This document provides guidance on how to write an assignment. It outlines the basic framework, which includes a content page, introduction, search strategy, literature review, discussion, conclusion, and references. It emphasizes the importance of carefully reading the assignment question, planning an initial search strategy, and conducting a thorough search of multiple sources to gather evidence. The document warns against common mistakes like plagiarism, poor planning, and grammatical errors. It advises sticking to the word count and following the specified referencing style. The overall message is to start early, work hard, and ask for help if needed.

1. How to write an assignment
Dr A Barai
MBBS, MRCS, MSc (Critical care)
Registrar in Emergency Medicine

2. What is an assignment
• An essay on a particular problem
• A review of contemporaneous evidence
• An elaboration of a particular aspect of a
research

3. What an assignment is NOT
• Not a copy and paste of previous studies or
publications
• Not a fiction
• Not an undergraduate essay without
references or supporting evidence

4. Basic framework
• Content page
• Introduction
• Search strategy
• Review tools
• Literature review
• Discussion
• Conclusion
• References

5. How to start
• Read the question carefully
• Look for the key words
• Ask the tutor what exactly is asked for

6. Initial planning
• Search the key words to see what evidence is
available
• Read original papers that will guide you to
write the assignment
• Write up the plan and get it checked by tutor

7. Search
• Search is the most important part of gathering information
and literature. It needs special care.
• Search through all sources: Google, google scholar, Pubmed,
Medline, CINAHL, EMBASE, Scopus etc. That will reduced
source bias.
• Contact library of your institute to gather evidence
• Look into bibliography and reference section of original
papers to gather more evidence
• Contacting the authors would be way beyond the scope of an
assignment. However, in Dissertation and PhD Thesis that can
be justified.

8. Writing up the real thing
• Search again
• Write up the assignment in all relevant sections
• As you go through the papers, you would be able to
modify the whole thing
• Write and re-write
• Give it to someone to look at for correction

9. Common mistakes
• Delay in starting
• Poor planning
• Lack of adequate search
• Grammatical error
• Plagiarism: a big issue among academic circles. It’s
like a crime!

10. Special attention
• Overall look and style of the assignment
• Grammatical errors: use spell checker
• Stick to word count +/_ 10%
• Follow referencing style as has been advised by your
institute. Commonly, Harvard style is used. But your
university/ college might a have a modified version.

11. Final word
• You are at the driving seat to write up the
assignment
• Please stick to the time frame and work hard
• Reward yourself for the hard work and punish
yourself for laziness

12. Wish you a good luck and every success!

13. Please contact me if there is any further queries:
drbarai@gmail.com