During your studies you will be required to submit assignments which may include essays, reports and reflective writing. It is important that you spend time planning your assignment before you begin to write your first draft which will help to ensure that you answer the question and meet the assessment criteria. This section will provide you with information regarding understanding the assignment question, managing your time, searching for relevant academic research and writing an assignment plan.
Your programme will require your assignments to be structured and formatted in a particular way. You should always follow any instructions or guidance that you have been issued with, if you are unsure, please contact your Personal Tutor or Student Support Officer for advice.
The following online videos will provide you with information regarding using Generative AI tools in your assignments:
It is important that you read the assignment question several times to ensure that you fully understand what you are being asked to do and avoid losing valuable marks.
Some students find it helpful to highlight the keywords in the assignment task including any verbs such as Assess and Evaluate.
The Impact that the use of Electric Cars has on the Environment
Also carefully read the assessment criteria, find out what the word count is, the referencing style that you need to use and how the assignment needs to be presented.
If you are unsure about what you are being asked to do you need to speak to your lecturer or tutor.
It is important that you plan when you will be able to work on an assignment to ensure that you make the most of the time available and hand your work in on time. You could use an online calendar to help you manage your time and the assignment writing process can be divided into the following steps:
Further information is also available from the Managing your Time page.
This stage involves searching for print and online sources that will provide you with the information that you need. You could start by thinking about what you already know about the subject. A useful starting point could be your lecture notes and the module reading list.
The Online Library website provides you with access to different resources that you can search to find both print and online resources.
Further information is available from the Academic Research section.
After you have read and made notes on the different sources the next stage is to create an assignment plan. It is important that you check the assessment criteria and the word count which will help you you to identify topics that you may need to research further.
Most assignments follow the structure displayed in the table below:
| Introduction | Introduce the subject, the assignment aims and objectives and how you plan to answer the question. |
| Main Body | Presents your main arguments and discussion in a logical order and is supported by evidence. |
| Conclusion | Summary of the main points and ideas that you have made in your assignment and refers back to the assignment aims and objectives |
This reading list provides an overview of some of the Study Support resources that are available from the BPP Library.
