i did my assignment wrong

When does getting help on an assignment turn into cheating?

Policy Fellow, Mitchell Institute, Victoria University

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Peter Hurley is affiliated with the Mitchell Institute for Education and Health Policy at Victoria University.

Victoria University provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU.

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Students – whether at university or school – can get help from many places. They can go to a tutor, parent, teacher, a friend or consult a textbook.

But at which point does getting help cross the line into cheating?

Sometimes it’s clear. If you use a spy camera or smartwatch in an exam, you’re clearly cheating. And you’re cheating if you get a friend to sit an exam for you or write your assignment.

At other times the line is blurry. When it’s crossed, it constitutes academic misconduct. Academic misconduct is any action or attempted action that may result in creating an unfair academic advantage for yourself or others.

What about getting someone else to read a draft of your essay? What if they do more than proofread and they alter sections of an assignment? Does that constitute academic misconduct?

Learning, teaching or cheating?

There are a wide range of activities that constitute academic misconduct. These can include:

fabrication, which is just making things up. I could say “90 % of people admit to fabricating their assignments”, when this is not a fact but a statement I just invented

falsification, which is manipulating data to inaccurately portray results. This can occur by taking research results out of context and drawing conclusions not supported by data

misrepresentation, which is falsely representing yourself. Did you know I have a master’s degree from the University of Oxford on this topic? (Actually, I don’t)

plagiarism, which is when you use other people’s ideas or words without appropriate attribution. For instance, this list came from other people’s research and it is important to reference the source.

Sometimes students and teachers have different ideas of academic misconduct. One study found around 45% of academics thought getting someone else to correct a draft could constitute academic misconduct. But only 32% of students thought the same thing.

Read more: Assessment design won’t stop cheating, but our relationships with students might

In the same survey, most academics and students agreed having someone else like a parent or friend identify errors in a draft assignment, as opposed to correcting them, was fine.

Generally when a lecturer, teacher or another marker is assessing an assignment they need to establish the authenticity of the work. Authenticity means having confidence the work actually relates to the performance of the person being assessed, and not of another person.

The Australian government’s vocational education and training sector’s quality watchdog, for instance, considers authenticity as one of four so-called rules of evidence for an “effective assessment”.

The rules are:

validity, which is when the assessor is confident the student has the skills and knowledge required by the module or unit

sufficiency, which is when the quality, quantity and relevance of the assessment evidence is enough for the assessor to make a judgement

authenticity, where the assessor is confident the evidence presented for assessment is the learner’s own work

currency, where the assessor is confident the evidence relates to what the student can do now instead of some time in the past.

Generally speaking, if the assessor is confident the work is the product of a student’s thoughts and where help has been provided there is proper acknowledgement, it should be fine.

Why is cheating a problem?

It’s difficult to get a handle on how big the cheating problem is. Nearly 30% of students who responded to a 2012 UK survey agreed they had “submitted work taken wholly from an internet source” as their own.

In Australia, 6% of students in a survey of 14,000 reported they had engaged in “outsourcing behaviours” such as submitting someone else’s assignment as their own, and 15% of students had bought, sold or traded notes.

Getting someone to help with your assignment might seem harmless but it can hinder the learning process. The teacher needs to understand where the student is at with their learning, and too much help from others can get in the way.

Read more: Children learn from stress and failure: all the more reason you shouldn't do their homework

Some research describes formal education as a type of “ signal ”. This means educational attainment communicates important information about an individual to a third party such as an employer, a customer, or to an authority like a licensing body or government department. Academic misconduct interferes with that process.

How to deal with cheating

It appears fewer cheaters are getting away with it than before. Some of the world’s leading academic institutions have reported a 40% increase in academic misconduct cases over a three year period.

Technological advances mean online essay mills and “ contract cheating ” have become a bigger problem. This type of cheating involves outsourcing work to third parties and is concerning because it is difficult to detect .

Read more: 15% of students admit to buying essays. What can universities do about it?

But while technology has made cheating easier, it has also offered sophisticated systems for educators to verify the work is a person’s own. Software programs such as Turnitin can check if a student has plagiarised their assignment.

Institutions can also verify the evidence they are assessing relates to a student’s actual performance by using a range of assessment methods such as exams, oral presentations, and group assignments.

Academic misconduct can be a learning and cultural issue . Many students, particularly when they are new to higher education, are simply not aware what constitutes academic misconduct. Students can often be under enormous pressure that leads them to make poor decisions.

It is possible to deal with these issues in a constructive manner that help students learn and get the support they need. This can include providing training to students when they first enrol, offering support to assist students who may struggle, and when academic misconduct does occur, taking appropriate steps to ensure it does not happen again.

• Exam cheating
• Contract cheating
• University cheating
• Academic misconduct

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UNFAIR grading by PROFESSOR (What can students do)

How to i ask my professor to regrade an assignment.

If you honestly believe that your professor didn’t grade your assignment fairly or you think that they might have misunderstood your point of view, it’s okay to discuss this with them. But you need to make sure you take ownership and don’t place blame on them.

If you come at them with anger, it won’t likely help your situation. Be polite and talk with them about your grade and try to find out why they deducted points . It might actually be more fair than you think.

As a former professor , I have received many emails from students who weren’t happy with their performance on their assignment.

In all my years of teaching college students, I have never ever regraded assignments EXCEPT in a few rare circumstances. I only regraded assignments when a student helped me understand what they meant to say as it was all just a misunderstanding.

Remember, you shouldn’t be trying to convince your professor to regrade your assignment, instead you are trying to get your professor to understand your perspective on the assignment.

Can you ask your professor to reconsider a grade?

If your professor has been teaching for more than a few years, it is very unlikely that they made a grading mistake or that they didn’t give you a grade that you deserved.

Most professors have years of teaching experience and have graded thousands of assignments. And they have probably assigned the same assignment to dozens of classes over the years. They know what a good assignment looks like.

You can still talk to them about it and get some additional clarification. Be careful how you approach them because you will probably get a better outcome if you are polite and questionable about your grade rather than directly saying that you think they mis-graded your assignment and it’s their fault.

How do you email a professor to ask for a regrade?

If the student does not agree with the grade, it is best to ask the professor to allow them to redo the assignment because they did not understand the expectations rather than arguing that the professor didn’t grade accurately.

This email is short and to the point. You aren’t pointing fingers at the professor in your email, and you aren’t telling them that you deserve a better grade either.

If it isn’t a misunderstanding, and your professor cannot provide a thorough explanation for your grade, you should just ask to redo the assignment. If that fails, you want to just focus on improving your performance on future assignments.

What can a college student do about a bad grade they don’t think they deserve?

You may argue that you have always received high grades in your courses, but grading can be subjective and it is based upon the professor’s knowledge and expectations. Every professor won’t grade the same.

What can a college student do if they think a professor is grading unfairly?

If a student thinks that their professor is grading unfairly, they should talk to their professor to ask them how they are grading their assignments, and if they have a rubric. Then they should ask their professor what an ideal assignment would look like. If they still aren’t satisfied with their professor’s responses, they could appeal their grades if their college has a grade appeal process.

Keep in mind that not all assignments require a rubric. But if they have one, it is even easier for professors to prove their grades were fairly assigned.

I would even ask for the professor to tell you the class average, lowest and highest grade, and the median assignment grade. It can help you understand if other students are scoring well on these assignments or if your professor is just a tough grader.

You need to check with your college about the process, and you will likely have to wait until final grades are submitted. But in the meantime, start researching the process and keep detailed records.

Can professor change final grade (PROF answers)?

Accused of cheating smart students do this.

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Did Assignment Wrongly: Before you Accidentally Submit

After You did Assignment Wrongly

As a student, you need to submit an assignment with correct answers. Unfortunately, not all students live up to that expectation. And various reasons lead to such an instance.

Doing the assignment in a hurry, lack of interest, laziness and lack of knowledge in the subject are some causes of doing your assignment wrongly.  

People Also Read: Essay Copy and Paste: Write 500-10,000 Words without Copying

What to Do if You Did Your Assignment Wrongly

You need to take significant mitigation measures once you do your assignment wrongly. The aim is to ensure you get back on track.

Below are some of the mitigation measures you need to capitalize on;

Seeking help from an online tutor enables you to correct the wrong answers. The tutor guides you on which answers suit the questions in your assignment.

Besides, you learn the guidelines that govern answering assignment questions.

However, ensure that you are seeking help from an experienced tutor. You have to vet the options at hand not to be spoilt for choice.

Google can also be one place you can rectify your assignment. You can search for correct answers for your homework. Google gives you instant answers. You will take less time to rectify your assignment. This will ensure you still get a good grade regardless of making a mistake early on.

Studying a particular subject enhances your knowledge. Thus, if you have wrong answers in an assignment, you need to read more. You need to do in-depth research and read various study materials to get the right answers.

Studying will help you to correct the wrong answers as soon as possible. However, ensure you have enough time by your side.

You need to create sufficient time to study a subject before undertaking its assignment. Planning is an important aspect you cannot afford to ignore. Create a timetable where you have to allocate each assignment its own time.

Study hard before you sit down to tackle the assignment. In addition, use your notes and other sources to get answers.

Email Teacher

Email your teacher when you submit a wrong assignment. Request more time from your teacher so that you can sort out the earlier mess. The teacher can be gracious enough to give you a chance to correct your assignment.

Make sure this time around you do a great job. Above all, study to get the correct answers. You can employ any reasonable help to enable you to tackle the assignment.

The email you send to your teacher ought to be well written. It needs to prove to the teacher that you are ready and willing to rectify your mistake. The format of the email should be appealing.

It is equally important to avoid any grammatical errors. Make sure it is brief and to the point, which is a request to correct the assignment you did wrongly.

If you do your assignment wrongly, you can get a chance to rectify it. That means you have to repeat the assignment. Now that you have an opportunity to correct the earlier mistake, ensure you show commitment.

You have to find the correct answers. Conduct in-depth research, and consult professionals to complete the assignment in due time.

Repeating your assignment allows you to redeem yourself. If the essay was wrong, you need to write from scratch once more. Because it is a second chance, you cannot afford to be careless. Make all the necessary preparations to ensure you do not make any mistakes.

Hire a Writer

You can hire a writer to rectify your wrong essay. The writer needs to have a great reputation and experience in writing essays. If that is not the case, the situation will worsen. You will waste your money on a writer who is out to exploit you. Take advantage of reviews to determine which writers suit your assignment.

Various companies provide essay writing services. But you cannot trust all of them. Take your time to find a writer with the right profile befitting your assignment. Do not squander the opportunity to correct your wrong assignment.

How to Write an Email That You Did Assignment Wrongly?

Notifying your teacher after doing an assignment is a decision you should take immediately. Write an email to request more time to correct your assignment. The email should be precise but straight to the point.

Avoid writing a long email that will take up a significant time of your teacher. The teacher needs to go through other students’ assignments. 

The email ought to be free of any grammatical mistakes. It needs to show your remorse and your willingness to correct your assignment. Under the circumstances, use persuasion to convince the teacher that you need more time.

Acknowledge your mistakes, pledge to do great work and sign-off accordingly . If the teacher offers you more time, ensure you do not take it for granted.

People Also Read: Hardest Essay Topics For High School and University Students

Tips on How to Avoid Doing Assignments Wrongly

Submitting an assignment with wrong answers attracts serious repercussions. You get a lower score, which might negatively impact your overall performance.

For that reason, you need to take the correct measures necessary to mitigate the assignment you did wrongly. That includes notifying the teacher to give you more time.

It is better to avoid doing your assignments wrongly using the following tips:

Study In Advance

Study before you sit down to do your assignment. Ensure you have all your answers at your fingertips. That is possible through conducting enough research before doing your assignment . Therefore, get all the study materials that you need to give you the right answers. You can then put your brain to work.

Refer From Other Students

You can check your fellow students’ assignments to ensure you do not do your assignment wrongly. If you find anything wrong with your assignment, ensure you rectify it as soon as possible.

Most importantly, consult others to get an in-depth explanation of the guidelines you do not understand.

Use an Online Tutor

Online tutors are there to assist you with your assignment. They give your insight on how best to tackle your assignment.

You can ask any questions you have to receive the right answers. This way, you minimize the chances of doing your assignment wrongly.

Seek Clarification from the Teacher

You must understand all the guidelines that pertain to answering assignment questions. Your teacher can help you avoid any unnecessary mistakes.

Make sure you seek clarity on any instructions you do not understand before tackling your assignment. The teacher is always ready to assist.

Hire a Professional Writer

You can hire someone else to do the assignment on your behalf. In this connection, you will need a professional in the subject you are dealing with. Fortunately, there are various companies and individuals that offer essay writing services.

They can work on your assignment within the shortest time possible. Being professionals, you are sure that your assignment will be in safe pair of hands.

Before you hire a professional writer , there are some points to note. Not every writer can produce a great essay. You have to ensure you assess all the options at your disposal before making your final selection. An experienced essay writer will be the best option so that you get the best results.

People Also Read: Dissertation Length: Optimal Length in Words and Pages

Do not panic once you submit an assignment you did wrongly. Make sure you notify your tutor and show the willingness to correct. You can then get to work once you get a second chance. More emphasis should be on your studies so as to get the correct answers. You can also hire a writer to help you out.

When not handling complex essays and academic writing tasks, Josh is busy advising students on how to pass assignments. In spare time, he loves playing football or walking with his dog around the park.

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Tricks And Hacks For A Failed Assignment, Essay Or Exam

21 Oct 2022

Dealing with failure of any kind can be hard but experiencing failure at university can leave students feeling upset, unmotivated or doubting their abilities.

Whether you’ve failed an assignment, essay or exam, there are things you can do so don’t get yourself too down.

Carry on reading to find out reasons why students may fail at university, and the tricks and hacks to help you out if you’ve not done as well as you hoped on a piece of work!

Common Causes of Failure At University

There are several factors that can come into play when it comes to reasons why a student may have failed an assignment, essay or exam.

It may be that they didn’t understand the subject topic of the specific piece of work, or they may have a lack of confidence in their ability.

It could even be that their quality of teaching wasn’t beneficial to their learning, or they could be an international student who is facing language challenges.

More often than not, a student’s circumstances and mental and physical health is the cause of failure at university.

Such as, they may be worried about their financial circumstances, they may be feeling anxious about being away from home or they could be feeling lonely.

Which in turn, is distracting them from focusing on their degree and their learning.

It’s no surprise that this can lead to failing elements of their course, as there are so many things to think about whilst at university.

Of course, there are other reasons why a student may fail like missing lectures or seminars, as well as a lack of preparation and revision for the assignment, essay of exam.

It could also be that they lacked motivation or interest in the piece of work, so they didn’t put any effort in.

Tricks & Hacks For Dealing With Failure At Uni

If you find yourself experiencing failure at university, there are things that can be done to prevent this from happening again, and to deal with the current situation you’re faced with.

Find out with our 8 tricks and hacks below!

1. Put Things Into Perspective

If you have failed an assignment, essay or exam try to remember to keep things in perspective.

It can be hard to stop yourself from overthinking and presuming the worst, but chances are you will be able to do something about your situation.

If you start to think that that there’s nothing that can be done to change your position or that there’s no use in trying again, try and reframe your negative thoughts into positive ones.

Yes, you may have not done as well on this piece of work, but you can learn from your mistakes and improve for the future.

At the end of the day, it’s very unlikely that you’ll be the only one to have failed a piece of work on your course, so try not to get yourself too worked up.

So, stop and consider whether it’s worth letting yourself get super upset over something that can be changed!

2. Allow Yourself To Feel Your Feelings

Whilst it is important to reframe your negative thoughts and stop yourself from getting too stressed out when dealing with failure at uni, it’s also necessary to allow yourself to feel your feelings.

When experiencing failure, most people experience a range of negative feelings such as sadness, frustration, embarrassment and shame.

Rather than bottling up your emotions, try to get everything out into the open and allow yourself to face failure head on, it’s a key to success after all!

The same goes for preventing failure, you need to allow yourself to accept any small issues that do arise.

For example, if you’re not understanding a section of your course material and you’re beginning to feel stressed, you need to be honest about what’s going on and speak up about this before the problem becomes larger.

You could do this by talking to your course leader or tutor.

3. Accept A Level Of Responsibility

If you’ve flopped on an assignment, essay or exam at uni, one vital thing that you need to do is to accept a level of responsibility and practice some self reflection.

Whilst there may be some contributing factors to why you didn’t do so well on a piece of work like as discussed earlier, you also need to learn from your mistakes.

Try to accept maybe there was things you didn’t do successfully that you can improve upon within the future.

This isn’t an opportunity to blame yourself and be harsh to yourself, but rather a way to identify what needs to change.

Such as, if you didn’t revise as much as you should have or if you stopped going to your lectures and seminars, you need to accept a level of blame for why you failed.

By doing this you will prevent yourself from making the same mistakes in the future, and it means you’ll take accountability for your actions.

4. Be Kind To Yourself

Being kind to yourself is an important step of dealing with failure.

There can be many negative impacts on your self-esteem when you fail a piece of work or fail within other aspects of life.

However, there’s no point in punishing yourself when this happens, you won’t gain anything good from doing this.

Instead, treat your failure the same way you would if a friend came to you for advice.

You wouldn’t criticise them for it, would you?

You would provide them with some non-judgmental advice and support them, so make sure you do the same for yourself.

It’s hard to stop yourself from experiencing feelings of imposter syndrome whilst at uni, you may doubt your abilities and feel like a fraud, but you’re not!

A good way to try and prevent these feelings from intensifying is to not compare yourself to others.

For example, if you’ve failed a piece of work that your friend did really well on, don’t start spiralling into self-doubt.

Instead, focus on the things you did well and the things you can improve on.

Be kind to yourself because at the end of the day, no-one succeeds at everything in life (or uni).

Failure is inevitable and it’s an essential part of growing!

5. Practice Healthy Coping Mechanisms

Hearing that you’ve failed a piece of work can be difficult to hear, however, one of the worst things you can do is go into self-destruct mode.

Whilst university and succeeding academically is an important aspect of your life, try not to practice unhealthy coping mechanisms to deal with your feelings of failure.

One of the most common unhealthy coping mechanisms is avoiding the problem altogether and refusing to confront the situation.

Such as, you may avoid your failed assignment, essay or exam and think that because it’s out of sight and out of mind, it will go away.

Or you may think that there’s nothing you can do about it so you give up hope.

Another negative coping mechanism is going out and getting drunk to distract yourself from your problems.

Instead of practicing behaviours such as these, try and practice healthy coping mechanisms such as spending time with friends, watching your favourite films or TV shows, going for walks to relax or even spending time focusing on your hobbies or interests.

Everyone has different coping mechanisms which work for them, so try and find yours.

6. Explore Your Options

Most of the time if you do receive a failed mark, there are several options for you to explore and try to remember that your university do want you to succeed too!

The best thing to do is firstly speak to your module tutor or department for feedback and the best cause of action.

Such options include re-sitting an exam, assignment or essay with a second attempt, although this could be at a capped grade it’s still another chance for you to improve.

There are other options too like re-taking an entire module if it’s necessary.

Although, it’s important to remember that just because you’ve failed one piece of work, it doesn’t mean you can’t receive a good grade overall.

Grades will vary from university and courses, but most of the time you don’t have to re-sit an assignment to end up passing the module or even the year.

Such as, if your averaged course mark is 40 or above, you can pass the module overall regardless of the failed piece of work.

As we said, it’s best to speak to your specific course department about this as some do require you to pass all elements!

7. Applying For Extenuating Circumstances

If you have failed at uni because of a problem out of your control such as an illness or an unexpected passing of a family member, you could look into applying for Extenuating Circumstances at your university.

These are determined on a case-by-case basis so it’s best to speak to your university about this and make a claim.

You may need to provide proof that you’ve experienced something out of your control which has impacted your assessed studies.

If your claim is accepted, you could be given a reassessment opportunity or be able to defer a future exam, assignment or essay.

Another option you could look into if you’ve failed is to make an appeal, which is a way of asking your university to review a mark within your academic studies if you believe it was incorrect or graded unfairly.

8. Set Future Goals

Our final tip and trick to take away is to create a plan to help you move forward and smash your next assignment, essay or exam and all the future ones after that.

Have a think about what you are going to do differently next time and think very clearly about what it is you want to achieve at uni.

It could be that you set realistic goals like attending all your lectures and seminars which you previously skipped last semester.

Additionally, it could be that you dedicate more time to studying within the library or an appropriate amount of time working at home each week to ensure that you receive a good grade.

The best way to do this is to write down the things you’re aiming towards and what you’re going to put into practice, this way you can refer back to them and these tasks will seem more manageable.

We’d recommend setting goals for each term, so that you can review them and see if you’re making progress.

Doing this will assist in your overall academic performance and motivate you to keep improving on your assignments!

Failures can have a big impact on our mental health, so don’t be afraid to reach out for help and support from a professional if you’re really struggling.

You could speak to the student support services at your university about what mental health and wellbeing help is available, or make an appointment with your GP.

We hope we’ve helped you with what to do when things go wrong and ways to avoid failure with our tips and tricks.

Remember, most students fail at some point and there’s always ways to pick yourself back up. You’ve got this!

If you want to improve your sleeping pattern whilst staying in student accommodation , have a read of our guide on Tips and Tricks For Students To Get A Good Nights Sleep.

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How to Do Homework: 15 Expert Tips and Tricks

Coursework/GPA

Everyone struggles with homework sometimes, but if getting your homework done has become a chronic issue for you, then you may need a little extra help. That’s why we’ve written this article all about how to do homework. Once you’re finished reading it, you’ll know how to do homework (and have tons of new ways to motivate yourself to do homework)!

We’ve broken this article down into a few major sections. You’ll find:

• A diagnostic test to help you figure out why you’re struggling with homework
• A discussion of the four major homework problems students face, along with expert tips for addressing them
• A bonus section with tips for how to do homework fast

By the end of this article, you’ll be prepared to tackle whatever homework assignments your teachers throw at you .

So let’s get started!

How to Do Homework: Figure Out Your Struggles 

Sometimes it feels like everything is standing between you and getting your homework done. But the truth is, most people only have one or two major roadblocks that are keeping them from getting their homework done well and on time. 

The best way to figure out how to get motivated to do homework starts with pinpointing the issues that are affecting your ability to get your assignments done. That’s why we’ve developed a short quiz to help you identify the areas where you’re struggling. 

Take the quiz below and record your answers on your phone or on a scrap piece of paper. Keep in mind there are no wrong answers! 

1. You’ve just been assigned an essay in your English class that’s due at the end of the week. What’s the first thing you do?

A. Keep it in mind, even though you won’t start it until the day before it’s due  B. Open up your planner. You’ve got to figure out when you’ll write your paper since you have band practice, a speech tournament, and your little sister’s dance recital this week, too.  C. Groan out loud. Another essay? You could barely get yourself to write the last one!  D. Start thinking about your essay topic, which makes you think about your art project that’s due the same day, which reminds you that your favorite artist might have just posted to Instagram...so you better check your feed right now. 

2. Your mom asked you to pick up your room before she gets home from work. You’ve just gotten home from school. You decide you’ll tackle your chores: 

A. Five minutes before your mom walks through the front door. As long as it gets done, who cares when you start?  B. As soon as you get home from your shift at the local grocery store.  C. After you give yourself a 15-minute pep talk about how you need to get to work.  D. You won’t get it done. Between texts from your friends, trying to watch your favorite Netflix show, and playing with your dog, you just lost track of time! 

3. You’ve signed up to wash dogs at the Humane Society to help earn money for your senior class trip. You: 

A. Show up ten minutes late. You put off leaving your house until the last minute, then got stuck in unexpected traffic on the way to the shelter.  B. Have to call and cancel at the last minute. You forgot you’d already agreed to babysit your cousin and bake cupcakes for tomorrow’s bake sale.  C. Actually arrive fifteen minutes early with extra brushes and bandanas you picked up at the store. You’re passionate about animals, so you’re excited to help out! D. Show up on time, but only get three dogs washed. You couldn’t help it: you just kept getting distracted by how cute they were!

4. You have an hour of downtime, so you decide you’re going to watch an episode of The Great British Baking Show. You: 

A. Scroll through your social media feeds for twenty minutes before hitting play, which means you’re not able to finish the whole episode. Ugh! You really wanted to see who was sent home!  B. Watch fifteen minutes until you remember you’re supposed to pick up your sister from band practice before heading to your part-time job. No GBBO for you!  C. You finish one episode, then decide to watch another even though you’ve got SAT studying to do. It’s just more fun to watch people make scones.  D. Start the episode, but only catch bits and pieces of it because you’re reading Twitter, cleaning out your backpack, and eating a snack at the same time.

5. Your teacher asks you to stay after class because you’ve missed turning in two homework assignments in a row. When she asks you what’s wrong, you say: 

A. You planned to do your assignments during lunch, but you ran out of time. You decided it would be better to turn in nothing at all than submit unfinished work.  B. You really wanted to get the assignments done, but between your extracurriculars, family commitments, and your part-time job, your homework fell through the cracks.  C. You have a hard time psyching yourself to tackle the assignments. You just can’t seem to find the motivation to work on them once you get home.  D. You tried to do them, but you had a hard time focusing. By the time you realized you hadn’t gotten anything done, it was already time to turn them in. 

Like we said earlier, there are no right or wrong answers to this quiz (though your results will be better if you answered as honestly as possible). Here’s how your answers break down: 

• If your answers were mostly As, then your biggest struggle with doing homework is procrastination. 
• If your answers were mostly Bs, then your biggest struggle with doing homework is time management. 
• If your answers were mostly Cs, then your biggest struggle with doing homework is motivation. 
• If your answers were mostly Ds, then your biggest struggle with doing homework is getting distracted. 

Now that you’ve identified why you’re having a hard time getting your homework done, we can help you figure out how to fix it! Scroll down to find your core problem area to learn more about how you can start to address it. 

And one more thing: you’re really struggling with homework, it’s a good idea to read through every section below. You may find some additional tips that will help make homework less intimidating. 

How to Do Homework When You’re a Procrastinator  

Merriam Webster defines “procrastinate” as “to put off intentionally and habitually.” In other words, procrastination is when you choose to do something at the last minute on a regular basis. If you’ve ever found yourself pulling an all-nighter, trying to finish an assignment between periods, or sprinting to turn in a paper minutes before a deadline, you’ve experienced the effects of procrastination. 

If you’re a chronic procrastinator, you’re in good company. In fact, one study found that 70% to 95% of undergraduate students procrastinate when it comes to doing their homework. Unfortunately, procrastination can negatively impact your grades. Researchers have found that procrastination can lower your grade on an assignment by as much as five points ...which might not sound serious until you realize that can mean the difference between a B- and a C+. 

Procrastination can also negatively affect your health by increasing your stress levels , which can lead to other health conditions like insomnia, a weakened immune system, and even heart conditions. Getting a handle on procrastination can not only improve your grades, it can make you feel better, too! 

The big thing to understand about procrastination is that it’s not the result of laziness. Laziness is defined as being “disinclined to activity or exertion.” In other words, being lazy is all about doing nothing. But a s this Psychology Today article explains , procrastinators don’t put things off because they don’t want to work. Instead, procrastinators tend to postpone tasks they don’t want to do in favor of tasks that they perceive as either more important or more fun. Put another way, procrastinators want to do things...as long as it’s not their homework! 

3 Tips f or Conquering Procrastination 

Because putting off doing homework is a common problem, there are lots of good tactics for addressing procrastination. Keep reading for our three expert tips that will get your homework habits back on track in no time. 

#1: Create a Reward System

Like we mentioned earlier, procrastination happens when you prioritize other activities over getting your homework done. Many times, this happens because homework...well, just isn’t enjoyable. But you can add some fun back into the process by rewarding yourself for getting your work done. 

Here’s what we mean: let’s say you decide that every time you get your homework done before the day it’s due, you’ll give yourself a point. For every five points you earn, you’ll treat yourself to your favorite dessert: a chocolate cupcake! Now you have an extra (delicious!) incentive to motivate you to leave procrastination in the dust. 

If you’re not into cupcakes, don’t worry. Your reward can be anything that motivates you . Maybe it’s hanging out with your best friend or an extra ten minutes of video game time. As long as you’re choosing something that makes homework worth doing, you’ll be successful. 

#2: Have a Homework Accountability Partner 

If you’re having trouble getting yourself to start your homework ahead of time, it may be a good idea to call in reinforcements . Find a friend or classmate you can trust and explain to them that you’re trying to change your homework habits. Ask them if they’d be willing to text you to make sure you’re doing your homework and check in with you once a week to see if you’re meeting your anti-procrastination goals. 

Sharing your goals can make them feel more real, and an accountability partner can help hold you responsible for your decisions. For example, let’s say you’re tempted to put off your science lab write-up until the morning before it’s due. But you know that your accountability partner is going to text you about it tomorrow...and you don’t want to fess up that you haven’t started your assignment. A homework accountability partner can give you the extra support and incentive you need to keep your homework habits on track. 

#3: Create Your Own Due Dates 

If you’re a life-long procrastinator, you might find that changing the habit is harder than you expected. In that case, you might try using procrastination to your advantage! If you just can’t seem to stop doing your work at the last minute, try setting your own due dates for assignments that range from a day to a week before the assignment is actually due. 

Here’s what we mean. Let’s say you have a math worksheet that’s been assigned on Tuesday and is due on Friday. In your planner, you can write down the due date as Thursday instead. You may still put off your homework assignment until the last minute...but in this case, the “last minute” is a day before the assignment’s real due date . This little hack can trick your procrastination-addicted brain into planning ahead! 

If you feel like Kevin Hart in this meme, then our tips for doing homework when you're busy are for you. 

How to Do Homework When You’re too Busy

If you’re aiming to go to a top-tier college , you’re going to have a full plate. Because college admissions is getting more competitive, it’s important that you’re maintaining your grades , studying hard for your standardized tests , and participating in extracurriculars so your application stands out. A packed schedule can get even more hectic once you add family obligations or a part-time job to the mix. 

If you feel like you’re being pulled in a million directions at once, you’re not alone. Recent research has found that stress—and more severe stress-related conditions like anxiety and depression— are a major problem for high school students . In fact, one study from the American Psychological Association found that during the school year, students’ stress levels are higher than those of the adults around them. 

For students, homework is a major contributor to their overall stress levels . Many high schoolers have multiple hours of homework every night , and figuring out how to fit it into an already-packed schedule can seem impossible. 

3 Tips for Fitting Homework Into Your Busy Schedule

While it might feel like you have literally no time left in your schedule, there are still ways to make sure you’re able to get your homework done and meet your other commitments. Here are our expert homework tips for even the busiest of students. 

#1: Make a Prioritized To-Do List 

You probably already have a to-do list to keep yourself on track. The next step is to prioritize the items on your to-do list so you can see what items need your attention right away. 

Here’s how it works: at the beginning of each day, sit down and make a list of all the items you need to get done before you go to bed. This includes your homework, but it should also take into account any practices, chores, events, or job shifts you may have. Once you get everything listed out, it’s time to prioritize them using the labels A, B, and C. Here’s what those labels mean:

• A Tasks : tasks that have to get done—like showing up at work or turning in an assignment—get an A. 
• B Tasks : these are tasks that you would like to get done by the end of the day but aren’t as time sensitive. For example, studying for a test you have next week could be a B-level task. It’s still important, but it doesn’t have to be done right away.
• C Tasks: these are tasks that aren’t very important and/or have no real consequences if you don’t get them done immediately. For instance, if you’re hoping to clean out your closet but it’s not an assigned chore from your parents, you could label that to-do item with a C.

Prioritizing your to-do list helps you visualize which items need your immediate attention, and which items you can leave for later. A prioritized to-do list ensures that you’re spending your time efficiently and effectively, which helps you make room in your schedule for homework. So even though you might really want to start making decorations for Homecoming (a B task), you’ll know that finishing your reading log (an A task) is more important. 

#2: Use a Planner With Time Labels

Your planner is probably packed with notes, events, and assignments already. (And if you’re not using a planner, it’s time to start!) But planners can do more for you than just remind you when an assignment is due. If you’re using a planner with time labels, it can help you visualize how you need to spend your day.

A planner with time labels breaks your day down into chunks, and you assign tasks to each chunk of time. For example, you can make a note of your class schedule with assignments, block out time to study, and make sure you know when you need to be at practice. Once you know which tasks take priority, you can add them to any empty spaces in your day. 

Planning out how you spend your time not only helps you use it wisely, it can help you feel less overwhelmed, too . We’re big fans of planners that include a task list ( like this one ) or have room for notes ( like this one ). 

#3: Set Reminders on Your Phone 

If you need a little extra nudge to make sure you’re getting your homework done on time, it’s a good idea to set some reminders on your phone. You don’t need a fancy app, either. You can use your alarm app to have it go off at specific times throughout the day to remind you to do your homework. This works especially well if you have a set homework time scheduled. So if you’ve decided you’re doing homework at 6:00 pm, you can set an alarm to remind you to bust out your books and get to work. 

If you use your phone as your planner, you may have the option to add alerts, emails, or notifications to scheduled events . Many calendar apps, including the one that comes with your phone, have built-in reminders that you can customize to meet your needs. So if you block off time to do your homework from 4:30 to 6:00 pm, you can set a reminder that will pop up on your phone when it’s time to get started. 

This dog isn't judging your lack of motivation...but your teacher might. Keep reading for tips to help you motivate yourself to do your homework.

How to Do Homework When You’re Unmotivated 

At first glance, it may seem like procrastination and being unmotivated are the same thing. After all, both of these issues usually result in you putting off your homework until the very last minute. 

But there’s one key difference: many procrastinators are working, they’re just prioritizing work differently. They know they’re going to start their homework...they’re just going to do it later. 

Conversely, people who are unmotivated to do homework just can’t find the willpower to tackle their assignments. Procrastinators know they’ll at least attempt the homework at the last minute, whereas people who are unmotivated struggle with convincing themselves to do it at a ll. For procrastinators, the stress comes from the inevitable time crunch. For unmotivated people, the stress comes from trying to convince themselves to do something they don’t want to do in the first place. 

Here are some common reasons students are unmotivated in doing homework : 

• Assignments are too easy, too hard, or seemingly pointless 
• Students aren’t interested in (or passionate about) the subject matter
• Students are intimidated by the work and/or feels like they don’t understand the assignment 
• Homework isn’t fun, and students would rather spend their time on things that they enjoy 

To sum it up: people who lack motivation to do their homework are more likely to not do it at all, or to spend more time worrying about doing their homework than...well, actually doing it.

3 Tips for How to Get Motivated to Do Homework

The key to getting homework done when you’re unmotivated is to figure out what does motivate you, then apply those things to homework. It sounds tricky...but it’s pretty simple once you get the hang of it! Here are our three expert tips for motivating yourself to do your homework. 

#1: Use Incremental Incentives

When you’re not motivated, it’s important to give yourself small rewards to stay focused on finishing the task at hand. The trick is to keep the incentives small and to reward yourself often. For example, maybe you’re reading a good book in your free time. For every ten minutes you spend on your homework, you get to read five pages of your book. Like we mentioned earlier, make sure you’re choosing a reward that works for you! 

So why does this technique work? Using small rewards more often allows you to experience small wins for getting your work done. Every time you make it to one of your tiny reward points, you get to celebrate your success, which gives your brain a boost of dopamine . Dopamine helps you stay motivated and also creates a feeling of satisfaction when you complete your homework !  

#2: Form a Homework Group 

If you’re having trouble motivating yourself, it’s okay to turn to others for support. Creating a homework group can help with this. Bring together a group of your friends or classmates, and pick one time a week where you meet and work on homework together. You don’t have to be in the same class, or even taking the same subjects— the goal is to encourage one another to start (and finish!) your assignments. 

Another added benefit of a homework group is that you can help one another if you’re struggling to understand the material covered in your classes. This is especially helpful if your lack of motivation comes from being intimidated by your assignments. Asking your friends for help may feel less scary than talking to your teacher...and once you get a handle on the material, your homework may become less frightening, too. 

#3: Change Up Your Environment 

If you find that you’re totally unmotivated, it may help if you find a new place to do your homework. For example, if you’ve been struggling to get your homework done at home, try spending an extra hour in the library after school instead. The change of scenery can limit your distractions and give you the energy you need to get your work done. 

If you’re stuck doing homework at home, you can still use this tip. For instance, maybe you’ve always done your homework sitting on your bed. Try relocating somewhere else, like your kitchen table, for a few weeks. You may find that setting up a new “homework spot” in your house gives you a motivational lift and helps you get your work done. 

Social media can be a huge problem when it comes to doing homework. We have advice for helping you unplug and regain focus.

How to Do Homework When You’re Easily Distracted

We live in an always-on world, and there are tons of things clamoring for our attention. From friends and family to pop culture and social media, it seems like there’s always something (or someone!) distracting us from the things we need to do.

The 24/7 world we live in has affected our ability to focus on tasks for prolonged periods of time. Research has shown that over the past decade, an average person’s attention span has gone from 12 seconds to eight seconds . And when we do lose focus, i t takes people a long time to get back on task . One study found that it can take as long as 23 minutes to get back to work once we’ve been distracte d. No wonder it can take hours to get your homework done! 

3 Tips to Improve Your Focus

If you have a hard time focusing when you’re doing your homework, it’s a good idea to try and eliminate as many distractions as possible. Here are three expert tips for blocking out the noise so you can focus on getting your homework done. 

#1: Create a Distraction-Free Environment

Pick a place where you’ll do your homework every day, and make it as distraction-free as possible. Try to find a location where there won’t be tons of noise, and limit your access to screens while you’re doing your homework. Put together a focus-oriented playlist (or choose one on your favorite streaming service), and put your headphones on while you work. 

You may find that other people, like your friends and family, are your biggest distraction. If that’s the case, try setting up some homework boundaries. Let them know when you’ll be working on homework every day, and ask them if they’ll help you keep a quiet environment. They’ll be happy to lend a hand! 

#2: Limit Your Access to Technology 

We know, we know...this tip isn’t fun, but it does work. For homework that doesn’t require a computer, like handouts or worksheets, it’s best to put all your technology away . Turn off your television, put your phone and laptop in your backpack, and silence notifications on any wearable tech you may be sporting. If you listen to music while you work, that’s fine...but make sure you have a playlist set up so you’re not shuffling through songs once you get started on your homework. 

If your homework requires your laptop or tablet, it can be harder to limit your access to distractions. But it’s not impossible! T here are apps you can download that will block certain websites while you’re working so that you’re not tempted to scroll through Twitter or check your Facebook feed. Silence notifications and text messages on your computer, and don’t open your email account unless you absolutely have to. And if you don’t need access to the internet to complete your assignments, turn off your WiFi. Cutting out the online chatter is a great way to make sure you’re getting your homework done. 

#3: Set a Timer (the Pomodoro Technique)

Have you ever heard of the Pomodoro technique ? It’s a productivity hack that uses a timer to help you focus!

Here’s how it works: first, set a timer for 25 minutes. This is going to be your work time. During this 25 minutes, all you can do is work on whatever homework assignment you have in front of you. No email, no text messaging, no phone calls—just homework. When that timer goes off, you get to take a 5 minute break. Every time you go through one of these cycles, it’s called a “pomodoro.” For every four pomodoros you complete, you can take a longer break of 15 to 30 minutes.

The pomodoro technique works through a combination of boundary setting and rewards. First, it gives you a finite amount of time to focus, so you know that you only have to work really hard for 25 minutes. Once you’ve done that, you’re rewarded with a short break where you can do whatever you want. Additionally, tracking how many pomodoros you complete can help you see how long you’re really working on your homework. (Once you start using our focus tips, you may find it doesn’t take as long as you thought!)

Two Bonus Tips for How to Do Homework Fast

Even if you’re doing everything right, there will be times when you just need to get your homework done as fast as possible. (Why do teachers always have projects due in the same week? The world may never know.)

The problem with speeding through homework is that it’s easy to make mistakes. While turning in an assignment is always better than not submitting anything at all, you want to make sure that you’re not compromising quality for speed. Simply put, the goal is to get your homework done quickly and still make a good grade on the assignment! 

Here are our two bonus tips for getting a decent grade on your homework assignments , even when you’re in a time crunch. 

#1: Do the Easy Parts First 

This is especially true if you’re working on a handout with multiple questions. Before you start working on the assignment, read through all the questions and problems. As you do, make a mark beside the questions you think are “easy” to answer . 

Once you’ve finished going through the whole assignment, you can answer these questions first. Getting the easy questions out of the way as quickly as possible lets you spend more time on the trickier portions of your homework, which will maximize your assignment grade. 

(Quick note: this is also a good strategy to use on timed assignments and tests, like the SAT and the ACT !) 

#2: Pay Attention in Class 

Homework gets a lot easier when you’re actively learning the material. Teachers aren’t giving you homework because they’re mean or trying to ruin your weekend... it’s because they want you to really understand the course material. Homework is designed to reinforce what you’re already learning in class so you’ll be ready to tackle harder concepts later.

When you pay attention in class, ask questions, and take good notes, you’re absorbing the information you’ll need to succeed on your homework assignments. (You’re stuck in class anyway, so you might as well make the most of it!) Not only will paying attention in class make your homework less confusing, it will also help it go much faster, too.

What’s Next?

If you’re looking to improve your productivity beyond homework, a good place to begin is with time management. After all, we only have so much time in a day...so it’s important to get the most out of it! To get you started, check out this list of the 12 best time management techniques that you can start using today.

You may have read this article because homework struggles have been affecting your GPA. Now that you’re on the path to homework success, it’s time to start being proactive about raising your grades. This article teaches you everything you need to know about raising your GPA so you can

Now you know how to get motivated to do homework...but what about your study habits? Studying is just as critical to getting good grades, and ultimately getting into a good college . We can teach you how to study bette r in high school. (We’ve also got tons of resources to help you study for your ACT and SAT exams , too!)

These recommendations are based solely on our knowledge and experience. If you purchase an item through one of our links, PrepScholar may receive a commission.

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Sometimes the hardest part about writing a paper is understanding the assignment. You may not understand what you’re being asked to write or how you’re supposed to write about it. But don’t worry: although the prompt may seem confusing at first, there are strategies you can use to understand your assignment.

First, try taking a break from the assignment.

Take a walk, clean your room, get coffee with a friend. Then come back and read the prompt again, keeping any of your instructor’s in-class comments in mind. Looking at your assignment with fresh eyes will often help you either finally understand the assignment or identify what specifically is confusing to you.

If your assignment still seems unclear, ask yourself the following questions:

What is the purpose of your assignment? (What are you being asked to do?)

To understand what the assignment is asking you to do, pay special attention to the verbs that your instructor used. These verbs often function as keywords that signal the purpose of an assignment. Argue, summarize, and compare/contrast are just a few keywords to look for. These verbs can tell you whether you are developing your own argument, describing a plot, or analyzing the similarities or differences between artifacts. Visit our blog or take a look at this handout to find a list of more keywords and their meanings.

Another way to understand the assignment is to see if your instructor has asked you to follow a specific format. Is there a length requirement? Are there a certain number of sources required? Shorter papers are often a thesis-driven analysis with fewer sources. A longer paper with more sources may signal a research assignment. Again, pay attention to any verbs you see; these verbs will often tell you how to approach writing your assignment.

Who is your audience?

Part of the context of any writing situation will include your audience, or who you’re writing to. Since your audience includes your instructor, keep in mind any expectations she or he may have. What concepts have been emphasized in class? You may find these same concepts in your prompt. How is the assignment structured? Understanding the structure may help you decipher how you are being asked to approach the prompt.

Your instructor may not be the only audience member to consider. Are you being asked to communicate with a general audience (who can follow a logical argument but doesn’t know anything about your chosen topic) or an informed one (an audience familiar with the material, but not your chosen angle)? Knowing who your audience is will help you decipher what kind of information will best support your thesis. If you have any questions about who your audience should be, ask your instructor for clarification.

What evidence are you being asked to provide?

Evidence, or the information you use to support your thesis , can come from in-class texts or outside sources like academic journals, scientific studies, or government websites. The type(s) of evidence that you use and how you present it will differ depending on the requirements of your assignment. Is your instructor asking you to draw on readings from class to make an argument? Chances are, this signals a textual analysis in which you develop a thesis and use quotes from your chosen text(s) to support your argument. Alternatively, are you being asked to use outside sources? If so, how many? This may signal a longer project, possibly a research paper in which you generate a thesis and present information on a given topic to either inform or persuade your audience.

Understanding the type of evidence your instructor requires may help you work backwards to determine the format and, ultimately, the purpose of your assignment. Remember: evidence will be presented differently depending on your audience and purpose, so again, look for keywords to help.

If you still find that you don’t fully understand the assignment, don’t panic: you aren’t required to tackle the prompt alone.

Email your instructor and explain your confusion.

Try to be as specific as possible. Are you confused about what you are being asked to do? Is it unclear how you are being asked to structure your paper? Or what kind of evidence you’re supposed to use? Ask them, even if you can’t be specific. They want to help.

Collaborate.

Come to the Writing Center! Talk to a friend or someone you know from class. Being able to talk to someone about your assignment may help you finally decode the prompt.

What can the Writing Center do to help?

Some questions about the assignment can only be answered by instructors, so you should be prepared to discuss the assignment with them. However, consultants at the Writing Center are experienced in reading and interpreting assignments. When you attend a Writing Center session, we ask that you bring a copy of the assignment with you (if you have one), and we will read through the assignment sheet together. We will then help you decipher keywords, look for hints about structure, and finally come to an understanding of the prompt. We can also help you begin brainstorming for the assignment and transition to other steps of the writing process.

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15.2 Narrative Essay

Learning objective.

• Read an example of the narrative rhetorical mode.

My College Education

The first class I went to in college was philosophy, and it changed my life forever. Our first assignment was to write a short response paper to the Albert Camus essay “The Myth of Sisyphus.” I was extremely nervous about the assignment as well as college. However, through all the confusion in philosophy class, many of my questions about life were answered.

I entered college intending to earn a degree in engineering. I always liked the way mathematics had right and wrong answers. I understood the logic and was very good at it. So when I received my first philosophy assignment that asked me to write my interpretation of the Camus essay, I was instantly confused. What is the right way to do this assignment, I wondered? I was nervous about writing an incorrect interpretation and did not want to get my first assignment wrong. Even more troubling was that the professor refused to give us any guidelines on what he was looking for; he gave us total freedom. He simply said, “I want to see what you come up with.”

Full of anxiety, I first set out to read Camus’s essay several times to make sure I really knew what was it was about. I did my best to take careful notes. Yet even after I took all these notes and knew the essay inside and out, I still did not know the right answer. What was my interpretation? I could think of a million different ways to interpret the essay, but which one was my professor looking for? In math class, I was used to examples and explanations of solutions. This assignment gave me nothing; I was completely on my own to come up with my individual interpretation.

Next, when I sat down to write, the words just did not come to me. My notes and ideas were all present, but the words were lost. I decided to try every prewriting strategy I could find. I brainstormed, made idea maps, and even wrote an outline. Eventually, after a lot of stress, my ideas became more organized and the words fell on the page. I had my interpretation of “The Myth of Sisyphus,” and I had my main reasons for interpreting the essay. I remember being unsure of myself, wondering if what I was saying made sense, or if I was even on the right track. Through all the uncertainty, I continued writing the best I could. I finished the conclusion paragraph, had my spouse proofread it for errors, and turned it in the next day simply hoping for the best.

Then, a week or two later, came judgment day. The professor gave our papers back to us with grades and comments. I remember feeling simultaneously afraid and eager to get the paper back in my hands. It turned out, however, that I had nothing to worry about. The professor gave me an A on the paper, and his notes suggested that I wrote an effective essay overall. He wrote that my reading of the essay was very original and that my thoughts were well organized. My relief and newfound confidence upon reading his comments could not be overstated.

What I learned through this process extended well beyond how to write a college paper. I learned to be open to new challenges. I never expected to enjoy a philosophy class and always expected to be a math and science person. This class and assignment, however, gave me the self-confidence, critical-thinking skills, and courage to try a new career path. I left engineering and went on to study law and eventually became a lawyer. More important, that class and paper helped me understand education differently. Instead of seeing college as a direct stepping stone to a career, I learned to see college as a place to first learn and then seek a career or enhance an existing career. By giving me the space to express my own interpretation and to argue for my own values, my philosophy class taught me the importance of education for education’s sake. That realization continues to pay dividends every day.

Online Narrative Essay Alternatives

Sandra Cisneros offers an example of a narrative essay in Only Daughter that captures her sense of her Chicana-Mexican heritage as the only daughter in a family of seven children.

Her complete essay is available on:

• http://chawkinsteaching.weebly.com/uploads/1/2/9/7/12977279/only_daughter.pdf

Gary Shteyngart came to the United States when he was seven years old. The son of Russian Jewish parents who struggled to provide a better life for their son, he reflects on his struggles, including becoming “American,” in Sixty-Nine Cents :

• http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/09/03/070903fa_fact_shteyngart?printable=true#ixzz0pihck7DS

Sherman Alexie grew up on the Spokane Reservation in Washington State. He chronicles his challenges in school, starting in first grade, in Indian Education :

• https://www.cengage.com/custom/static_content/OLC/s76656_76218lf/alexie.pdf

Writing for Success Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Q&A for work

Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search.

Should I hide the fact that I did a group assignment completely by myself?

Three students and I were assigned a small (~14 hours of work) group project. Because there was no effort on their side to meet and work, my e-mails regarding their progress remained unanswered and from previous experience I know that their quality of work is much lower than mine, I decided to do it myself and already spend around 10 hours doing ~2/3 of the work. The reaction of the others was something along the lines of "Wow, thanks man. This looks great. You're the man!"

Later I asked them to help me out with the rest because I had another assignment due and thus my time was limited but the contributed work was much less in quantity than what I asked for and also of very low quality, hinting that they did not bother reading the assignment thoroughly or did not really spend time actually thinking of something substantial to contribute. As it stands now I will have to do the remaining 1/3 by myself as well.

Because I had a question for the lecturer I was writing him an e-mail and one of the sentences was

I already did most of the work but we need to...

then I thought whether it would be better to write

We already did most of the work but we need to...

The reason I even mention it, is that it is very close to the submission deadline and I do not want him to think that I/we only started now. My intent was not to slip by this information and blame the others.

Is there any reason to be "diplomatic" and actively hide the fact that I did everything myself?

I am mostly interested in the impression I will leave on the lecturer. On the one hand I do not feel like I owe the others anything, on the other hand I also want to avoid the lecturer seeing my behavior as tactless or arrogant.

• group-dynamics

• Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat . –  ff524 Commented Jul 2, 2017 at 15:18

11 Answers 11

Personally I would dodge the issue using

Most of the work is done, but we need to...

I don't think it will really matter which option you go with, but that way you don't have to worry about it.

Anyone setting a group project knows that it is fairly likely someone will end up doing all the work. If they don't take any action to avoid that (and it sound's like they haven't in this case), then presumably they don't really care.

I understand that you want to get the credit for doing the work. But I agree it might come across as tactless to point out the situation in your email. It might be more productive to separately have a conversation with the lecturer about why they haven't taken steps to avoid the situation occurring.

• Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat . –  ff524 Commented Jul 2, 2017 at 15:20

I have been on both sides of the fence.

As a student , I was once part of a trio where the two other members were useless. Not "self-fulfilling prophecy"-useless but "dumb as a rock"-useless.

I did all the work and stated clearly to the TA that it is 100% my work and that they are idiots. I specifically said that I am not looking for special treatment but want to highlight the ownership of the work.

This later (in academic life) translates as "do not add to your paper co-authors who did not do anything, just because you are under the pressure to do so". Surprisingly, the latter is met with nods of approval, while pointing out student leeches is not.

As a teacher , I had twice the case where someone came to me saying that they are the sole author of a two and three-members team. I asked them to highlight how they can persuade me that this is the case. I did not have a difficult situation, in both cases the "real author" knew everything, while the others were clueless. He got the right mark for the exercise (both were good) and the others got zero. I made sure to document the whole story though.

• 1 I agree with this answer from both a student and instructor perspective. As an instructor I have on numerous occasions awarded different grades to the students doing the work and the ones just being dragged along. In our department rules this is specified as how this should be handled (Everyone should be graded individually) and this was also communicated to instructors from department leaders. I realize that the academic culture differ in different regions so this is from Sweden. –  lijat Commented Jul 2, 2017 at 16:45
• 1 When I was a student, one of our instructors had us detail what each group member did on a project, signed by all group members as part of the submission. He also asked for private one on one evals of your group members. I liked it so much, this is what I do when I assign group projects now... –  ivanivan Commented Jul 2, 2017 at 18:43
• 3 +1 to this answer BUT: giving the others zero is unfair. You should give them a chance to re-complete the assignment by themselves. While the student who did all the work may have good reason to have done so, this kind of policy allows students to threaten and take charge of a group -- "do your part on my timeline and by my rules or I will do all the work myself and submit it to the instructor and tell them you did nothing." –  Caleb Stanford Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 14:30
• 1 In other words, students in a group have no right to expect that the others in the group do the work in a particular way or on a particular timeline; the others in the group might rightfully be upset that they can't do the work when they want to, and do the quality of work that they have time to do. The only way to avoid all of the madness is to allow students a way out, allow them to switch groups, or to re-complete an individual assignment on their own if something goes wrong in their original group. –  Caleb Stanford Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 14:30
• 2 @6005: there is a whole spectrum of cases. The ones I had (as a teacher) was with students who were true leeches and they deserved a zero for not putting in the smallest effort into the assignment. A few more like those and they would have ample time to redo the exercise when they fail the year. There are certainly cases where the one doing the work is the "bad guy" in the team but (from my limited 5 years teaching at the uni) this is a rare case. I rather had lawful-good students, to use the D&D terms. But yes, a specific case like the one you mentioned would have been handled differently –  WoJ Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 14:34

You specifically ask what the lecturer will think, so I'll address that first - though I think that's actually a red herring here.

I have not lectured myself but I have managed people in a business environment, and analogous situations come up: I think the response will depend on the way you raise the issue, and on the lecturer's busyness at the time of receiving your email. It may just appear to them as a dispute between students, and one they don't desperately want to get involved in (this kind of work creates these kind of disputes, and most groups will resolve the problems themselves). So the lecturer may think (justly or not) that you are a bit of a nuisance. Equally they may think you have a just complaint and have sympathy with you.

I think the lecturer's response in this situation will depend heavily on how you have tried to resolve this issue yourself before bringing it to them. If you bring the issue to them without having first discussed it with your group you may (justly or not) look immature and lacking in social skills. Also I think the response you get will depend on how openly you broach it - subtle hints like the one you indicate may just look petty if they are noticed at all: they will probably be ignored: lecturers have heavy workloads and don't tend to seek out issues where they don't need to. An honest and straightforward complaint, backed up by your having made a reasonable attempt to resolve this with the group will get a better reaction.

I don't think the lecturer's response should be your biggest focus here though.

We had a similar situation in a course I recently completed: two out of four of us literally did all the work for a substantial project. My perspective is: don't get hung up on credit, the credit is a tiny portion of the value of doing these things. By engaging you pick up more knowledge and experience, and you will get the benefits of that all the way down your career.

And if the injustice still really bothers you (and honestly it's hard to avoid feeling that way) bear in mind that this is a small portion of the credit required for your course. The knowledge you gained by actually engaging with this assignment will benefit you in other assessed parts of the course where you will work alone. If they get the credit now, they'll almost certainly lose it later.

The ideal thing to do is to be open about your feelings about work sharing with the group, as early as possible. Some social groups make this easier than others though. And in some cases (as in mine) you can have that conversation (and you can have it as strongly as is possible without falling out with them), and still end up doing all the work. Different people want different things out of a course and are willing to put in different levels of effort. Sometimes social pressure overrides that, sometimes it doesn't. That's all you can take away from this really. And you need to honestly judge your ability to have that discussion with them without souring things before you try to have it.

But you will have to work with these people again, and see them again, and you may be in a situation in the future where you could interview for a job at a company where one of them works. Better they remember you as the hard working person than the person who made them feel bad, or "ratted them out" (as they will see it).

So in short - be tactful, there's nothing to be won by doing anything else, and if you need to feel there's some justice in the situation remember that they lose out by not really engaging. That isn't a platitude: 2 years into your career university module credit counts for nothing, knowledge and the ability to work carries you. These people are not accumulating knowledge or learning to work.

• 1 While this is a good explanation, it is not an answer to my question. I asked: "What will the lecturer think of me when I write him ?" –  problemofficer - n.f. Monica Commented Jun 30, 2017 at 9:58
• Sorry - I'll add to answer that. It's hard to answer that specific question though - it will vary between lecturers. –  DanBennett Commented Jun 30, 2017 at 10:18
• Thanks for the addition. Your part about the lectures reaction emphasizes the way I "bring up the issue". This is not really a problem. Specifically in my situation I came to terms that I have to do it myself if I am to submit a certain level of quality. The lecturer is also aware and repeatedly told me that I am probably bored in class cause he is teaching comparatively simple things for my knowledge level. My problem was really just if I should sugarcoat it or not in compliance with social norms since I am in Asia (see tags). –  problemofficer - n.f. Monica Commented Jun 30, 2017 at 13:17
• I'm not sure how that changes things - there is an issue here you have not raised with him previously - that you have done all the work - and you are concerned about how he will react to you saying that you have done all the work. How you raise that issue with him affects how he will react to it. You can do it in a "subtle" way that might seem petty, or you could just be upfront about it. Also I'm not sure why you want to raise the issue. What is your goal? You must have a desired outcome, otherwise why do you spend so much thought on this? –  DanBennett Commented Jun 30, 2017 at 14:02
• I agree that the information about me doing it myself is communicated either way. As far as I can be objective, I don't think I have a hidden agenda or desired outcome. I just want to know how a brief mention might affect my image on the lecturers side. I want to know if I should "censor" myself next time or whether it does not matter. Again, the original intent of the e-mail was to inquire something else and not inform him about the work load distribution. The mention of me have done a lot of work already was necessary to ask my actual question. –  problemofficer - n.f. Monica Commented Jun 30, 2017 at 14:14

I could be completely off base with all of this, but some of your statements are concerning. From your question:

from previous experience I know that their quality of work is much lower than mine, I decided to do it myself

And one of your comments:

In order for my group members to produce the same quality I expect from me I would have to spend hours teaching them and also would need to motivate them immensely to keep working.

Have you considered that maybe you're the problem? It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. You believe your teammates to be incompetent, therefore they are. It's not easy, but you have to learn to trust people to do their work.

Back to the first quote: " I decided to do it myself. "

It sounds like you took it upon yourself to start the work and do it all, and now you're upset that they didn't contribute. That's not fair. You never even gave them the chance.

So should you tell your lecturer all this? From this point of view, no. Your team didn't pull their weight, but it sounds like you didn't give them the chance. You have no right to be upset about it.

Take this one on the chin, and for the next project schedule a mandatory team meeting. In that meeting, figure out the project requirements, break them down into pieces each team member can do, then assign everyone work with a deadline before the project due date. If they don't pull their weight here, then you'll have a legitimate complaint.

• 13 1.) I did give them a chance but they did not answer my e-mails. 2.) They barely contributed after my second request . 3.) This is not about software development. 4.) What is a "mandatory" meeting? I don't have authority over them. 5.) I am NOT asking whether I can go and complain to the lecturer. I am asking whether I should actively hide/sugercoat it. –  problemofficer - n.f. Monica Commented Jun 30, 2017 at 13:53
• 6 There is no such thing as a "mandatory meeting" between students. A student doesn't have the authority to compel their classmates to do anything. And I disagree with your assessment that the asker gave their classmates no opportunity to contribute. –  David Richerby Commented Jun 30, 2017 at 14:24
• 4 @DavidRicherby This is why the group agrees on it. It's not hard... "Hey guys, we need to meet for X. When is everyone available?" I think the word mandatory is taken too literally here. –  Chris Schneider Commented Jun 30, 2017 at 14:26
• 5 @ChrisSchneider Well, you know, if you say "mandatory", people will assume that you mean mandatory. If you meant something else, you should have said something else. –  David Richerby Commented Jun 30, 2017 at 14:28
• 9 @problemofficer, Authority isn't the only way to lead. My experience is that most people in these kinds of situations aren't actively trying to take advantage of others, but rather they follow the path of least resistance. If someone takes up the mantle and does all the work, they roll with it. The grade here is secondary (honestly, the grade is always secondary.) Your professor is doing you a favor by giving you a 'safe' place to learn how to navigate the opportunities and pitfalls of collaboration. –  Dan Bryant Commented Jun 30, 2017 at 15:05

Talk to your team first.

Consider that you may have the wrong impression of your teammates. Low quality of work in an academic setting may indicate that they do not fully understand the material rather than simply not putting forth the effort.

Remember that your impressions of each other work both ways. I once was part of a project team with a "star performer" who took the entire project on himself before we met to split up the work. He no doubt thought the rest of us were slackers, but did not give us the opportunity to prove otherwise. While you seem to be better at communicating your intentions, your teammates might still feel overwhelmed by your drive to succeed. Imagine you are struggling in a course and, after much labor, come up with something that mostly meets the requirements of the assignment. Then your teammate swoops in and rewrites all of your work because he wasn't happy with it. You would probably feel slighted and resign yourself to letting your teammate finish because any work you do, he's probably going to redo himself anyway.

To fix this problem, you should have a talk with your team about what still needs to be done. For a larger project, you would want to lay out in writing who is going to be responsible for what part of the project. Only encroach on these responsibilities as a last resort, if the project is for some reason only graded on functionality. If possible, have group project sessions where you can help each other out when someone is struggling with their assigned part. Since your particular project is small in scale, consider completing the remaining work only in group meetings. This will improve yourself in the eyes of both your teammates and your professor, as you will be seen as a helping hand rather than a self-made victim.

Be honest with your messages. Don't feel you need to shield your teammates from their lack of work, but also don't flaunt your own achievements. If you did your work, you can take credit for it. If your teammate skips your work meeting, call them out on it. You want to show your professor that you tried to facilitate a team effort, but it fell through due to the lack of commitment on your teammates' part.

If you are concerned with the grading, talk to the professor about how they will be grading the assignment. Most professors will grade individually to some degree, so bring along the "contract" to show your professor what part you are accountable for.

• While this is a good write-up it does not address the specifics of my question. 1.) The question is NOT whether I should "tattle" on my team. 2.) The team mates expressed almost no desire to work, even before I did anything. 3.) This was a small assignment and documentation of the division of labor would have been "overkill". But what I take from this, is that I should to strive to practice my team management skill in all scenarios, even when I think that there is no time. –  problemofficer - n.f. Monica Commented Jun 30, 2017 at 16:41
• @problemofficer Updated a bit to better match your points –  Kys Commented Jun 30, 2017 at 17:01

More often than not the purpose of group assignments is as much to prove that you're capable of working in a team as it is to show you can handle the subject. Or at least, that's the case over here.

Keeping that in mind, you have a moral choice to make:

1) Claim the glory and admit that you did all the work. The "justice" part is that they'll get told off for slacking, the downside is that any good grade you might have gotten for this assignment could be scaled down because you failed to work as a team.

It would be far from the first time a lecturer punishes the person who carried the group for not being enough of a team leader to delegate their responsibilities.

2) Stay quiet. Your grade will be decided on the quality of the product, but your slacking teammates will get the same grade and most likely do the same thing next assignment, because hey, it paid of.

So the question is, what's more valuable to you? Teaching the slackers a lesson or getting a good grade?

(Note: This is under the assumption that the work is graded in one form or another)

• 4 1.) The work is graded. 2.) In order for my group members to produce the same quality I expect from me I would have to spend hours teaching them and also would need to motivate them immensely to keep working. I don't see how this is my problem, considering that this is not a management course. If the lecturer would punish me for that I would perceive that as extremely unfair. –  problemofficer - n.f. Monica Commented Jun 30, 2017 at 9:55
• 3 Even though it is not a management course, most lecturers feel obligated to include this skill as something to grade on. I'm not saying it's fair, but I'm afraid this might definitely be something that weighs in on it. They'll most likely bring in the argument that they'd rather see a mediocre product that everyone had a hand in instead of an excellent one that was made by one person. That said, the purpose of a school assignment is that people learn from it. If it's something everyone already knows how to do by heart, the exercise is useless. –  Patrick Commented Jun 30, 2017 at 10:11
• @problemofficer, Yes, group grading is usually unfair. But the alternative is to dig down into what happened. Listen to people's excuses. Give zeros/Fs to the members who didn't do anything (despite the many excuses they have and all the whining they do). When instead, you could just wait to see those non-performing members flunk the midterms and flunk the final anyway. –  Stephan Branczyk Commented Jul 3, 2017 at 20:23
• So you mean the alternative would be to do your job as a lecturer and design proper task definitions and actually talk to the students? Wow, how horrible. –  problemofficer - n.f. Monica Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 3:31

I would hide it. Makes everything simpler and people will figure out who did what.

Paul McCartney wrote and recorded "Yesterday" without the help of any of the other Beatles. Yet it was released as a Beatles song written by Lennon-McCartney.

• 5 This answer lacks a rationale and thus persuasiveness. –  problemofficer - n.f. Monica Commented Jun 30, 2017 at 16:28

In such cases I usually separated from the group and submitted the project myself. You did not act like this, so it is better to write a "we", because the lecturer can not evaluate inner group problems.

He just faces the fact that you and the other team members will tell him different stories related to the fact why something was not working out as expected. In such a case it is maleficial for you to give your mates a possibility to move resp. to you.

From previous experience I've found that telling the lecturer is worth it. I was in multiple situations at uni where this happened.

By telling the lecturer they were able to subtract some of the score from each of the slacking members and split that across those that did do the work.

As a result of this I've gotten 60% plus in assignments where others in the same group got <50%.

I know this isn't much, but at uni level 60%+ is the second highest mark (2:1).

• 3 I don't understand the math behind this system. –  problemofficer - n.f. Monica Commented Jun 30, 2017 at 16:22
• So, what would you recommend OP do then? –  einpoklum Commented Jul 2, 2017 at 19:46

I believe it is morally imperative for you to Hide the fact you did everything, use "we" when discussing the work.

You are part of a group. Whether your group mates were lazy or incompetent or not, whether you're the problem here like some people suggest - those are interesting philosophical/interpersonal questions to ponder after the grades are set, either on your own or with your group-mates. Once you joined the group you undertook collective responsibility and you should act accordingly and not break up the group front.

• 2 Choosing to join the group was mandatory, therefore I don't feel like I owe the "system" anything and don't feel like I need to be responsible for the collective. –  problemofficer - n.f. Monica Commented Jul 3, 2017 at 2:31
• You did not indicate to your group-mates, for the beginning, that they would be "on their own" and outed if they didn't work hard, up to your standards. So while I may accept your argument in theory - in order to shirk the collective responsibility, which you would definitely be entitled to, you would need to make "due notice", which you have not. –  einpoklum Commented Jul 3, 2017 at 7:10
• @einpoklum: Bad answer. Try again. –  Joshua Commented Jul 3, 2017 at 18:54
• @einpoklum I am failing to see the moral imperative for what you describe when behind being assigned to a group of people who ignore your attempts to contact them about the work that you all have been given, apparently do not work at it at all and leave it all up to you. Making due notice of 'Hey, if you don't do anything and leave it all fall on my head, I won't pretend it did not happen' sounds ridiculous at best since in any normal human contact, this is implicitly so. You also do not address impression on lecturer part of OP's question at all. –  Alexander Rossa Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 10:14
• @Joshua: Not following. –  einpoklum Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 10:49

I have been in this situation a lot, particularly in my last master year, where group projects were literally piling up.

One thing you need to understand is that, in any group work (at school or at work), there will always be people working more than others , and everyone will get the reward. Why? Because in a project, what matters is the completion of the project , not of your part.

I suspect my own professors tried to teach us this lesson, because I know other students who reported the kind of issue you report, and noone did anything, in fact the projects that were unfinished were still blamed: if a project fails, no matter why, it's the whole group's fault, you included even if you did your part of the work.

Indeed: why assign a group project when you can have individual assignments? This might serve to enforce training in group work. And group work's goal is to not only do your part of the job, but working together to complete the whole work. Managing dissensions and colleagues not working enough is unfortunately part of any group work, so you have to know how to handle it.

Concretely, I think two ways to approach this, depending on your objectives:

Report it to those in charge : this might (but not necessarily) get you sole credit for the project and punish your colleagues. Ideally, this is only fair to do that. Downside is that if the professors wanted to get you to train in group work, you will clearly show you failed, and also probably you won't get a good mark if the group work is unfinished (even if you completed your part: what matters is the project, not what you did).

Let it slide and do all the work yourself : if you are interested in having good marks, this is the best way to go. Downside is that you might have a LOT of work to do, but the bright side is that you can ensure the work is done well, and you can shine during project presentation (if you have one scheduled), knowing your project better than anyone else. So even if you let it slide, you can show you did most of the work without telling it directly, which is way more appreciated by everyone (both your colleagues, professors and superiors in a professional setting). Another advantage is that you will get a lot of skills in a short period of time (at the expense of sleep...).

Also, there is a 3rd way: balancing the work . Often, students have different skills and they do not necessarily excel for all kinds of projects. If you have several projects, what you can do is that you can arrange with your colleagues to form the same team in different projects, and share the work depending on each member's skills and affinities: you might end up doing most of the work for project A, but one of your colleague will do most of project B since he is more skilled with working on B field, etc.

The only requirement for this 3rd way is that you choose colleagues that are able, and that you upfront discuss and concur on this solution (if you discuss later on in the project, it might not end well as you experienced...). If you have lots of projects, this might actually help you speed up the completion, by assigning adequately to the most pertinent member the work to be done. And bonus, this is what a good manager should do, so that's also a good training if you want to lead projects later on :-)

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