If your course of study requires some form of written assessment, assignment, or academic writing, you will understand that it is not as simple as sitting down at your desk and putting your fingers to work on that keyboard. Each piece of academic writing needs to be approached with a clear understanding of the specific requirements of what your assessors are looking for.
In this article, we take a look at the six steps you can follow to help ensure that you meet the requirements of your written assessment.
1. Getting Started
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Before you start typing out what you think is required, make sure you take a step back and really understand what is being asked for you. It is essential that you have a clear understanding of the task being set, or the topic that you are being asked to respond to. If you have any questions or need any clarification, speak with your tutor or your lecturer – have a clear understanding of what you are being assessed on will help you to ensure that you are not wasting your time on any unnecessary details.
2. Confirm the Type of Assignment
The type of assignment that you have set will guide you as to the format that you need to follow and how you are going to structure your paper. Is it a case study, or a report, or a research paper, or something else? Generally, the type of assignment should be clear from the wording of the instructions given to you, but if there is any confusion or lack of clarity, then ensure that you discuss this with your tutor or your lecturer.
3. Read the Instructions
If you are under a lot of pressure, and juggling a lot of deadlines, it is often tempting to quickly dive into a task in order to get it done as soon as possible. However, before you do that, it is absolutely essential that you read the instructions of what you are being asked to do. Are you being asked to analyse something, to discuss, to explain, to debate, or to provide some other form of response? If you respond with a discussion paper when you should be submitting an analytical paper, not only will your marks reflect that you haven’t answered the question, you are effectively wasting your time.
4. Define the Topic
Having understood the task and the format of the assignment, the next step is to ensure that you have clearly articulated the topic or subject of your paper. What are the keywords that you should focus on? One technique is to read through the task and highlight the most important subject or action words, this will help shape the structure of your response. For example, you might highlight words such as “political crisis” and “compare” and “analyse” and “impact” – that starts to really focus your attention on the subject that you need to focus on, the actions you need to take, and the outcomes that you need to present.
5. Scope It Out
This is particularly important in terms of working how much time and effort you need to invest in this assignment. Is it 10,000 words or 1,000 words? Are you being asked to compare three examples or ten examples? Are you being asked to conduct original research, or summarise research that has already been completed? You need to make sure that you are not unnecessarily spending time or resources on this task.
6. Custom Writing Services
One of the most effective step that you can take to meet your assignment or written assessment requirements is to consider the option of custom writing services. Custom writing services aren’t just a way to source some cheap essays, they are a team of professional writers who understand the specific structure, format, tone, and style required for excellence in academic writing and written assessment.
Take control of your academic career. Do not let yourself become overwhelmed by the range of written assessment and academic writing tasks that you need to complete in order to meet the standards set by your assessors. Prioritise the most important, outsource anything that can be outsourced, and allocate your time logically and efficiently to maximize the grades you can achieve in order to reach your academic aspirations.