Being a student means you are bombarded with at least one or two assignments per week. After getting an assignment, the main problem arises that how to do it; as many times we fail to finish the assignment before the deadline. Workload …. Procrastination …. Last-minute …. Low quality work …. Anxiety …. Exhaustion; BOOOOM!!! Want to overcome such problems? Worry no more! You are at the right place, dear. We are a group of expert writers writing on a variety of subjects and will share our techniques of planning ahead for an assignment.
First thing first, always keep in mind that to make a good assignment on time, it is important to plan an assignment ahead. Here is a complete guide designed by our team of expert writers which will help you to plan ahead for an assignment.
Understand the assignment
Understanding is the key to success. When an assignment is assigned to you; make sure you understand what the assignment demands you to do.
In order to do this, make a checklist.
Identity the assignment type or category
As every assignment belongs to a certain type or category; first of all, you should identify the assignment’s category—for instance; report, essay, article review and so on.
Understand the instructional verbs
Secondly, understand the instructional verbs present in the assignment topic or questions. The most common repeated instructional verbs include analyze, discuss, elaborate, compare, contrast and describe, etc. It is very important to understand them as a good assignment is one that follows and fulfils the instructions properly.
Critically analyze the topic or questions
Critically analyze the topic or questions which have been assigned to you. The best way to do this is to identify the key terms. These key terms are very important as the whole assignment revolves around them. Analyzing them will help you to make a road map for your assignment.
Make schedule
Doing assignments at the last minute can cost you a lot. Hence, scheduling is a life-saving technique. While making a schedule for doing an assignment; keep these few questions in mind:
- What is the deadline for an assignment?
- How much time will be needed to make the given assignment as per the word count?
- How much time will be needed as per your capacity of doing work?
- How much actual time (keeping in mind your daily activities) do you have to write the given assignment?
Set goals
A good assignment is one that has been properly planned out before writing. Break down the assignment into chunks and divide the time accordingly. Your main goal should be allotting adequate time to all the stages of writing an assignment such as researching, outlining, drafting, writing, editing and proofreading. As every stage of writing is very important; the time allotted for them should neither be less nor be more as keeping in mind the time limit.
Set reminders
Procrastinating is what we all love to do. Be proactive and set reminders. The best way to do this is to use online remainders as mobiles are the tools which are always available at hand. There are multiple online calendars available for both android and Mac such as Apple Calendar or Google Calendar. They can also be easily edited.
Prepare for assignment writing
Starting to write an assignment draft without planning can turn out to be disastrous. It is just like roaming in a new city without having a road map and is as useless as it sounds. It is good to get prepared before you start drafting your assignment.
Make an assignment plan
Having an assignment plan is mandatory for good assignment writing. It will help you to draft your assignment with clarity and coherence.
Making an assignment plan is a stepwise process. Do the following things one by one:
1: Keep objectives in mind
First thing first!! Every assignment assigned to the students has a certain objective. Either those objectives are highlighted by the teacher or they are present in the course outline. It is very important to understand the objectives of the assignment and plan your assignment accordingly because the grading is based on how well you can fulfil the expected objectives.
2: Brainstorm
Brainstorming refers to gathering multiple ideas and your own perspective about the topic. It is a pre-writing activity that allows you to come up with a variety of perspectives related to your assignment topic on which you can work.
3: Filter and select
Pick out the relevant aspects on which you want to work on. Discard the extra information. See what material is available to complete the task; for instance; lectures, notes, books, research papers, seminars, etc. Google the selected aspect and find as much information as you can to make a good assignment.
4: Make outline
Out of the gathered data, make a well-structured outline. An outline is a skeleton plan of your assignment. It shows what the assignment would look like once it is written. It should flow in a coherent manner as per the requirement of the assignments provided by your teacher. Here you also need to consider the assignment formatting guidelines such as how many paragraphs you want to include; how to allocate the word range to topics as per the given word count, etc. The most common design of outline starts with the heading of the introduction of the topic along with the main points, followed by the sub-topics and their main points and ends with the conclusion of the topic which summarizes the overall assignment. This outline gives the direction for the rough and final drafts of the assignment.
As every student’s mind works in a different way; so they can use different techniques to plan an assignment as per their choice. For example mind mapping or a list on paper or mixed-method.
Wrapping Up
Our expert team would strongly recommend you plan ahead of an assignment before writing. It will improve your work quality; help you to stay focused on assignments and maintain good grades. What are you waiting for? Plan ahead with your assignment and worry no more!