Rules of doing assignments

RULES OF DOING ASSIGNMENTS

In schools all over the world, it is the fundamental duty of teachers to give students assignments to reinforce their understanding of the key concepts in a subject area. A lot of students have been made to go through the scrutinizing eye of assignments to ensure that skills and knowledge gained become ingrained. These assignments usually take different formats for different education settings but a set of rules form the common base upon which most assignments regardless of their settings and special make-up rests. Some of these rules include:

Take down questions correctly

All assignments are usually given orally or in written formats. The format used notwithstanding, all questions and tasks given must be noted correctly. If the question is given orally, students must make the conscious and deliberate effort of putting down the dictated question in writing. When writing questions that are dictated, students must ensure that it is the exact meaning of the dictated question that is written down. It is very risky to paraphrase questions that are given as assignments and the most healthy practice is to write down the questions fully practice is to write down the questions fully, legibly and precisely (in meaning and intent). When the question is in the written format, a lot of burden that goes with ensuring dictated questions that are written down are correct in meaning and intent is alleviated. In taking note of written questions, ensure that all the details of the questions are noted and none of it is written wrongly or omitted. It is very crucial to write the questions given as assignment correctly else attempt to solve wrongly written or noted questions would lead to poor scores and unnecessary struggles to answer the questions.

Read the questions and get thorough understanding

Never attempt to answer the questions to an assignment without first ensuring that you fully understand what the question requires of you. An accurate and precise understanding of the tasks to be accomplished in an assignment would ease the journey to finding answers and getting help where help is required. Any mistake in framing an assignment’s requirements automatically leads to wasted efforts and energy.

Make consultations within the bounds allowed

A lot of teachers set the limit on the extent of help students are allowed to get in doing assignments. It is important to note these boundaries and follow them strictly. If the assignment must be done without recourse to asking older ones for ideas or having a joint discussion with other classmates then, it must not be flaunted. All consultations, whether professional or otherwise must be done within the bounds allowed by the assignment and it giver.

Follow the format

Solution and attempts to assignment questions are not just written without taking due diligence to find out how the attempts and solutions should be presented. Many teachers today love having their students type, edit and print solutions to assignments they are given. If there is a particular style or format for the presentation of an assignment, do follow it strictly to avoid unnecessary delay and rejection of attempts made to assignments. Do not try to adjust or alter the accepted format for presented solutions to assignments. If the format is not suitable for you or difficult for you to follow, get back to your professor and ask for the permission to use a different format. Just do not try to change the format with following the process to do so.

Do not copy, do not plagiarize

In this era of copyright laws and intellectual property protection, it is not misplaced to say emphatically that utmost care must be taken to ensure that attempts to assignments are not copied directly from course mates, the internet and other sources. When you copy, it shows that your competence, esteem and level of understanding is very low. Most teachers frown at copied work and deal decisively with students that plagiarize. In special cases where quotes and brief citations from sources protected by the law must be included in an assignment, always give the author credit for the citation.

Mark and do not exceed the boundaries

Assignments given to a class of students will always lead to a point where the students would rub minds together to find the best way of going about the problems in the assignment. It is good practice to rub minds but minds are rubbed only to the extent that is permitted or allowed. It is usually unethical to solve assignments given specifically to check individual aptitude like it is a group work. It counters the essence of the assignment in the first place. If course mates must rub minds, ensure that it is done within the boundaries that are allowed.

Submit on time

There is absolutely no gain in expending so much energy and effort in doing an assignment and submitting it late. Late submission usually attracts very stiff penalties. It is an anomaly to submit assignments late. Make it a point of duty to submit your assignments on time even if you are not able to finish it  or get solutions to all the questions you were given.

Get all corrections without fail

The most beautiful thing about assignments is the opportunity to get corrections to failed attempts. Unlike examinations where there is no opportunity to correct wrong attempts but only to resit, assignments are usually designed and structured in such a way that students are given the correct solutions to all questions asked and are encouraged to take them down for future reference. Make it a point of duty to write down the correction to all questions missed.