CU Scarborough - Academic Skills: Planning Your Assignment

Approaching your Assignment

1. It is important to understand what the assignment is asking you to do before you begin. 

2. Decode the assignment brief using the assignment guidelines given to you, search your module and course handbooks for further advice. 

3. Next, re-read the assignment brief or title and circle keywords to understand the question. 

4. If you are unsure at this stage of what you need to do be sure to discuss this with your tutor or peers in your course. 

5. You will need to formulate a response to the essential question you have identified (usually in one or two sentences). This will be your 'statement of argument' or 'thesis statement'.

6. Research widely. This is a crucial step. You must research and be familiar with the topic you are writing on. Make sure you save details of where you get your information. This will come in useful when it comes to your references. 

Gather your Sources

Once you have understood the assignment, you will use your keywords to search for sources to use in your assignments. 

Places to Search

• Search the Library Catalogue for books on your subject using your keywords. Click here to search the catalogue.
• Search your subject resources, to find links to websites on your subject. Click here to search the subject resources. 
• Search the databases for journal articles. Click here to search the databases.
• Search Google Scholar to find journal articles and case studies. Click here to search Google Scholar.  

Managing your Sources

Remember that you will need to reference the sources you use. It is important to make sure you have a way of tracking your sources as you find them useful. 

• Remember to save details about the name of the source, the author, the year of publication, and the URL if it is a web-based source.

Places to Get Help

Book an appointment with your librarian to find out more about searching databases, finding books, and journal articles. 

Click here to book an appointment with a librarian. Show the librarian the assignment brief and any reading lists you have been given. Remember! By focusing your efforts on responding to the assignment brief or title, you can avoid doing unnecessary research. 

Note: Do not get side-tracked by doing either tangential research or too much background research. Also remember that in most assignments - especially those beyond the first year - descriptive material is not allocated many marks, whereas analytical writing (arguing a case by weighing up the evidence) is highly rewarded.

Invention Strategies

Once you have researched and are familiar with the topic, it is now time to brainstorm and put pen to paper. 

Invention strategies Discuss the assignment with a variety of people and write down your ideas using one of the following invention strategies: 

• Ideas generation: write down all of the ideas on a topic that come into your head, in any order. 
• Listing bullet points: list your ideas in a linear fashion. 
• Webbing: group and develop your ideas for sections and paragraphs in the form of a ‘spider’ web or pattern notes. 
• Freewriting: write or type for 10 minutes without stopping on your topic. This will produce a ‘stream of consciousness’ paragraph from which you can extract one or two ideas to develop further through more freewriting, bullet pointing, or webbing