Assignment types

Check your assignment task sheet to see the writing format required. View the various formats typically required at university.

Essay

Essays are an assessment item that can indicate your understanding of a topic. They can demonstrate how well you search for information, put ideas together in a logical sequence and write academically.

An essay can be analytical, argumentative or persuasive. You may be asked to discuss, analyse, explain, investigate, explore or review a topic. Your essay must show evidence of research, using a wide range of quality, peer reviewed academic sources.

Steps for writing an essay

Essays require a specific structure. The introduction, body and conclusion have a specific function within the writing. Check with your lecturer or tutor if you are unsure how to approach your essay.

Use the assessment task question to work out what you are required to do, and guide you with the essay format.

Do you have to compare and contrast, evaluate or discuss? These directive verbs indicate the type of essay you need to write and how to structure it.

Identify the keywords and phrases to use when searching for information around your topic.

Use the marking criteria sheet to help you decide the most important elements of the essay.

A thesis is the central argument or position around which your essay flows.

The thesis statement is placed in your essay's introduction. Each paragraph is used as evidence to support or refute the claim, and it is reiterated in the conclusion.

Edit your essay, ask yourself:

Have I clearly introduced my thesis in the introduction?
Have I used the body of the essay to support my thesis statement?
Does the conclusion show how I have proven my thesis?

Use the essay paragraphs to develop your argument.

The paragraphs should:

have a logical flow of ideas to sequentially build on the points you are making
use evidence and examples to support your argument.

Academic arguments require balance and counterarguments. The relationships between your reasons are important to consider. A good essay should be easy to follow as it presents your thoughts in a logical manner.

Make sure that the essay answers the question, and your writing supports your thesis. Demonstrate how each piece of information included in the paragraphs is relevant. This should be easy for the reader to figure out.

Keep the question and marking criteria open while writing your essay so that you remain focused on the task. The conclusion should include a summarised answer to the question, reiterating your thesis.

Report

Report writing is an essential skill in many disciplines. You should develop effective report writing skills because it’s highly likely you’ll be writing reports in the workplace.

A report is a formal written document used to provide concise information on a specific subject. It can be used to communicate the results of an experiment, inform on the progress of a project or to make recommendations.

An effective report is an accurate presentation of information. It should be objective, concise and structured to guide the reader through the main points.

The task instructions usually specify what sections need to be included in your report. However, a report often has the following sections:

Title page and acknowledgements—include the title of the report, who commissioned it (or for assessment include your lecturer, course code, and student number) and the date.
Executive summary or abstract—provide a summary of the report's main points. It briefly covers the aims, objectives, research methods and the findings. It identifies what action is required. Although the abstract is located at the beginning of the report, it is usually written last as it is a summary of the whole report.
Table of contents—outline the structure of the report.

Introduction—state the aims and objectives of the report, the problem or situation that prompted the report and identify what the report intends to achieve. Include definitions, research methods and background history (if relevant).
Methodology—explain what you did and how you did it. For instance, the materials used in an experiment, the subjects involved in a survey or the steps you took in a project.
Results or findings—detail the findings from the experiment, survey or research project.
Discussion—present and discuss the facts or evidence.
Conclusions—provide implications from the content of the report.
Recommendations—describe a clear course of action. Demonstrate your professional competence in a specific situation that clearly aligns with the conclusions.

References—acknowledge all the sources used in the report. Learn more about referencing.
Appendices—contains additional graphical, statistical or other supplementary material. Each item should be clearly labelled (for example, Appendix 1) and referred to in the report.

Case study

Reflective writing

You may be asked to think about, or reflect upon, a situation or event that has occurred and document your feelings and reactions. For example, you may be asked to write a reflective essay on a work placement experience.

Reflective writing requires you to make a link between your experience and the course content. It’s a way of clarifying the relationship between theory and practice.

Taking time to reflect allows you to become more aware of your own values and belief system and any assumptions you may hold to support those.

Steps for reflective writing

Document the facts, what happened, when did it happen and how did it happen?

For example if writing a reflective essay on a work placement experience, include:

tasks you completed and when
processes or steps involved to complete the task
why the task needed to be done
how long it took to complete
the challenges involved.

Record all the relevant details.

Describe what you think about the event or experience, dig deep and get in touch with your feelings.

What emotions did you experience?
Do you have any new insights?
Can you make a connection with other things you know or concepts in the course?
What were the strengths and weaknesses of the concept, process, event or procedure?

Identify what you have learnt from the experience.

Did it change your thinking or shift your values, assumptions or opinions about the event?
What else could you have done in the situation or event?
Are there any actions that could have helped
What hindered the situation?
How will you use this information in the future?

Literature review

You may be required to write a literature review as part of your university studies.

Literature reviews can be used alone or in research projects, reports, articles and theses.

They are a way of bringing together, analysing and evaluating a range of sources in relation to a particular topic or research question.

Steps for writing a literature review

If you have a research topic, problem or question to analyse, it is important to take time to clarify what is expected before you start researching and writing.

When developing your own research topic and question, try to:

define the general topic area
identify the particular problem or issue you are interested in investigating
turn the problem into questions. For example, why does this happen? How can we solve this problem? What are the main features of this issue?
brainstorm ideas and key points.

As you get started, it is important to formulate key questions to focus your research.

To find relevant research you will need a search strategy. A search strategy is a structured organisation of terms used to search an online research tool, such as the library catalogue or databases. The search strategy shows how these terms combine in order to retrieve the best results.

Online research tools work in different ways so you need to adapt your search strategy for each one.

To develop a search strategy:

Identify the keywords in your assessment topic.
Identify any related words (use a dictionary, encyclopaedia or provided readings).
Combine your keywords and related words into a search strategy using the terms AND, OR and NOT.

Enter your search strategy in the Library catalogue to find relevant literature. Identify other research tools such as library databases to find highly specialised information.

In a literature review, you are not simply recounting what each author says about a topic. You need to critically evaluate and discuss the literature to convince the reader of its relevance to your work.

Critically evaluate by questioning each item you read to assess its:

reliability—are the facts accurate?
credibility—is the author an authority?
perspective—is there bias or opinion?
purpose—does the information inform, explain or persuade?
evidence—does the author use facts, examples, statistics, expert testimony?

There are many ways to sort and classify the literature that you are reading, including:

thesis chapters (if applicable)
your own categories
theoretical perspective (for example, ‘Marxist’, ‘behaviourist’ or ‘post-modernist’)
discipline categories
whether it supports, or conflicts with, your thesis or central argument
reliability.

How your review is organised depends on what information is gathered and how your discipline structures them. This is one way to organise it:

Introduction—include your topic, aim, main ideas, overall plan, limits and scope.
Body—include your research (where applicable), discussion of evidence, theories, concepts and relationships between different literature.
Conclusion—bring together the key issues, trends, common threads, major gaps and agreements/disagreements in the literature.

Annotated bibliography

Presentations—video, in-person, online

You may be asked to deliver a presentation individually, in partnership or as part of a group.

Consider the following to help inform your style, language and delivery.

Audience

Who is the presentation targeted at or intended for?
What do they already know on the subject?
Why are they there?
What would they like to know?

For example, a Business course presentation may be targeted at stakeholders, or be a pitch for potential investors.

Purpose

The intention of the presentation influences the type of language, rhetorical features and tone used.

Are you pitching:

a new service
an idea or product
to enlighten and inform your audience?

For example, a persuasive presentation may use more emotive language, rhetorical questions and repetition. Whereas, this approach may not be suitable for a formal report.

Context

When, where and how will your presentation be delivered? Will it be delivered live, online or pre-recorded?

This will influence your preparations for organising the visual, environmental and technical elements, to ensure a successful presentation.

Do you need to record and edit video for your presentation?

Learn how

Create an effective and engaging presentation

Regardless of the type of presentation and how it is delivered a successful presentation should take into account the following:

Matter—does the subject and content address the task and marking criteria?
Manner—practise the verbal (volume, pace, pause) and non-verbal (eye contact, gestures) delivery elements.
Method—have it structured in a logical way (introduction, body, conclusion) with support of visual aids.

Visual elements

You may be asked to support your presentation with visual aids, such as PowerPoint or an infographic. Visual aids, used appropriately, can enhance your presentation and engage your audience.

Ensure your visual aids support your presentation in purpose and style and reinforce your message.

Communicate your message effectively using a simple and strategic design.

Limit the text quantity, use three to five bullet points per slide.
Use high resolution images and pictures.
Limit animation and flashy transitions.
Use contrasting colours for readability.
Maintain continuity in text font, images and colour.

Finally, your choices should reflect the audience, purpose and context.

Practice makes perfect

Practise frequently to ensure a smooth, successful and confident presentation delivery.

Practise:

aloud—consider recording yourself to identify areas for improvement
in front of peers and/or family
with the technology and visuals that will be used on the day
with your partner or group members, if relevant, to ensure smooth transition between presenters.