However, depending on the topic of the assignment and the field of study, there may be some variation in the assignment structure. Use this page as inspiration to structure your assignment and read about the typical content elements. But remember to customise the structure to your project and not the other way around.
The standard outline also reflects the different taxonomic levels that your assignment should contain. The taxonomic levels are expressed through different academic forms of presentation.
Academic presentation forms are the different "actions" you take while completing a written assignment. There are also non-academic presentation forms that rarely belong in a written assignment, e.g. feelings.
Academic presentation forms at low taxonomic levels only require limited insight and independence because you are primarily reproducing and processing existing knowledge, e.g. when you are explaining a theory. In other words, you are transferring knowledge from a theory book into your assignment.
Academic presentation forms at the high taxonomic levels require deeper insight and more independence because you are using and producing knowledge. In other words, you’ve closed the book and are carrying out independent ‘academic actions’ such as analysing, discussing and assessing.
Assignment... | Description | Academic presentation form |
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Explanation / description | Provides a focused review of a topic, text or object, or addresses a topic, text or object based on a specific objective. | Quoting, paraphrasing, referencing, describing, explaining, defining, analysing, characterising, transferring, exemplifying, identifying |
Analysis | Divides a topic, text or object into components and compares it with a theory or compares similarities and differences with other objects, phenomena, topics, etc. | Classifies, categorises, compares, analyses |
| Discussion / Assessment | Brings different points of view on a phenomenon into a text, and explains the different arguments to reach a consequence of the discussion or conclusion. Considers something on the basis of academically acceptable criteria. | Theorises, interprets, discusses, evaluates, puts into perspective, guides. |
The structure of your assignment depends, among other things, on whether it is a theoretical, empirical or product-oriented assignment. Moreover, the structure should reflect that your assignment presents one overall argument supported by academic evidence.
Be aware of specialist requirements and traditions. Some courses and assignments may have specific requirements or recommendations for structure and content. Therefore, you should always check your academic regulations, and contact your supervisor or teacher, so you can incorporate any specific requirements from the start. Furthermore, the elements of content described below may be called something else in your field of study, so use the terminology traditionally used on your degree programme.
There is often a requirement for major university assignments to include an abstract or a brief summary, either at the beginning or at the end of the assignment. An abstract summarises the assignment’s:
problem and objective
methods
analysis results
conclusion
perspectives
An abstract gives the reader a quick insight into the assignment, so that they can assess whether it is relevant to read further.
Note: Not all assignments have to include an abstract. Check your academic regulations or ask your supervisor if you are in doubt. Be aware that the abstract may have to be written in another language than the rest of the assignment.
The introduction is where you present the framework of your assignment to your reader and provide an overview of what you want to achieve, and why. This includes a presentation of your topic and the problem you will be looking into, including the relevance of investigating it and how you will go about it.
The introduction can touch on: |
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It’s a good idea to edit the introduction throughout the writing process and only finalise it at the end to make sure you don't promise more than the assignment delivers. Then ask yourself if the conclusion answers your problem statement and if the paper covers all the aspects you promised in the introduction.
The overall objective of the assignment must be stated clearly in the introduction. Stating the objective means explaining why your assignment is interesting to others and how it contributes to addressing the problem you are investigating. For example, your objective could be:
Objective of the investigation | Explanation |
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Explanatory | The aim of your investigation is to explain a phenomenon. Your approach can be inductive, i.e. based on the phenomenon or empirical data, or deductive, i.e. based on theory. |
Normative | The aim of your investigation is to identify best practice or to assess whether a phenomenon is good or bad. |
Problem-solving | The aim of your investigation is to find one or more solutions to the problem. |
Intervention-oriented | The aim of your investigation is to identify possible interventions or to study the effects of interventions. |
Exploratory | The aim of your investigation is to discover something new about a phenomenon. |
At university, you are expected to actively consider pre-existing knowledge about your topic and how it has previously been approached within your field of study. There are several ways to do this, depending on the type of assignment and the subject you are studying.
Sometimes you have to present existing research in a separate chapter or section where you discuss the latest research within the field and provide relevant literature reviews. And sometimes, a brief presentation of the most important research will be enough in either the introduction, theory section or elsewhere in the assignment.
Check your academic regulations, or ask your supervisor or teacher about the requirements for including a research overview and pre-existing knowledge in your assignment.
Click here to read more about the conventions for academic work
Note: Not all written assignments have to include an actual research overview. Check your academic regulations or ask your supervisor if you are in doubt.
Philosophy of science is a presentation of your approach to what knowledge is and how knowledge is produced. There are different scientific-theoretical schools of thought, with different views on what science is and ought to be.
These schools of thought draw on different ontological understandings (i.e. understandings of how something exists) and different epistemological foundations (i.e. theories of knowledge and assumptions about the world). Examples of scientific-theoretical schools of thought are social constructivism, positivism, phenomenology and hermeneutics.
Your scientific-theoretical approach must be based on literature on the philosophy of science and must be closely linked to your choices of methods and theories, which you may also elaborate on in this section.
Read more about the use of pre-existing knowledge and independent conclusions on the page Academic standards.
The chapter on methodology and study design is a prerequisite for the validity of your investigation and analysis.
Read more about this on the page about argumentation.
The methodology section can vary depending on whether your assignment is theoretical, empirical or product-oriented. However, no matter what, it must include a description of how you conduct your study. This is also known as the study design.
The study design refers to the overall framework for data collection and analysis. It should be based on the academic methods you have learned during class, and must be backed by theory of methods.
The methodology section can include: |
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Reflecting on and being conscious of your choices is an important part of working academically. Therefore, in the methodology section, you should reflect on your own choices and the choices you have been forced to make (for example due to external circumstances) and how this has affected your study design or your analysis. You can also explain why you have chosen a particular method if there were other obvious alternatives.
The theory section is where you present and account for the theory applied in your assignment. Make sure you take an application-oriented approach, i.e. account only for the theory that you have actually used to answer your research questions further down in the analysis. Note that the purpose of the theory section is not to report everything you know about a particular field, but to support your study and your analysis as part of your argumentation.
You can integrate the theory section in different ways. In some assignments, it makes most sense to have one separate theory chapter in which you explain all the theoretical concepts used in your assignment. In other assignments, it may make more sense to briefly present the theory in a separate section and then explain relevant theoretical concepts as they are applied in your analysis. Talk with your supervisor or your teacher about what would be most appropriate in your assignment.
The analysis section of your assignment can take many different forms depending on whether your assignment is theoretical, empirical or product-oriented. The analysis is usually the most comprehensive part of the assignment because this is where you answer your problem statement by presenting all your evidence for the overall claim of the assignment.
Read more about argumentation.
Because the analysis is so comprehensive, it is a good idea to use meta-communication to guide the reader through the logic and direction of your assignment. For example, write sub-conclusions to sum up along the way.
Read more about guiding your reader under Academic standards.
In the analysis, the first thing you need to do is present the object, e.g. empirical data or artefacts, that you want to analyse and the tools you want to use for the analysis, e.g. your method, theory or concepts. Then move on to the actual analysis, where you use the tools to examine the selected object of analysis.
Note that it is difficult to write your analysis section before you have actually performed your analysis because you cannot see patterns, categories, etc. until you have the analysis material in front of you.
Read more about the writing process
You can structure the analysis using the DAA structure:
Description: Describe the sub-object you are about to analyse (e.g. a quotation or a table).
Analysis: Analyse the sub-object using theories and concepts.
Assessment: Assess what the analysis of the sub-object says about the overall object of analysis.
The DAA structure can be repeated over and over again until all your sub-objects have been analysed.
The discussion part of your assignment is where you criticise and defend your own study, both academically and methodologically. In other words, you have to consider the weaknesses of the assignment while demonstrating that, in spite of these, the assignment is still reliable. This will strengthen the overall argumentation of your assignment.
In the discussion, you can criticise: |
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Encountering challenges during the writing process is quite common, and in some cases, they may serve as input for your discussion section. Note down challenges as they occur, including an explanation of why they occurred. In this way, you will have material for the discussion you are going to write later on.
The conclusion summarises the results of your analysis and reiterates why the assignment is important. It must include clear and well-written responses to your problem statement, or a confirmation or rejection of the hypothesis tested in your assignment.
Depending on the objective of your study that you presented in the introduction, the conclusions may take different forms:
Objective of the investigation | The conclusion should: |
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Explanatory |
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Normative | Assess what is best practice, or whether the studied phenomenon is good/bad. |
Problem-solving | Propose one or more possible solutions to the studied problem. |
Intervention-oriented | Propose one or more possible interventions, or explain the effects of studied interventions. |
Exploratory | Expand our understanding of the phenomenon under study or explain something that has so far not been explained. |
Click here to read more about the characteristics of different purposes of investigation
Besides answering your problem statement, or confirming or rejecting your hypothesis, the conclusion should also summarise the main points and results of the assignment. Moreover, it should include an assessment of your methodology and approach.
The conclusion should never include new material, but should briefly summarise the main points of your study. It can be a good idea to write notes during your writing process that you can use for the conclusion.
Once you have finished writing your assignment, try to read the introduction and the conclusion together in one go. Then assess whether the promises in the introduction are fulfilled in the conclusion, and whether the conclusion is an appropriate response to your problem statement/hypothesis.
In some university assignments, you are expected to end the assignment by discussing additional perspectives. The perspectives can be a separate section after the conclusion, they can form part of the conclusion, or they can be integrated into your discussion. Any perspectives should be based on what you have already written in the assignment. In other words, you should not integrate new theory or claims that require new evidence in your perspectives section.
Click here to read about argumentation
The perspectives may address: |
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Check your academic regulations or talk to your supervisor or teacher if you are uncertain about whether your assignment should contain a perspectives section, and how it should be integrated into the assignment.
Get a list of thesis titles from your field of study, and draw inspiration from other students’ assignments.
