your assignment type, there are several patterns you can use to organise and structure the points you want to make in an assignment.
Report
Check your work against our report writing checklist or dig deeper to learn how to write and structure your business and lab reports.
Essay
Learn how to write and structure an essay, with examples and tutorials.
Short responses
Learn how to give a short answer or write a single paragraph in response to a question or topic.
Examples of how to organise points
Examples of how to organise points You can use several different patterns to organise and structure the points you want to make in an assignment.
Example 1 – Discuss the social effects surrounding an Act of Parliament.
Imagine you have chosen an Act of Parliament and have identified 2 main effects, each with several other 'sub-effects'. You could structure your paragraphs around one or more sub-effects that comprise a main effect.
Introduction
Introduce effect A and effect B.
Body paragraphs
- Effect A
- Sub-effect (1st paragraph in body of assignment)
- Sub-effect (2nd paragraph)
- Sub-effect (3rd paragraph)
- Sub-effect (joined onto 3rd paragraph)
- Effect B
- Sub-effect (4th and 5th paragraphs)
- Sub-effect (6th paragraph)
- Sub-effect (7th paragraph)
Conclusion
Summarise and highlight the three main sub-effects, as well as future implications of the Act.
Example 2 – Compare and contrast Smith and Brown's theories about human development.
This question is basically asking you to write about the similarities and differences between 2 things. Imagine you have read up on both theories, but have found that there are more differences than similarities. Within the similarities there are 2 main features and within the differences there are 3 main features.
Introduction
Introduce Similarities and Differences
Similarities
Feature A
- Example from Smith's theory
- Example from Brown's theory
Feature B
- Example from Brown's theory
- Example from Smith's theory
- Another example from Smith's theory that replicates a part of Brown's theory
Differences
Feature C
- Examples of different processes of analysis from each theory
Feature D
- Example from Smith's theory that is not provided in Brown's
- Reason why Brown's theory does not include the stage in Smith's
Feature E
- Example from Brown's theory that is not in Smith's
- Reason why Smith's theory does not include the stage in Brown's
Conclusion
Summarise, and highlight overall there are more differences than similarities, which may derive from the structural differences between the theories.
Example 3 – Discuss cross-cultural communication issues in business organisations.
Imagine you have identified 4 main issues, their associated causes and potential solutions.
Introduction
Introduce the topic of cross-cultural communication and its influence upon business environments. Then briefly introduce the 4 main issues surrounding cross-cultural communication to be discussed in the essay.
Issue 1
- Identify and explain nature of problem or difficulty
- Outline causal factors
- Describe 2 possible solutions and briefly evaluate pros and cons of each solution
Issue 2
- Identify and explain nature of problem or difficulty
- Outline causal factors
- Describe 2 possible solutions and briefly evaluate pros and cons of each solution
Issue 3
- Identify and explain nature of problem or difficulty
- Outline causal factors
- Describe two possible solutions and briefly evaluate pros and cons of each solution
Issue 4
- Identify and explain nature of problem or difficulty
- Outline causal factors
- Describe 2 possible solutions and briefly evaluate pros and cons of each solution
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