Organizing Assignments : Learning for Excellence

Hi again. Many students are busy with assignments. As readers of this blog know, and newbies who are joining us will find out, I am a great believer in organization and time management to get assignments done properly the first time. This is because many students do not realize that organizing assignments into stages will clarify, for the students, exactly what they need to do in order to produce an excellent assignment.

Excellent assignments at the graduate level should have these qualities:

1. A clear understanding of what is being asked by the module tutor. Students use Blackboard to get clarification from their module tutor and other students in the programme module. Students look up words that define the question such as "corporate culture" in their module workbook or text and see if they understand what is being asked of them.

2. Students find good source materials (see the Digital Library at U of Leicester) to find reliable and recommended resources on their assignment if the assignment demands it. Some assignments at the early stages require more use of the module materials (workbook or texts). Later assignments will require research.

3. Students organize their assignment. When organizing an assignment, students should be aware of the assignment question itself. Some assignments are fundamentally, question and answer assignments. The module tutor or marker, in this case, will need to see that you have completed all the sections of this assignment.

Other assignments are broader in scope and do not have a question and answer format. Although you still need to answer do the assignment, keeping in mind the stated goals of the assignment, an outline is helpful to organize the material you intend to use when you answer an essay question of this type.

You should ensure that the journal articles you pick actually answer the question asked by the assignment. Quotations or ideas from those articles, similarly, need to be on point and actually demonstrate or back up the points that you are trying to make. You need to keep your 'evidence' for your arguments clear and organized. You shouldn't be using multiple quotes in every paragraph. Paragraphs should have a straight forward structure. The reader should be able to see clearly what your argument is, what the evidence to back it up is and how it leads into your next point.

When you have had difficulties in previous assignments, this is particularly important. Students who have been trained in Biology or the sciences may use another model for planning their assignments. This is great if it works for you. However, when you are unsure how to proceed it is important that you make a plan. I would suggest the model below. This plan should include all the quotations you are planning to use to back up your arguments. Your plan should look something like this example:

Example Main Argument, Thesis or Statement:
Where did domestic dogs come from? Common wisdom holds that dogs were actively domesticated by humans who found young baby wolves in the wild, brought them home and domesticated them over several generations. New evidence proposes that the process of dog domestication was brought about by individual wolves who came seeking human rubbish. Their behaviour altered radically over several generations. Throwing new fuel onto this debate, Dr. Sylvia Spudnick from the University of Upper Rubber Boot, working in conjunction with the Wild Wolves for Northern Guelph Project, has shown how wolf packs in her hometown of Northern Guelph Outback have changed in both their behaviour and appearance in just two generations after interaction with the town dump and the encroaching suburbs. Indeed, Spudnick's work suggests that these wolves could, within fifty years, represent a new kind of dog. This presents an interesting, new take on Darwin's observations on evolution in The Origin of the Species.

Point 1
Physical changes in the wolves of Backwater
A quotation to illustrate the point above
What the writer believe the significance of this is

Point 2
What the wolves of Backwater used to look like before
A quotation/a paraphrase to illustrate this point/evidence
The significance of this

Point 3
What Darwin observed about the change in finches in Galapagos Islands
A quotation/paraphrase to illustrate this point
What Darwin saw as the significance of this

Point 4
Measuring the relative brain sizes of dogs and wolves
Measuring the changing brain size of the wolves of Northern Guelph Outback
A quotation on actual observations
Significance/How this affects how we saw evolutionary theory & dogs

Point 5
How this provides us with a unique opportunity to understand (a) Darwin's theory and (b) the wolves
A quotation on Darwin's theory
How we can now see this theory, significance

Point 6
How we can understand how domestic dogs changed into wolves in a different context
A quotation to summarize what we have seen
Significance

Point 7 - Summary paragraph
How we know can understand the evolution of one animal in a particular context
Suggestions for work that still needs to be done to understand Dr. Spudnick's research
Suggestions for how we can now understand the relationship between dogs and people
Suggestions for how we can see Darwin's theory in a new context

This, of course, is not a real paper. It does, however, show how the planning process can help you to make an essay that (a) uses critical thinking (b) ensures that it answers the question that the module tutor has asked (c) makes sure you plan to make your paper the right length and (d) ensures that you plan to use the right evidence to back up your points.

Some students like to use complex number systems to organize their assignments. Of course, I believe if it works for you, do it. However, any organizational plan can be as simple or as complex as you make it. The more organized your work is, particularly if you have had difficulties, the easier it is to make your assignments work for you. Clearly, the model above is intended to be an essay but if your module tutor has asked for a sample business report, you should write out your assignment according to the tutor's specifications. Not all assignments are essays. However, all assignments should use clear critical thinking and good evidence to back up any arguments.

When you are finished every assignment, it should always be spell checked and grammar checked as well. Use Refworks or the page on Harvard style at the University of Leicester to make your bibliography and references in text.

That's all for today.

KB