University Assignments

Something I’m worried about going into Uni in September is the workload.
How much reading/ research do you do before doing an assignment?
Do u have to do reading or can u just get research from the internet?
Is it true that lecturers will give u a list of books/websites u have to reference from or they won’t mark ur work?
How many assignments do u get at once?

Sorry for all the questions.

I just completed my L3 BTEC Travel and Tourism to go into Primary Education with QTS at St Mary’s

Reply 1

mnot

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by Anonymous

The workload is set out so if you work each week it’s reasonable and not over bearing. Pragmatically most students end up leaving assignments till fairly close to the due date (often the week before it’s due in) before they start & then they have to cram, but this is not required.

lecturers/academics cannot refuse to mark your work, and they normally have a marking rubric (a matrix listing out what is required based off the assignment/course work brief & what a submission needs to demonstrate to get a first/2.1 etc.) which they use to mark each assignment.

In my experience you can use whatever research sources you want to use, but of course your sources will be evaluated if they are reliable & relevant (pragmatically if you are trying to justify something in your report it is important you can demonstrate it is reasonable, generally speaking using peer reviewed academic papers written by reputable authors in a reputable journal is far more justifiable then a random website). At university you will become familiar with academic search engines to find good sources. It’s mostly common sense, it’s something you will learn in your first year of university.

some courses have reading lists, a lot of the time they may provide some recommended and then it’s up to you if you choose to check it out. Also a lot of the time you might get recommended a book, you might only need to read one chapter of it depending on context. You will never be forced to do reading, however generally it is in your interest to build knowledge & expertise in the degree you’re doing, and of course this will help you do well on your degree... presumably you are somewhat passionate for your subject.

how many assignments do you get? It varies, i often had several assignments simultaneously but id often have several weeks to do them so it wasn’t overbearing, it was more for me to work out when was best for me to do them and whilst I technically had several assignments to do they may have all been given out & be due in at different times so id plan around this accordingly.

Reply 2

Syed998

Original post by mnot

The workload is set out so if you work each week it’s reasonable and not over bearing. Pragmatically most students end up leaving assignments till fairly close to the due date (often the week before it’s due in) before they start & then they have to cram, but this is not required.
lecturers/academics cannot refuse to mark your work, and they normally have a marking rubric (a matrix listing out what is required based off the assignment/course work brief & what a submission needs to demonstrate to get a first/2.1 etc.) which they use to mark each assignment.
In my experience you can use whatever research sources you want to use, but of course your sources will be evaluated if they are reliable & relevant (pragmatically if you are trying to justify something in your report it is important you can demonstrate it is reasonable, generally speaking using peer reviewed academic papers written by reputable authors in a reputable journal is far more justifiable then a random website). At university you will become familiar with academic search engines to find good sources. It’s mostly common sense, it’s something you will learn in your first year of university.
some courses have reading lists, a lot of the time they may provide some recommended and then it’s up to you if you choose to check it out. Also a lot of the time you might get recommended a book, you might only need to read one chapter of it depending on context. You will never be forced to do reading, however generally it is in your interest to build knowledge & expertise in the degree you’re doing, and of course this will help you do well on your degree... presumably you are somewhat passionate for your subject.
how many assignments do you get? It varies, i often had several assignments simultaneously but id often have several weeks to do them so it wasn’t overbearing, it was more for me to work out when was best for me to do them and whilst I technically had several assignments to do they may have all been given out & be due in at different times so id plan around this accordingly.

Thank u so much for the help!!

Are the assignment briefs long?

Reply 3

mnot

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by Syed998

Thank u so much for the help!!
Are the assignment briefs long?

Depends on the assignment, it varies a lot.

Reply 4

StudentMinds Rep

Official Rep

Hi there!

Totally get your concerns around workload, I was also really worried about when I started uni. Mnot above has loads of useful advice, but here's a bit more.

First of all, you got this! It might feel daunting at first, but you're probably better than you think. Support will be available at your uni if you need academic help, so don't hesitate to reach out. If you're stuck and unsure where to start researching, work through your reading lists around that topic.

Also, check out Student Space for more tips about what to expect: https://studentspace.org.uk/wellbeing/will-i-be-good-enough-for-the-next-academic-level.

Hope this helps! - Emmy :smile:

Reply 5

hallamstudents

Official Rep

Original post by Anonymous

Something I’m worried about going into Uni in September is the workload.
How much reading/ research do you do before doing an assignment?
Do u have to do reading or can u just get research from the internet?
Is it true that lecturers will give u a list of books/websites u have to reference from or they won’t mark ur work?
How many assignments do u get at once?
Sorry for all the questions.
I just completed my L3 BTEC Travel and Tourism to go into Primary Education with QTS at St Mary’s

Hi there,

Don't worry, lots of people are nervous about this before they start University so it won't just be you wondering this!

The information that you have been given is great and covers pretty much everything I would say.

The amount of assignments that you get depends on what course you are doing and within this each module will be different and will set different amounts of work. Some modules you might just have one big assignment and some you might have a few different assignments worth different amounts of your grade. An average assignment on my course would be around 2500/3000 words and sometimes I will have two of these per module.

With the reading, I would recommend trying to do a little bit of it each week as you go along as this will make it so much easier for you when it comes to actually writing your assignments as you will have the foundation of your reading already done and if you have made notes on it, you can go back and read your notes which will help you massively when writing your work. Even better, if you write a bit of your assignment each week this will help you out massively rather than just writing it all when it is due!

The marking scheme should tell you what you need to write and it will say what needs to be included for a first, a 2:1, 2:2 etc so look at this closely when you are writing your work as you will need to use this to ensure you get the best grade that you can get.

As has been said, you will learn what sources are good and reliable and which ones you should avoid. You will be given a reading list which you can use books off there which is usually a good start and then you will find your own sources on top of this. Usually you will use your E-library which will help you to get some good, reliable information and this will be explained to you when you start uni!

If you are struggling, most universities offer help sessions where you can learn how to do things such as referencing and critical writing which will help you when it comes to writing your assignments if you feel like you need this. Make sure you take advantage of this as it is all included in what you are paying for so it is worth using these.

Your tutors are also there to help you, so if you are struggling make sure you ask them for help. Email them and they should usually be able to help you with this or just ask them in class and they will help you as much as they can. If you have any opportunities for formative feedback, make sure you utilise these too as these will be very helpful.

I hope some of this helps :smile:

Lucy -SHU student ambassador.

Reply 6

EdgeHillStudents

Official Rep

Original post by Anonymous

Something I’m worried about going into Uni in September is the workload.
How much reading/ research do you do before doing an assignment?
Do u have to do reading or can u just get research from the internet?
Is it true that lecturers will give u a list of books/websites u have to reference from or they won’t mark ur work?
How many assignments do u get at once?
Sorry for all the questions.
I just completed my L3 BTEC Travel and Tourism to go into Primary Education with QTS at St Mary’s

Hey!

It is definitely normal to be worried about the workload especially as it is different for every course.

Research before an assignment
I found that I liked to spend around five days or so doing the researching and reading for an assignment sometimes this was less or more depending on the word count expected of us for the assignments. I preferred doing all my research ahead of writing whereas quite a few people like to do it as you go. I would definitely say that as time goes on you will find the best way of researching and reading for your assignments.

Reading and Research
I mainly found I would find journal articles through google scholar or the universities online library. In which I'm sure you will be taught how to do this and if not/you struggle with this I'm sure there will be resources or support you can access.

For my course we didn't have to do any reading ahead of lectures except for one module where we would then discuss the reading as it was especially related to our studies. Obviously this may be different for you course and you may be expected to do reading for most if not all modules.

We were provided with reading lists throughout the three years however these were more for resources that we could use or were recommended within our assignments rather than reading ahead of or after our lecture. We also weren't expected to use specific resources it was up to us to use and find some of our own.

Assignments
You usually will be assigned quite a few at once but that doesn't always mean they are due around the same time. During my first year and especially the first semester we had quite a few of assignments but they were all spread out. In the second semester and the following years you have more close together but that is where you learn the time management to balance them. However if you are struggling then I would definitely reach out to your module leader and/or student support.

Assignment Briefs
I would personal say they are not too long however this will depend on the assignment. It usually details how the assignment meets to the module learning outcomes and then details what is expected of you and the mark scheme criteria.

Hope that helps! 🙂

Rebecca
Recent Geoenvironmental Hazards Graduate

Reply 7

UCLan Student

Official Rep

Original post by Anonymous

Something I’m worried about going into Uni in September is the workload.
How much reading/ research do you do before doing an assignment?
Do u have to do reading or can u just get research from the internet?
Is it true that lecturers will give u a list of books/websites u have to reference from or they won’t mark ur work?
How many assignments do u get at once?
Sorry for all the questions.
I just completed my L3 BTEC Travel and Tourism to go into Primary Education with QTS at St Mary’s

Hey there!

When you go to university, there may be some services you can access who are able to help you with your academic writing!
I find it easier to do a rough run through of an assignment and write a basic outline of what I want to include in each part! This way it doesn't feel too overwhelming and I can work through at a nice pace!
It is true there are marks for referencing but again, you can usually get some support at university on how to do this!

It depends on your course as to how many you may get at once!

I hope this helps,

Rebecca, UCLan