How to Write a Coursework - Guidelines from Experts
When it comes to working on the paper, it turns out that some students have a somewhat vague idea of how to write a coursework. Actually, it doesn’t much differ from writing essays, and yet there are some specific details you should be aware of. That’s why we have developed these helpful coursework writing guidelines, explaining the process step by step.
- Prior to writing a coursework, take the time to discuss all the requirements with your teacher. For example, the formatting requirements may vary a lot from college to college and depend not only on the subject but also on your teacher’s preferences. Besides, your professor can help you choose a topic that is both relevant to your course and enjoyable for you. The teacher can also recommend some sources on your topic and answer questions you may have at the early planning stage.
- Focus on your issue. To better understand how to do a coursework, you need to clearly understand the problem raised by your topic and what you are supposed to do in order to resolve it. Do you need to discuss something or make a comparison? Do you need to find a practical solution or give a definition? When you are sure that you've figured it all out, write down a list of hows, whats, and whys — based on this you will be able to effectively search for information that will help you find the answers.
- Start by collecting data, choosing only reliable sources and writing them down for your future reference. Be sure to gather facts, figures, and quotes in the process, carefully sorting them out depending on the arguments which can be supported by this data.
- Carefully arrange the information collected and produce a plan, reflecting the main points of your future paper based on the facts and ideas you derived from the performed research. Make sure that you have a strong case regarding the vital problem of your topic and see to it that the information gathered supports your viewpoint. Sometimes, students discover that their initial hypothesis cannot be convincingly supported by facts — in this case, you need to reconsider the hypothesis and form a new one, which is more relevant to the facts.
- Now you can move on to planning your coursework structure. Generally, it includes all the traditional parts — the introduction, body, and conclusion, supplemented by the bibliography and appendices (the latter is not obligatory). However, coursework is usually much longer and more voluminous than regular essays, so you need to plan carefully what information to present and where to do it. Focus on your plan’s main points and choose facts, quotes, stats, and graphs that are the most relevant to the points under discussion. Also, make sure that your ideas are presented in such a way that it is completely clear how each paragraph is related to the previous one. Besides, it is essential to stick to the word limit set for your work. Thus, you should estimate how many words you can allocate to all sections of your paper lest you exceed the set limit.
- Many students have an issue with how to write a coursework introduction. A good strategy is to assume that your reader is ignorant of the topic you explore and you need to provide a brief background to put them in the picture. In addition to the general context, describe your approach to the problem set and briefly explain how you are going to answer the posed questions.
- Many students find it challenging to write the conclusion of a coursework, too. This is because they have little to no experience summarizing things and tend to merely restate the points dealt with in the introduction and body of the paper. On the one hand, your conclusion needs to be related to these parts, but on the other, your primary job should be to sum up your findings in order to provide brief and clear answers to the questions raised in the introduction. However, it is always a good idea to give some perspective on your topic for its further exploration or explain what practical use can be derived from your research.
Coursework Writing Tips from Experienced Writers
Here, we have collected some additional coursework tips aimed at helping you with performing your assignment.
- Stick to your topic. You may find tons of exciting information somehow associated with your topic, but you should always resist the temptation to overload your paper with additional data. It can lead to deviating from your initial research topic.
- For the same reason, be very selective with quotes, graphs, and stats supporting your argument. Relevancy is the critical factor, and if you are not going to refer to some data directly, don’t put it in your work just because you have found it.
- Make reference to your sources correctly. Explore the recommended formatting style and arrange your footnotes, endnotes, in-text citation, and reference list accordingly.
- Make a habit of proofreading, even when the deadline is really close. If you feel that your perception is blurred, ask your friends to proofread.
Follow these tips provided by skilled academic writers and improve your writing skills drastically!