Scoring Points on Assignments

Hi, glad to be back again. Last blog, we discussed what it means when you get back an AGC form telling you that your assignment is too descriptive and how you can fix this.

Today, I'd like to discuss how to score points with tutors and getting better grades. So, this blog will cover the basics of how to deal with an assignment. By the way, when you get into very specific issues, for example a problem with definitions in a financial assignment, you really should be following module discussions on Blackboard and communicating with your module tutor and classmates. You would be surprised how many helpful hints you can find there. So, let's talk about assignments.

The first problem many students have is "talking around the question". A large number of students think that they need to give the tutor a lot of general information on the subject before they actually get down to answering the question. This is a mistake. The marker/tutor is looking for you to answer the question clearly and concisely. They don't need a mini-history of "organizational behaviour" before you begin writing. In fact, when you do this you force the tutor to go searching through your assignment for the actual answer to the question. This annoys and irritates markers. You don't want to do this.

Sometimes, the student will embed the answer deep inside a long and convoluted introductory paragraph of the type I describe above. This makes it hard for the marker to find the actual topic of your assignment. The student may then go on to put their supporting details and information into more long paragraphs, or perhaps the same paragraph, making it still harder to find the information that the frustrated marker is seeking.

Keep in mind, the marker is on your side. They, and I, have marked many assignments and want to give you the marks you deserve. You should learn to write your assignments using a clear introductory paragraph with your thesis statement. This needs to answer the assignment question directly. You might even use a teaser/attention-grabber in the first sentence, in the form of an interesting quotation, a question or controversial argument. After you have clearly outlined the topic or thesis in the first (hopefully no more than 4 sentence) paragraph, you should be ready to score points by displaying your knowledge in the body of your assignment.

Here, you use the academic articles that you have read on your assignment topic. The pattern of the paragraphs is:

1. Topic sentence that introduces the main point.
2. The next sentence that brings in supporting evidence.
3. The third and possibly fourth sentences that analyse and describe why this supporting evidence backs up your arguments.
4. The last sentence that anticipates the next point.

The purpose of all of this is to answer the assignment question. Sometimes, this format may not work because the assignment is clearly meant to be question and answer. I would reiterate here that if that is the assignment, don't tax the marker by beating around the bush, just answer the questions in the sequence that they have been given. The marker will not thank you for trying to find question 1 in the place where question 10 should be. Clearly, the demands of the assignment dictate whether you can use the first approach I have suggested.

What is never in debate, however, is that you must use and show that you have used good academic articles on the topic to answer the assignment. This "supporting data" shows that you have done your work for your assignment. Label and number points: "first, second, third, next, last" not "firstly, secondly, thirdly and lastly". This keeps your arguments in order and lets the marker see that you have made your points.

Next week, we'll discuss another problem with academic papers reflected on AGC forms...poor scholarship. Until then, have a good week.