LibGuides: Structuring Your Assignment : Online Learning: Home

Introduction

Structuring your assignment

Do you need help planning and structuring your assignments? Do you want to develop your skills?

This guide will cover:

Answering the assessment criteria
Planning the structure of an assignment
Structuring paragraphs, introductions and conclusions

This guide is aimed at undergraduates but is suitable for any level of study.

Guidance on academic writing

Writing an assignment takes time, more time than you may expect. Just because you find yourself spending many weeks on an assignment doesn’t mean that you’re approaching it in the wrong way.
It also takes time to develop the skills to write well, so don’t be discouraged if your early marks aren’t what you’d hoped for. Use the feedback from your previous assignments to improve.
Different types of assignments require different styles, so be prepared for the need to continue to develop your skills.

We’ve broken down TIME into 4 key elements of academic writing: Targeted, In-depth, Measured and Evidence-based.

time togos

What is an academic piece of work

Targeted

Your assignment needs to be targeted. It should:

Be focused on the questions and criteria
Make a decision
Follow an argument

in-depth

Your assignment needs to be in-depth. You should consider your questions and criteria thoroughly, thinking about all possible aspects, and including the argument both for and against different viewpoints.

You should:

Identify topic areas
Research
Plan your assignment
Think about your introduction and conclusion

measured

An academic writing style is measured. By this, we mean that it’s:

Cautious
Emotionally neutral
Formal – written in the third person and in full sentences

How to be measured

evidence-based

Your assignment needs to be evidence-based. You should:

Reference all the ideas in your work
Paraphrase your evidence
Apply critical thinking to your evidence

Once you’ve found all your evidence, and have decided what to say in each section, you need to write it up as paragraphs. Each paragraph should be on a single topic, making a single point. A paragraph is usually around a third of a page.

We find Godwin’s (2014) WEED model very helpful for constructing paragraphs.

W is for What

You should begin your paragraph with the topic or point that you’re making, so that it’s clear to your lecturer. Everything in the paragraph should fit in with this opening sentence.

E is for Evidence

The middle of your paragraph should be full of evidence – this is where all your references should be incorporated. Make sure that your evidence fits in with your topic.

E is for Examples

Sometimes it’s useful to expand on your evidence. If you’re talking about a case study, the example might be how your point relates to the particular scenario being discussed.

D is for Do

You should conclude your paragraph with the implications of your discussion. This gives you the opportunity to add your commentary, which is very important in assignments which require you to use critical analysis.

So, in effect, each paragraph is like a mini-essay, with an introduction, main body and conclusion.

Allow yourself some TIME to proofread your assignment. You’ll probably want to proofread it several times.

You should read it through at least once for sense and structure, to see if your paragraphs flow. Check that your introduction matches the content of your assignment. You’ll also want to make sure that you’ve been concise in your writing style.

You’ll then need to read it again to check for grammatical errors, typos and that your references are correct.

It’s best if you can create some distance from your assignment by coming back to it after a few days. It’s also often easier to pick out mistakes if you read your work aloud.