Developing a good strategy for writing assignments can reduce stress and promote success.
School assignments and research projects all have an instructional purpose. Sometimes the goal is to convey concepts of specific study materials as demonstrated in research papers; other times it is to develop critical thinking skills as noted in argumentative or persuasive writing, or it can be used to develop mastery in organization and communication skills as seen in theses. Regardless of the goal, there are some basic tools and techniques students can use to help prepare them for the assignments and execute them with excellence.
Instructions
1. Establish the goals of the assignment. Determine if the paper is to be narrative or chronologically sequenced, descriptive or explanative for instruction, exposition or informing, or argumentative and persuading.
2. Develop your thesis or topic statement. After the preliminary research is completed, develop a perspective and set the reader's expectation by creating a statement that discloses what will be contained and omitted from the scope of the paper.
3. Assemble the collected data. Perform the exhaustive research and prioritize the sources by order of importance, highlighting the main points and supporting details in citations.
4. Prepare an outline. Categorize all relevant components and develop an outline of the paper giving particular attention to main points and lesser attention to extraneous details.
5. Develop the introduction. Assume the reader has little or no knowledge about the subject and begin with general background information and continually narrow the topic down to the content of the topic or thesis statement. This progressive development can usually be performed in a paragraph of seven to 10 sentences.
6. Frame the topic. Review the introduction and add a clarifying statement that bounds the extent to which issues will be addressed. A sample statement might include: "This paper will examine the influence of interest rates on household spending of Americans during the 1900s," in which the boundaries are household spending, Americans, and the 20th century.
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