Assignments are an important part of academia. These are designed to help students apply theoretical knowledge in practical ways. The academic tasks can take various forms, including reports, presentations, thesis, and essays. However, research highlights that assignment writing is often perceived as challenging.
As reported by ResearchGate, the U.S. National Assessment of Educational Progress for Writing revealed that 75% of students struggle to write at a basic level, reflecting widespread difficulties in academic writing. You need strong skills in research, writing and critical thinking to craft an impressive assignment. Despite their best efforts, many students make common mistakes that negatively impact their grades.
In this article, we are going to explore 8 common mistakes students make that lower assignment scores and provide tips to avoid them, ensuring better performance and improved grades.
What to Do When You Get a Bad Grade on an Assignment?
When you receive poor grades on an assignment, sit down and try to comprehend the reasons behind your performance. Start by thoroughly analysing your work to identify mistakes and point out different areas for improvement. However, if you’re unable to pinpoint specific errors, reach out to your instructor for detailed feedback and guidance.
Once you have feedback, it’s time to carefully review it to identify specific areas that need improvement. Focus on addressing those points in your future assignments to enhance your skills. If you continue to face challenges with writing assignments, seek assistance from a UK-based assignment writing service. Professionals can ensure your work is well-researched and tailored to meet academic standards.
What are Some Common Mistakes that Lower Assignment Scores?
Writing assignments well is essential for achieving good grades, but common mistakes can undermine even the most thoughtful efforts. Below are eight common errors students make and, as a result, get poor grades.
1. Unclear Introduction
Your assignment must have a clear introduction. Students make this type of mistake when they want to make their assignments lengthy. They discuss things in detail and use long sentences, and this way, introductions lose their value and perspective. So, explain your main concept in the introduction paragraphs and write what learning outcomes others will get from this work.
Many students fail to write appropriate and persuasive introductions and conclusions, which presents a bad image of their work and results in lower grades. So, to obtain desired grades, students must keep in mind that they must write clear, concise, and engaging introductions.
2. Use of Vague Vocabulary
Read your work to avoid common mistakes in spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Spelling mistakes or punctuation errors can break your overall grade because they are something a marker will notice.
Good and relevant vocabulary can boost your confidence and present your message in a better way. Therefore, if you want good scores, you must pay careful attention to using vocabulary in your work.
3. Poor Structure
Students write rapidly and do not follow a particular and solid structure. Most professors and teachers provide a distinctive structure and requirements for writing essays, coursework and assignments. In this case, it’s compulsory to follow that format and structure.
However, most of the students don’t pay attention to the guidelines and lose their assignment marks. So, it’s essential to make a strong structure of the arguments you are going to present in your writing.
4. Repeated Ideas
Write your assignment in a presentable manner with useful knowledge related to the topic of the assignment. Students discuss ideas again and again, to make assignments lengthy, resulting in poor quality of your work. It can make your document dull and hurts teachers, professors and audiences. To get your desired grades, avoid repetitive ideas and try to come up with original and fresh concepts.
5. Unfitted Paragraphs
Some students have written poor paragraphs in their assignments. They write the content in long paragraphs, and one paragraph cannot relate to the other. If you want to discuss more details about the topic, then you must write the content in short and proper paragraphs.
Write each paragraph that must have its idea and concept. Explain your ideas well in a few paragraphs so your supervisors can easily understand the content. That is what you want to write in your assignment.
6. Wrong Referencing Style
There is a specific referencing style for the assignment to follow. Students must read the project description. They must know which type of referencing style to use in their assignment. Improper referencing style makes your assignment worthless and causes a deduction of marks.
For the correct reference, you must do in-depth research and collect all the information that is useful for your assignment. You can include research articles, books, and websites as references. Always review your assignment so that every reference is properly included with correct details. Correct references make your work of high quality.
7. Copying Other’s Ideas
In higher education, plagiarism is the main concern for educators. Students copy the information and paste the same idea into their works. It’s a no-brainer that if your assignment is detected as plagiarised by your professor, then you’ll definitely lose your scores.
What you can do to avoid bad fate is to ensure that you do not copying the idea directly to avoid plagiarism. Instead, you should get the idea and convert it into your easy wording, and then start writing. There are many tools available now to detect plagiarism. Check your assignment plagiarism before submitting.
8. Overlooking Proper Editing
You must consider it absolutely necessary to write the assignments according to the instructions and requirements of your institution. Also, review the work before submission. Failing to proofread and edit thoroughly can lead to errors, ultimately affecting your score. Formatting is another essential element.
Keep in mind that neglecting proper formatting can give a poor impression, even if the content is strong. Always ensure your assignment adheres to the required style and guidelines to maximise your chances of success.
How to Prevent Mistakes While Writing Assignments?
As it is known to all, writing assignments is a critical part of academic success, but even minor errors can have a significant impact. Avoiding common pitfalls requires careful planning, attention to detail, and consistent effort. Let’s explore some practical tips to help you prevent obvious yet deadly mistakes in your assignments.
1. Always Plan Before Writing
Nothing useful will come out of an illogical start. You will be confused with improper scheduling of all relevant tasks. An educational essay holds intense importance and has the reputation of being your input into the existing literature. You can keep all the important points from getting missed and then control your time much better, as well.
2. Cite References Properly
We cannot emphasise the seriousness of the crime of plagiarism enough. The problematic thing is that it can occur even though it happens. It needs to be known about different types of referencing styles such as Chicago, Vancouver, Harvard, etc. These facts, along with paraphrasing, will ensure that plagiarism never catches you off guard again. Explore the references from your on-campus library and online resources.
3. Research Thoroughly
Assignments need deep research and critical analysis to present your arguments and viewpoints. When you are clear about what your assignment will cover, then start researching.
Research can help you build stronger arguments and convey a clear message to your audience and viewers. Students who don’t pay attention when writing assignments typically can’t build strong narratives and particularly lose grades and appreciation from their professors.
4. Use Authentic Information Sources
Assignments depend on in-depth research for better sources. Information from valid sources raises the quality of your work. For authentic and useful information, you can check sources such as libraries, scholarly journals, and online articles. Reference the sources authentically, which will result in high grades.
5. Be Mindful of the Diction You Use
It’s vital to be careful about choosing words, idioms and phrases for your topic. Well-selected words and phrases define the quality of your work. Don’t use the terms that are more technical and formal. Using these types of terms and phrases can leave a bad impression on your perspective and can also result in poor marks.
6. Review Before Submission
The last and most important stage of the task is editing your work. You never want to submit your paper at the last moment. Plan your final draft in such a way that it gives you more time before the final submission. Therefore, there will be plenty of time for looking at your entire paper for errors. It is the biggest blunder if you submit your work without proofreading and reviewing it.
Apart from the major flaws, minor errors in grammar, spelling, or structure will cost you marks. These things bring down the quality of your work. Double-check your report and even ask somebody else to proofread the work for you. If you have a second option, it will provide you with a new outlook and help you obtain more improvement.
What is the Highest Grade you can Get on an Assignment?
The highest grade you can get on an assignment depends on the institute’s grading system. But generally, marks below 40% are a fail, 40%-50% scraps a pass, 50%-60% is a clear pass but not very good, and marks over 60% are normal.
The marks at 70 per cent and 80 per cent are considered first, but there is a slight difference. Marks at 70 percent are considered excellent at an A grade, but at 80 percent, marks are outstanding with an A+ grade.
Conclusion
Dedication, effort, and patience are required for your work to be brilliant. Writing an assignment is just work that may go very smoothly if the above-mentioned tips and tricks are always considered while writing. By following these strategies, you can achieve your desired grades and grow professionally.
So, many students find it challenging and time-consuming to write their assignments on their own, especially when dealing with theoretical subjects. Therefore, they turn to help from the best online assignment writing platforms and guidance to complete their assignments without making any mistakes.
By following the above-discussed techniques, students can easily secure higher grades and build the essential writing and speaking skills required to work in professional environments.
