The Assignment Process: Writing the final version

This section gives some tips on checking the factual content as well as the style and presentation of your assignment and provides some words of advice about managing multiple assignments during the University semester.

Checking the factual content of the assignment

Cover sheet

Ensure that the title page provides the following information:

• Your name and ID number.
   
• The number and name of the course for which the assignment is submitted.
   
• The number and title of the assignment. If a definite title was given, it should be reproduced in full and with complete accuracy; if scope remained for the exact wording, select an appropriate title.
   
• The date on which the assignment is due (the date on which you actually submit will be recorded by Department staff).
   
• The name of the lecturer or tutor to whom the assignment is submitted and, where required, your T-Group number (for School of Education courses).

Assignment genres such as expository essays and reports

Check the following points before writing or printing out the final version:

• Does your assignment have definite and adequate introductory and concluding sections? In the case of a report, are all required sections present?
   
• Is the arrangement of subsections and/or paragraphs within the main body of the text suitable and logical?
   
• Have any format requirements specified for the assignment been followed correctly? Is there any unnecessary repetition of material?
   
• Does the discussion fulfill the aims and objectives stated in the introduction and/or laid down in the assignment instructions?
   
• Are the main points under discussion adequately supported by references to the theoretical/research literature, or by other reliable and valid evidence?
   
• Are you satisfied with the comprehensiveness of your discussion? Can you now identify any important areas which your earlier drafts overlooked?
   
• Have major conclusions and/or recommendations been persuasively argued?
   
• Have you allocated space appropriately to each section/issue with regard to its relative importance to the paper as a whole?
   
• Are citations/quotations/cross-references complete and accurate? Are your references complete and consistently arranged?
   
• Are tables/figures/graphs/diagrams/appendices correctly and accurately presented?
   

Checking style and presentation

The submitted version of an assignment should be well written and neatly presented. Please pay attention to the following points:

Overall style

• Make every attempt to eliminate wordiness, redundancy, evasiveness and clumsiness.
   
• Try and achieve smooth and logical transition from one topic to the next. Identify major transitions in the discussion of a topic, or movement to a new topic, by starting a new paragraph. Remember that sentences and paragraphs have different functions: do not treat them the same and write in one sentence paragraphs.
   
• Make sure any sub-headings accurately reflect the nature of the material subsumed under them.
   

Accuracy

• It is unscholarly to submit work without checking carefully for errors of spelling, grammar and punctuation. Hurried preparation tends to multiply the number of careless mistakes made, so leave enough time for checking.
   
• Remember that computer spell-checks don't pick up all spelling errors. They won't distinguish between "that" and "than" or "their" and"there" or "it's" and "its".
   
• If someone else is typing your work, leave enough time to check for, and neatly correct, typographical errors. Help to avoid problems by writing out clearly any words with which a typist may be unfamiliar, especially names of theorists/researchers.
   

Neatness/General presentation

• Unless your handwriting is neat and legible, it is in your interests to use a typewriter/word processor.
   
• Whether handwritten or typed, be sure to avoid gaps, extensive crossings out, and other untidy habits which not only spoil the look of your paper but convey the impression that you have a generally disorganised and casual approach to your work.
   
• If your work is being typed by someone else, give very precise instructions for paragraphing, underlining, general layout, etc.
   

A FINAL WORD. . .

Although these guidelines may seem rather daunting at first, they should help you to increase the efficiency of coursework preparation and improve the quality of your submitted papers.

However, you will rarely, if ever, be working on only one assignment at any given time. Therefore, these guidelines will be of most benefit if used in conjunction with an overall study plan, constructed for a period of several weeks, or even a full term or semester. This plan should identify sets of interim deadlines (e.g. for completion of library searching, data collection, first draft, final draft to typist) for all assignments on which you have to work during that period.

Remember that having several assignments due around the same date is not a legitimate reason for requesting extensions to coursework deadlines, nor can it be taken into account in the assessment of your work. Therefore, although it may never prove possible to keep entirely to schedule, such planning may help you avoid some of the negative consequences of the "last minute rush". Remember to observe the law of proportion by linking the time spent on an assignment to the marks it is worth.

On the other hand, if health or other personal problems start to seriously interfere with your studies, please inform your lecturer, tutor or course organizer so that all available support may be provided.

This work is derived from the Guide to the Preparation of Assignments