1.4 Types of assignment

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Assignments can vary from a short 5 minute oral presentation, to a technical report, literature review, or thesis.

The type of assignment you are asked to produce has a direct affect on:

• the amount of information you require
• the types of sources you require
• the types of publications you require.

Your assignment is to:

Your information needs might be:

Review a play

Objectively analysing the relative success or failure of the given production.

A limited review of information.

Reading the play before you go to the production to develop a sense of what the characters might look like, suitable set design and appropriate costuming.

Interviewing a sample group to obtain their opinions.

Produce a laboratory report

Documenting your findings.

Showing your understanding of the principles the experiment was designed to examine.

A minor review of information.

Using your laboratory manual.

Obtaining source data from reference material or theory from books.

Answer a problem or hypothetical question

Choosing information from a body of knowledge and applying it to the problem.

A significant review of information.

Using basic theory found in books.

Supporting your argument with examples found in books and periodical articles.

Write a literature review

Critically reviewing the published literature in a particular research field.

An extensive review of information.

Using basic theory found in books.

Using books for historical information, periodical articles for current research, and theses for an overview of previous research in a field.