At university you will most likely be required to write about what you have found and write a line of reasoning to argue a point; however you will also be required to express your own thoughts and ideas and interpret the materials you have used to form the assignment. This balance is not easy but accomplishing it only gets better with practice.
“Writing has often been described as a demanding and sometimes troublesome dimension of academic life,” (Murray and Moore, 2006, p. 4).
Learning actively means being involved in your study. Active learning will enable you to better engage with, and come to a deeper understanding of, the subject areas you are studying. Several elements are involved in active learning. Developing strategies to target these forms an essential part of the learning process.
Marton and Säljö (1976), described students who treated the text as something that contained a structure of meaning and searched for its underlying concerns, its implications, and its meaning to themselves as a deep approach to learning.
One of the most common forms of assessment at university is a written assignment.
In most assignments, you are expected to present a particular point of view or 'argument' which is usually:
• focused on the assignment question or topic, and
• based on information you have researched,
“Argument is a type of academic writing, and, while argument will be the dominant discourse when you write your assignment, this does not mean that you will not be engaged in other discourse activities. Describing, explaining, and informing will all have a place in the process of developing an argument,” (Craswell and Poore, 2012, pg. 90).
Before you begin, re-read the assignment description, objectives and learning outcomes to be clear about what you are expected to do. Make sure you address the subject's key concepts and objectives.
Writing an essay usually involves answering an assignment question or responding to a statement proposed for...