Every job has a minimum amount of required assignments. Some are simple, like taking a survey or participating in an online focus group. Others, like writing a 500-word article for a magazine or conducting an in-person interview, can be more challenging. When you’re not used to handing in lengthy chunks of text, it can feel a bit overwhelming to be asked to churn out such a lengthy piece so soon after landing the job. So, how long should you be expected to spend on these assignments? Is it best to just bang out the minimum requirement and then move on to the next assignment, or should you take your time with each one and try to produce the best possible piece that you can? We spoke to a number of experts about this subject to get their take on how long you should be expected to spend on each type of assignment, and whether or not you should be using any shortcuts to make the process easier.
The Importance of Good Quality Control
A good editor should be able to help you improve your work no matter how much experience you have. If you’re being asked to hand in a 500-word article, there’s no point in rushing it just to meet the minimum requirement. Take the time to get the best possible piece you can, and then your editor will thank you for it. Even if you’re under no obligation to produce a certain amount of content, it never hurts to be generous.
The Difference Between Short-and Long-Form Writing
A lot of people think that short-form writing is any piece that falls under a certain number of words. While that’s perfectly acceptable for some uses, like social media headlines or captions, it can be problematic if you want to create a piece of persuasive copy that will hold its ground even when read in its entirety. A 500-word short story might leave you with something to talk about for the rest of the day, but that doesn’t necessarily make it good writing. Take your time with short-form writing, and then take the time to edit it well once you’ve turned it in. You might find that it’s better suited to longer articles where you have the space to develop your ideas and arguments more fully.
The Difference Between Text-and Word-Based Assignments
If you’re being asked to write a 500-word article for a magazine, the first thing that should pop up in your head is, ‘Does this mean I have to use words like ‘and’ and ‘but’ to connect my ideas?’ While it’s always preferable to use the right tools for the job, sometimes that means turning to the software of choice for the task. If you’re writing a text-based assignment using an office suite like Microsoft Word, you’ll have the option of using the automatic text formatting tools to make the paragraphs and sentences easier to read. Does that mean you should always do your homework using Microsoft Word? No, but it can certainly make it easier. Just make sure that you don’t rush it or use any improper grammar or spelling as a result of using the software. It’s also important not to confuse automatic text formatting with editorial quality control. Even a pro can mess up a text-based assignment without proper editing, so be sure to catch any errors before your piece is published.
What’s the Difference Between An Assignment, A Task, A Piece Of Contract Work, and so on?
There are several other terms that you might come across while doing your research into this subject, so make sure that you know the differences between them. An assignment is a task that has been given to you by your manager or professor at the end of a course. An example might be ‘Write a 500-word argumentative essay on the topic of ‘The Future of Work’ by Friday.’ The assignment itself doesn’t tell you what format your essay should be in or whether or not you should use APA or MLA citation styles. These are all things that your editor will help you with once you’ve submitted your essay. Your essay might be edited for the sake of consistency and readability, but chances are you’ll still see some changes made because it didn’t live up to the minimum requirements. It’s up to you whether or not you want to accept those changes, but it’s important to keep in mind that this is just an assignment and not a complete piece of work that you’ll be proud of.
The Final Word
Writing is subjective, so it’s always going to be different strokes for different people. You might find that the assignments that you’re not used to require a lot of thinking and the use of your brain, or you might find that you’re simply copying and pasting from other sources to meet the requirements. The main thing is that you meet the minimum requirement in a professional manner and then, when you’ve got the hang of it, start increasing the word count until you can see how much you’ve improved. You’ll soon find that it’s not as daunting a process as it seems and that, ultimately, you’re producing a piece of work that you can be proud of. And that’s what’s important.