Your academic year: Your first assignment

Starting your first assignment? Read this.

If you are nervous about finding good quality information for your first assignment or you have already submitted and feel that you could do better, the following tips should help:

Get the basics right:
You will have already attended your library induction, which will have taught you the basics of how to use the Library. If you weren’t able to, you can revisit the information in the Welcome Guide. You can also test your knowledge and win a prize by entering the Library Induction Quiz afterwards.

Read the question carefully:
Look for

  • Instruction words – the words that tell you ‘how’ to write about the topic
  • Topic words – the words that tell you “what” you have to write about.
  • Any other words that might restrict the topic in some way

Check your module handbook for practicalities, such as: formatting rules, how to submit it, the word count, and the referencing style and so on.

Think about the question and identify what type of information you need to support your essay:
There will most likely be key words, theorists or ideas mentioned in your essay title so you might want to use a dictionary or encyclopaedia to find out a little bit more about them. How does their definition relate to your own ideas about the subject? Do you need a specialist technical dictionary or a broader definition of the subject?

Read any assessment criteria your tutor may have given you. This is what your assignment will be marked against and will often include a mention of using a range of good quality and relevant resources and citing correctly. Referring to this will help you avoid missing any criteria and needlessly losing marks.

Writing a general introduction to the subject and its context in society is a good starting point for your essay. Start with books initially as they will give you a good overview of the key thinkers on your subject, plenty of background information and an extensive bibliography. Then, move on to subject specialist journal articles: these are more up to date, discuss a particular perspective and are a unique contribution to the field.

If appropriate, look at anything else that’s relevant, for example, dissertations, newspaper articles, conference papers, working papers, research reports, etc. Doing this will help you to identify the main points of the subject which you will explore in greater depth in the body of your essay

Select the most appropriate places to look for this information:
Using the items on the reading list provided by your lecturers is a great starting point – they will have identified for you which items are essential to the topic, alongside additional reading they have recommended. These online lists can be found in your Blackboard Learn modules and will link directly to the item within the Library, telling you how many copies are available or connecting you to the online version.

Find what else has been written on your topic by searching Library@Brunel using some of the keywords mentioned in your title. This will give you an idea of how much has been written about your subject. If there’s not a lot, you may need to go back to the question and try alternative words and if there are too many results you may want to narrow your focus. You will find tips on searching in the following guides:

Develop your ideas:
Once you have set the scene for your essay subject in the introduction, you can develop your ideas further. You can use the identity of the key authors and theorists you found in your initial reading to search for other items they have written about the subject. Additionally, checking bibliographies of books and articles will also identify other key readings on your topic. The main body of your assignment is where you can compare discussion of authors’ ideas on the subject and start comparing them to your own.

Some questions to ask yourself as you read:

  • What have these authors written about the subject?
  • Is it relevant to your assignment question?
  • Do the authors tend to agree or do they have conflicting opinions?
  • Are your results up to date? Do they reflect current thinking on the topic on the topic and is this necessary for your question?
  • Are there published statistics which support or back up your argument and your own theories?

Conclude your work:
After you have researched your subject thoroughly and discussed the theories of others against your own you can now summarise your ideas and make judgements in your conclusion. This is not the place to introduce new ideas! Restate your original intention from your introduction and use this space to reinforce your understanding of the subject, reflect upon what you have found and summarise what you have learned.

Learn how to avoid plagiarism:
You’ve found your articles and books, and written about some great ideas and theories, so don’t now undo all that good work through accidental plagiarism by not appropriately citing the authors.

The Referencing guide covers the importance of referencing as well as the mechanics of doing so in the style appropriate to your discipline.

Avoiding plagiarism

Learn how to avoid plagiarism

You’ve found your articles and books, and written about some great ideas and theories, so don’t now undo all that good work through accidental plagiarism by not appropriately citing the authors.

The Referencing guide covers the importance of referencing as well as the mechanics of doing so in the style appropriate to your discipline.

(click to open PDF)

(click to open PDF)

Get help with academic writing

The ASK service offers advice and workshops on academic writing style.

They have also created a series of short videos on academic writing which provide useful tips about planning, structuring and writing your assignments.

See your Subject Liaison Librarian

Your Subject Liaison Librarian can help you with enquiries you may have about referencing and finding relevant information for your assignments. In addition to the workshops, they provide drop-ins and Focus sessions at the LibSmart Point in the Learning Commons on Floor 3. Help will be available here:

  • 1-6pm Monday – Thursday
  • 1-5pm Fridays

Students can also book appointments with their Librarian via the subject guides.

Get Smart with LibSmart workshops

LibSmart is a dedicated study skills package run by the Subject Liaison Librarians (SLLs). It is designed to support students with the academic practice and information skills they need to get the best out of their time at university and beyond. It contains workshops on referencing, finding good quality information, using social media for research and much more.

Browse through the LibSmart guide to find out what’s on offer this month and to book your place on a workshop.