how to write an assignment in zambia

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Writing Assignments

Kate Derrington; Cristy Bartlett; and Sarah Irvine

Introduction

Assignments are a common method of assessment at university and require careful planning and good quality research. Developing critical thinking and writing skills are also necessary to demonstrate your ability to understand and apply information about your topic.  It is not uncommon to be unsure about the processes of writing assignments at university.

• You may be returning to study after a break
• You may have come from an exam based assessment system and never written an assignment before
• Maybe you have written assignments but would like to improve your processes and strategies

This chapter has a collection of resources that will provide you with the skills and strategies to understand assignment requirements and effectively plan, research, write and edit your assignments.  It begins with an explanation of how to analyse an assignment task and start putting your ideas together.  It continues by breaking down the components of academic writing and exploring the elements you will need to master in your written assignments. This is followed by a discussion of paraphrasing and synthesis, and how you can use these strategies to create a strong, written argument. The chapter concludes with useful checklists for editing and proofreading to help you get the best possible mark for your work.

Task Analysis and Deconstructing an Assignment

It is important that before you begin researching and writing your assignments you spend sufficient time understanding all the requirements. This will help make your research process more efficient and effective. Check your subject information such as task sheets, criteria sheets and any additional information that may be in your subject portal online. Seek clarification from your lecturer or tutor if you are still unsure about how to begin your assignments.

The task sheet typically provides key information about an assessment including the assignment question. It can be helpful to scan this document for topic, task and limiting words to ensure that you fully understand the concepts you are required to research, how to approach the assignment, and the scope of the task you have been set. These words can typically be found in your assignment question and are outlined in more detail in the two tables below (see Table 19.1 and Table 19.2 ).

Table 19.1 Parts of an Assignment Question

Make sure you have a clear understanding of what the task word requires you to address.

Table 19.2 Task words

The criteria sheet , also known as the marking sheet or rubric, is another important document to look at before you begin your assignment. The criteria sheet outlines how your assignment will be marked and should be used as a checklist to make sure you have included all the information required.

The task or criteria sheet will also include the:

• Word limit (or word count)
• Referencing style and research expectations
• Formatting requirements

Task analysis and criteria sheets are also discussed in the chapter Managing Assessments for a more detailed discussion on task analysis, criteria sheets, and marking rubrics.

Preparing your ideas

Brainstorm or concept map:  List possible ideas to address each part of the assignment task based on what you already know about the topic from lectures and weekly readings.

Finding appropriate information: Learn how to find scholarly information for your assignments which is

See the chapter Working With Information for a more detailed explanation .

What is academic writing?

Academic writing tone and style.

Many of the assessment pieces you prepare will require an academic writing style.  This is sometimes called ‘academic tone’ or ‘academic voice’.  This section will help you to identify what is required when you are writing academically (see Table 19.3 ). The best way to understand what academic writing looks like, is to read broadly in your discipline area.  Look at how your course readings, or scholarly sources, are written. This will help you identify the language of your discipline field, as well as how other writers structure their work.

Table 19.3 Comparison of academic and non-academic writing

Thesis statements

Essays are a common form of assessment that you will likely encounter during your university studies. You should apply an academic tone and style when writing an essay, just as you would in in your other assessment pieces. One of the most important steps in writing an essay is constructing your thesis statement.  A thesis statement tells the reader the purpose, argument or direction you will take to answer your assignment question. A thesis statement may not be relevant for some questions, if you are unsure check with your lecturer. The thesis statement:

• Directly  relates to the task .  Your thesis statement may even contain some of the key words or synonyms from the task description.
• Does more than restate the question.
• Is specific and uses precise language.
• Let’s your reader know your position or the main argument that you will support with evidence throughout your assignment.
• The subject is the key content area you will be covering.
• The contention is the position you are taking in relation to the chosen content.

Your thesis statement helps you to structure your essay.  It plays a part in each key section: introduction, body and conclusion.

Planning your assignment structure

When planning and drafting assignments, it is important to consider the structure of your writing. Academic writing should have clear and logical structure and incorporate academic research to support your ideas.  It can be hard to get started and at first you may feel nervous about the size of the task, this is normal. If you break your assignment into smaller pieces, it will seem more manageable as you can approach the task in sections. Refer to your brainstorm or plan. These ideas should guide your research and will also inform what you write in your draft. It is sometimes easier to draft your assignment using the 2-3-1 approach, that is, write the body paragraphs first followed by the conclusion and finally the introduction.

Writing introductions and conclusions

Clear and purposeful introductions and conclusions in assignments are fundamental to effective academic writing. Your introduction should tell the reader what is going to be covered and how you intend to approach this. Your conclusion should summarise your argument or discussion and signal to the reader that you have come to a conclusion with a final statement.  These tips below are based on the requirements usually needed for an essay assignment, however, they can be applied to other assignment types.

Writing introductions

Most writing at university will require a strong and logically structured introduction. An effective introduction should provide some background or context for your assignment, clearly state your thesis and include the key points you will cover in the body of the essay in order to prove your thesis.

Usually, your introduction is approximately 10% of your total assignment word count. It is much easier to write your introduction once you have drafted your body paragraphs and conclusion, as you know what your assignment is going to be about. An effective introduction needs to inform your reader by establishing what the paper is about and provide four basic things:

• A brief background or overview of your assignment topic
• A thesis statement (see section above)
• An outline of your essay structure
• An indication of any parameters or scope that will/ will not be covered, e.g. From an Australian perspective.

The below example demonstrates the four different elements of an introductory paragraph.

1) Information technology is having significant effects on the communication of individuals and organisations in different professions. 2) This essay will discuss the impact of information technology on the communication of health professionals.   3)  First, the provision of information technology for the educational needs of nurses will be discussed.  4)  This will be followed by an explanation of the significant effects that information technology can have on the role of general practitioner in the area of public health.  5)  Considerations will then be made regarding the lack of knowledge about the potential of computers among hospital administrators and nursing executives.  6)   The final section will explore how information technology assists health professionals in the delivery of services in rural areas .  7)  It will be argued that information technology has significant potential to improve health care and medical education, but health professionals are reluctant to use it.

1 Brief background/ overview | 2 Indicates the scope of what will be covered |   3-6 Outline of the main ideas (structure) | 7 The thesis statement

Note : The examples in this document are taken from the University of Canberra and used under a CC-BY-SA-3.0 licence.

Writing conclusions

You should aim to end your assignments with a strong conclusion. Your conclusion should restate your thesis and summarise the key points you have used to prove this thesis. Finish with a key point as a final impactful statement.  Similar to your introduction, your conclusion should be approximately 10% of the total assignment word length. If your assessment task asks you to make recommendations, you may need to allocate more words to the conclusion or add a separate recommendations section before the conclusion. Use the checklist below to check your conclusion is doing the right job.

Conclusion checklist 

• Have you referred to the assignment question and restated your argument (or thesis statement), as outlined in the introduction?
• Have you pulled together all the threads of your essay into a logical ending and given it a sense of unity?
• Have you presented implications or recommendations in your conclusion? (if required by your task).
• Have you added to the overall quality and impact of your essay? This is your final statement about this topic; thus, a key take-away point can make a great impact on the reader.
• Remember, do not add any new material or direct quotes in your conclusion.

This below example demonstrates the different elements of a concluding paragraph.

1) It is evident, therefore, that not only do employees need to be trained for working in the Australian multicultural workplace, but managers also need to be trained.  2)  Managers must ensure that effective in-house training programs are provided for migrant workers, so that they become more familiar with the English language, Australian communication norms and the Australian work culture.  3)  In addition, Australian native English speakers need to be made aware of the differing cultural values of their workmates; particularly the different forms of non-verbal communication used by other cultures.  4)  Furthermore, all employees must be provided with clear and detailed guidelines about company expectations.  5)  Above all, in order to minimise communication problems and to maintain an atmosphere of tolerance, understanding and cooperation in the multicultural workplace, managers need to have an effective knowledge about their employees. This will help employers understand how their employee’s social conditioning affects their beliefs about work. It will develop their communication skills to develop confidence and self-esteem among diverse work groups. 6) The culturally diverse Australian workplace may never be completely free of communication problems, however,   further studies to identify potential problems and solutions, as well as better training in cross cultural communication for managers and employees,   should result in a much more understanding and cooperative environment. 

1  Reference to thesis statement – In this essay the writer has taken the position that training is required for both employees and employers . | 2-5 Structure overview – Here the writer pulls together the main ideas in the essay. | 6  Final summary statement that is based on the evidence.

Note: The examples in this document are taken from the University of Canberra and used under a CC-BY-SA-3.0 licence.

Writing paragraphs

Paragraph writing is a key skill that enables you to incorporate your academic research into your written work.  Each paragraph should have its own clearly identified topic sentence or main idea which relates to the argument or point (thesis) you are developing.  This idea should then be explained by additional sentences which you have paraphrased from good quality sources and referenced according to the recommended guidelines of your subject (see the chapter Working with Information ). Paragraphs are characterised by increasing specificity; that is, they move from the general to the specific, increasingly refining the reader’s understanding. A common structure for paragraphs in academic writing is as follows.

Topic Sentence 

This is the main idea of the paragraph and should relate to the overall issue or purpose of your assignment is addressing. Often it will be expressed as an assertion or claim which supports the overall argument or purpose of your writing.

Explanation/ Elaboration

The main idea must have its meaning explained and elaborated upon. Think critically, do not just describe the idea.

These explanations must include evidence to support your main idea. This information should be paraphrased and referenced according to the appropriate referencing style of your course.

Concluding sentence (critical thinking)

This should explain why the topic of the paragraph is relevant to the assignment question and link to the following paragraph.

Use the checklist below to check your paragraphs are clear and well formed.

Paragraph checklist

• Does your paragraph have a clear main idea?
• Is everything in the paragraph related to this main idea?
• Is the main idea adequately developed and explained?
• Do your sentences run together smoothly?
• Have you included evidence to support your ideas?
• Have you concluded the paragraph by connecting it to your overall topic?

Writing sentences

Make sure all the sentences in your paragraphs make sense. Each sentence must contain a verb to be a complete sentence. Avoid sentence fragments . These are incomplete sentences or ideas that are unfinished and create confusion for your reader. Avoid also run on sentences . This happens when you join two ideas or clauses without using the appropriate punctuation. This also confuses your meaning (See the chapter English Language Foundations for examples and further explanation).

Use transitions (linking words and phrases) to connect your ideas between paragraphs and make your writing flow. The order that you structure the ideas in your assignment should reflect the structure you have outlined in your introduction. Refer to transition words table in the chapter English Language Foundations.

Paraphrasing and Synthesising

Paraphrasing and synthesising are powerful tools that you can use to support the main idea of a paragraph. It is likely that you will regularly use these skills at university to incorporate evidence into explanatory sentences and strengthen your essay. It is important to paraphrase and synthesise because:

• Paraphrasing is regarded more highly at university than direct quoting.
• Paraphrasing can also help you better understand the material.
• Paraphrasing and synthesising demonstrate you have understood what you have read through your ability to summarise and combine arguments from the literature using your own words.

What is paraphrasing?

Paraphrasing is changing the writing of another author into your words while retaining the original meaning. You must acknowledge the original author as the source of the information in your citation. Follow the steps in this table to help you build your skills in paraphrasing (see Table 19.4 ).

Table 19.4 Paraphrasing techniques

Example of paraphrasing

Please note that these examples and in text citations are for instructional purposes only.

Original text

Health care professionals   assist people often when they are at their most  vulnerable . To provide the best care and understand their needs, workers must demonstrate good communication skills .  They must develop patient trust and provide empathy   to effectively work with patients who are experiencing a variety of situations including those who may be suffering from trauma or violence, physical or mental illness or substance abuse (French & Saunders, 2018).

Poor quality paraphrase example

This is a poor example of paraphrasing. Some synonyms have been used and the order of a few words changed within the sentences however the colours of the sentences indicate that the paragraph follows the same structure as the original text.

Health care sector workers are often responsible for vulnerable  patients.   To understand patients and deliver good service , they need to be excellent communicators .  They must establish patient rapport and show empathy if they are to successfully care for patients from a variety of backgrounds  and with different medical, psychological and social needs (French & Saunders, 2018).

A good quality paraphrase example

This example demonstrates a better quality paraphrase. The author has demonstrated more understanding of the overall concept in the text by using the keywords as the basis to reconstruct the paragraph. Note how the blocks of colour have been broken up to see how much the structure has changed from the original text.

Empathetic   communication is a vital skill for health care workers.   Professionals in these fields   are often responsible for patients with complex medical, psychological and social needs. Empathetic   communication assists in building rapport and gaining the necessary trust   to assist these vulnerable patients  by providing appropriate supportive care (French & Saunders, 2018).

The good quality paraphrase example demonstrates understanding of the overall concept in the text by using key words as the basis to reconstruct the paragraph.  Note how the blocks of colour have been broken up, which indicates how much the structure has changed from the original text.

What is synthesising?

Synthesising means to bring together more than one source of information to strengthen your argument. Once you have learnt how to paraphrase the ideas of one source at a time, you can consider adding additional sources to support your argument. Synthesis demonstrates your understanding and ability to show connections between multiple pieces of evidence to support your ideas and is a more advanced academic thinking and writing skill.

Follow the steps in this table to improve your synthesis techniques (see Table 19.5 ).

Table 19.5 Synthesising techniques

Example of synthesis

There is a relationship between academic procrastination and mental health outcomes.  Procrastination has been found to have a negative effect on students’ well-being (Balkis, & Duru, 2016). Yerdelen, McCaffrey, and Klassens’ (2016) research results suggested that there was a positive association between procrastination and anxiety. This was corroborated by Custer’s (2018) findings which indicated that students with higher levels of procrastination also reported greater levels of the anxiety. Therefore, it could be argued that procrastination is an ineffective learning strategy that leads to increased levels of distress.

Topic sentence | Statements using paraphrased evidence | Critical thinking (student voice) | Concluding statement – linking to topic sentence

This example demonstrates a simple synthesis. The author has developed a paragraph with one central theme and included explanatory sentences complete with in-text citations from multiple sources. Note how the blocks of colour have been used to illustrate the paragraph structure and synthesis (i.e., statements using paraphrased evidence from several sources). A more complex synthesis may include more than one citation per sentence.

Creating an argument

What does this mean.

Throughout your university studies, you may be asked to ‘argue’ a particular point or position in your writing. You may already be familiar with the idea of an argument, which in general terms means to have a disagreement with someone. Similarly, in academic writing, if you are asked to create an argument, this means you are asked to have a position on a particular topic, and then justify your position using evidence.

What skills do you need to create an argument?

In order to create a good and effective argument, you need to be able to:

• Read critically to find evidence
• Plan your argument
• Think and write critically throughout your paper to enhance your argument

For tips on how to read and write critically, refer to the chapter Thinking for more information. A formula for developing a strong argument is presented below.

A formula for a good argument

What does an argument look like?

As can be seen from the figure above, including evidence is a key element of a good argument. While this may seem like a straightforward task, it can be difficult to think of wording to express your argument. The table below provides examples of how you can illustrate your argument in academic writing (see Table 19.6 ).

Table 19.6 Argument

Editing and proofreading (reviewing)

Once you have finished writing your first draft it is recommended that you spend time revising your work.  Proofreading and editing are two different stages of the revision process.

• Editing considers the overall focus or bigger picture of the assignment
• Proofreading considers the finer details

As can be seen in the figure above there are four main areas that you should review during the editing phase of the revision process. The main things to consider when editing include content, structure, style, and sources. It is important to check that all the content relates to the assignment task, the structure is appropriate for the purposes of the assignment, the writing is academic in style, and that sources have been adequately acknowledged. Use the checklist below when editing your work.

Editing checklist

• Have I answered the question accurately?
• Do I have enough credible, scholarly supporting evidence?
• Is my writing tone objective and formal enough or have I used emotive and informal language?
• Have I written in the third person not the first person?
• Do I have appropriate in-text citations for all my information?
• Have I included the full details for all my in-text citations in my reference list?

There are also several key things to look out for during the proofreading phase of the revision process. In this stage it is important to check your work for word choice, grammar and spelling, punctuation and referencing errors. It can be easy to mis-type words like ‘from’ and ‘form’ or mix up words like ‘trail’ and ‘trial’ when writing about research, apply American rather than Australian spelling, include unnecessary commas or incorrectly format your references list. The checklist below is a useful guide that you can use when proofreading your work.

Proofreading checklist

• Is my spelling and grammar accurate?
•  Are they complete?
• Do they all make sense?
• Do they only contain only one idea?
• Do the different elements (subject, verb, nouns, pronouns) within my sentences agree?
• Are my sentences too long and complicated?
• Do they contain only one idea per sentence?
• Is my writing concise? Take out words that do not add meaning to your sentences.
• Have I used appropriate discipline specific language but avoided words I don’t know or understand that could possibly be out of context?
• Have I avoided discriminatory language and colloquial expressions (slang)?
• Is my referencing formatted correctly according to my assignment guidelines? (for more information on referencing refer to the Managing Assessment feedback section).

This chapter has examined the experience of writing assignments.  It began by focusing on how to read and break down an assignment question, then highlighted the key components of essays. Next, it examined some techniques for paraphrasing and summarising, and how to build an argument. It concluded with a discussion on planning and structuring your assignment and giving it that essential polish with editing and proof-reading. Combining these skills and practising them, can greatly improve your success with this very common form of assessment.

• Academic writing requires clear and logical structure, critical thinking and the use of credible scholarly sources.
• A thesis statement is important as it tells the reader the position or argument you have adopted in your assignment. Not all assignments will require a thesis statement.
• Spending time analysing your task and planning your structure before you start to write your assignment is time well spent.
• Information you use in your assignment should come from credible scholarly sources such as textbooks and peer reviewed journals. This information needs to be paraphrased and referenced appropriately.
• Paraphrasing means putting something into your own words and synthesising means to bring together several ideas from sources.
• Creating an argument is a four step process and can be applied to all types of academic writing.
• Editing and proofreading are two separate processes.

Academic Skills Centre. (2013). Writing an introduction and conclusion . University of Canberra, accessed 13 August, 2013, http://www.canberra.edu.au/studyskills/writing/conclusions

Balkis, M., & Duru, E. (2016). Procrastination, self-regulation failure, academic life satisfaction, and affective well-being: underregulation or misregulation form. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 31 (3), 439-459.

Custer, N. (2018). Test anxiety and academic procrastination among prelicensure nursing students. Nursing education perspectives, 39 (3), 162-163.

Yerdelen, S., McCaffrey, A., & Klassen, R. M. (2016). Longitudinal examination of procrastination and anxiety, and their relation to self-efficacy for self-regulated learning: Latent growth curve modeling. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 16 (1).

Writing Assignments Copyright © 2021 by Kate Derrington; Cristy Bartlett; and Sarah Irvine is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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How to Write a Perfect Assignment: Step-By-Step Guide

Table of contents

• 1 How to Structure an Assignment?
• 2.1 The research part
• 2.2 Planning your text
• 2.3 Writing major parts
• 3 Expert Tips for your Writing Assignment
• 4 Will I succeed with my assignments?
• 5 Conclusion

How to Structure an Assignment?

To cope with assignments, you should familiarize yourself with the tips on formatting and presenting assignments or any written paper, which are given below. It is worth paying attention to the content of the paper, making it structured and understandable so that ideas are not lost and thoughts do not refute each other.

If the topic is free or you can choose from the given list — be sure to choose the one you understand best. Especially if that could affect your semester score or scholarship. It is important to select an  engaging title that is contextualized within your topic. A topic that should captivate you or at least give you a general sense of what is needed there. It’s easier to dwell upon what interests you, so the process goes faster.

To construct an assignment structure, use outlines. These are pieces of text that relate to your topic. It can be ideas, quotes, all your thoughts, or disparate arguments. Type in everything that you think about. Separate thoughts scattered across the sheets of Word will help in the next step.

Then it is time to form the text. At this stage, you have to form a coherent story from separate pieces, where each new thought reinforces the previous one, and one idea smoothly flows into another.

Main Steps of Assignment Writing

These are steps to take to get a worthy paper. If you complete these step-by-step, your text will be among the most exemplary ones.

The research part

If the topic is unique and no one has written about it yet, look at materials close to this topic to gain thoughts about it. You should feel that you are ready to express your thoughts. Also, while reading, get acquainted with the format of the articles, study the details, collect material for your thoughts, and accumulate different points of view for your article. Be careful at this stage, as the process can help you develop your ideas. If you are already struggling here, pay for assignment to be done , and it will be processed in a split second via special services. These services are especially helpful when the deadline is near as they guarantee fast delivery of high-quality papers on any subject.

If you use Google to search for material for your assignment, you will, of course, find a lot of information very quickly. Still, the databases available on your library’s website will give you the clearest and most reliable facts that satisfy your teacher or professor. Be sure you copy the addresses of all the web pages you will use when composing your paper, so you don’t lose them. You can use them later in your bibliography if you add a bit of description! Select resources and extract quotes from them that you can use while working. At this stage, you may also create a  request for late assignment if you realize the paper requires a lot of effort and is time-consuming. This way, you’ll have a backup plan if something goes wrong.

Planning your text

Assemble a layout. It may be appropriate to use the structure of the paper of some outstanding scientists in your field and argue it in one of the parts. As the planning progresses, you can add suggestions that come to mind. If you use citations that require footnotes, and if you use single spacing throughout the paper and double spacing at the end, it will take you a very long time to make sure that all the citations are on the exact pages you specified! Add a reference list or bibliography. If you haven’t already done so, don’t put off writing an essay until the last day. It will be more difficult to do later as you will be stressed out because of time pressure.

Writing major parts

It happens that there is simply no mood or strength to get started and zero thoughts. In that case, postpone this process for 2-3 hours, and, perhaps, soon, you will be able to start with renewed vigor. Writing essays is a great (albeit controversial) way to improve your skills. This experience will not be forgotten. It will certainly come in handy and bring many benefits in the future. Do your best here because asking for an extension is not always possible, so you probably won’t have time to redo it later. And the quality of this part defines the success of the whole paper.

Writing the major part does not mean the matter is finished. To review the text, make sure that the ideas of the introduction and conclusion coincide because such a discrepancy is the first thing that will catch the reader’s eye and can spoil the impression. Add or remove anything from your intro to edit it to fit the entire paper. Also, check your spelling and grammar to ensure there are no typos or draft comments. Check the sources of your quotes so that your it is honest and does not violate any rules. And do not forget the formatting rules.

with the right tips and guidance, it can be easier than it looks. To make the process even more straightforward, students can also use an assignment service to get the job done. This way they can get professional assistance and make sure that their assignments are up to the mark. At PapersOwl, we provide a professional writing service where students can order custom-made assignments that meet their exact requirements.

Expert Tips for your Writing Assignment

Want to write like a pro? Here’s what you should consider:

• Save the document! Send the finished document by email to yourself so you have a backup copy in case your computer crashes.
• Don’t wait until the last minute to complete a list of citations or a bibliography after the paper is finished. It will be much longer and more difficult, so add to them as you go.
• If you find a lot of information on the topic of your search, then arrange it in a separate paragraph.
• If possible, choose a topic that you know and are interested in.
• Believe in yourself! If you set yourself up well and use your limited time wisely, you will be able to deliver the paper on time.
• Do not copy information directly from the Internet without citing them.

Writing assignments is a tedious and time-consuming process. It requires a lot of research and hard work to produce a quality paper. However, if you are feeling overwhelmed or having difficulty understanding the concept, you may want to consider getting accounting homework help online . Professional experts can assist you in understanding how to complete your assignment effectively. PapersOwl.com offers expert help from highly qualified and experienced writers who can provide you with the homework help you need.

Will I succeed with my assignments?

Anyone can learn how to be good at writing: follow simple rules of creating the structure and be creative where it is appropriate. At one moment, you will need some additional study tools, study support, or solid study tips. And you can easily get help in writing assignments or any other work. This is especially useful since the strategy of learning how to write an assignment can take more time than a student has.

Therefore all students are happy that there is an option to  order your paper at a professional service to pass all the courses perfectly and sleep still at night. You can also find the sample of the assignment there to check if you are on the same page and if not — focus on your papers more diligently.

So, in the times of studies online, the desire and skill to research and write may be lost. Planning your assignment carefully and presenting arguments step-by-step is necessary to succeed with your homework. When going through your references, note the questions that appear and answer them, building your text. Create a cover page, proofread the whole text, and take care of formatting. Feel free to use these rules for passing your next assignments.

When it comes to writing an assignment, it can be overwhelming and stressful, but Papersowl is here to make it easier for you. With a range of helpful resources available, Papersowl can assist you in creating high-quality written work, regardless of whether you’re starting from scratch or refining an existing draft. From conducting research to creating an outline, and from proofreading to formatting, the team at Papersowl has the expertise to guide you through the entire writing process and ensure that your assignment meets all the necessary requirements.

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Evaluating information

Critical thinking for reading and research

Step-by-step guide to tackling assessments

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Plan your assessment

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The steps below will help you plan, research, write and review your assessment.

The most important thing is to start and start early. If you give yourself enough time to plan, research, write and revise your work you won't have to rush. Once you've started, you’ll also have something that you can improve on.

For help working out how much time you will need for each step try the  Assignment Planner – RMIT University

Step 1 – Understand the assessment task

Before you start your assessment make sure you analyse the assessment task or question and understand what you have been asked to do. This will help you focus your research.

Find out how to understand your assessment task

Also check what type of assessment you are doing. Is it an essay or a report? This will help you focus your research and know how to structure your assessment.

Learn more in the types of assessments page

Find  how your work will be assessed

Step 2 – Plan

Planning how you will answer your assessment task or question will help you focus and make writing your assessment easier. You will have a structure to follow, and can make sure you answer the assessment task correctly.

Step 3 – Do your research

Next, research your topic and find relevant and reliable information. You will find some in your course materials and recommended readings, but you can also try:

• the Open Polytechnic Library
• online sources
• talking to experts.

Tips on how to research

  Tip – After you do your research review your plan to make sure it still works with the information you found. 

Step 4 – Write

It will then be time to start writing.

First draft

• Write your first draft following your plan. Fill in the gaps, writing your main points for each section.
• Write freely. Get as much down as you can without worrying about the wording being 100 per cent right.
• You may find it easiest to start with the conclusion, so you know the direction your writing is heading.
• Leave the introduction until last.

Don’t spend too much time trying to make this draft perfect as it will change!

• Revise your draft, and check that it makes sense and includes everything it needs to.
• Fine tune the wording, and make sure your writing flows well.
• Keep different copies of your drafts as you may want to go back to them.
• Compile your bibliography or reference list.

More on writing skills and academic writing

Step 5 – Review

Once you're happy, take a break. Get some distance so you can check your work with a fresh eye. Then edit and proofread.

Look at the big picture

• Have you answered the question you were set? Check your work against the marking schedule as well as the question.
• Is the structure correct? Is the content logically arranged?
• Have you included all relevant parts? For example, the title page, introduction, conclusion, reference list?
• Does your assessment read well with each section flowing smoothly on to the next? A good way to check this is to read it aloud.
• Have you used your own words and acknowledged all your sources?
• Is your assessment well presented?

Check the details

• Have you used academic English (if needed)?
• Check the grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Don’t just use a spell checker (it won’t pick everything up).
• Check your referencing. Is your APA referencing correct?
• Are your pages numbered?
• Have you included your name, student ID, the assessment details and the date on each page?

Tip – If possible, ask a friend or family member to proofread your assessment, as it can be difficult to see mistakes in your own work.

Once you’re happy, submit your assessment.

Submitting your assessment

Got a question?

If you want to talk with someone about planning your assessment, contact The Library and Learning Centre | Te Whare Pukapuka Wāhanga Whakapakari Ako. 

Contact the Library and Learning Centre

Accessing & Submitting Assignments

To access and submit assignments, use the following steps:

• Visit the Institute of Distance Education website by typing “ide.unza.zm” in your web browser (mozila, chrome,internet explorer etc.)
• On your left-hand side locate and click on “eLearning portal”
• A login screen will open with provision to enter your USERNAME and PASSWORD. Enter your username and password and login.
• When you login you will arrive at the dashboard and all your registered courses will be listed. Click on the course you wish to access.
• To access assignments, on the menu on the left, locate and click on “assignments”. ALL the assignments for that particular course will be shown on the dashboard.
• Click on the assignment you wish to access (eg. Assignment 1). You can then work on your assignment and serve it in word version.
• To submit your assignment to the Lecturer, click on the blue “submit button” on the top right.
• Click on “choose file” and locate the Assignment file you wish to upload and click on the open button.
• To complete your submission click on the “submit assignment button”. A submission status prompt will appear saying “Turned in”.

Note : In case of any problems kindly contact IDE .

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CAVENDISH UNIVERSITY ZAMBIA ASSIGNMENT BRIEF AND FEEDBACK FORM STUDENT NUMBER: 002-926

THATS JUST AN ASSIGNMENT THAT IN ATTEMPTED

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Ruth Hartley

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How to be a published writer in Zambia – or anywhere in the world

Ruth Hartley 30 January 2021 Book Publishing , Education , Festival , The Shaping of Water , Writing Process , Zambia 17 Comments

Writers Circle

I want to thank Daniel Sikazwe very much or inviting me to take part with Mubanga Kalimamukwento , the author of The Mourning Bird . in this Writers Circle online forum.  Mubanga and I have published our books in different ways and I’m here to tell you about the decisions I made and why I decided to self-publish.

First of all, I must say how essential storytelling, writing books, publishing books and selling books is for any society. So, too, is a free press, journalism and the visual arts. Nobody will get rich by doing any of these things, but they are the acts of love and truth-telling which keep society going. This is important!

I very much enjoyed the Writers Circle this evening and I was impressed by the depth and quality of the discussion and the interest and support for Zambian writers. I haven’t much experience of Zoom and still have a lot to learn about the best ways to contribute to it and to benefit from it. Many thanks to Daniel for inviting me. I’d be happy to continue some of the discussions here or in another online site.

A self-published writer

I’m a self-published writer because I couldn’t find a traditional publisher for my first book. This is the reason why. One of my many letters of rejection said my book was a fluent, poetic, well-written story and the publisher liked it. BUT there was one major problem.

My book was not easy to market .

Marketing is the most important key to understanding the problem of publishing books. I tried to get published 25 years ago before digital publishing took off, but the traditional publishing world was already changing and its concerns were becoming more about commerce and less about sustaining writers. I’m an older woman like absolutely millions of other reasonably good writers in English, so the competition is tremendous. In any case book marketing concentrates on the myth of selling the unique and the exceptional. Just being a good writer is not enough to make the book pay; you also need a special hook.

The age of digital publishing has arrived

In this age it is digital publishing that is marketable rather than the writers who use it! There are millions of independent authors who self-publish and make money for the digital publishers. Self-publishing is now a larger proportion of the global book industry than traditional publishing. Doing it well costs the individual writer a great deal of money, but the catch is that even after a writer has self-published, they still face the same problem – marketing their books . Thousands of books both digitally and traditionally published disappear and die a year or so after publication because they aren’t marketed hard enough.

Publishing in the age of Covid-19

We don’t have to get up from our desks to do it. We don’t even have to go to the Post Office. That’s wonderful.

Marketing is the problem for all kinds of publishers, writers and their books. Marketing is very hard work; it allows no let-up in effort and it also has costs in time and money

Publishing in Zambia and Zimbabwe

Before I tell you about my own self-publishing experiences, I will briefly mention publishing in Zambia and Zimbabwe. Fay Gadsden of Gadsden Publishers is really the person for you to ask but this is the gist of what she said to me and it is echoed by Irene Staunton of Weaver Press in Zimbabwe. (Irene and I both grew up in Wedza district in Zimbabwe.)

First of all, a country needs good political governance and a commitment to education and to buying – and paying – for textbooks for schools. This is the basis for any book industry in any country. (If parents have to buy textbooks, they resort to photocopying textbooks which is a crime against intellectual property which matters to writers and to PEN .) There was a lot of discussion around this issue tonight.

Next, you need bookshops that sell fiction and non-fiction and pay the publishers and the writers for the books they sell.

A progressive attitude, an understanding of literary culture and support from government is essential for the development of Zambian literature rather than the exertion of any kind of arbitrary censorship. Even if all of that is sorted publishers and writers are still left with the problems of promoting and marketing books. What this means is that publishers have to limit the selection of books they publish simply to meet the requirements of marketing and selling.

Modjaji Books in Cape Town publishes books by women but is not accepting submissions this year. They are just too busy. I did once submit a book to them but its owner, Colleen Higgs , told me that it is impossible to market books if the writer is not able to appear at all the publicity events. Writers find that even if they have a traditional publisher it will still be up to them to do most of the marketing for their own book and that means physically appearing at book launches and fairs to talk about their work. As Fay says – books need to be promoted.

I decided to self-publish for these reasons – I didn’t fit easily into any marketing category and given my age and the number of books I wanted to write digital publishing was going to be faster than traditional publishing where I would have to keep submitting and facing rejections before I found a publisher. My own self-publishing ventures were an enormous learning curve. Pick up any novel – turn to the acknowledgements page and imagine paying all those listed there with money and not with words. Traditional publishers pay these costs for writers but self-published writers pay them upfront before selling one book. Be very wary when selecting a self-publisher for your book – make sure they fulfil their promises to the letter and make sure that every stage is done well.

Self-publishing and its costs

The first thing to input cost-wise is the investment in time spent writing the book – don’t expect a return for that – but let’s say you start at minus 10,000 dollars for a year’s unpaid work. To make sure the book is good you need an editor or at the least a beta-reader – that’s well over 600 dollars. Pick your publisher and then pay them for pre-press production, cover design, copy edit, proof-read, and finally, printing. You’ll probably go for POD (print-on-demand) with a few hard copies to use for marketing. By this stage you are well over 3000 dollars in costs and you still need an eBook, a website, and several marketing plans, none of which is free. If you get away with costs under 6,000 dollars you are doing well. You’ll probably pay to be a member the Alliance of Independent Authors and you’ll find yourself paying to get onto review sites.

One solution is to employ an agent to do your marketing at a huge salary. Another is to learn those new skills yourself. You’ll be so busy that you won’t have much time left to write. You discover that you have to sell yourself as well as your book. You have to decide what genre best describes your novel and you have to learn the 5-finger elevator pitch to sell it to your public.

I was advised that I would need to self-publish a large number of books before I even began to be noticed – at least 6 and as many as 10 – that’s a big investment in time and money.

The importance of a website

All writers need their own websites, but self-published writers most of all. Good ones cost money and MUST be maintained and use SEOs – search engines to find your readers and reviewers. My website was created by Get-It-Write who still look after it for me.

Self-publishing well is also writing well

In whatever way books are published – a writer’s most important relationship is with their editor. It is the hardest relationship and the most rewarding. Your editor criticises your book and your writing style in ways that would cause divorce in a marriage. It can be very painful and exposing but it is a working relationship and produces a book of quality. You can of course “Privish” your book if you want – that is publish it for yourself alone.

But writers, I think, write for readers so let us all do it well as possible.

Ways to go forward in Zambia – book fairs, writing workshops, writing competitions – it doesn’t matter if they are small and local – it’s a community that we all need. We need libraries too. Here is an excellent article by Roger Stringer about the Zimbabwe International Book Fair which will one day hopefully, happen again.

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17 Comments on “How to be a published writer in Zambia – or anywhere in the world”

Well done for putting this up, Ruth. If you don’t mind, I would like to comment on two things:

“Self-publishing”. You say: “Be very wary when selecting a self-publisher for your book”. And you say: “Pick your publisher and then pay them for pre-press production, cover design, copy edit, proof-read, and finally, printing”. If you, the writer, are self-publishing, you, yourself, are the publisher. So it would help if you could perhaps clarify how you see the distinction between “publisher” and “self-publisher”. Does it come down only to who pays for the creation of the product (i.e. takes the risk) and who receives what proportion of the income from sales? Or do you see more to it than that?

Related to that, how much “management responsibility” should the writers–self-publishers take over the process? How do they make sure that the people they are paying are doing what they are being paid for to their satisfaction? Does the writer need to ensure, for example, that the book has an ISBN and that no author rights will be lost. Is there a “checklist” for these things? Also, I don’t see the word “contract” in here – do you have any advice about contracts with those who provide these services to self-publishers?

“Marketing” You seem to regard marketing primarily as “advertising and promotion”? I would suggest that it is much more than that and must start much earlier in the publishing process – in fact, as soon as one thinks, “I’m going to write and publish a book”. Even the choice of the title of the book, and particularly the design of the cover, are important parts of marketing. People often do judge a book by its cover. If you don’t have a unique or “catchy” title and an appropriate cover – which includes the back-cover blurb – it can make it much more difficult to promote and sell the book.

Hi Roger – Thanks for these useful and valuable comments – writers please take note of this good advice. Each paragraph requires another whole blog to deal with the issues raised here. In fact, this comment could easily make a book on self-publishing and marketing.

Today I came across this two-year old article where French author Marco Koskas, whose book Bande de Français won the Prix Renaudot, takes a positive view of self-publishing and of Amazon as a marketing platform for self-published authors… I found it useful to balance against the negative opinions that many people express about both: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/sep/15/french-bookshops-revolt-after-prize-selects-novel-self-published-on-amazon

Thank you Tia – yes – this is a very interesting article and worth reading. Though the French do have a real reverence for literature – I know that so many believe in publishing their own work and it seems to be embedded in French democracy as part of freedom and their human rights rather than a way of becoming rich and famous. Ruth

How and where do I buy an ISBN number for a book in Zambia? Where can I copyright? And do I need an ISBN barcode?

Hi Faith – my wonderful manager and man, John, found the information for you about ISBN numbers. See it in his comment on this post. I was going to suggest asking a publisher in Zambia for the info. Your publishers/printer will place the relevant barcode on your book and the copyright declaration and symbol. It is worthwhile emailing your book document to yourself as you work on it. It means that you can recover it if your computer fails and also it is proof that it is your own work done and dated. Also copy your work onto a stick or into the Cloud. Best wishes Ruth

ISBN numbers for Zambia can be founf here:-

Agency: Zambia Organization: The ISBN Secretariat Address: Booksellers & Publishers Association of Zambia P.O. Box 51109 Lusaka Phone 1: (+260) 977 746477 Phone 2: (+260 1) 253 952 Email: [email protected] Contact 1 Contact Name Anson Banda

Thank you John – John found me ISBN numbers in France! Faith Mwansa – here is your answer!

That’s you so much

Thank you so much for taking your time in generously making this information available. Can you please assist me with further details on how I can go about with putting my self published book online as a Zambian author.

Self-supporting Church

Writing on women in Southern Africa, and Self- Supporting Church & families

Hi Goliath, Thaank you for your comment on this post. I think perhaps it would be better if you enlarged on it a bit more so that we can understand what you are saying about writing and churches?

I am written a book on physical encounter with Satan titled “The big controversy – the battle of whom your soul belongs vrs ancestral deeds and demands”. This book teaches an individual to identity his or her position or destiny on earth and the battles that come with it plus how to know and disconnect ourselves from strange ancient family activities that allows Satan to take ownership of our soul. Will publish soon in Zambia. I’ve gotten the ISBN contacts from the comments here. Please any advice on this project is welcome. I would like to self publish the book

Dear Mac-Louis, Several of my blog posts deal with the issues of self-publication – please read them if you think they will help. I suggest that you also do searches online to find advice. Your book seems to deal with a very specific subject matter and I think you might be wise to find writers or publishers who deal with the same genres and similar subjects to help you. I don’t feel that I would be much use. Best wishes. Ruth

I want an ISBN for my book the throne vs thrones

Hi Capson, I don’t know anything about ISBNs in Zambia I’m afraid. I know they work and cost differently in France and Britain. You can search on the internet or you can ask a publisher in Zambia. You’ll find Zambian publishers on Facebook. Here is one https://www.zambiayp.com/category/Book_publishers#:~:text=Best%20Book%20Publishers%20in%20Zambia%201%20DNK%20CONSULTANCY,Mwajionera%20Publishers%20 …%207%20Wera%20Publication%20LTD%20

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Academic Experience

Great survey questions: How to write them & avoid common mistakes

Learning how to write survey questions is both art and science. The wording you choose can make the difference between accurate, useful data and just the opposite. Fortunately, we’ve got a raft of tips to help.

Figuring out how to make a good survey that yields actionable insights is all about sweating the details. And writing effective questionnaire questions is the first step.

Essential for success is understanding the different types of survey questions and how they work. Each format needs a slightly different approach to question-writing.

In this article, we’ll share how to write survey questionnaires and list some common errors to avoid so you can improve your surveys and the data they provide.

Free eBook: The Qualtrics survey template guide

Survey question types

Did you know that Qualtrics provides 23 question types you can use in your surveys ? Some are very popular and used frequently by a wide range of people from students to market researchers, while others are more specialist and used to explore complex topics. Here’s an introduction to some basic survey question formats, and how to write them well.

Multiple choice

Familiar to many, multiple choice questions ask a respondent to pick from a range of options. You can set up the question so that only one selection is possible, or allow more than one to be ticked.

When writing a multiple choice question…

• Be clear about whether the survey taker should choose one (“pick only one”) or several (“select all that apply”).
• Think carefully about the options you provide, since these will shape your results data.
• The phrase “of the following” can be helpful for setting expectations. For example, if you ask “What is your favorite meal” and provide the options “hamburger and fries”, “spaghetti and meatballs”, there’s a good chance your respondent’s true favorite won’t be included. If you add “of the following” the question makes more sense.

Asking participants to rank things in order, whether it’s order of preference, frequency or perceived value, is done using a rank structure. There can be a variety of interfaces, including drag-and-drop, radio buttons, text boxes and more.

When writing a rank order question…

• Explain how the interface works and what the respondent should do to indicate their choice. For example “drag and drop the items in this list to show your order of preference.”
• Be clear about which end of the scale is which. For example, “With the best at the top, rank these items from best to worst”
• Be as specific as you can about how the respondent should consider the options and how to rank them. For example, “thinking about the last 3 months’ viewing, rank these TV streaming services in order of quality, starting with the best”

Slider structures ask the respondent to move a pointer or button along a scale, usually a numerical one, to indicate their answers.

When writing a slider question…

• Consider whether the question format will be intuitive to your respondents, and whether you should add help text such as “click/tap and drag on the bar to select your answer”
• Qualtrics includes the option for an open field where your respondent can type their answer instead of using a slider. If you offer this, make sure to reference it in the survey question so the respondent understands its purpose.

Also known as an open field question, this format allows survey-takers to answer in their own words by typing into the comments box.

When writing a text entry question…

• Use open-ended question structures like “How do you feel about…” “If you said x, why?” or “What makes a good x?”
• Open-ended questions take more effort to answer, so use these types of questions sparingly.
• Be as clear and specific as possible in how you frame the question. Give them as much context as you can to help make answering easier. For example, rather than “How is our customer service?”, write “Thinking about your experience with us today, in what areas could we do better?”

Matrix table

Matrix structures allow you to address several topics using the same rating system, for example a Likert scale (Very satisfied / satisfied / neither satisfied nor dissatisfied / dissatisfied / very dissatisfied).

When writing a matrix table question…

• Make sure the topics are clearly differentiated from each other, so that participants don’t get confused by similar questions placed side by side and answer the wrong one.
• Keep text brief and focused. A matrix includes a lot of information already, so make it easier for your survey-taker by using plain language and short, clear phrases in your matrix text.
• Add detail to the introductory static text if necessary to help keep the labels short. For example, if your introductory text says “In the Philadelphia store, how satisfied were you with the…” you can make the topic labels very brief, for example “staff friendliness” “signage” “price labeling” etc.

Now that you know your rating scales from your open fields, here are the 7 most common mistakes to avoid when you write questions. We’ve also added plenty of survey question examples to help illustrate the points.

Likert Scale Questions

Likert scales are commonly used in market research when dealing with single topic survyes. They're simple and most reliable when combatting survey bias . For each question or statement, subjects choose from a range of possible responses. The responses, for example, typically include:

• Strongly agree
• Strongly disagree

7 survey question examples to avoid.

There are countless great examples of writing survey questions but how do you know if your types of survey questions will perform well? We've highlighted the 7 most common mistakes when attempting to get customer feedback with online surveys.

Survey question mistake #1: Failing to avoid leading words / questions

Subtle wording differences can produce great differences in results. For example, non-specific words and ideas can cause a certain level of confusing ambiguity in your survey. “Could,” “should,” and “might” all sound about the same, but may produce a 20% difference in agreement to a question.

In addition, strong words such as “force” and “prohibit” represent control or action and can bias your results.

Example: The government should force you to pay higher taxes.

No one likes to be forced, and no one likes higher taxes. This agreement scale question makes it sound doubly bad to raise taxes. When survey questions read more like normative statements than questions looking for objective feedback, any ability to measure that feedback becomes difficult.

Wording alternatives can be developed. How about simple statements such as: The government should increase taxes, or the government needs to increase taxes.

Example: How would you rate the career of legendary outfielder Joe Dimaggio?

This survey question tells you Joe Dimaggio is a legendary outfielder. This type of wording can bias respondents.

How about replacing the word “legendary” with “baseball” as in: How would you rate the career of baseball outfielder Joe Dimaggio? A rating scale question like this gets more accurate answers from the start.

Survey question mistake #2: Failing to give mutually exclusive choices

Multiple choice response options should be mutually exclusive so that respondents can make clear choices. Don’t create ambiguity for respondents.

Review your survey and identify ways respondents could get stuck with either too many or no single, correct answers to choose from.

Example: What is your age group?

What answer would you select if you were 10, 20, or 30? Survey questions like this will frustrate a respondent and invalidate your results.

Example: What type of vehicle do you own?

This question has the same problem. What if the respondent owns a truck, hybrid, convertible, cross-over, motorcycle, or no vehicle at all?

Survey question mistake #3: Not asking direct questions

Questions that are vague and do not communicate your intent can limit the usefulness of your results. Make sure respondents know what you’re asking.

Example: What suggestions do you have for improving Tom’s Tomato Juice?

This question may be intended to obtain suggestions about improving taste, but respondents will offer suggestions about texture, the type of can or bottle, about mixing juices, or even suggestions relating to using tomato juice as a mixer or in recipes.

Example: What do you like to do for fun?

Finding out that respondents like to play Scrabble isn’t what the researcher is looking for, but it may be the response received. It is unclear that the researcher is asking about movies vs. other forms of paid entertainment. A respondent could take this question in many directions.

Survey question mistake #4: Forgetting to add a “prefer not to answer” option

Sometimes respondents may not want you to collect certain types of information or may not want to provide you with the types of information requested.

Questions about income, occupation, personal health, finances, family life, personal hygiene, and personal, political, or religious beliefs can be too intrusive and be rejected by the respondent.

Privacy is an important issue to most people. Incentives and assurances of confidentiality can make it easier to obtain private information.

While current research does not support that PNA (Prefer Not to Answer) options increase data quality or response rates, many respondents appreciate this non-disclosure option.

Furthermore, different cultural groups may respond differently. One recent study found that while U.S. respondents skip sensitive questions, Asian respondents often discontinue the survey entirely.

• What is your race?
• What is your age?
• Did you vote in the last election?
• What are your religious beliefs?
• What are your political beliefs?
• What is your annual household income?

These types of questions should be asked only when absolutely necessary. In addition, they should always include an option to not answer. (e.g. “Prefer Not to Answer”).

Survey question mistake #5: Failing to cover all possible answer choices

Do you have all of the options covered? If you are unsure, conduct a pretest version of your survey using “Other (please specify)” as an option.

If more than 10% of respondents (in a pretest or otherwise) select “other,” you are probably missing an answer. Review the “Other” text your test respondents have provided and add the most frequently mentioned new options to the list.

Example: You indicated that you eat at Joe's fast food once every 3 months. Why don't you eat at Joe's more often?

There isn't a location near my house

I don't like the taste of the food

Never heard of it

This question doesn’t include other options, such as healthiness of the food, price/value or some “other” reason. Over 10% of respondents would probably have a problem answering this question.

Survey question mistake #6: Not using unbalanced scales carefully

Unbalanced scales may be appropriate for some situations and promote bias in others.

For instance, a hospital might use an Excellent - Very Good - Good - Fair scale where “Fair” is the lowest customer satisfaction point because they believe “Fair” is absolutely unacceptable and requires correction.

The key is to correctly interpret your analysis of the scale. If “Fair” is the lowest point on a scale, then a result slightly better than fair is probably not a good one.

Additionally, scale points should represent equi-distant points on a scale. That is, they should have the same equal conceptual distance from one point to the next.

For example, researchers have shown the points to be nearly equi-distant on the strongly disagree–disagree–neutral–agree–strongly agree scale.

Set your bottom point as the worst possible situation and top point as the best possible, then evenly spread the labels for your scale points in-between.

Example: What is your opinion of Crazy Justin's auto-repair?

Pretty good

The Best Ever

This question puts the center of the scale at fantastic, and the lowest possible rating as “Pretty Good.” This question is not capable of collecting true opinions of respondents.

Survey question mistake #7: Not asking only one question at a time

There is often a temptation to ask multiple questions at once. This can cause problems for respondents and influence their responses.

Review each question and make sure it asks only one clear question.

Example: What is the fastest and most economical internet service for you?

This is really asking two questions. The fastest is often not the most economical.

Example: How likely are you to go out for dinner and a movie this weekend?

Dinner and Movie

Dinner Only

Even though “dinner and a movie” is a common term, this is two questions as well. It is best to separate activities into different questions or give respondents these options:

5 more tips on how to write a survey

Here are 5 easy ways to help ensure your survey results are unbiased and actionable.

1. Use the Funnel Technique

Structure your questionnaire using the “funnel” technique. Start with broad, general interest questions that are easy for the respondent to answer. These questions serve to warm up the respondent and get them involved in the survey before giving them a challenge. The most difficult questions are placed in the middle – those that take time to think about and those that are of less general interest. At the end, we again place general questions that are easier to answer and of broad interest and application. Typically, these last questions include demographic and other classification questions.

2. Use “Ringer” questions

In social settings, are you more introverted or more extroverted?

That was a ringer question and its purpose was to recapture your attention if you happened to lose focus earlier in this article.

Questionnaires often include “ringer” or “throw away” questions to increase interest and willingness to respond to a survey. These questions are about hot topics of the day and often have little to do with the survey. While these questions will definitely spice up a boring survey, they require valuable space that could be devoted to the main topic of interest. Use this type of question sparingly.

3. Keep your questionnaire short

Questionnaires should be kept short and to the point. Most long surveys are not completed, and the ones that are completed are often answered hastily. A quick look at a survey containing page after page of boring questions produces a response of, “there is no way I’m going to complete this thing”. If a questionnaire is long, the person must either be very interested in the topic, an employee, or paid for their time. Web surveys have some advantages because the respondent often can't view all of the survey questions at once. However, if your survey's navigation sends them page after page of questions, your response rate will drop off dramatically.

How long is too long?  The sweet spot is to keep the survey to less than five minutes. This translates into about 15 questions. The average respondent is able to complete about 3 multiple choice questions per minute. An open-ended text response question counts for about three multiple choice questions depending, of course, on the difficulty of the question. While only a rule of thumb, this formula will accurately predict the limits of your survey.

4. Watch your writing style

The best survey questions are always easy to read and understand. As a rule of thumb, the level of sophistication in your survey writing should be at the 9th to 11th grade level. Don’t use big words. Use simple sentences and simple choices for the answers. Simplicity is always best.

5. Use randomization

We know that being the first on the list in elections increases the chance of being elected. Similar bias occurs in all questionnaires when the same answer appears at the top of the list for each respondent. Randomization corrects this bias by randomly rotating the order of the multiple choice matrix questions for each respondent.

Free Templates: Get free access to 30+ of Qualtrics' best survey templates

While not totally inclusive, these seven survey question tips are common offenders in building good survey questions. And the five tips above should steer you in the right direction.

Focus on creating clear questions and having an understandable, appropriate, and complete set of answer choices. Great questions and great answer choices lead to great research success. To learn more about survey question design, download our eBook, The Qualtrics survey template guide or get started with a free survey account with our world-class survey software .

Sarah Fisher

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Professors have a summer assignment: Prevent ChatGPT chaos in the fall

AI chatbots have triggered a panic among educators, who are flooding listservs, webinars and professional conferences to figure out how to deal with the technology

Soon after ChatGPT was released in November, Darren Keast noticed students in his college English composition class turning in essays that read as if they’d been written by machine. Many contained fabricated quotes and cited sources that didn’t exist — telltale signs they were created by the artificial intelligence chatbot. He’s dreading a repeat of that confusion this fall, so he scrambled over summer break to adapt.

While hiking in Costa Rica, Keast consumed AI podcasts talking about the software’s existential risk to humanity. At home in Mill Valley, Calif., he’s spent hours online in fiery group discussions about whether AI chatbots should be used in the classroom. In the car, Keast queried his kids for their thoughts on the software until they begged him to stop.

“They’re like: ‘You got to get a life, this is getting crazy,’” he said. “But [AI] totally transformed my whole professional experience.”

Keast isn’t alone. The rise of AI chatbots has sowed confusion and panic among educators who worry they are ill-equipped to incorporate the technology into their classes and fear a stark rise in plagiarism and reduced learning. Absent guidance from university administrators on how to deal with the software, many teachers are taking matters into their own hands, turning to listservs, webinars and professional conferences to fill in gaps in their knowledge — many shelling out their own money to attend conference sessions that are packed to the brim.

Even with this ad hoc education, there is little consensus among educators: for every professor who touts the tool’s wonders there’s another that says it will bring about doom.

A professor accused his class of using ChatGPT, putting diplomas in jeopardy

The lack of consistency worries them. When students come back to campus this fall, some teachers will allow AI, but others will ban it. Some universities will have modified their dishonesty policies to take AI into account, but others avoid the subject. Teachers may rely on inadequate AI-writing detection tools and risk wrongly accusing students, or opt for student surveillance software, to ensure original work.

For Keast, who teaches at the City College of San Francisco, there’s only one word to describe the next semester.

“Chaotic,” he said.

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After ChatGPT became public on Nov. 30, it created a stir. The AI chatbot could spit out lifelike responses to any question — crafting essays, finishing computer code or writing poems.

Educators knew immediately they were facing a generational shift for the classroom. Many professors worried that students would use it for homework and tests. Others compared the technology to the calculator, arguing teachers would have to provide assignments that could be completed with AI.

Institutions such as Sciences Po , a university in Paris, and RV University in Bangalore, India, banned ChatGPT , concerned it would undermine learning and encourage cheating. Professors at colleges such as the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and Ithaca College in New York allowed it, arguing that students should be proficient in it.

Tools to detect AI-written content have added to the turmoil. They are notoriously unreliable and have resulted in what students say are false accusations of cheating and failing grades. OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, unveiled an AI-detection tool in January, but quietly scrapped it on July 20 due to its “low rate of accuracy.” One of the most prominent tools to detect AI-written text, created by plagiarism detection company Turnitin.com, frequently flagged human writing as AI-generated, according to a Washington Post examination .

Representatives from OpenAI pointed to an online post stating they “are currently researching more effective provenance techniques for text.” Turnitin.com did not respond to a request for comment.

We tested a new ChatGPT-detector for teachers. It flagged an innocent student.

Students are adjusting their behavior to avoid getting impacted by the uncertainty.

Jessica Zimny, a student at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Tex., said she was wrongly accused of using AI to cheat this summer. A 302-word post she wrote for a political science class assignment was flagged as 67 percent AI-written, according to Turnitin.com’s detection tool — resulting in her professor giving her a zero.

Zimny, 20, said she plead her case to her professor, the head of the school’s political science department and a university dean, to no avail.

Now, she screen-records herself doing assignments — capturing ironclad proof she did the work in case she ever is ever accused again, she said.

“I don’t like the idea that people are thinking that my work is copied, or that I don’t do my own things originally,” Zimny, a fine arts student, said. “It just makes me mad and upset and I just don’t want that to happen again.”

All of this has left professors hungry for guidance, knowing their students will be using ChatGPT when the fall rolls around, said Anna Mills, a writing teacher at the College of Marin who sits on a joint AI task force with the Modern Language Association (MLA) and College Conference on Composition and Communication (CCCC).

Because universities aren’t providing much help, professors are flocking to informal online discussion groups, professional development webinars and conferences for information.

Teachers are on alert for inevitable cheating after release of ChatGPT

When Mills talked on a webinar hosted by the MLA and CCCC for AI in writing in late-July, a time when many teachers might be in the throes of summer break, more than 3,000 people signed up and ultimately more than 1,700 people tuned in — unusual numbers for the groups’ trainings.

“It speaks to the sense of anxiety,” Mills said. In fact, a survey of 456 college educators in March and April conducted by the task force revealed the largest worries professors have about AI are its role in fostering plagiarism, the inability to detect AI-written text and that the technology would prevent students from learning how to write, learn and develop critical thinking skills.

Mills and her task force colleagues are trying to clear up misconceptions. They explain that it’s not easy to recognize AI-generated text and caution the use of software to crack down on student plagiarism. Mills said AI is not only a tool used for cheating, but can be harnessed to spur critical thinking and learning.

“People are overwhelmed and recognizing that this new situation demands a lot of time and careful attention, and it’s very complex,” she added. “There are not easy answers to it.”

Marc Watkins, an academic innovation fellow and writing lecturer at the University of Mississippi, said teachers are keenly aware that if they don’t learn more about AI, they may rob their students of a tool that could aid learning. That’s why they’re seeking professional development on their own, even if they have to pay for it or take time away from families.

Watkins, who helped create an AI-focused professional development course at his university, recalled a lecture he gave on how to use AI in the classroom at a conference in Nashville this summer. The interest was so intense, he said, that more than 200 registered educators clamored for roughly 70 seats, forcing conference officials to shut the door early to prevent over crowding.

Cheating-detection companies made millions during the pandemic. Now students are fighting back.

Watkins advises professors to follow a few steps. They should rid themselves of the notion that banning ChatGPT will do much, since the tool is publicly available. Rather, they should set limitations on how it can be used in class and have a conversation with students early in the semester about the ways chatbots could foster nuanced thinking on an assignment.

For example, Watkins said, ChatGPT can help students brainstorm questions they go onto investigate, or create counterarguments to strengthen their essays.

But several professors added that getting educators to think on the same page is a daunting task, that is unlikely for the fall semester. Professional development modules must be developed to explain how teachers talk to students about AI, how to incorporate it into learning, and what to do when students are flagged as writing an entire post by a chatbot.

Watkins said if colleges don’t figure out how to deal with AI quickly, there is a possibility colleges rely on surveillance tools, such as they did during the pandemic , to track student keystrokes, eye movements and screen activity, to ensure students are doing the work.

“It sounds like hell to me,” he said.