Academic Writing Skills Guide: Planning Your Assignments

A well-planned assignment is going to be better organised than an assignment that is not planned at all - at least some planning is always a good idea and can only add to the quality of your final submission. While it is important not to overdo it, the longer you spend planning and thinking about your written assignment, the better your final draft will be.

The writing element is just one part of academic writing, planning should be a crucial part of your overall approach to doing an assignment. It is one of the most important parts of assignment writing which is ultimately led by your reading of relevant academic sources and an assignment will often look for you to present your point of view on a topic through the analysis and discussion of these sources.

Creating a good plan also makes the process of assignment writing easier - it can be difficult and confusing if you are trying to structure and write your assignment at the same time. By planning your assignments thoroughly, you ensure that your work has a consistent, balanced structure and your arguments follow a logical flow with respect to the assignment question – this can help you develop your argument even before you begin writing up the assignment.

There may be a temptation to skip the planning stage, especially when deadlines are approaching and you are keen to get on with researching but planning has multiple benefits.

Answer the question with clarity, this includes:

• Getting your writing started - once you have a plan you can develop your points into sentences and paragraphs
• Thinking about the question carefully before you begin more detailed research
• Answering the assignment question set and avoiding the inclusion of irrelevant information
• Committing to sticking to the point, keeping the assignment question central to your writing, ensuring you maintain focus on the central issue(s) and cutting out irrelevant points that distract from your main message
• Deciding on what to include and what not to include - covering all aspects of the assignment and not leaving anything important out
• Developing a coherent and well-structured argument
• Developing your own evaluation and analysis of the main topic points
• Writing more concisely and avoiding or spotting where there might be overlaps or repetition in your writing

Save time on unnecessary work, this includes:

• Avoiding being overly distracted by the planning and structuring of your assignment while you are trying to write up the assignment
• Managing and making efficient use of your time - effective planning speeds up all aspects of the writing process
• Reading with more focus and taking notes that are more useful
• Avoiding disorganised drafts of your assignment and having to spend a disproportionate amount of time reworking and reorganising the material

Organise and structure your assignment and research, this includes:

• Organising your thoughts and ideas by themes and grouping similar ideas together to avoid repetition
• Strengthening your assignment structure and line of argument including working out a logical order, overall structure and end point of your argument before you start writing
• Avoiding ending up with lots of notes but not being sure what to do with them
• Identifying the areas where you need to support your writing with additional reading and research and what other information you might need to back up and expand your points
• Avoiding being over the word limit before you have finished writing the assignment

Avoid being overwhelmed, this includes:

• Being less stressed
• Breaking down the assignment into more manageable sections which makes it easier to deal with
• Avoiding getting completely lost and not knowing where to start an assignment