[MUSIC] In this module, we'll look at different aspects of preparing to write your assignments. We'll discuss strategies for understanding and interpreting written assignment prompts, conducting research, and planning what you write. We spoke to some academics in the field of communication about these aspects of preparing to write. Let's hear what they have to say. [MUSIC] >> So the written texts that students need to produce at university are very varied. Each discipline has its own way of communicating. So each discipline has its own way sort of language, its own sort of discourse, we call it. And you will have to be quite sensitive to these different ways of communicating when you come in to the university context. So for example, you might be writing a lab report in a science discipline, but you may well be writing an essay in a history discipline. And of course, the sorts of lab report that you write will vary also across the science disciplines. So the one that you might write in chemistry will be quite different from the one that you write in biology. So you need to be aware of those, and your lecturers will try to help you to become more aware about the language and the text types that you're going to be developing in university and providing for them as types of assessments. We call these text types genres. You may have heard of that term before because I know it's widely used in education these days at primary and secondary level. And we do use that term as well at university to talk about the different sorts of text that you'll have to be producing. So becoming sensitive to the language, the terminology of your discipline, and also the structures of those genres or text types. How do they achieve their particular purpose? How they are appropriate for that context. And how they address the audience, and of course, the audience is typically, of course, your lecturer. But sometimes it could be fellow students as well. And that's exciting because you'll get good feedback from your fellow students on your writing. And of course, writing is the most valued way of communicating in the university. But there will be different text types that you will produce. Some of them will be more essay like, some of them will be more report like. But you may, for example, be asked to write a journal, a reflective journal, which you can do in a much more personal way. But typically, you'll be expected to really address the academic culture and to try to write more objectively in an appropriate academic style. [MUSIC] >> First thing that students can do to find out what lecturers expect from their written assignments is to read the assignment instructions very carefully. And I know that sounds obvious, but in reality students sometimes don't do that. And you really need to read those assignment instructions again, and again, and again. It's a good idea to underline the key words in them. Another very good thing to do is to ask the lecturer questions, so don't be afraid if you don't understand. Just take the initiative and ask the lecturer. Doesn't matter how stupid the question seems, just ask. You can ask the lecturer by going to see the lecturer after the lecture or you can send an email. Another thing you can do is to ask the lecturer to send the reply to all the students, but doing it in such a way that no one knows who actually sent the email. Because it's actually good if everyone gets that information. And the last thing you can do is talk to your fellow students, that's really important. Just recently I had an experience with a student finding out only two days before the assignment was due that she was doing completely the wrong thing. She found out because she started talking to a friend of hers. Now if she'd talked to her friend and the other students a lot sooner, she would have found out and it would have been a lot easier for her. [MUSIC] >> Understanding the assignment question is a key challenge for students beginning their university studies. And one of the reasons for that is that students hook in on what are called the content words, the topic words, and they see those and they're like, a green light? And they go for it, and they think about all that they've learned on that particular topic and that's what they write down. So they forget to look at the actual instructions that they are given in the assignment question. And it's really looking at those instructions and then linking them to the content words that enable students to actually plan and outline their essay effectively. So I suppose one of the things I would say is, yes of course, highlight those content words, but also highlight the instruction words. Are you being asked to explain something or discuss something or compare and contrast something? Or are you being asked to critically analyze something? So these are all keywords that you need to understand what is expected of. And of course, they work within the context of that particular question and within that discipline. So bearing all of those things in mind is really important in order to answer the question effectively and not just summarize everything you know on a particular topic area. Your lecturer doesn't want that. They want you to develop typically a position on that particular area, topic area. They might want you to report on that topic area, but to highlight aspects of it which you think have not been adequately covered in the literature. So it's really critical that you realize that you need basically to be persuasive in your writing, to have some sort of position, whatever the assignment task is. So not just giving information, you need to evaluate that information, have a position on that. [MUSIC] >> I'm glad we're talking about how students might understand assignments as well as plan for them. Students often think about just completing in assignments. We are so product oriented in this culture, so end result, oriented. But really think about what are you asked to do? You have to understand the nuances, or the details of the question, in order to answer it in the right way. So take some time with that assignment, highlight it, mark it up like you would a reading. Make sure you understand the terms that are being asked of you, as well as the details like, should it be double spaced, single spaced? Do you need references or not? Where should they go? That way, you're speaking the language of the class and of the discipline. There's often a set of terms that a specific class will want you to learn, so you need to use those, but not in a rote way. In a way that shows how you're responding to the assignment through that language. So I'd recommend that students take as much time working on that assignment to understand it as on the readings themselves. And then as they plan, write a little outline before beginning. And feel free to check in with a tutorial leader, a lecture leader. People are happy to answer questions because they want you to do well. [MUSIC] >> There are three main types of general texts that you will have to write in your university career, and they are essays, reports, and proposals. Of course, there will be others and you'll need to be sensitive to those other text types as well. However, these are the three main types, and your lecturers may not be quite clear. They're linguists or language experts, so they might use, for example, the term essay, when they actually want you to write a report. So it's really important for you to be more aware of that. And if you're not sure, you need to check with your lecturer what particular type of writing they would like from you. So all of these three are actually persuasive kinds of writing. So you need to have some kind of argument in there, some kind of position in there. Often we think that a report is simply giving facts about a certain topic area, but that's really not the case at university. Maybe in the very early first few weeks when the lecturer is trying to find out about your writing, they might set something that's more like a factual report, where they're just asking you for information about a particular topic area. But usually, they will move quite quickly to ask you to write other kinds of reports. Reports that have to present factual information, but then talk about the implications of that particular information that you are presenting, or maybe make recommendations. In some reports you do have to make recommendations, but not in all. So this is again something to check with your lecturers. In terms of an essay, essays are typically, again as I said, persuasive. They have to have a position, and you have to normally present that position in the introduction to your essay. So you may analyze your topic and, of course, there are usually with an essay of range of different positions that you can take. And you have to decide which one in your mind is the most appropriate one on this particular topic area. And of course, usually it aligns with some of the literature in the field, it's not totally original. You're not expected to do that sort of work until you're really at post-graduate level. So your position aligns with some of the literature in the field, but you still have to make your voice clear, okay? You have to show to your lecturer that you, on that particular cline of different positions, where you stand. You can't be on the fence. So you don't summarize what the literature on one side argues and the literature on the other side argues. You need to have a position. That's really, really important. Okay, the last kind of text type, the proposal. So proposals are a very different sort of text type where the audience is really important. I mean, although you're writing, of course, for your lecturer. But in fact, the lecturer is telling you that whatever your proposal is for, it's for a client, it could be for your boss, it could be for someone in the business world. So it's really important again that you think about your audience when you're developing your proposal. And again, it's a persuasive kind of text. You have to look at the cost implications in particular, as well as the feasibility of whatever it is that you're proposing, and you have to be able to argue that in the proposal. Now the proposal structure, it has a very definite structure, different from essay and report. So again, it's really important to be aware of that when you are writing your proposal. And I guess the main difference there is this aspect where you have to put in costings and cost implications, and that of course is a key part of your argument. [MUSIC]
