Writing assignments is part and parcel of educational learning. Unfortunately, most students do not put much consideration into their assignments. They would rather do the assignments haphazardly and then provide “half-baked” papers that do not contribute much to their overall grades. However, as the famous adage says: when you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Poor preparation leads to poor results and the vice versa is also true. Here are tips you should follow when writing all your assignments.
Step 1: Plan
This is the most important part of writing assignment that most people completely neglect, either out of utter ignorance or because they are too lazy to dedicate some time for planning, rather than fun. What does planning involve? It is a step by step guide of the whole assignment writing process. Your time should include the following: brainstorming, doing research, writing drafts, editing, proofreading and submission.
Make sure to include rest days in between for rejuvenation. Divide the task into categories, as this will make the task simpler. Most people plan (or rather fail to plan) for their assignments in this manner: they do completely nothing at the beginning and as the days elapse, they do very little until the last minute when they have to complete the bulk of the work to beat deadlines. This approach is not “good grade oriented” and is only used to get the assignment finished. Doing so much at the last minute triggers a lot of mental stress, which leads to poor results. For high achievers, most of the work is done up until the middle period and the last minutes are dedicated for editing and polishing the paper.
Never forget to create a timeline for each step you undertake and fully adhere to it. Failing to do so will only activate the procrastination monkey and you will not get the job done in time. Dedicate your working time depending on the size and level of complexity, such that the hard and bulkier tasks are given more time, while the easiest tasks are allocated the least time. Start with the easier tasks, as they will give you confidence to tackle the hard ones. This will also allow your brain to process the hard tasks subconsciously and you will be surprised that the “so-called” hard tasks will become easier as the days go by.
Detour Step: Let it “marinate”
Once you have created a plan, the next step is to take a look at the assignment. Thoroughly go through the assignment to properly understand what your tutor wants from you. Is it an essay, a report, a study, a literature review or an annotated bibliography? After interpreting your assignment, we would recommend that you do not delve into the assignment immediately. Let it relax in your brain for a while to “marinate”.
Go do something fun that will distract your brain for several hours. The reason we recommend this rest period is because your mind is probably racing with anxiety when you see the assignment for the first time. This may affect the way you interpret the assignment, which may affect your overall performance. Although your brain will be partaking in fun activities, it will be processing the problems outlined in the assignment in the background, without your knowledge. You will be surprised the next time you view the assignment, it will appear simpler and you will have ideas on how to tackle it. This marinating period depends on the submission date. If the assignment is due in a month, then a day is not bad. However, if it is in a day or two, then this period should take three to four hours.
Step 2: The essay outline
Now that you have a clue of what you are supposed to jot down, it is time to get down to business and take the bull by the horns. Divide the assignment into subsections that you will deal with separately, one at a time. Failure to do this could lead to a conflict of ideas and as a result, you may lose many concepts and ideas. Dedicating substantial amount of time in each section will make you exhaust all ideas in each category making the paper very rich in facts and concepts. The basic format of an essay has an Introduction (10%), the Body (80%) and the Conclusion (10%). However, the body needs to have headings and subheadings to make it more interesting.
Step 3: Carrying out the research
Doing research is very crucial when doing assignments, as it gives you factual information. You are not supposed to write an academic paper straight from your head, unless it is creative writing, or you are completely certain that everything you are writing about is true and can be substantiated. Research should be thorough and backed by traceable reference material. Getting the necessary reference material can be such a daunting task even for an ardent researcher. In case you find yourself in a tight situation with no hope of getting your paper done, then you can always pay someone to write essay to get the job done as you concentrate on other areas of your study.
Step 4: Writing the first draft
After carrying out research and writing down the main points in each section, then the next step is to write the first draft. This draft forms the foundation of the paper and you have to structure it the way you want the paper to look like in the end. After the first draft, it is advisable to take a break, since the mind is obviously exhausted and you still have plenty of time to go. It should be noted that the mind is an excellent multi-tasker and will still be working in the backdrop during the break.
Step 5: Adding more facts and concepts to the first draft
After drafting the first paper, your mind will work continuously to look for more answers to the questions and will also come up with other methods of handling the assignment. At this point you will stumble upon more information that will definitely make your assignment richer with the potential to give you a very good grade. We recommend more research in this step, as it is impossible to carry out the best research in one instance. You need to do it several times to properly cover areas you missed in the first instance.
Step 6: Writing the final draft
The final draft is the final paper that is submitted to the tutor. It should include all the information you have collected and it should be properly worded so that it makes sense. This process may be too tiring and that is the reason we recommend a one day rest, before editing and proofreading when your mind is fresh. You can complete the final paper with a works’ cited page for citation purposes.
Unfortunately, things do not always go as planned. For instance, the tutor may require the things you write on the essay to be in line with whatever is taught in class. What happens however if you cannot make a connection between the assignment and course work? It becomes impossible to complete the task at hand. In case you are faced with such a problem, we would recommend an assignment expert or an online assignment maker to take away the heavy burden from you. You will get all the assignment help you need from education scholars and assignment experts.