Analyse your assignment sheet carefully. Not being clear on this can lead to wasted effort!

Carefully check vital deadlines and assessment requirements - if these are not part of an assignment sheet, double check with your teacher.

• highlight the nouns in the assignment task - these are the ideas and facts that you are to focussing on

• highlight the verbs in the assignment task - this is what you have to do with those ideas and facts.

• do some pre-search analysis.

• senior students should read this advice from the SACE Board: Identifying a research question, a guiding question or hypothesis

• check any assessment criteria.

• ask your teacher or your friendly teacher librarian.