Skills for Success / Academic Skills / The Basic Steps in Doing an Assignment
When you have fully understood what you need to do for the assignment, it is a great idea to brainstorm.
Brainstorming generates lots of ideas and you can then choose the best ones. It also raises questions that you want to answer, which is very useful for planning your research.
Another advantage of brainstorming is that it also activates your brain regarding the subject area of the assignment - you will probably be surprised by how much you already know about it!
After brainstorming, you should be able to form your initial thoughts for your answer to the question. Write down one sentence that gives your brief answer to the assignment question. This sentence is often called the "Thesis Statement". This statement will guide you in starting your research or reading. Think of it as your "position" or the conclusion that you are going to argue for.
Of course, you can change your position later if what you read makes you reconsider.
For more about thesis statements, see our Mini-module: Critical Writing, Section 2.
Start with the main idea in the middle and draw lines to attach the sub-categories. Then, you can add things that are connected to those sub-categories. You can add lines and ideas as they come to you - you can organise it all later. Let the ideas flow. Your brain will come up with lots of connected ideas, so write them down quickly in one or two words or a short phrase.
This is like mind-mapping, but using sentences. Just give yourself an amount of time (e.g. ten minutes) and start writing freely about the topic. Don't think about spelling or grammar, just let it flow. Like mind-mapping, you will find that your brain keeps linking ideas. When the time is up, look at what you have written and organise it.
Analyze the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats related to the topic. This structured approach suits some students better than the mind map or free writing.
instead of generating ideas, you can write down all the questions that you can think of about the topic.
