The Lighthouse

If you’re a first year student, your first assignments will be due soon. How do you make the best first impression?

The most common question we’re asked by first year students at the Centre for Teaching and Learning is this: how do I start my assignment? Do I begin with library research? Should I just start writing?

By Lhgergo (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Assignment reconnaissance

Before you begin writing, before you even begin researching, you need to carry out reconnaissance. In other words, you need to survey the terrain ahead, so that you can find the smoothest path through it.

What are you looking for? Here’s a short list:

• Assignment type (is it an essay, a report, a series of short answers?)
• Assignment size (1500 words, three pages, one video?)
• Due date (hopefully it’s not due tomorrow!)
• Assignment background (when was this covered in the course? are there readings about it?)
• Marking criteria (what will be important to the marker? what skills are you supposed to demonstrate?)

The real question

The next step: actually understanding what the assignment instructions are asking for. It sounds obvious, but this is the Number One error made by new students.

Sometimes the real question is implied or hidden. Sometimes the exact wording of the instructions is essential to understand what is expected. Sometimes the question will offer a specific structure or organisation for your assignment. Sometimes you’ll have to work out the structure yourself.

By Pava (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0-it], via Wikimedia Commons

Reading the signs

Once you’ve been studying for a while, you’ll learn to read the signs. You’ll also learn to read your lecturer’s individual style:

• do they like a lot of sources?
• do they value precision and brevity?
• are they a stickler for punctuation or referencing?
• do the assignments build on each other?

Some things the lecturer will tell you directly. You might find out more from other students who have already taken the paper. But writing assignments is also a matter of trial and error – we learn by doing.

The plan

The next step is formulating a plan and a timeline. For your first assignment, use OWLL’s Assignment Planning Calculator. Enter the due date, and the date you’re beginning the assignment. The calculator will outline a basic plan for you, broken down by activity and day:

• OWLL’s assignment planning calculator

Trouble?

If you’re having trouble, don’t keep it a secret! Talk to your lecturer, post on Stream, or ask us questions at Academic Q+A. The staff are here to help.

The first assignment is often the most difficult one, because you’re entering new territory. Once you know the terrain, and once you can read the signs, everything becomes easier.