Analyse the Task of Your Essay or Assignment

Step 1: Analyse the task

Confirm what you have to do by establishing some basic information. Check your course outline for assignment guidelines and be certain about the following:

The format your assignment should follow. Find out whether it is:

• an essay
• a report
• an annotated bibliography
• a critical review etc.

Each assignment has a specific purpose, distinctive components and conventions that you will be required to follow.

The length: This will affect the amount of research and how much depth you should go into.
Analyse the assignment question: read it carefully and make sure you are clear about what you are supposed to do and the key words, terms and concepts.

See The Learning Centre’s guide to 'Answering assignment questions' for further details.

See next: Step 2 - Work out your initial ideas