Use this toolkit to help you complete the different stages of the assignment process. It provides information on which study skills to develop, academic offences to avoid, links to resources, and the support available in the library.
Individual assessments should be entirely your own work. You are not permitted to work with other students on the same assignment.
High marks are not the result of good luck or random allocation. Students who do exceptionally well tend to be those who take a positive approach to challenges and who set themselves realistic goals. Most students can achieve higher marks if they adopt effective strategies
This section will introduce you to some of the strategies that can help you to improve your writing. These include:
Find and assess appropriate sources of information when working on an assignment
It will be easier to deliver what is required of you in an assignment if you understand what your tutor is looking for.
Successful students generally dedicate time at the start of each assignment to working out exactly what the writing task requires.
Select the notes below for examples of the types of information that could help you meet your tutor’s expectations and improve your marks.
Sources of Information
Programme information:
In most academic institutions, tutors provide a good range of background information about the subject, the assignments you will be expected to complete, and the marking criteria.
The location of this information may vary, but you could check:
Programme, course or module handbooks. These gather together information about your course. You may find it helpful to read these carefully more than once, highlighting key information and transferring essential details to your diary, planner or organiser.
Department and programme websites/Blackboard. These may contain essential information that you can copy or download. These websites are often updated – look out for alerts or messages.
Learning outcomes
The assignments set throughout the course will usually be designed to check that you are achieving these learning outcomes so it is useful to read these in advance to find out what you are expected to understand or be able to do by the end of the course or module.
Marking criteria
To be as fair and transparent as possible, many tutors mark their students’ work using specific criteria. These criteria can provide invaluable information about what tutors are looking for when they allocate marks. The marking criteria may reflect the level of study, the particular requirements of the piece of work, and any related learning outcomes. They may include both generic characteristics and specific criteria relevant to the subject or topic.
To make use of marking criteria:
Read the marking criteria for every assignment the criteria may vary from one assignment to another
Examine the marking criteria closely: give yourself time to consider exactly what they mean in terms of the assignment you are working on now
Come back to the marking criteria at different stages of the writing process and consider how far you are meeting the criteria.
If you feel you are not meeting the marking criteria for your assignment, pause and reconsider how you will meet them. Don’t just hope that your tutor won’t notice or that it won’t matter: take responsibility for doing what you can to improve your work and gain the maximum marks.
Level Descriptors
Level descriptors describe in general terms what is required at each level of study and they contain valuable clues about what tutors will be looking for when they mark your work.
Your tutors may provide interpretations of level descriptors for your subject in general or for specific aspects of it. At the beginning of each academic year, you may find it helpful to identify the requirements for each level and for each subject you are studying.
Download this ‘Using level descriptors’ checklist. This will help you research the level descriptors relevant to the course you are studying.
Review the characteristics of a well written assignment
Take the quiz and consider which characteristics indicate whether you think an assignment that showed this characteristic would earn higher marks.
Understanding assignment titles | Skills for Study
It is not enough to simply show how much you know in a written piece of work – however brilliant your writing.
If it does not tackle the question you have been set, you reduce your chances of getting higher marks. Assignment titles often contain a central question which has to be answered.
