The Skills Pod
Members of the University of Chester’s Academic Skills Team chat all things Academic Skills, sharing advice and anecdotes from their own experience in higher education. We have episodes on skills like referencing, critical thinking, maths and statistics, and time management.
Listening to The Skills Pod is a great way to learn hints and tips to help you during your academic journey while getting to know the Academic Skills Team.
The Skills Pod
Developing Assignment Structure
Join the Academic Skills Team for The Skills Pod. In this episode, Academic Skills Advisers, Emma, Stefan, and Sharon chat about assignment structure. We discuss the importance of planning, how to develop an argument, and share our strategies for structuring assignments.
You might also find it useful to listen to our episode on Approaching an Assignment.
University of Chester students please note: this episode was recorded before the university changed 'learning outcomes' to 'competencies' on assessment briefs so when we refer to learning outcomes we are referring to competencies.
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Hi everybody and welcome to another episode of the Skills Pod. I'm Emma and I'm one of the academic skills advisors here at the University of Chester and I'm joined by my colleague.
Sharon :I'm Sharon and I'm another academic skills advisor at the university.
Stefan :And I'm Stefan Rzedzian and I'm also an academic skills advisor here at Chester.
Emma :And today we're going to talk about developing assignment structure. So it's something that I definitely see quite a bit in my one-to-ones. I have students who've either had feedback that their assignment structure is kind of could be improved, isn't quite as clear as it could be. And also I have a lot of one-to-ones where students come to me and say, I don't know how to how to structure this. So we're going to unpack that a little bit and hopefully share some of our words of wisdom.
Sharon :Talking of words of wisdom, it was something I never used to do and never even thought about. But since I've learned some techniques, it's something I'm I'm sort of evangelical about in that it just helps the writing process and makes life so much easier if you do start to think about ideally start to think about it at the beginning when you're planning and build it in. But even if you don't do that and then you have a draft and think, hmm, that doesn't seem right, there are quite a few things you can do then. But ideally, start at the beginning, it makes life much easier.
Emma :Yeah. Planning. I get on my soapbox about planning quite a lot. It's very easy for a um, I I always say when you know I was marking, it's quite easy to identify an assignment that hasn't been planned. So yeah, planning is important.
Stefan :100%. And I think there's I don't know, I think it was it was quite late on into my university career where I got this sense of almost like the kind of recipe that you can kind of follow for your for your structure. And it does just help so much. And when I kind of found it, I was like, right, this makes so much more sense, and it made my life a lot easier from then going forward.
Emma :I want to know this recipe now, Stefan.
Stefan :Well, I said it's a recipe, that's probably an absolutely terrible analogy. Um, but yeah, it's a it's a structure of structure, essentially. Um, but yeah, I think it can just really, really help, right? When you have a sense of like, oh, this is what the kind of framework of an essay needs to look like. This is how it can all support each other, um, and then it can kind of start falling into place. And then all you have to think about then is more just the ideas rather than how do I make these ideas make sense on the page.
Sharon :I was quite excited when I came across, I think it was a colleague who introduced it a while ago about breaking down an assignment, because I know we're sort of veering much more into planning than structure, but I think the two are so closely related that um it's worth talking about. Um, there's this again to use Stefan's analogy, it's like a recipe where if you know the word count, then you can start to break it down and then decide what you're going to write about. So I'm gonna bore you all now, sorry. But my idea is if you know the word count, then you can start to think about how many paragraphs that you need to write about. So, as a rough guide, for example, if you had an assignment that was maybe 3,000 words long, then typically um that seems like a really big assignment, and where do you get started? And if you start without planning, you end up often repeating yourself. And as Emma and Stefan have both said, you can tell an assignment that hasn't been planned and isn't necessarily following this structure. But if you start with 3,000 words, you might have around about 10% of that word count for your introduction and another 10% for your conclusion. So that's 300 maybe for your introduction, 300 for your conclusion. That still leaves you with a big chunk for your main body, around about 2,400 words. But if you then start to think about what each paragraph might contain, really, really roughly around about 200 to 250 words per paragraph, then you might end up with about nine to twelve paragraphs in your main body, really roughly. And that's when it gets interesting from a structure point of view, because you can start then to look at your learning outcomes and think, well, I need to write about this topic, this topic, this topic, and think about how they sit next to each other and what fits where, and just have a bit of a rough plan of I need to cover all of these topics in my nine to twelve paragraphs, and then I'm not gonna say it's easy, but it feels a bit more manageable if you start to break it down like that, and you can see that the structure is starting to build itself and starts to make sense.
Emma :And a huge kind of part of that is that your reading informs your writing, so you can't you might have an idea of what it is that you might write about, or and definitely what you need to research, but your reading informs that writing. So I you might think, oh gosh, I I mean, I always when I get an assignment, I have no idea what I'm gonna write. But once you start the reading and the research, you'll start to become more confident, you'll start to see the kind of key themes and topics that are coming up, and and that's how you'll start to kind of develop that structure. And so, yeah, we would say around 70% of your overall assignment time should be spent on the reading, the research, the note making. And we've already spoken about this in previous episodes of the podcast, but I'll get on my soapbox again. The more critical um notes you're making, the easier it is going to be when it comes to plan that assignment and ultimately to write that assignment because you know why you've written, you've you've paraphrased ideas from sources, you know why those ideas are important and how they fit with other sources that you've engaged with, and that's how you start to build that um that structure.
Stefan :100%. And I think as I think as well, well, so let's all get on the soapbox. This is my subbox, is about the connection between structure and argument, right? Because for me, a good structure is based around knowing what your argument is and how your argument can kind of be used as building blocks, right? And then through those building blocks, we get the structure. So I think it's really important when we're kind of planning out our structure, and again, talking a little bit about planning, but also when we're thinking about the structure of the essay itself, is to know okay, what is the overall argument that I'm making? And then what are the micro arguments, the smaller arguments or the smaller points, which make up that grander argument, right? So I talk a lot about like macro argument, the argument of the whole essay, and then the micro arguments, the arguments of either the smaller sections if you're having sections, or you can even think about this at a paragraph level, right? So when we're thinking about structure, I think it's really important to be thinking, okay, well, my argument needs to be supporting itself, right? So my micro arguments, i.e., my arguments for each paragraph or my arguments for each section, need to be supporting that overall argument as well. And when we think through structure like that, it can help to make sure that our essays are really kind of cohesive. And again, if we're talking about structure, it's about kind of uh stability and strength and stuff like that of writing. And so that really begins, at least for me, with a really solid argument and knowing how that argument is then kind of built up, developed, and supported.
Sharon :Oh, totally. I really agree with that because sometimes I'll sit with a student when they're talking about planning an essay, and I'll say, Well, what's your viewpoint? What do you think overall? And they're not sure. And if you're not sure, you can't build up, as Stefan says, you can't build up that argument so easily. It you need to read enough to get that clear in your head first on what you think, so that you can then develop that argument throughout. Absolutely.
Emma :I see it as I'm just running with this metaphor. We'll see if it works as like an umbrella. So you've got your main argument is like the canopy of the umbrella, and then you've got all those kind of mini micro arguments that are the spokes that support that umbrella.
Stefan :I love that. I absolutely love that. Yes.
Emma :And you have to, I feel now that I'm gonna put umbrellas on all my slides, I'm gonna really run through this. Um, but yeah, so you have to really think about what is gonna support that canopy and give your argument that integrity. We don't want any broken spokes.
Stefan :Yeah, that's brilliant. I like that a lot. Yeah, totally. Spokes on an umbrella, we can go with that.
Emma :I'm gonna Google anatomy of an umbrella, just interpret.
Sharon :I feel we should get the handle in somehow, but I can't think of an analogy. I'll come back to it later.
Emma :Maybe a conclusion, I don't know.
Sharon :Holding it all up. I don't know.
Stefan :And so again, kind of just building on this idea, not necessarily just of argument, but also of flow and how flow comes into structure. Because I know, um, and I spoke about it for ages, the idea of the kind of funnel approach uh to writing, when it's like we start out broad, then we get more specific, and then when we get to the conclusion, we come back out broad. And we can go into that sense of structure uh shortly, I imagine. But I think it's also worth thinking about structure through a bit of a pyramid as well. So I sometimes flip the funnel on its head because I think it's worth considering how each of our sections support the following section, right? So like we should always be building up and be building to kind of like an apex, right? And I always, yeah, I very firmly believe that kind of the role of each section is to be laying uh a kind of foundation or setting up for the following section. So we're always building up ideas, and that's why we always want to make sure that we are presenting our ideas in a logical order. And again, that comes down to planning, right? But we also want to be thinking, okay, this section can set up this section. What does the reader need to know in order to understand this ultimate conclusion? Well, let's work back from that and work out what needs to be built up, what needs to be supported, right? Building up through those kind of levels and layers, going from foundation right through the kind of middle of the structure, right up to the apex, which is like the grand conclusion. But there's lots of ways that we can kind of think about this, right? Whether it's funnel, whether it's pyramid, whether it's hourglass, whatever it might be. Do you guys have a particular favorite analogy or metaphor for the kind of shape of an essay when it comes to structure?
Emma :I'd say the hourglass, because that's the that's the one that I use most often when I'm teaching. So that kind of general to specific back out to that conclusion.
Sharon :Yeah, I tend to use that one. You're right, but I think that the funnel and the pyramids are actually good ways of looking at it because, like you say, they are building up to a the overall viewpoint. And I think something I do use, yet another analogy to throw into the into the mix here of recipes, umbrellas, funnels, and pyramids is stepping stones. And this sort of ties in, the stepping stones ties in with maybe you've got to the stage with your essay and you didn't think about breaking it down necessarily, you just got on and wrote. Um, and this this is what I used to do a lot, and you end up with something. And we do have students coming to us who've had feedback um saying it doesn't flow, and they say, Well, I'm not entirely sure what that means. What does it doesn't flow mean? It makes sense to me. But one way that we work through sometimes with students when they've got an essay and they've maybe had a bit of feedback and said it doesn't flow or your structure's not clear or something, is I often encourage students to read through their assignment and try and summarize each paragraph in just a short phrase, a couple of words, a very short sentence, and just write those down down the side of the paper if they printed it out, and then look at their summaries. So each paragraph is summarized into a short phrase, and then you just read through those short phrases. Um, and this helps in a couple of ways. Firstly, I think if you can't summarize a paragraph into just a short phrase, like what the overall topic of it is, it maybe means that your paragraph isn't very clear and you're trying to get too much information in it, and that can cause problems with flow. But also, you can then look at those short phrases, and it's much easier to see then does it make sense the order that these paragraphs are actually coming in? Do I return to something later on? Do I repeat myself? Or is it, as Stefan says, are you taking the reader step by step through that argument? So this stepping stone guidance. And in the past, when I got stuck on things, I've used this and thought, actually, no, this doesn't work properly, but I can't see in my head on the computer screen how it might work. So I have printed things out and talk about going old style, actually, literally cut and paste. So I cut up the pieces of paper with my paragraphs on and rearranged them until they started to make sense to me. So sometimes just printing things out and going back old style, old school can actually help if you get away from the computer screen just to start to make a bit more sense of structure. So if you haven't done all of these things that we've talked about and you've already got an essay structure, that's fine. You can still work with that with some of these techniques.
Emma :Absolutely. Yeah, I like printing stuff out. So, you know, and just writing next to each paragraph what it is. I often say to students, when they've got long paragraphs, that if they summarize it in a sentence and that sentence contains and. So this paragraph covers this and that, then what follows and is normally a new point. So that is going to help kind of break down that structure a little bit more.
Stefan :I really like that a lot. It's such a useful exercise, right? I think summarizing things down to their core elements is such a useful thing to do. It was something that when I was doing my when I was just finishing up my PhD and I was getting ready for my Viva, my supervisor said to me, they were like, you need to be able to summarize your PhD in one sentence. And I was like, what 100,000 words in one sentence? How am I gonna do that? Um, but it was so useful in terms of like understanding, okay, what exactly am I doing here with this writing? What is the fundamental claim? Um, which when you are then kind of going back and editing and kind of tweaking through your writing, having that fundamental purpose, that fundamental claim again, the argument of the piece of writing and knowing that in its most fundamental element can really, really help you just to make sure that everything's nightly, nicely kind of wound around that main claim. And what I'll often do is if I'm writing something, I will write down on a sticky note and stick it to my laptop, just in one sentence, okay, what is the main claim that I'm putting forward here? And whenever I'm writing a section, like a paragraph, whatever it might be, I'll look back at that sticky note and think, okay, how is this serving that main claim? Um, and I found it really, really helps me to kind of keep writing focused, where obviously it can be really easy to kind of go up in directions here, there, and everywhere when when we're writing. Yeah, I find it to be that notion of just summarizing, be it a paragraph, be a section, be an entire essay, being summarizing it in just one or two core sentences, I think is super, super useful.
Sharon :Yeah, and having the sticky note is brilliant because having something like the learning outcomes in front of you at all times, whether it's when you're searching for information, whether you're reading, so what are you reading for, just having them in front of you, and obviously when you're writing for the structure and and overall flow, just having those just to remind you to stay on track, like you said, it's really important.
Stefan :I was just gonna say, and because that's something that we've actually not picked up on yet, in terms of like what's the relationship between learning outcomes and structure. Um, because sometimes, not always, but sometimes, you can use the learning outcomes as a bit of a guide for your structure. Well, these three learning outcomes, broadly, my essay could follow this uh kind of direction, right? If one is to show an understanding of a fundamental concept and then apply that concept to a particular case study, whatever it might be, sometimes the learning outcomes can give you a sense of how you can structure your essay. So don't shy away from that is is a piece of advice that I would.
Emma :And sometimes you will even have a breakdown of your structure, particularly at level four. Your tutors might give you a kind of more detailed structure of what they want to see to really kind of help you start to develop that structure. So they might say, you know, here's your learning outcome, 300 words on this, here's the next one, etc. Um, and sometimes that can be really helpful, but I do see a lot of students who are like, This is really restrictive. And but definitely as you go through um your degree, they're kind of your assignment briefs are probably going to be more sparse than they were in in the first year because you are being encouraged to develop that independence and that structure on your own.
Stefan :We can use the language of the learning outcomes as well in our in our writing to make sure that we're spelling it out super clearly. Hey, this section is about this and relates to this learning outcome. Again, thinking through structure and kind of drawing inspiration from learning outcomes, whether we're kind of following their flow or not. Um, but using the language of learning outcomes to just make it super clear to our marker, hey, we are linking to this thing that you've asked us to do.
Emma :Yeah, yeah, that's a really good point.
Sharon :And it's it's important to be clear on the language of learning outcomes because they're not written in a in an easy to understand way, they're written in a very formal academic way. So just when you're starting to plan, make sure you know what words like evaluate and reflect and critically analyze are, just because those will help you think about what you need to cover and how you need to cover them. So don't be afraid of these words. Um, look them up, talk to us, we can help. It's like translation and sort of getting an understanding of what some of these words actually mean, because they can be quite subtly different, and they can mean slightly different things in slightly different subjects as well. So just be clear in your head that you know what those mean, so that you can then plan and structure and write in the way that those learning outcomes are sort of pushing you to do.
Emma :I guess kind of like the the kind of takeaway point is, and I kind of think of it as it's thinking about the story of your assignment. What is, you know, we've spoken about flow and kind of making sure that you're, you know, what you're trying to do is convince your reader of your overall argument. So you've got all those that kind of overriding argument and you've got those mini arguments that that contribute to that argument, and what you don't want to do is lose your reader along the way. So, what is the kind of story for your assignment? What how are you gonna keep the reader with you from your introduction right through to your conclusion? And that takes time to figure that out. It takes drafts and editing, but the kind of foundation is planning that's really gonna help you figure out that story of your assignment.
Sharon :That's a great conclusion.
Emma :And a conclusion. Another tangent. Um, but yeah, thank you for joining me and thank you for listening.
Sharon :Thank you, Emma.
Stefan :Bye
Emma :Hi there. If you're a University of Chester student, here are the ways you can access support from your academic skills team.
Anthony :On our Moodle pages, we've got lots of interactive resources for you to use. On our literacies Moodle page, you'll find help with a range of skills from academic rating to revision. On our Maths and Statistics Moodle pages, you'll find help with different statistical tests, calculations, and formulas.
Emma :You can also use our feed forward email assistance service. You can send 750 words, which is around three paragraphs, of your work to ask at tester.ace.uk and we'll respond within three working days with generic and developmental advice on aspects such as paragraph structure, criticality and referencing.
Anthony :You can also book a one-to-one with the Academic Skills Advisor via our Moodle pages. These appointments typically last 30 minutes and are available online and in person. You'll see the campuses we're at by looking at our working scheduler. You can send across an extract of your work for us to look at in preparation for the one-to-one, or you can book a one-to-one to discuss a generic skill such as referencing or critical thinking.
Emma :If you and a group of your course mates are struggling with the same academic skill, you can book an Ask Together session by emailing ask at chester.ac.uk with details of your availability, how many people are in your group, what skills you want to cover, and where you'd like the session to take place.
Anthony :You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook using the handle at getskills where we post practical tips on a range of academic skills, and it's also a great way to see what the team are up to.
Emma :And of course you've got the skills pod. If you have a topic that you'd like us to cover or you'd like to be involved with our podcast, please email us ask@chester.ac.uk
Anthony :ASk
Emma :Supporting your success.