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Assignment support 

Understand your task

Begin by clarifying the assessment requirements. Read the assignment instructions and marking criteria supplied on your course site. The video below explains more about writing assignments at university.

Video length: 2 min 45 sec.

  • Doing an assignment isn't a linear process.
  • Start by reading the task in detail, so you know what you need to do.
  • The assignment instructions and feedback sheet will explain the structure of your assignment.
  • You can find out more about different assignment types on the Study Help website.
  • You might need to revise your assignment plan as you go - this might happen a few times before you write your final draft!
  • As you read more, your argument should evolve to incorporate new information.
  • Make sure you use reliable resources to support your argument.
  • To interpret your task you will need to identify the content words and phrases - these show what you have to focus on.
  • The instruction words tell you how to approach the content, for example, describing something is different to comparing.
  • Identify the limits of your assignment by looking at keywords, word limits and other instructions.
  • Start the process early to get ahead.

Your search strategy

Planning your search will save you time and is the key to getting the most out of your search results. See the Plan your search page of this guide for detailed information.

See the Find information page of this guide for an overview of where to search and how to search in the Library Collection and Google Scholar. The page also contains guidance on finding key databases and journals in the subject area, as well as other relevant resources. 

You can find further introductory information about searching in the Library research skills guide:

Literature/artefact review

For help completing a literature or artefact review, please see the following links:

This short video (2 min 12 sec) from the Steely Library at Northern Kentucky University provides a quick introduction to literature reviews.

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Top tips

  • Record your search strategy so that you (and others) can replicate the process - this is generally advised to ensure transparency and replicability. Document search tools used, date searches conducted, search terms, any limits (e.g., year, language), and number of hits.
  • Sign up for accounts with key database providers (e.g., Ovid and ProQuest) so that you can save articles, search strategies, alerts, and more for later use.
  • Set up alerts so that you keep up to date with material as it is published on your topic.
  • To conduct a comprehensive search, go beyond the major indexed databases to locate grey literature.
  • Manage and organise your search results using bibliographic management software such as EndNote.

An answerable question

Successfully retrieving relevant information begins with a clearly defined, well-structured question.

Davies, K.S. (2011). 'Formulating the evidence based practice question: a review of the frameworks', Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, vol. 6, no. 2, p. 75.

Video length: 7 min 24 sec

Developing a research question by Academic Skills, University of Melbourne (2018)

A range of standardised frameworks have been developed to assist in developing focused, answerable questions which can be easily broken down into searchable components for more relevant results.

Writing your assignment

Here are some resources for general writing skills:

See the following link for tips on best practices for oral presentations:

Working in groups

You may be required to work in a small group or team as part of a project. Developing teamwork skills is important for a successful project.

Check out the links below for some tips on working in teams, including how to manage conflict. Note: You must be logged in to access the LinkedIn Learning videos.

Managing files

You may also need to keep track of files created and worked on together as part of a project.

The resources below provide some suggestions on how to manage files as a part of a team:

Executive summaries 

See the videos below for tips on writing project summaries. Note: You must be logged in to access the LinkedIn Learning videos.

Watch this short video (2 min 52 sec) for tips on how to write a report or access the report writing resources below.

Write and reference

Check out the video below to learn how to put an annotated bibliography together.

Video length: 2 min 44 sec.

Use the UniSA Study Help links below to help you write and reference your assignment:

Want to know more?

Attributing images

Using images in a presentation or proposal? Make sure you reference or attribute the images correctly.

Refer to the links below for information on finding creative commons licensed images and how to attribute them correctly:

Research

If using human participants in your research, It is important that you carefully consider the ethical implications. To learn more, head to the Research ethics page of the AskResearch website.

You may be interested in exploring our Analyse data page on our Research Data Management Guide for information on tools you can use for analysing data.

Select appropriate references

While you are finding references, you need to think about whether they are appropriate to use in your assignment. You may be asked to use scholarly or peer-reviewed material to support your arguments. 

You should evaluate all resources before including them in your assignment - even if you found them through the Library Collection or databases.

Research versus review articles

It is important to understand the distinction between two common types of scholarly articles.

Research articles demonstrate original research and are referred to as primary sources. Review articles, on the other hand, synthesise and analyse current primary research in a specific subject area. Review articles, including literature reviews, systematic reviews, etc, are referred to as secondary sources.

You may be required for your assignments to focus on one or both types of articles.

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