Completing your first University assignment (Part One)
So hopefully you’re settling into the new and exciting world of University. By now you’ve probably already eaten at all the places on campus, argued with at least one person in a tutorial and felt the temptation to skip lectures. In my first few weeks at Uni I managed to completely overdose on energy drinks and ended up shaking so badly that I couldn’t take notes during one of my Foundation unit lectures. So, yeah. Don’t do that.
By now the first deadline for your first University assignment is probably looming just over the horizon and you might be beginning to feel the pressure. Well, in the words of an immortal guide book, Don’t Panic. This series of posts will hopefully help you prepare and write your first assignment.
Read your question
This seems really obvious and you don’t think it’s necessary but half of the process of writing the assignment is knowing exactly what you need to write. The wording of the question is key to how you plan and write your essay. We’ll discuss plans in a bit but first you must ensure you understand what your tutors are asking you for. The best part about being in first year though is that your tutors welcome any questions regarding assessments. They get a little less forgiving as time goes on so make sure you use this grace period to answer any of your questions.
Plan your essay
This is really only applicable for an essay so feel free to stop reading here if your assignment is different. When I was in my second year, studying Power of the Media and Public Opinion, I had the luck to be handed a formula for planning almost all essays I would be given. This was given to me by Dr. Ian Cook at Murdoch. In my role as mentor I now share this formula with you.
There are four basic types of directive words that can form an essay question:
1. is / can / does
2. explain / outline / why / account for
3. discuss / critically assess / critically evaluate
4. to what extent
The basic directive words are each accompanied by four basic essay structures:
1. yes case - no case - my case (not necessarily in this order)
2. list
3. model & analysis
4. continuum
The structures explained:
1. There are only 2 answers available for an "is / can / does" type of question - yes and no. Both the yes case and the no case need to be explained but in the end an essay must make clear that its author thinks either yes or no or possibly both. This can be referred to as my case
1. is / can / does
2. explain / outline / why / account for
3. discuss / critically assess / critically evaluate
4. to what extent
The basic directive words are each accompanied by four basic essay structures:
1. yes case - no case - my case (not necessarily in this order)
2. list
3. model & analysis
4. continuum
The structures explained:
1. There are only 2 answers available for an "is / can / does" type of question - yes and no. Both the yes case and the no case need to be explained but in the end an essay must make clear that its author thinks either yes or no or possibly both. This can be referred to as my case
2. Explaining something might be to provide a set of reasons that it occurred or a set of things that someone needs to know about that thing in order to understand it. Outlining something involves indicating its identifying characteristics or principle features. When we are asked why something is so or why it happened or account for - we are usually being asked to provide reasons. Therefore we are providing a list.
3. To effectively discuss/critically assess/critically evaluate something we need to provide an explanation of what we think that thing is. This explanation or replication is referred to as a model. Try to present this in an as convincing manner as possible. In the second part of the essay you will examine and focus on making sense of your model therefore analysing the first part of your essay.
4. This is a fairly unusual type of question as it resembles the "is / can / does" type of question but does not require the simpler yes/no response. The responses available to a question of this type belong on a continuum. The simplest of which is one that includes 'to a minimal extent' at one end of the continuum and 'to a maximum extent' at the other end. A recommended approach to answering this type of question is by replacing the 'yes case' with 'reasons that the answer lies toward one end of the continuum' and replacing the 'no case' with 'reasons that the answer lies toward the other end of the continuum'. 'My case' should then be replaced with a section which establishes where on the continuum your answer lies.
** (The above structures must always be accompanied by solid introductions and conclusions) **
- Dr. Ian Cook.
This formula might not work for you but if it does then feel free to use it and share it with others. The next post in this series should be up on Wednesday the 2nd of March. Also remember you can email me at any time with anything you think I need to write about or anything you think I have forgotten. I also will try and respond to comments on the blog itself.
0 comments:
Post a Comment