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Do's and Don'ts for Assignments

  1. Proofread

    Proofreading is simply the process of checking that what you meant to write and what you have actually written are the same. Read what you have written to ensure that is it correct. More than once! Most of us find it hard to spot mistakes in our own work (our brains just unconsciously fill in missing words, etc) so if needed swap proofreading services with someone else.

  2. SPaG

    At L3 I can - and will - fail assignments if the Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar is so poor that it interferes with my ability to understand. I am not supposed to be guessing what you meant, it is supposed to be indisputable. Once again, if you are weak in this area, get support. Proofreading is essential. Use - but neither trust nor rely upon (they get things wrong too) - spell checkers and grammar checkers.

    If you doubt your own skills, keep it simple. Primary school level writing that is correct is better than pretending to skills you do not have.

  3. Factually Correct

    An 'instafail' in a L3 assignment will be telling me what ain't so. Do not make things up. Do check your facts. Do not trust single sources especially if they are out-of-date or off-topic (some technical terms are used in more than one discipline).

  4. Referencing

    If you make extensive use of and especially if you directly quote a source you must tell me where the information came from. Consult a guide[^1] as to the standard ways of doing this, paying especial attention to referencing web sources. There are browser plug-ins that can help a lot.

  5. Avoid GCSE prose

    By this I mean the sort of style encouraged by GCSE essays such as "What I did for my holidays." Be cautious of "I" and "me". You are not writing about yourself.

    Ideally technical documentation should still be in the passive voice and impersonal ("The beaker was filled with water" not "I filled the beaker with water"), but in either case keep yourself in the background, you, how you feel about things, your opinions, are not relevant.

  6. Numbers

    Use numbers wherever possible (and relevant). They are unambiguous and lend authority to your work.

    "If it can't be expressed in figures, it is not science; it is opinion." Robert Heinlein

  7. Adjectives and Adverbs

    Most adjectives and adverbs are unnecessary and weaken your writing. Especially technical writing. Do not tell me something is "very large" tell me it is "large". Especially kill unnecessary modifiers, 'probably', 'usually', 'thought to be', 'often', 'quite', 'fairly', 'moderately' they just make it sound as if you do not know.

    “When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don't mean utterly, but kill most of them--then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are far apart.” Mark Twain

    Im other words, use adjectives and adverbs sparingly and only when the meaning would not be the same without them.

    Adjectives: modify nouns and can be used attibutively, before the noun, "the blue ball" or predicatively, after a verb, "the ball is blue". It is attributive adjectives that are misused. What information do I get from "It was raining very hard" that is missing from "it was raining hard"?

    Adverbs: modify verbs, often, although not always, end --ly and are just as abused. "He looked thoroughly wretched" tells me nothing that "He looked wretched" does not.

[^1]:The Open University. (2021, October 06). Retrieved from https://www.open.ac.uk/library/help-and-support/quick-guide-to-harvard-referencing-cite-them-right

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