This site is designed for the best viewing experience on a tablet or larger device. It will not display properly on a phone. please try turning your tablet sideways for landscape mode to access the toolkit, otherwise you can download and view a PDF of the content via the link below.
Copyright © Monash University (2017). All rights reserved. Except as provided in the Copyright Act 1968, this work may not be reproduced in any form without the written permission of English Connect web administrator. Material created by Dr Anna Podorova, Ms Julia Ghazarian and Dr Amber McLeod.
Your assignments, exams and thesis chapters are your responses to specific tasks so organisation and development of ideas becomes extremely important.
| Although academics and professionals in different disciplines have various approaches to structuring arguments and exploring ideas, it is useful to know about important steps in assignment and thesis preparation processes. These steps can be applicable to any type of assignments, including essays, oral presentations, posters, reports and so on. Please remember to check your faculty resources for more discipline-specific information on structuring theses and assignments. |
|
Assignment preparation overview: steps A - I*
| A | Analysing the task |
| B | Brainstorming the key words |
| C | Conceptualising your ideas/consulting the rubric |
| D | Database searching (including your records and notes) |
| E | Effective reading and note taking |
| F | Figuring out your structure (planning and outlining) |
| G | Get writing or designing: Introduction, body, conclusion |
| H | Having a break and then another go! Having another look at the assignment description and rubric |
| I | Identifying errors (and fixing them!) |
* Handy acronym prepared by Dr Allie Ford, Monash University
Figure out your structure – work on the outline. Your outline is your plan for your response to the task. Outlining is similar to the process of developing the table of contents for your response before it is written or designed.
When presenting your ideas to others please avoid a wall of words. Be kind to your reader.
Paragraphs are chunks of information usually containing a common theme or thread:
|
|
This paragraph is about the students’ learning context |
|
|
|
This paragraph is about the student’s learning style |
|
|
|
This paragraph is about how the context and learning style interact |
Topic sentences usually introduce a paragraph and give an indication of what the paragraph is going to be about:
|
|
|
Topic sentence: The student’s learning context... |
|
|
|
Topic sentence: Another important feature that needs to be considered is the student’s learning style... |
|
|
|
Topic sentence: The student’s learning context and learning style interact to... |
To conclude, assignment and thesis preparation processes are not linear: many steps are repeated (sometimes more than twice) and need to be revisited in order to produce a quality response to the task.
Copyright © Monash University (2017).
When you read for your assignments, theses and exams, pay attention to the of organisation and development of ideas.
Outline, outline, outline – spend enough time planning, developing and organising your ideas. Do not rush into writing or designing your response to the task.
When writing your thesis, assignment or exam paper, use appropriate topic sentences, structured paragraphs and linking phrases to ensure your writing is easy to follow.
Copyright © Monash University (2017).
Useful links on organisation and development of ideas
Module 9: Cohesion, ASCENT, Monash University Module 10: Coherence, ASCENT, Monash University Research and Writing for Assignments, Monash University Subject Specific Writing, Purdue Online Learning lab
Face-to-face support
Who can help with academic literacy at Monash? LearnHQ consultations - immediate support from a SAS learning advisor Meet with a librarian - support with searching and referencing
