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How to write a great assignment series: STEP 3 – ORGANISE & LINK MATERIAL (5%)

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  • How to write a great assignment series: STEP 3 – ORGANISE & LINK MATERIAL (5%)

  • Tom

  • June 04, 2025

After you have begun the research for your assignment and you are in the process of collecting and recording information (see my previous blog on step 2 of the 7-step writing process), the next stage of writing a great assignment is to begin to organize and link the material you have collected. This is an essential aspect of assignment planning and should begin and continue alongside the previous step of collecting and recording information. You should spend around 5% of the entire time you devote to the assignment on organizing and linking your material so that you can think about how best to use it in the assignment itself. If you ignore doing this then you will not make the best use of the material that you have spent so long finding and recording during your research.

There are two things to consider when organizing and linking material for your assignment:

  • Organize as you go.
  • Keep checking you are on track.

Organize as you go

Organizing as you go involves a four-step process:

  1. Divide the work into ideas/topics/themes/points and create mind maps, spider diagrams, flowcharts (or similar), to link them together. This is important for starting to structure your assignment.
  2. Rearrange your notes often so that the diverse sources of information you have found are grouped into the above ideas/topics/themes/points in a logical and coherent order. This will help you to demonstrate the academic scholarship required in a university level assignment.
  3. Write an outline plan of the structure for your assignment early and keep refining this. Any assignment will usually include the following broad aspects: Title; Introduction; Main body; Conclusion. The most important aspect to work on first is the Main Body ideas/topics/themes/points as these usually make up about 70-80% of an assignment. Work on the conclusion, introduction and title after this (in that order).
  4. Organize your material into paragraphs (especially for the main body) by colour-coding your notes into themes which will then make up your paragraphs. Each paragraph in an assignment should have one main idea/topic/theme/point with supporting evidence (I suggest using the WEED model to write strong academic paragraphs – see my blog on writing an effective literature review for more on using this model).

Keep checking you are on track

There are three reasons why you should keep checking what you are doing when you are in the process of organizing and linking your material using the four-step process above:

  1. Helps prevent repetition which is always negative in an assignment. Each paragraph must say something different related to the overall argument of your essay, chapter, report, etc., and cover different material to the last.
  2. Clarifies your thinking and allows for new ideas to emerge as you re-read the information you have. It’s important to be open to new thoughts you have as you re-read and re-think what you have. Always keep the assessment brief you have been given in mind to ensure you stay focused on what you have been asked to do precisely.
  3. Helps you to organize your material as you read, research and think about how to use your material to best address the goals of your assignment. As mentioned above, it is best to think about how best to organize and link your material as you’re in the process of collecting and recording information for your assignment.

You can read more about writing at university level in Chapter 13 of Stella Cottrell’s Study Skills Handbook.

Check out my next blog to see step 4 of how to write a great assignment: reflecting, evaluating and critiquing the material you have collected for your assignment.

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