A number of assignments are to be written during your studies. In fact, you can never get rid of assignments, as they keep popping up in your way during school days and higher studies. And to add more to it, writing and assignment mean to write anything, such as a report, essay, journal, thesis, article etc. Thus, it is a must for each student to master the skills in preparing their assignments to keep a good academic record. 

Following these steps while you work on your assignments can help you present the best assignment. 

1. Search for a good topic

For a good assignment, a good subject is a must. Brainstorm well on your ideas to conclude on a topic. Also, keep in mind that the topic which you zero down on should have adequate facts and information available. It would not be of any use to select a topic with little or no information to collect. Brainstorm as much as you can and get a good topic to begin with.

2. Do a thorough research

One of the most important parts of any assignment is research. All the facts, pieces of evidence and information which you will be providing in your work come out through research. The more you study about your subject, the more you can collect data about it. Hunt down all the sources for information, such as books, magazines, published articles, newspapers, interviews, blogs etc. If your assignment includes doing experiments on your own, do them as well and record the observations well. 

3. Discuss regularly with a mentor

To check whether you are going in the right direction or not, keep a regular touch with your adviser and take guidance from them. Not only your teacher, you can also discuss your work with your parents, siblings, tutors and other elders. 

4. Keep making notes

Totally agreed! Notes are the best thing that will help you at each step of your assignment. Jot down all the ideas that come to your mind during your research. Keep writing the important points that you come across your research in your notes as well. 

Also, keep in mind that the best notes which will work out for you are your own notes. Copying won’t be of much help, as if you borrow notes from someone else, you will be referring to their ideas, not yours. This would cast an impact on your work as well, as your outcome may not be the best of your work. 

Thus, keep your ideas original and make your own notes for reference. 

5. Draft an outline

Plan an outline of your assignment before finally beginning. This will help you in planning the structure and flow of your ideas in the best possible manner. 

Divide the entire work into sub-topics, as follows, and outline each of them.

• Title: Keep it short, crisp and catchy. A good title should be capable to create the urge to read further in one go itself.
• Introduction: The introduction should establish as to what subject you will be discussing in your work further. Introduce your topic in a brief only in the introduction; the details are to be included later in the main body. 
• Thesis statement: One of the most crucial sections of an assignment, a thesis statement is a sentence, often included in the introduction itself which states the objective of your assignment. Frame your statement well, explaining your aim to work on the subject and what study or conclusions you are looking for through your work.
• Body: The main content should be well descriptive about your ideas. Work well on the sequence of facts which have collected through your research to maintain the genuineness of your work. Also, keep in mind that each declaration should be supported by valid evidence to show the accuracy of your work. Also, do not make huge paragraphs which contain too many subtopics. Divide your body as per the sub-topics relevantly.
• Conclusion: Summarize your work in a brief in your conclusion. Do not end by simply re-stating the topic of your assignment. Also, include how your study on the subject has been fruitful.

6. Include relevant examples

Present examples which relate to your topic or declarations. An example is an instant application of a statement, which also acts as an evidence to justify it. Include examples that go on your subject to explain your ideas better.

7. Edit well

A good editing leads to a good assignment.

There will be numerous facts and information which you will collect during your research, but each of them may not be relevant for your subject. Or it may happen that you may end up finding more than one shreds of evidence for one of your statements, and it seems a challenge as to which one to include finally. Thus, work well on editing. Eliminate all the parts which are not much important and only making your assignment lengthy. Include only what is apt in your final work. 

8. Check and re-check

Watch out carefully for any error. Leaving them to be encircled late by your teachers would reflect in your grades. Thus, before you submit your assignment, make sure you go through it again and again. Make sure that all the facts, ideas, theorems, evidence, examples etc are stated correctly. Look out specifically for the spelling mistakes and the grammatical errors and correct them. A presentation would be considered good if it is without errors.

9. Do not hesitate to take help

Well, if you feel stuck anywhere, get some help from an assured source. Internet, books, teachers or classroom notes can be some of the best aids you can get to tackle the problems. Hesitating to ask for help may leave you unable to solve the issue, which can lead to a poor quality assignment.

10. No plagiarism

Students end up copying lines from online sites, either if they have not done the research properly or they try to do it all right on the last night before submission. Well, teachers are not fools either, and it is easy nowadays to catch out the copied words. Thus, stay original and be your own version! Copied sentences would steal the authenticity of your assignment, and grades too. The best solution to keep your work original is to refer from the notes which you made during your research. Following this trick, you would be referring to your own ideas and not be reading lines written by someone else. 

11. Choose bullets and points over paragraphs

If there are numerous facts to be presented under a subtopic, layout them in form of a list and avoid stating them in paragraphs instead. Listing your ideas brings more clarity to your presentation, and the readers can understand the statement better too. If there are further divisions under one point, make it like a multi-level list by further adding sub-points under the main one.

12. Use of simple language

Not all assignments may be a test of your linguistic skills. Put yourself in the readers’ shoes and think this- which assignment would you understand better, the one which has used words which are commonly used or the one which has applied numerous personifications, used words that you have never heard earlier and ended up making it all like a fictional work? 

Thus, unless required, stick to simple and easy to understand English. Do not use rare synonyms of words, which are not used much. The idea is to allow the readers to understand your piece of writing better rather than making it a vocabulary test for them.

13. Include references at the end

List out each source from where you have gathered your information. Be it a book, an article published in the newspaper, a blog or anything else, do not forget it to mention it in the references. This further adds to the authenticity of your work that you have not made up anything. 

Also, if the readers wish to know further on the subject, they can refer to the sources which you present. Follow the format of writing a reference correctly so as to avoid any errors or confusions