Writing Assignments

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Whats the write way?

One of the main types of assessment used at tertiary level is the Written Assignment. It is essential that students of any discipline be able to organise and express written ideas in a readable, grammatically correct format, using appropriate style, referencing and layout. Developing practical skills in researching and organising material for written submission is important, as your capacity for analytical thought and expression is assessed through written assignments.

Break down the tasks by isolating any action words to help provide clues about what is required. Some examples of action words are: Analyse break into parts, describe or argue Define review and give a precise meaning Compare/Contrast examine for similarities and discuss any differences Criticise put forward supported, contradicting arguments Discuss look at reasons for and against Describe give details using examples to illustrate Evaluate look at reasons for and against, draw conclusions Explain give supported reasons for; interpret meaning of some phenomenon Justify provide reasons for a decision, viewpoint Illustrate use examples to clarify the meaning Outline highlight the main features without going into detail Summarise present the main ideas in the same format as the original For example: The essential role of an advertisement is to enable a consumer to make an informed choice. Discuss. To respond to this topic, you need to consider the following: Discuss = examine both sides of an argument. You need to present your point of view which is supported by authoritative evidence from journal articles and books (research). Define these key words: Advertisement - Different roles? Advertisement - Different types? Consumer - Different types? Knowing what must be covered allows you to generate questions to answer during your research. For more hints on analysing the task and choosing key words go to the online tutorial ASSIST. The online essay writing tutorial will also help to structure your essay. Find both tutorials at the Library website at: www.ballarat.edu.au/library

Where do I start?
The following eight steps define a method that can be used for any assignment topic. This method can help you use your time efficiently. 1. Analyse the task - the topic, the question/s 2. Research - the topic 3. Skeleton - develop an outline (the outline will help you plan your written response) 4. Plan - develop your plan by adding to and/or reordering your skeleton outline 5. Write - expand your outline 6. Revise - extensively and often 7. Reference - as you go, so you dont leave any of your source material out 8. Review - polish your work Each of these stages takes time. Plan ahead so you allocate enough time to cover each task. Be prepared to produce several drafts before reaching the final version. There is no substitute for getting an early start.

1. Analyse the task

The topic for a written assignment is usually specific in its requirements, yet allows for a variety of answers. Some topics may be broad. The process of analysing a topic involves breaking down the question to clarify what is required in your answer. The process of analysing a topic involves breaking down the question to clarify what is required in your answer. Examine the question closely What specific questions are being asked?

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Writing Assignments
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2. Research
Once the question is broken down into tasks, you are in a position to start planning your research. Use your questions to guide your reading and help you research more effectively. From the previous example, a research question about the core role of an advertisement might be: What are some of the roles of an advertisement?

2nd main point quote = evidence / support (reference, your notes) quote = evidence / support (reference, your notes) It is important to record the source of your material and notes about why you think the quote is relevant. Otherwise it will appear as a list of random quotes and you may not remember how you were going to use them. Build a list of references to be used at the end of your work, or use an online referencing program such as RefWorks.

Gather relevant material

Your course materials should provide relevant clues. Your lecturers will mark your work, so start by gathering the articles, books and websites they have recommended. The UB Library website allows you to search the print collection, online journals and e-books. You can request items from other UB campus libraries or from other universities through the BONUS program. This is a free service for UB students. Many assignments require information that is peer reviewed. Academic journal articles provide the most current research. In most databases you can specify only scholarly journals, fulltext and timeframes. Save PDFs of articles on your USB or email them to yourself. It is also a good idea to save or email the citation details for every article you download from a database. This makes referencing your work easier, as you will already have the reference details you need.

Example of a skeleton outline:

Role of an Advertisement Make sales
Quote: Organizations spend billions of dollars on advertising in order to generate income to pay its employees. (Reference: Gould, M, 2008, p. 14. Your notes: Promoting product to make money rather than primarily informing.) Quote: Although most advertising is for commercial purposes, an increasing amount of advertising campaigns are currently being designed to serve non-commercial purposes. (Tetteh, 2008, p. 87 Mostly to make a profit make sales although move to other purposes.)

Distract / confuse / amuse

Quote: The information made available to families through commercial-style materials challenges the notion of parents making reasoned choices. (Lubienski, C. 2007 p. 64 Advertising can actually confuse people and impede their ability to make an informed choice.)

Need more help with researching? Go to the online tutorial: www.ballarat.edu.au/ASSIST

Create brand personality and loyalty

3. Create a skeleton outline

A skeleton outline is a structure that helps you manage your research notes. For example: 1st main point quote = evidence / support (reference, your notes) quote = evidence / support (reference, your notes)

Quote: Brand personality acts a potent brand differentiator and offers sustainable competitive advantage. (Varaprasdreddy, 2006 p. 42 Makes people want to be associated with that brand through advertising generates sales.)

Inform consumer
? (need to do more research)

Continued

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Writing Assignments
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4.

Plan

8.

Review

Review the information in your skeleton outline and check that you have researched all aspects of your topic. Consolidate your material by grouping similar issues together. Look for connections between all the material you have gathered. Cut out material that doesnt answer the question! By doing this you are using your skeleton outline to create a plan for your assignment. A clear plan will give direction to your writing, and help keep it relevant to the topic.

5.

Write the assignment

As you have put considerable effort into researching and writing your paper, do not let poor presentation detract from the content. When preparing your final draft, give some thought to the layout of your paper. Refer to your course description for details about margins, spacing and font size. In order to write an academic assignment, you need to use formal language. The General Guide for the Presentation of Academic Work contains critical information about reaching acceptable standards of academic work at UB. It contains advice about academic language styles. Always check your work before you submit it, including spelling and punctuation by simply using the spellcheck function in your computer you can reduce penalty marks in every assignment. Look for other handouts in this series that will help you learn the skills of proof-reading: Editing your writing Essay-writing checklist

If you dont already know it, you need to now confirm the format in which your assignment is to be written. Reports, essays and literature reviews each have different specifications. The last page of this handout demonstrates the structure of an essay. For information on the requirements of other formats, refer to The General Guide for the Presentation of Academic Work.

6.

Revise often: time well-spent

Stay focused and think critically. Keep asking yourself Have I answered the question? Check the assessment criteria. Sometimes the marking allocation indicates which aspect/s of the question you should address in detail.

Need a starter? For clues on: sentence starters ways to include other writers work download the handout University Speak from the Academic Study Resources page: http://www.ballarat.edu.au/current-students/ learning-and-study/resources/downloads

7.

Reference as you go

Ensure that you are using the correct referencing style. Your course description will indicate the style you should be using, i.e. APA, MLA, Chicago or Australian style. The UB publication, The General Guide to the Presentation of Academic Work shows how to cite your sources in your work to avoid accusations of plagiarism. The use of material from other authors is an important part of academic writing and it must be acknowledged and documented correctly. Find the General Guide online at: www.ballarat.edu.au/generalguide

Good luck!

Dont get caught out by not referencing the source of your material. Refer to the worksheet Avoiding Plagiarism in this series, or download it from the Academic Study Resources page: http://www.ballarat.edu.au/currentstudents/learning-and-study/resources For handy practise in the APA style, try the online APA tutorial from the above website.
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Writing Assignments
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Essay Structure
Essay plan
From your research (skeleton outline), determine the line of argument or viewpoint that you will use in your essay. Work out the main points that will support your viewpoint / line of argument. Check that you have addressed all aspects of the topic.

Body paragraphs
Use the main points in your skeleton outline to develop paragraphs in the body of your essay. If you have one point in each paragraph, you are likely to have several paragraphs. Aim to make the body of your essay approximately 75% of the total essay length. A main point from your skeleton outline becomes the topic sentence in your body paragraph: Start your body paragraphs with a topic sentence which shows the reader what the paragraph is about and how it relates to the main argument of the essay. Ideally, a topic sentence uses key words from the essay question. It should briefly outline the relevance of that paragraph to the overall goal of answering the essay question. That is, it should support the main argument or statement of the essay. The number of paragraphs depends on the length of the essay. Put word counts on sections so you dont go over the word limit.
Topic sentence with main point

Introduction
An introduction is like a map of your essay so it should show the reader how you are going to address the topic. It also introduces you as a writer so it is important to make a good impression right from the start. Both your line of argument and main points need to be in your essay introduction. You may also need to include some background information and definitions of key terms (with references). Your introduction can be one paragraph or several, depending on the essay length (approximately 15% of the total length).
Narrow focus Background

Example introduction: Due to the ubiquitous nature of advertising, on average we are exposed to more than 350 advertisements a day (Petrov, 2007). Many different ploys are used to capture our attention including appeals to emotions such as humour as well as associations with sound, colour, certain names and terms (Blaiklock, 2006; Barrett, 2007; Carrucan, 2009). While advertising is presented in a myriad of forms, this essay will consider primarily television and radio commercials with some reference to the internet. It would seem that regardless of the form of advertising, its essential role is to make sales. Other roles of an advertisement will also be considered including informing the customer, engendering loyalty with brand image and distracting or confusing customers; however, these roles tend to be secondary to the main role of generating sales.
Thesis statement Main points

Example paragraph: While advertising sometimes helps consumers to make an informed choice, its main role is to increase sales. Billions of dollars are spent by businesses in order to generate income (Gould, 2008, p. 14). Sometimes advertisements may address non-commercial concerns but most advertising is for commercial purposes (Tetteh, 2008, p. 87).
Supporting ideas, examples and references

Conclusion
The conclusion of your essay should sum up the main points and reconfirm your main argument or statement. *Usually one paragraph in length (approximately 10% of the total essay length) *Dont include new concepts Rather than repeating what you have stated in the body of your essay, your conclusion needs to set the topic in the wider context again. You can do this by mentioning broader implications or by making recommendations for further investigation.

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