Sometimes it's hard to know where to start when you get an assessment task. Use the following steps to help you get started:
Read: On the day you receive your task, read it. Don't just read the question, read the whole task. Your assessment task will tell you what information you need to find and how you should present it. Once you have read the task carefully, access the Rubric in SEQTA and read that too.
Identify: Establish what kind of assignment you are expected to submit. Is it an essay, report, annotated bibliography, literature review, case study or something else? You should be able to tell by the wording of the task.
Highlight: Highlight all of the key words and instructions. Use the 'Glossary of Common Instruction Terms' to help clarify exactly what is being asked of you.
Define: Define the task in your own words. Using the assessment task sheet and your Rubric, write down the question in your own words. This will help you quickly see if there are any parts that you don't understand so you can clarify them before you go any further. At this stage, you can also jot down any questions you think you might need to answer during your research.
Chunk: Break down the large tasks into smaller, more manageable ones.
Plan: Create your plan of attack. Allocate realistic blocks of time to complete each chunk in your calendar or planner.
Don't be afraid to ask your teacher to explain parts of the assignment if you're still not sure of what is required. It's best to make sure you're on the right track from the beginning.
Brainstorming is a way of generating ideas and organising your thinking on a topic. It gets your mind thinking about a topic and helps you find concrete ideas. Brainstorming involves you expressing all possible answers, relevant words and ideas on your topic and helps you to narrow them down.
Brainstorming also helps you to place your ideas into a useful order and consider the relationship between them so that you can start planning your assignment.
There are several different methods of brainstorming for an assessment task. Everybody learns and and thinks differently so it is important to find and use a method that suits you.
Asking questions is a great way of breaking down the topic into its basic elements so that you can understand it better. One method of 'asking questions' is to use the 5Ws and a H to help formulate your questions and start your brainstorming. The who, what, when, where, why and how questions may not be suitable for all tasks so you may need to tailor your questions accordingly.
To create a mind map, you usually start in the middle of your page with your topic/main idea. From that point you work outwards in all directions to create a growing diagram of keywords, phrases, concepts, facts and figures. You can include words, drawings or diagrams.
When you freewrite, you let your thoughts flow, putting pen to paper and writing down whatever comes into your mind. Don't worry too much about the quality of what you're writing, such as the spelling, grammar or punctuation, the aim is to generate ideas, not produce a polished piece of writing.
You can set a time limit (10 to 15 minutes is a good starting point) or you can just write until you reach your goal. You might do this on the computer or on paper and you can even try it with your eyes shut or the monitor off, which encourages speed and freedom of thought.
When you have finished writing, read the text and highlight the potentially useful points that you have made.
Assignment and research skills handbook by 
Buzan Study Skills Handbook by