Steps for writing assignments

Follow this step-by-step guide to assignment writing to help you to manage your time and produce a better assignment.

This is a general guide. It's primarily for research essays, but can be used for all assignments. The specific requirements for your course may be different. Make sure you read through any assignment requirements carefully and ask your lecturer or tutor if you're unsure how to meet them.

3. Planning your assignment

Before you start writing, use your research questions and notes to plan the structure and main arguments of your assignment.

Planning before you write helps you to:

think more clearly about your topic
structure your argument
develop your own academic voice
write effectively.

There are many ways to plan, but here are some suggestions to help:

Outline the key points you want to make before choosing quotes or pieces of information to support them. This will help you develop a clear and coherent argument throughout the assignment.
Decide on the main arguments you'll make in the body of the assignment before planning the introduction and conclusion.
Create an outline or concept map to represent your plan.
Think about how you'll link ideas. Look at your plan or map to see if there are key concepts or recurring ideas you could use as a theme to link ideas between paragraphs.

Structuring your assignment

Different types of assignments use different structures. Make sure you read through the assignment requirements carefully and choose the most appropriate structure to meet the requirements.

Research essays generally have an introduction, body and conclusion.

Introduction

Introductions typically include:

background, context or a general orientation to the topic, so that the reader has a general understanding of the area you are discussing
an outline or overview that briefly describes what will and will not be discussed in the essay (this doesn't have to be a detailed list)
a thesis that states the main idea of the argument you will make in response to the topic.

Example introduction

Example introduction. Text version below.

Example introduction - text version

Topic: To what extent has the commoditisation of education as a global product affected the quality of education and educational outcomes?

Globalisation has resulted in a perception that barriers between countries have almost disappeared. It is arguably easier to travel, communicate and trade with people around the world than ever before. Similarly goods and services have become widely available around the world. Goods and services are no longer available only within a country or to meet the needs of a particular cultural group. Education is no exception. In the past, it was less likely that people would travel abroad to be educated; currently it is common for students to be educated away from their home countries. Education has become a global commodity and students are paying high prices for it. This essay will examine how this commoditisation has affected the quality of education and will argue that while the quality and availability of school education has increased, the quality of tertiary education has decreased. For the purposes of this essay, quality will be considered in terms of comparative levels of literacy and in terms of graduate attributes.

Context and background information: The first 7 sentences of the paragraph, up to and including "Education has become a global commodity and students are paying high prices for it.
Outline: "This essay will examine how this commoditisation has affected the quality of education"
Thesis: "argue that while the quality and availability of school education has increased, the quality of tertiary education has decreased"

Body

The body is where you develop the argument that supports your thesis in response to the topic.

Each paragraph should make a point that is:

linked to the outline and thesis statement in your introduction
supported by referenced evidence and your own critical analysis.

You should include links between the ideas, sentences and paragraphs in the body to create a cohesive argument.

Example body paragraph

Example body paragraph. Text version below.

Example body paragraph - text version

Globalisation has contributed to increased levels of literacy around the world in a number of ways. Firstly, the global community is more aware than before of the need to provide assistance to developing countries in terms of educating people so that they can become independent and self-determining. The United Nations briefing paper on global education (2005) states that literacy has improved worldwide since the mid-1950s to the current time, from an average literacy rate of 20% to an average of 76% worldwide. Clearly, there are still discrepancies in literacy standards between countries and between genders in some countries, but there are no countries where literacy rates have fallen on average in the last four decades. While it could be argued that literacy rates pertain to availability rather than quality, it seems important to note that the first step to increasing quality education is for it to be universally available. Global trends seem to have contributed to this availability.

Topic sentence: "Globalisation has contributed to increased levels of literacy around the world in a number of ways." This suggests a list will follow. The point made in the topic sentence is that globalisation has improved literacy.
References to support point made in topic sentence: Second and third sentences
Student comment and link to the topic (the topic is quality): Last 3 sentences

Conclusion

Typically, your conclusion should:

restate your thesis
summarise the most important points of your argument
end with a comment, resolution or suggestion for issues that may be addressed in future research
not present new information (and therefore it usually doesn't include references).

Example conclusion

In conclusion, education has become a global commodity. This has had a positive effect on literacy and school attendance rates worldwide. As far as tertiary education is concerned, globalisation has made it possible for students to study overseas and by distance education programs. This has provided more access to tertiary study than before. However, this access is sometimes provided by organisations that do not necessarily maintain the highest academic standards. Thus quality has been affected in the tertiary domain. Future research in this area may need to examine the need for international regulatory bodies to maintain quality outcomes for students.

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