ELISE | Informing your studies tutorial: Types of assessment tasks

Study hacks are a series of workshops for new and returning students throughout term. These sessions will help you develop key skills you need to succeed at UNSW.

Critical reviews involve summarising and evaluating a piece of writing, e.g. a book, a chapter or a journal article.

You will be required to analyse the components of the text and evaluate it according to a set of criteria.

Read more about critical reviews on the Academic Study Skills website.

An annotated bibliography presents a list of references on research in a specific field. Each reference includes an annotation, or short description and evaluation of each source.

Read more about annotated bibliographies, including their purpose and structure on the Academic Study Skills website.

Making a video for a course can require you to write an original script for the final project.

You may be expected to:

• present the script in a specified format
• provide a log line, synopsis and commentary
• respond to a genre
• write to a set length or style

Search for books in the Library that provide advice about script writing techniques.

Written assignments may take the form of essays, technical or lab reports, case studies or annotated bibliographies.

These types of assessment tasks require you to:

• research and read critically from multiple sources of information and ideas
• develop a sustained and well-substantiated argument or point of view

Written assignments are often a major component of your assessment tasks.

Learn more about the academic writing process under the Define tab.

Oral presentations involve giving a talk or leading a group discussion.

Thorough preparation is the key to a successful presentation:

• plan your presentation and research your topic
• write a draft and edit your presentation
• be aware of the time limit and how to best structure your presentation
• rehearse your presentation

PowerPoint slides can enhance a presentation. Here are some hints for designing a good PowerPoint presentation

The Academic Skills and Support website provides many helpful tips, as well as more detailed information about oral presentations

A literature review is a critical summary, analysis and evaluation of the research that has been carried out in a particular field of study. It can form part of a research thesis or it can stand alone as a separate document.

As there is no single method for writing a literature review, it is important to consult with your supervisor/academic/faculty to see if there are any specific requirements you need to follow.

To find examples of literature reviews, search the Library collection:

• type the general or broad search term for the subject or discipline you are interested in, into the search box
• next to your search terms type "literature review", including the quotation marks
• narrow down your results by choosing Dissertations from Refine my results > Resource types and then Apply filters

The same search can be done for systematic reviews by typing in "systematic review" instead of literature review.
Find more on systematic reviews in the Systematic reviews subject guide.

Postgraduate and honours students can book a Research consultation with a subject specialist librarian for support in developing or refining search strategies for their literature review. 

Academic Skills provides resources on conducting literature reviews and a list of frequently asked questions.

Report writing involves:

• knowing your intended audience. Is there an assumed level of knowledge?
• defining your task and clarifying the key issues that need to be addressed
• understanding that the aims of different types of reports will vary
• following the basic structure common to most reports

The types of reports you may write at university include progress reports, technical reports or reports of experiments.

For an overview of report writing visit UNSW's Report Writing Support page as well as the following pages on writing the report and presenting the report