A Guide to Writing Your First University Assignment

You’re staring at a blinking mouse cursor, a blank page, and a deadline that’s looming large. Welcome to your first university assignment. Whether you’ve got experience of writing essays from college or returning to education after years away, this moment is an important one. It represents your first true step towards becoming an academic, and offers you the independence to make your own discoveries. It can feel daunting for some, but with a few simple pieces of advice, it doesn’t need to be.

Let’s take an informative walk through how to produce a well informed and stylish looking assignment, with clarity and a creativity.

Understand the Brief Before You Begin

Before you rush into typing, print out your assignment brief or pull it up on your screen. Take time to highlight phrases such as “critically analyse”, “compare and contrast”, or “discuss with reference to”. These are the keywords that inform you of how to tailor your work to what your tutors want. They’ll shape your assignment and how it is marked.

It anything is unclear, ask your tutors and coursemates. Universities want you to succeed, and the best students are those who ask the right questions at the right time.

It can also be beneficial to break down your brief into a checklist. If the task includes certain requirements like including specific sources you’ve looked at in your lectures, it can be helpful to visualise. Clarity breeds confidence.

Choose a Topic That Sparks Your Creativity

If you’re given a choice as to what topic you can cover in your next university assignment, opt for one that truly captures your interests. When you’re emotionally invested in your work, research feels like making new discoveries. Even the driest sounding subject matters can become an exciting project with the right angle.

Treat your assignment like planning a trip. You can stick to the main route, or explore the hidden gems and back roads to find something surprising. The best pieces of research come from a place of curiosity.

Research With Purpose

This can be the moment where students start to lose control. Opening too many tabs, skimming abstracts, and forgetting the reasons why certain resources are needed. Instead, take a minute to read through things thoroughly to find the snippets of information you require.

Use university library databases, Google Scholar, and other online journals to find digital references. Look for recent sources and check if your university has access to premium online resources.

If you’re in need of further support, the UCAS resources page presents some excellent starting points for your research.

Structure is Imperative

Laying out your work in a clear and concise way is like writing a book. It has a beginning, middle, and an end. Most traditional style essays should read well and look like this:

• Introduction (10-15%): Introduce your topic, explain the approach you plan to take, and end with your thesis. You may also require a literature review for longer essays.
• Main Body (70-80%): Each paragraph should have a specific focus. Begin with a clear sentence explaining the topic, followed by your evidence and examples to back up your findings.
• Conclusion (10-15%): The moment to summarise your arguments, reflect on your research, and leave the marker with more to ponder.

Use Your Opinions, Not Others’

Academic writing is all about making you own decisions and exploring new ideas. Use other people’s work to inform your own opinions, not simply explain what’s already been written. Don’t be afraid to disagree with established theories, as this is how the best discoveries are made.

Your lecturers want to see your critical thinking skills, not just how well you can summarise arguments. Imagine you’re having a debate with your readers, that’s the tone to tailor your writing towards.

Practical Example: Planning Your Assignment

Hypothetically, your take is to: “Discuss the impact of social media on young adult’s mental health”. 

• Understand the scope: Are you focussing on negative impacts? Or balancing your argument with some benefits too?
• Pick strong sources: Look for recent studies from relevant scholars and journals.
• Draft a structure: Introduction, then sections you feel can strengthen your opinion on the topic.
• Plan your time effectively: Research (1 day), outline (1 day), first drafts (2 days), editing and submission (1 day).

Manageable Workloads

If life as a student feels full, perhaps you’re working part time or commuting long hours? It’s a wise move to break your assignment down into tangible checkpoints. Set a time for 30 minutes, write what you can and then come back in 30 more minutes. It’s almost like interval training for your mind.

There’s no one size fits all strategy when it comes to producing great university assignments, and that’s fine. Some students prefer to handwrite drafts. Others think it’s better to record their ideas via voice notes. Use whatever methods that suit your learning style and get your creative juices flowing.

Editing is Key

Your first draft shouldn’t be your final one, however stressful it was to write. Take a day or two once you’ve written your essay before coming back to it. You’ll likely catch any typo’s, grammatical errors, and incorrect references before submitting it.

Use tools such as Grammarly or your institutions style guide. Make sure to correct any references you think are wrong, and you should have a great piece of work on your hands.

Final Touches That Make a Difference

• Use double spacing as standard unless told otherwise.
• Include a title page if required.
• Stick to the word count as best you can.
• Submit your work as early as possible, it buys peace of mind when others are stressing.

Before you do click submit, ask yourself one thing: “Does this piece of work represent my best effort with the time and resources at my disposal?” If yes, send it off and relax.

Explore More University Information

Your academic journey is a key part of why you made the move to university in the first place. So, take time to learn as much as you can while also enjoying what your city has to offer students.

Best of Luck

Your first university assignment is unlikely to be your best. This is ok, because for many courses it won’t count towards your overall grade come third year. It is however, proof of your progress as an academic.

Make sure to keep attending lectures and ask plenty of questions. Remember, nobody on your course has written this either. Do your best and the results will come.

Now, let’s open that document and let the words flow.