Understand Your Assignment
The first step is to understand the assignment. Before you begin, make sure you ask your instructor about anything you do not understand.
Examine your assignment
- What is the purpose of your assignment? Can you explain it to a friend?
- Is it a written assignment or an oral presentation?
- Have you been assigned a topic, or can you choose your own?
- How many pages or number of words does the assignment have to include? For a public presentation, how long does it have to be?
- Is the assignment required using specific sources (e.g. scholarly articles, books, primary sources, websites) and how many?
- Does your paper/assignment need to answer specific questions or be arranged in certain sections?
- What citation format?
- What other formatting details need to be applied to the paper (e.g. double-spacing, headings)?
- When is it due? Do specific aspects of the paper have different due dates or is the complete paper due on a certain date?
- What tasks are involved in writing this paper?
- How long do you think it will take you to complete each task?
