The bane of engineering and science students alike, as well as the surprising learning curve for those studying business, the arts, and the humanities. It differs significantly from completing written tasks in high school to essay writings, research papers, reports, or personal responses or reflections in post-secondary. The bar for thinking and ideas is higher than ever, and the same is true for the written expression of your views and arguments. For a high grade, the thesis argument in a written response must be both logical and complete, and perfect syntax, sentence structure, and active voice are essential. While not every student is a natural writer or has a passion for it, there are several typical assignment mistakes that students make that hurt their chances of getting a good grade on their paper.
Avoiding these 5 errors is a must if a student is serious about developing their writing skills.
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Leaving it until the last minute to begin
Writing projects can be challenging, particularly for those who are unsure of their writing skills. But putting off writing until the last minute is a common mistake that just makes it more depressing to have to write.
You procrastinate until the last minute to begin, work all night to finish, and turn in a caffeinated, unstructured assignment.
The essay is then returned to you two to three weeks later with a poor grade and notes such as, “Maintain emphasis on your topic throughout your paper.” Use additional textual evidence or secondary sources.
Based on the poor grade and feedback, you conclude that writing assignments aren’t and never will be your thing.
Stop the cycle.
Do everything you can to set yourself up for success.
OPEN EARLY.
Setting a self-imposed start deadline two weeks before the actual paper due date is a helpful method to help you stay on track. A start-up deadline drives you to begin coming up with ideas and getting the project moving well before the due date.
Writing a high-calibre paper can be broken down into smaller, more doable responsibilities, as you’ll see in the following paragraphs, making the essay or research report seem less overwhelming. The most important piece of advice is that you need time to break up and do various jobs.
If you don’t have sufficient time to complete your university assignments, you can ask university assignment helper UK to do them for you.
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Writing Without Direction
The most important thing when writing an assignment is to have a focus and a direction for the assignment. Whether this is a thesis statement, the hypothesis you’re testing, or just a personal opinion, always keep that focus in mind while writing.
Writing without direction and going off on random tangents that don’t relate to the assignment makes it hard for instructors to give you marks.
Therefore, it’s essential to first determine the goal of a project, essay, or report and then consistently express how each component of your project connects to the project’s emphasis.
Outlining is the best way to organise and keep track of what needs to be done.
When writing assignment, this is always the first chunked activity to finish, and it’s sometimes the most enjoyable because you’re not writing your paper—instead, you’re just thinking about ideas, becoming creative, and creating connections.
It’s a good idea to put your thesis, your supporting arguments, and—most importantly—how your supporting arguments support your thesis all in one place while writing an essay. By doing so, you can simplify your thinking about the essay and avoid becoming lost in the details of how each argument fits into the whole.
It’s also a good idea to break down the assignment into the many elements that must be completed, such as the literature review, methodology, results, and discussion, and determine what should be focused on in each section if you’re writing a report or research paper.
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Not Putting In The Effort
The majority of English teachers in high school won’t tell you this, yet secondary sources can make or break your post-secondary work.
No matter if you’re writing a study proposal on the effects of caffeine on skeletal muscular contraction or a Shakespeare essay, if you don’t employ secondary sources to back up your claims, your paper won’t stand a chance.
It is important to use quotes and points of view from the book you are writing or from scholarly journals to back up your argument in your assignment.
Most students make the assignment mistakes of either not wanting to do the research needed to find good quotes or not organising their secondary sources in a way that makes them easy to find when they need them again.
Don’t waste time looking up great quotes and then failing to write them down.
Keep all the quotes you find in a separate document or chart. This will help you stay organised and make writing easier when you sit down to do it.
Have the complete quote copied in one column, followed by the source or citation in a separate column. In the third column, you should write where you think this quote could be used in your assignments, such as in which paragraph or argument.
I promise that writing a paper will be much easier if you combine your outline with your research document.
At that point, all you have to do to finish sections or paragraphs of your project is make your argument, back it up with evidence, connect it to your thesis, and make it sound interesting.
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Not Getting Any Response
If you’ve been working steadily on the task for several days in a row, it’s usually a good idea to have a second set of eyes review it and offer new ideas.
However, following the completion of the paper’s outline is a vital stage at which students err by failing to get feedback. To summarize, an outline should include your thesis, your main arguments, how they relate to one another and the thesis, and the order in which your arguments will appear in the assignment.
The biggest error is when students don’t arrange a meeting with a professor or teaching assistant to go over the outline.
Instead, they develop an outline, complete the bulk of the task, and then ask for feedback after the paper is nearly finished.
Since professors and teaching assistants (TAs) frequently offer clarification and guidance about assignments, reviewing the outline before writing the paper can save students a great deal of time and work.
Once you have your outline, it is crucial to meet with your professor and teaching assistant (TA) since, if you make modifications to your outline after you have started writing your paper, you probably won’t be able to finish it all.
And if they can avoid it, who wants to work twice as hard?
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Allot Time For Editing
The second most typical assignment mistakes students make is not allocating adequate time for proofreading their final project.
Think of your written assignment as a chance to show how knowledgeable you are about the subject.
Imagine now if you were required to present to your class instead of writing the assignment.
What would you wear to your presentation? is where I’m trying to go with this.
Would you like to dress professionally and presentably, or would you choose to wear tattered and filthy clothing?
If given the option, I believe the majority of people would prefer to dress nicer if they knew they had to present in front of a group of people. The rationale is that during a presentation, visual appeal is almost as important as information. People are less inclined to take you seriously or treat you with credit and respect if you are dishevelled and filthy.
Grammar and spelling could be thought of as the clothes you wear to a presentation.
Even though people may not always judge grammar and spelling, they can improve your credibility and the presentation of your knowledge.
Teachers who will be grading your written assignment will also appreciate that you can focus on your ideas and arguments in the project without being distracted by spelling and grammar mistakes.
Using editing software to help you perfect your final draught is an easy way to make your life simpler when it comes to spelling and punctuation.
Although there are several editing apps available, I suggest utilising Grammarly. Grammarly has both free and paid versions, but the free version is good enough for basic spelling and grammar, is much better than its MS Word equivalent, and is easy to set up.
You can outsource your assignment to a cheap assignment writing service, such as AssignmentHelpersUK.