if a assignment

Understanding Assignments

What this handout is about.

The first step in any successful college writing venture is reading the assignment. While this sounds like a simple task, it can be a tough one. This handout will help you unravel your assignment and begin to craft an effective response. Much of the following advice will involve translating typical assignment terms and practices into meaningful clues to the type of writing your instructor expects. See our short video for more tips.

Basic beginnings

Regardless of the assignment, department, or instructor, adopting these two habits will serve you well :

• Read the assignment carefully as soon as you receive it. Do not put this task off—reading the assignment at the beginning will save you time, stress, and problems later. An assignment can look pretty straightforward at first, particularly if the instructor has provided lots of information. That does not mean it will not take time and effort to complete; you may even have to learn a new skill to complete the assignment.
• Ask the instructor about anything you do not understand. Do not hesitate to approach your instructor. Instructors would prefer to set you straight before you hand the paper in. That’s also when you will find their feedback most useful.

Assignment formats

Many assignments follow a basic format. Assignments often begin with an overview of the topic, include a central verb or verbs that describe the task, and offer some additional suggestions, questions, or prompts to get you started.

An Overview of Some Kind

The instructor might set the stage with some general discussion of the subject of the assignment, introduce the topic, or remind you of something pertinent that you have discussed in class. For example:

“Throughout history, gerbils have played a key role in politics,” or “In the last few weeks of class, we have focused on the evening wear of the housefly …”

The Task of the Assignment

Pay attention; this part tells you what to do when you write the paper. Look for the key verb or verbs in the sentence. Words like analyze, summarize, or compare direct you to think about your topic in a certain way. Also pay attention to words such as how, what, when, where, and why; these words guide your attention toward specific information. (See the section in this handout titled “Key Terms” for more information.)

“Analyze the effect that gerbils had on the Russian Revolution”, or “Suggest an interpretation of housefly undergarments that differs from Darwin’s.”

Additional Material to Think about

Here you will find some questions to use as springboards as you begin to think about the topic. Instructors usually include these questions as suggestions rather than requirements. Do not feel compelled to answer every question unless the instructor asks you to do so. Pay attention to the order of the questions. Sometimes they suggest the thinking process your instructor imagines you will need to follow to begin thinking about the topic.

“You may wish to consider the differing views held by Communist gerbils vs. Monarchist gerbils, or Can there be such a thing as ‘the housefly garment industry’ or is it just a home-based craft?”

These are the instructor’s comments about writing expectations:

“Be concise”, “Write effectively”, or “Argue furiously.”

Technical Details

These instructions usually indicate format rules or guidelines.

“Your paper must be typed in Palatino font on gray paper and must not exceed 600 pages. It is due on the anniversary of Mao Tse-tung’s death.”

The assignment’s parts may not appear in exactly this order, and each part may be very long or really short. Nonetheless, being aware of this standard pattern can help you understand what your instructor wants you to do.

Interpreting the assignment

Ask yourself a few basic questions as you read and jot down the answers on the assignment sheet:

Why did your instructor ask you to do this particular task?

Who is your audience.

• What kind of evidence do you need to support your ideas?

What kind of writing style is acceptable?

• What are the absolute rules of the paper?

Try to look at the question from the point of view of the instructor. Recognize that your instructor has a reason for giving you this assignment and for giving it to you at a particular point in the semester. In every assignment, the instructor has a challenge for you. This challenge could be anything from demonstrating an ability to think clearly to demonstrating an ability to use the library. See the assignment not as a vague suggestion of what to do but as an opportunity to show that you can handle the course material as directed. Paper assignments give you more than a topic to discuss—they ask you to do something with the topic. Keep reminding yourself of that. Be careful to avoid the other extreme as well: do not read more into the assignment than what is there.

Of course, your instructor has given you an assignment so that they will be able to assess your understanding of the course material and give you an appropriate grade. But there is more to it than that. Your instructor has tried to design a learning experience of some kind. Your instructor wants you to think about something in a particular way for a particular reason. If you read the course description at the beginning of your syllabus, review the assigned readings, and consider the assignment itself, you may begin to see the plan, purpose, or approach to the subject matter that your instructor has created for you. If you still aren’t sure of the assignment’s goals, try asking the instructor. For help with this, see our handout on getting feedback .

Given your instructor’s efforts, it helps to answer the question: What is my purpose in completing this assignment? Is it to gather research from a variety of outside sources and present a coherent picture? Is it to take material I have been learning in class and apply it to a new situation? Is it to prove a point one way or another? Key words from the assignment can help you figure this out. Look for key terms in the form of active verbs that tell you what to do.

Key Terms: Finding Those Active Verbs

Here are some common key words and definitions to help you think about assignment terms:

Information words Ask you to demonstrate what you know about the subject, such as who, what, when, where, how, and why.

• define —give the subject’s meaning (according to someone or something). Sometimes you have to give more than one view on the subject’s meaning
• describe —provide details about the subject by answering question words (such as who, what, when, where, how, and why); you might also give details related to the five senses (what you see, hear, feel, taste, and smell)
• explain —give reasons why or examples of how something happened
• illustrate —give descriptive examples of the subject and show how each is connected with the subject
• summarize —briefly list the important ideas you learned about the subject
• trace —outline how something has changed or developed from an earlier time to its current form
• research —gather material from outside sources about the subject, often with the implication or requirement that you will analyze what you have found

Relation words Ask you to demonstrate how things are connected.

• compare —show how two or more things are similar (and, sometimes, different)
• contrast —show how two or more things are dissimilar
• apply—use details that you’ve been given to demonstrate how an idea, theory, or concept works in a particular situation
• cause —show how one event or series of events made something else happen
• relate —show or describe the connections between things

Interpretation words Ask you to defend ideas of your own about the subject. Do not see these words as requesting opinion alone (unless the assignment specifically says so), but as requiring opinion that is supported by concrete evidence. Remember examples, principles, definitions, or concepts from class or research and use them in your interpretation.

• assess —summarize your opinion of the subject and measure it against something
• prove, justify —give reasons or examples to demonstrate how or why something is the truth
• evaluate, respond —state your opinion of the subject as good, bad, or some combination of the two, with examples and reasons
• support —give reasons or evidence for something you believe (be sure to state clearly what it is that you believe)
• synthesize —put two or more things together that have not been put together in class or in your readings before; do not just summarize one and then the other and say that they are similar or different—you must provide a reason for putting them together that runs all the way through the paper
• analyze —determine how individual parts create or relate to the whole, figure out how something works, what it might mean, or why it is important
• argue —take a side and defend it with evidence against the other side

More Clues to Your Purpose As you read the assignment, think about what the teacher does in class:

• What kinds of textbooks or coursepack did your instructor choose for the course—ones that provide background information, explain theories or perspectives, or argue a point of view?
• In lecture, does your instructor ask your opinion, try to prove their point of view, or use keywords that show up again in the assignment?
• What kinds of assignments are typical in this discipline? Social science classes often expect more research. Humanities classes thrive on interpretation and analysis.
• How do the assignments, readings, and lectures work together in the course? Instructors spend time designing courses, sometimes even arguing with their peers about the most effective course materials. Figuring out the overall design to the course will help you understand what each assignment is meant to achieve.

Now, what about your reader? Most undergraduates think of their audience as the instructor. True, your instructor is a good person to keep in mind as you write. But for the purposes of a good paper, think of your audience as someone like your roommate: smart enough to understand a clear, logical argument, but not someone who already knows exactly what is going on in your particular paper. Remember, even if the instructor knows everything there is to know about your paper topic, they still have to read your paper and assess your understanding. In other words, teach the material to your reader.

Aiming a paper at your audience happens in two ways: you make decisions about the tone and the level of information you want to convey.

• Tone means the “voice” of your paper. Should you be chatty, formal, or objective? Usually you will find some happy medium—you do not want to alienate your reader by sounding condescending or superior, but you do not want to, um, like, totally wig on the man, you know? Eschew ostentatious erudition: some students think the way to sound academic is to use big words. Be careful—you can sound ridiculous, especially if you use the wrong big words.
• The level of information you use depends on who you think your audience is. If you imagine your audience as your instructor and they already know everything you have to say, you may find yourself leaving out key information that can cause your argument to be unconvincing and illogical. But you do not have to explain every single word or issue. If you are telling your roommate what happened on your favorite science fiction TV show last night, you do not say, “First a dark-haired white man of average height, wearing a suit and carrying a flashlight, walked into the room. Then a purple alien with fifteen arms and at least three eyes turned around. Then the man smiled slightly. In the background, you could hear a clock ticking. The room was fairly dark and had at least two windows that I saw.” You also do not say, “This guy found some aliens. The end.” Find some balance of useful details that support your main point.

You’ll find a much more detailed discussion of these concepts in our handout on audience .

The Grim Truth

With a few exceptions (including some lab and ethnography reports), you are probably being asked to make an argument. You must convince your audience. It is easy to forget this aim when you are researching and writing; as you become involved in your subject matter, you may become enmeshed in the details and focus on learning or simply telling the information you have found. You need to do more than just repeat what you have read. Your writing should have a point, and you should be able to say it in a sentence. Sometimes instructors call this sentence a “thesis” or a “claim.”

So, if your instructor tells you to write about some aspect of oral hygiene, you do not want to just list: “First, you brush your teeth with a soft brush and some peanut butter. Then, you floss with unwaxed, bologna-flavored string. Finally, gargle with bourbon.” Instead, you could say, “Of all the oral cleaning methods, sandblasting removes the most plaque. Therefore it should be recommended by the American Dental Association.” Or, “From an aesthetic perspective, moldy teeth can be quite charming. However, their joys are short-lived.”

Convincing the reader of your argument is the goal of academic writing. It doesn’t have to say “argument” anywhere in the assignment for you to need one. Look at the assignment and think about what kind of argument you could make about it instead of just seeing it as a checklist of information you have to present. For help with understanding the role of argument in academic writing, see our handout on argument .

What kind of evidence do you need?

There are many kinds of evidence, and what type of evidence will work for your assignment can depend on several factors–the discipline, the parameters of the assignment, and your instructor’s preference. Should you use statistics? Historical examples? Do you need to conduct your own experiment? Can you rely on personal experience? See our handout on evidence for suggestions on how to use evidence appropriately.

Make sure you are clear about this part of the assignment, because your use of evidence will be crucial in writing a successful paper. You are not just learning how to argue; you are learning how to argue with specific types of materials and ideas. Ask your instructor what counts as acceptable evidence. You can also ask a librarian for help. No matter what kind of evidence you use, be sure to cite it correctly—see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial .

You cannot always tell from the assignment just what sort of writing style your instructor expects. The instructor may be really laid back in class but still expect you to sound formal in writing. Or the instructor may be fairly formal in class and ask you to write a reflection paper where you need to use “I” and speak from your own experience.

Try to avoid false associations of a particular field with a style (“art historians like wacky creativity,” or “political scientists are boring and just give facts”) and look instead to the types of readings you have been given in class. No one expects you to write like Plato—just use the readings as a guide for what is standard or preferable to your instructor. When in doubt, ask your instructor about the level of formality they expect.

No matter what field you are writing for or what facts you are including, if you do not write so that your reader can understand your main idea, you have wasted your time. So make clarity your main goal. For specific help with style, see our handout on style .

Technical details about the assignment

The technical information you are given in an assignment always seems like the easy part. This section can actually give you lots of little hints about approaching the task. Find out if elements such as page length and citation format (see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial ) are negotiable. Some professors do not have strong preferences as long as you are consistent and fully answer the assignment. Some professors are very specific and will deduct big points for deviations.

Usually, the page length tells you something important: The instructor thinks the size of the paper is appropriate to the assignment’s parameters. In plain English, your instructor is telling you how many pages it should take for you to answer the question as fully as you are expected to. So if an assignment is two pages long, you cannot pad your paper with examples or reword your main idea several times. Hit your one point early, defend it with the clearest example, and finish quickly. If an assignment is ten pages long, you can be more complex in your main points and examples—and if you can only produce five pages for that assignment, you need to see someone for help—as soon as possible.

Tricks that don’t work

Your instructors are not fooled when you:

• spend more time on the cover page than the essay —graphics, cool binders, and cute titles are no replacement for a well-written paper.
• use huge fonts, wide margins, or extra spacing to pad the page length —these tricks are immediately obvious to the eye. Most instructors use the same word processor you do. They know what’s possible. Such tactics are especially damning when the instructor has a stack of 60 papers to grade and yours is the only one that low-flying airplane pilots could read.
• use a paper from another class that covered “sort of similar” material . Again, the instructor has a particular task for you to fulfill in the assignment that usually relates to course material and lectures. Your other paper may not cover this material, and turning in the same paper for more than one course may constitute an Honor Code violation . Ask the instructor—it can’t hurt.
• get all wacky and “creative” before you answer the question . Showing that you are able to think beyond the boundaries of a simple assignment can be good, but you must do what the assignment calls for first. Again, check with your instructor. A humorous tone can be refreshing for someone grading a stack of papers, but it will not get you a good grade if you have not fulfilled the task.

Critical reading of assignments leads to skills in other types of reading and writing. If you get good at figuring out what the real goals of assignments are, you are going to be better at understanding the goals of all of your classes and fields of study.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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How to use IF function in Excel: examples for text, numbers, dates, blanks

In this article, you will learn how to build an Excel IF statement for different types of values as well as how to create multiple IF statements.

IF is one of the most popular and useful functions in Excel. Generally, you use an IF statement to test a condition and to return one value if the condition is met, and another value if the condition is not met.

In this tutorial, we are going to learn the syntax and common usages of the Excel IF function, and then take a closer look at formula examples that will hopefully prove helpful to both beginners and experienced users.

IF function in Excel

IF is one of logical functions that evaluates a certain condition and returns one value if the condition is TRUE, and another value if the condition is FALSE.

The syntax of the IF function is as follows:

As you see, IF takes a total of 3 arguments, but only the first one is obligatory, the other two are optional.

Logical_test (required) - the condition to test. Can be evaluated as either TRUE or FALSE.

Value_if_true (optional) - the value to return when the logical test evaluates to TRUE, i.e. the condition is met. If omitted, the value_if_false argument must be defined.

Basic IF formula in Excel

To create a simple If then statement in Excel, this is what you need to do:

• For logical_test , write an expression that returns either TRUE or FALSE. For this, you'd normally use one of the logical operators .
• For value_if_true , specify what to return when the logical test evaluates to TRUE.
• For value_if_false , specify what to return when the logical test evaluates to FALSE. Though this argument is optional, we recommend always configuring it to avoid unexpected results. For the detailed explanation, please see Excel IF: things to know .

As an example, let's write a very simple IF formula that checks a value in cell A2 and returns "Good" if the value is greater than 80, "Bad" otherwise:

=IF(B2>80, "Good", "Bad")

In case you wish to return a value only when the condition is met (or not met), otherwise - nothing, then use an empty string ("") for the "undefined" argument. For example:

=IF(B2>80, "Good", "")

Excel If then formula: things to know

Though the last two parameters of the IF function are optional, your formula may produce unexpected results if you don't know the underlying logic.

If value_if_true is omitted

If the 2 nd argument of your Excel IF formula is omitted (i.e. there are two consecutive commas after the logical test), you'll get zero (0) when the condition is met, which makes no sense in most cases. Here is an example of such a formula:

=IF(B2>80, , "Bad")

To return a blank cell instead, supply an empty string ("") for the second parameter, like this:

=IF(B2>80, "", "Bad")

If value_if_false is omitted

Omitting the 3 rd parameter of IF will produce the following results when the logical test evaluates to FALSE.

If there is just a closing bracket after value_if_true , the IF function will return the logical value FALSE. Quite unexpected, isn't it? Here is an example of such a formula:

=IF(B2>80, "Good")

Typing a comma after the value_if_true argument will force Excel to return 0, which doesn't make much sense either:

=IF(B2>80, "Good",)

The most reasonable approach is using a zero-length string ("") to get a blank cell when the condition is not met:

Using IF function in Excel - formula examples

Now that you are familiar with the IF function's syntax, let's look at some formula examples and learn how to use If then statements in real-life scenarios.

Excel IF function with numbers

To build an IF statement for numbers, use logical operators such as:

• Equal to (=)
• Not equal to (<>)
• Greater than (>)
• Greater than or equal to (>=)
• Less than (<)
• Less than or equal to (<=)

Above, you have already seen an example of such a formula that checks if a number is greater than a given number.

And here's a formula that checks if a cell contains a negative number :

=IF(B2<0, "Invalid", "")

Excel IF function with text

Commonly, you write an IF statement for text values using either "equal to" or "not equal to" operator.

For example, the following formula checks the Delivery Status in B2 to determine whether an action is required or not:

=IF(B2="delivered", "No", "Yes")

Another way to achieve the same result is to use the "not equal to" operator and swap the value_if_true and value_if_false values:

=IF(C2<>"delivered", "Yes", "No")

• When using text values for IF's parameters, remember to always enclose them in double quotes .
• Like most other Excel functions, IF is case-insensitive by default . In the above example, it does not differentiate between "delivered", "Delivered", and "DELIVERED".

Case-sensitive IF statement for text values

To treat uppercase and lowercase letters as different characters, use IF in combination with the case-sensitive EXACT function.

For example, to return "No" only when B2 contains "DELIVERED" (the uppercase), you'd use this formula:

If cell contains partial text

In situation when you want to base the condition on partial match rather than exact match, an immediate solution that comes to mind is using wildcards in the logical test. However, this simple and obvious approach won't work. Many functions accept wildcards, but regrettably IF is not one of them.

A working solution is to use IF in combination with ISNUMBER and SEARCH (case-insensitive) or FIND (case-sensitive).

For example, in case "No" action is required both for "Delivered" and "Out for delivery" items, the following formula will work a treat:

For more information, please see:

• Excel IF statement for partial text match
• If cell contains then

Excel IF statement with dates

At first sight, it may seem that IF formulas for dates are akin to IF statements for numeric and text values. Regrettably, it is not so. Unlike many other functions, IF does recognize dates in logical tests and interprets them as mere text strings. In other words, you cannot supply a date in the form of "1/1/2020" or ">1/1/2020". To make the IF function recognize a date, you need to wrap it in the DATEVALUE function.

For example, here's how you can check if a given date is greater than another date:

=IF(B2>DATEVALUE("7/18/2022"), "Coming soon", "Completed")

Of course, there is nothing that would prevent you from entering the target date in a predefined cell (say E2) and referring to that cell. Just remember to lock the cell address with the $ sign to make it an absolute reference . For instance:

=IF(B2>$E$2, "Coming soon", "Completed")

To compare a date with the current date , use the TODAY() function. For example:

Excel IF statement for blanks and non-blanks

If you are looking to somehow mark your data based on a certain cell(s) being empty or not empty, you can either:

• Use the IF function together with ISBLANK , or
• Use the logical expressions ="" (equal to blank) or <>"" (not equal to blank).

The table below explains the difference between these two approaches with formula examples.

And now, let's see blank and non-blank IF statements in action. Suppose you have a date in column B only if a game has already been played. To label the completed games, use one of these formulas:

=IF(B2="", "", "Completed")

=IF(ISBLANK(B2), "", "Completed")

=IF($B2<>"", "Completed", "")

=IF(ISBLANK($B2)=FALSE, "Completed", "")

Check if two cells are the same

To create a formula that checks if two cells match, compare the cells by using the equals sign (=) in the logical test of IF. For example:

To check if the two cells contain same text including the letter case, make your IF formula case-sensitive with the help of the EXACT function.

For instance, to compare the passwords in A2 and B2, and returns "Match" if the two strings are exactly the same, "Do not match" otherwise, the formula is:

IF then formula to run another formula

In all of the previous examples, an Excel IF statement returned values. But it can also perform a certain calculation or execute another formula when a specific condition is met or not met. For this, embed another function or arithmetic expression in the value_if_true and/or value_if_false arguments.

For example, if B2 is greater than 80, we'll have it multiplied by 7%, otherwise by 3%:

Multiple IF statements in Excel

In essence, there are two ways to write multiple IF statements in Excel:

• Nesting several IF functions one into another
• Using the AND or OR function in the logical test

Nested IF statement

Nested IF functions let you place multiple IF statements in the same cell, i.e. test multiple conditions within one formula and return different values depending on the results of those tests.

Assume your goal is to assign different bonuses based on the score:

• Over 90 - 10%
• 90 to 81 - 7%
• 80 to 70 - 5%
• Less than 70 - 3%

To accomplish the task, you write 3 separate IF functions and nest them one into another like this:

For more formula examples, please see:

Excel IF statement with multiple conditions

To evaluate several conditions with the AND or OR logic, embed the corresponding function in the logical test:

For example, to return "Pass" if both scores in B2 and C2 are higher than 80, the formula is:

=IF(AND(B2>80, C2>80), "Pass", "Fail")

To get "Pass" if either score is higher than 80, the formula is:

For full details, please visit:

If error in Excel

Starting from Excel 2007, we have a special function, named IFERROR , to check formulas for errors. In Excel 2013 and higher, there is also the IFNA function to handle #N/A errors.

And still, there may be some circumstances when using the IF function together with ISERROR or ISNA is a better solution. Basically, IF ISERROR is the formula to use when you want to return something if error and something else if no error. The IFERROR function is unable to do that as it always returns the result of the main formula if it isn't an error.

For example, to compare each score in column B against the top 3 scores in E2:E4, and return "Yes" if a match is found, "No" otherwise, you enter this formula in C2, and then copy it down through C7:

Hopefully, our examples have helped you get a grasp of the Excel IF basics. I thank you for reading and hope to see you on our blog next week!

Practice workbook

You may also be interested in.

• Excel IF function with multiple criteria
• IF VLOOKUP in Excel
• If cell contains then count, sum, highlight, copy or delete
• Excel IF statement between two numbers or dates
• Check if two cells match or multiple cells are equal

Table of contents

4731 comments

this is great god job thank you for sharing.

Hi, I have values in two coloums i.e. in row 1, the value is in Col A and from row 2 to 10, the value is in Col B. Which formula can be used to call the required values from both Col A and B and return the value in Col C. Thanks.

Hi! It is impossible to guess how you want to call required values. You can use the VLOOKUP formula to search multiple columns as described in this article . You can also combine multiple columns into a single column using the VSTACK function . There may be other solutions depending on what you want to do.

Thank you for your prompt response

Hello, Alex! I have two lists; an authorized user list and a transaction list. On the transaction list, it gives the name of who authorized the transaction. I already completed a VLOOKUP to have the authorized user's name next to the user who authorized the transaction. Now, I need to filter the data to show unauthorized transactions. I was thinking an easy IF statement would be the answer, but the wall I am hitting is stumping me. The names on the authorized user list have a couple names of who has authorization. Example: (A3)Authorized: Hayes, (B3)Authorizer: Hayes/Lopez. As you can see, Hayes is on the authorized list so he should be fine. My If statement is =IF(A3=B3,"Authorized","Unauthorized"). It seems the = is only giving me an EXACT match. Is there a way I can make the IF statement work?

Hi! If I understand the question correctly, you want to determine if the text strings in cells A3 and B3 are partial matched. Based on the information provided, the formula could look like this:

=IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH(A3,B3)),"Authorized","Unauthorized")

For more information, please read: How to find substring in Excel

I have prepared a salary sheet with dates in a row and name of employee in the column, I want to get the total sum of salary Only of Today() (everyday in the same cell) =IF(T10="P", ((G10*1)+(U10*(G10/9))), "0") then sum of all the employees but this works only on one day.

how may I automate it, please.

Hi! To calculate the sum by condition, try using the SUMIFS function and these instructions: Excel SUMIFS and SUMIF with multiple criteria – formula examples . If this is not what you wanted, please describe the problem in more detail.

I have a table for vacation for employee I would like to enter the day that start with month and year than it will automatically add the week date (which will start Sunday) Also in the table when a cell is selected it will subtract from the total of weeks each person have.

Please help

Hi! To understand what you want to do, give an example of the source data and the expected result. Maybe this article will be helpful: How to add and subtract dates in Excel .

Hi Newbie question sorry....I have a column containing a number of text names equating to project status. As follows: onboarding, offboarding, leaving etc... (With a different designated numerical value to each)

I.e Onboarding 5, Offboarding 3, Leaving 1 etc

I would like to create an IF statement as a form of lookup to check the text name in the column against the list/values and display said value in a new column. I am wondering if this is the best way to do this? have started with the following..... =IF(E2="onboarding","5") .... but am wondering how to add the other names and values... and if this is actually possible?

Again, a new user so scrabbling about without a lot of time to study the options...

Any suggestions welcome.

Hi! I don't really understand what result you want to get. But if you want to do it with the IF function, maybe this instruction will help: Excel IF function with multiple conditions . Or describe the problem in more detail.

i need an if stmt to perform:

IF cell E4 > 120 then cell E36 = (E4-120)/8) ELSE cell E36 = 0

Please re-check the article above since it covers your case.

Hi, i need to separate a mix column similar to this one. into 3 columns, (name, date, yes/no). Column is first, last 11/27/2023 Unapproved 11/28/2023 Unapproved Unapproved Unapproved 12/6/2023 Unapproved

b, d 12/1/2023 Unapproved Unapproved 12/2/2023 Unapproved Unapproved

needs to look something like this first, last 11/27/2023 unapproved first, last 11/28/2023 unapproved first last 11/28/2023 unapproved first last 11/28/2023 unapproved first last 12/6/2023 unapproved b, d 12/1/2023 Unapproved b, d 12/1/2023 Unapproved b, d 12/2/2023 Unapproved b, d 12/2/2023 Unapproved

Hi! Unfortunately your data has no one pattern or regularity. Looks like this is not possible with the standard Excel options.

Could you write three individual loops/statement in three different columns and the final condition is blank for the rows for the name and the date but in the row for the unapproved/approve in it. that row will place the name-date-condition??

I have stated trying to solve this: =IF(A10="Unapproved", "Unapproved", "")

Hi! Your question is not entirely clear to me. Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need.

Hi, i need to use the IF function for a total score of more than 45 but less than 55 and a total score of more than 55 but less than 60

Hi! If I understand your task correctly, the following tutorial should help: Nested IF in Excel – formula with multiple conditions . If you want to find the sum of numbers in an interval, use the SUMIFS formula as suggested in this article: Excel SUMIFS and SUMIF with multiple criteria – formula examples . I hope my advice will help you solve your task.

I have 5 sell prices for each item in excel and I need to write an IF statement to see if they all match. Can you help?

Hi! If I understand your task correctly, this article may be helpful: IF AND in Excel: nested formula, multiple statements, and more . I hope this will help.

Hi, I need to write an IF statement for a column in which I already have some values which need to remain unchanged if the corresponding cell in the C column reads 'TRUE'. However, if the coresponding cell in the C column reads 'FALSE', then the cell must return 'NULL'. e.g C2 contains 'FALSE', therefore D2 will write 'NULL'. However, C4 contains 'TRUE', therefore the existing number in D4 '0.29' should remain unchanged. I can't find any logic which allows me to do this? The examples given use "" which returns a blank cell.

Hi! An Excel formula can only return a value to the cell in which it is written, and it cannot return a value to another cell. A previously written value in a cell cannot be changed by an Excel formula. This can be done with VBA. For example, you can use a formula in the E column to either set the value to NULL or to get the value from the C column. For example:

=IF(C2=FALSE,"NULL",D2)

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Balance Billing in Health Insurance

• How It Works
• When It Happens
• What to Do If You Get a Bill
• If You Know in Advance

Balance billing happens after you’ve paid your deductible , coinsurance or copayment and your insurance company has also paid everything it’s obligated to pay toward your medical bill. If there is still a balance owed on that bill and the healthcare provider or hospital expects you to pay that balance, you’re being balance billed.

This article will explain how balance billing works, and the rules designed to protect consumers from some instances of balance billing.

Is Balance Billing Legal or Not?

Sometimes it’s legal, and sometimes it isn’t; it depends on the circumstances.

Balance billing is generally illegal :

• When you have Medicare and you’re using a healthcare provider that accepts Medicare assignment .
• When you have Medicaid and your healthcare provider has an agreement with Medicaid.
• When your healthcare provider or hospital has a contract with your health plan and is billing you more than that contract allows.
• In emergencies (with the exception of ground ambulance charges), or situations in which you go to an in-network hospital but unknowingly receive services from an out-of-network provider.

In the first three cases, the agreement between the healthcare provider and Medicare, Medicaid, or your insurance company includes a clause that prohibits balance billing.

For example, when a hospital signs up with Medicare to see Medicare patients, it must agree to accept the Medicare negotiated rate, including your deductible and/or coinsurance payment, as payment in full. This is called accepting Medicare assignment .

And for the fourth case, the No Surprises Act , which took effect in 2022, protects you from "surprise" balance billing.

Balance billing is usually legal :

• When you choose to use a healthcare provider that doesn’t have a relationship or contract with your insurer (including ground ambulance charges, even after implementation of the No Surprises Act).
• When you’re getting services that aren’t covered by your health insurance policy, even if you’re getting those services from a provider that has a contract with your health plan.

The first case (a provider not having an insurer relationship) is common if you choose to seek care outside of your health insurance plan's network.

Depending on how your plan is structured, it may cover some out-of-network costs on your behalf. But the out-of-network provider is not obligated to accept your insurer's payment as payment in full. They can send you a bill for the remainder of the charges, even if it's more than your plan's out-of-network copay or deductible.

(Some health plans, particularly HMOs and EPOs , simply don't cover non-emergency out-of-network services at all, which means they would not cover even a portion of the bill if you choose to go outside the plan's network.)

Getting services that are not covered is a situation that may arise, for example, if you obtain cosmetic procedures that aren’t considered medically necessary, or fill a prescription for a drug that isn't on your health plan's formulary . You’ll be responsible for the entire bill, and your insurer will not require the medical provider to write off any portion of the bill—the claim would simply be rejected.

Prior to 2022, it was common for people to be balance billed in emergencies or by out-of-network providers that worked at in-network hospitals. In some states, state laws protected people from these types of surprise balance billing if they had state-regulated health plans.

But not all states had these protections. And the majority of people with employer-sponsored health insurance are covered under self-insured plans, which are not subject to state regulations. This is why the No Surprises Act was so necessary.

How Balance Billing Works

When you get care from a doctor, hospital, or other healthcare provider that isn’t part of your insurer’s provider network  (or, if you have Medicare, from a provider that has opted out of Medicare altogether , which is rare but does apply in some cases ), that healthcare provider can charge you whatever they want to charge you (with the exception of emergencies or situations where you receive services from an out-of-network provider while you're at an in-network hospital).

Since your insurance company hasn’t negotiated any rates with that provider, they aren't bound by a contract with your health plan.

Medicare Limiting Charge

If you have Medicare and your healthcare provider is a nonparticipating provider but hasn't entirely opted out of Medicare, you can be charged up to 15% more than the allowable Medicare amount for the service you receive (some states impose a lower limit).

This 15% cap is known as the limiting charge, and it serves as a restriction on balance billing in some cases. If your healthcare provider has opted out of Medicare entirely, they cannot bill Medicare at all and you'll be responsible for the full cost of your visit.

If your health insurance company agrees to pay a percentage of your out-of-network care, the health plan doesn’t pay a percentage of what’s actually billed . Instead, it pays a percentage of what it says should have been billed, otherwise known as a reasonable and customary amount.

As you might guess, the reasonable and customary amount is usually lower than the amount you’re actually billed. The balance bill comes from the gap between what your insurer says is reasonable and customary, and what the healthcare provider or hospital actually charges.

Let's take a look at an example in which a person's health plan has 20% coinsurance for in-network hospitalization and 40% coinsurance for out-of-network hospitalization. And we're going to assume that the No Surprises Act does not apply (ie, that the person chooses to go to an out-of-network hospital, and it's not an emergency situation).

In this scenario, we'll assume that the person already met their $1,000 in-network deductible and $2,000 out-of-network deductible earlier in the year (so the example is only looking at coinsurance).

And we'll also assume that the health plan has a $6,000 maximum out-of-pocket for in-network care, but no cap on out-of-pocket costs for out-of-network care:

When Does Balance Billing Happen?

In the United States, balance billing usually happens when you get care from a healthcare provider or hospital that isn’t part of your health insurance company’s provider network or doesn’t accept Medicare or Medicaid rates as payment in full.

If you have Medicare and your healthcare provider has opted out of Medicare entirely, you're responsible for paying the entire bill yourself. But if your healthcare provider hasn't opted out but just doesn't accept assignment with Medicare (ie, doesn't accept the amount Medicare pays as payment in full), you could be balance billed up to 15% more than Medicare's allowable charge, in addition to your regular deductible and/or coinsurance payment.

Surprise Balance Billing

Receiving care from an out-of-network provider can happen unexpectedly, even when you try to stay in-network. This can happen in emergency situations—when you may simply have no say in where you're treated or no time to get to an in-network facility—or when you're treated by out-of-network providers who work at in-network facilities.

For example, you go to an in-network hospital, but the radiologist who reads your X-rays isn’t in-network. The bill from the hospital reflects the in-network rate and isn't subject to balance billing, but the radiologist doesn’t have a contract with your insurer, so they can charge you whatever they want. And prior to 2022, they were allowed to send you a balance bill unless state law prohibited it.

Similar situations could arise with:

• Anesthesiologists
• Pathologists (laboratory doctors)
• Neonatologists (doctors for newborns)
• Intensivists (doctors who specialize in ICU patients)
• Hospitalists (doctors who specialize in hospitalized patients)
• Radiologists (doctors who interpret X-rays and scans)
• Ambulance services to get you to the hospital, especially air ambulance services, where balance billing was frighteningly common
• Durable medical equipment suppliers (companies that provide the crutches, braces, wheelchairs, etc. that people need after a medical procedure)

These "surprise" balance billing situations were particularly infuriating for patients, who tended to believe that as long as they had selected an in-network medical facility, all of their care would be covered under the in-network terms of their health plan.

To address this situation, many states enacted consumer protection rules that limited surprise balance billing prior to 2022. But as noted above, these state rules don't protect people with self-insured employer-sponsored health plans, which cover the majority of people who have employer-sponsored coverage.

There had long been broad bipartisan support for the idea that patients shouldn't have to pay additional, unexpected charges just because they needed emergency care or inadvertently received care from a provider outside their network, despite the fact that they had purposely chosen an in-network medical facility. There was disagreement, however, in terms of how these situations should be handled—should the insurer have to pay more, or should the out-of-network provider have to accept lower payments? This disagreement derailed numerous attempts at federal legislation to address surprise balance billing.

But the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, which was enacted in December 2020, included broad provisions (known as the No Surprises Act) to protect consumers from surprise balance billing as of 2022. The law applies to both self-insured and fully-insured plans, including grandfathered plans, employer-sponsored plans, and individual market plans.

It protects consumers from surprise balance billing charges in nearly all emergency situations and situations when out-of-network providers offer services at in-network facilities, but there's a notable exception for ground ambulance charges.

This is still a concern, as ground ambulances are among the medical providers most likely to balance bill patients and least likely to be in-network, and patients typically have no say in what ambulance provider comes to their rescue in an emergency situation. But other than ground ambulances, patients are no longer subject to surprise balance bills as of 2022.

The No Surprises Act did call for the creation of a committee to study ground ambulance charges and make recommendations for future legislation to protect consumers. The Biden Administration announced the members of that committee in late 2022, and the committee began holding meetings in May 2023.

Balance billing continues to be allowed in other situations (for example, the patient simply chooses to use an out-of-network provider). Balance billing can also still occur when you’re using an in-network provider, but you’re getting a service that isn’t covered by your health insurance. Since an insurer doesn’t negotiate rates for services it doesn’t cover, you’re not protected by that insurer-negotiated discount. The provider can charge whatever they want, and you’re responsible for the entire bill.

It is important to note that while the No Surprises Act prohibits balance bills from out-of-network working at in-network facilities, the final rule for implementation of the law defines facilities as "hospitals, hospital outpatient departments, critical access hospitals, and ambulatory surgical centers." Other medical facilities are not covered by the consumer protections in the No Surprises Act.

Balance billing doesn’t usually happen with in-network providers or providers that accept Medicare assignment . That's because if they balance bill you, they’re violating the terms of their contract with your insurer or Medicare. They could lose the contract, face fines, suffer severe penalties, and even face criminal charges in some cases.

If You Get an Unexpected Balance Bill

Receiving a balance bill is a stressful experience, especially if you weren't expecting it. You've already paid your deductible and coinsurance and then you receive a substantial additional bill—what do you do next?

First, you'll want to try to figure out whether the balance bill is legal or not. If the medical provider is in-network with your insurance company, or you have Medicare or Medicaid and your provider accepts that coverage, it's possible that the balance bill was a mistake (or, in rare cases, outright fraud).

And if your situation is covered under the No Surprises Act (ie, an emergency, or an out-of-network provider who treated you at an in-network facility), you should not be subject to a balance bill. So be sure you understand what charges you're actually responsible for before paying any medical bills.

If you think that the balance bill was an error, contact the medical provider's billing office and ask questions. Keep a record of what they tell you so that you can appeal to your state's insurance department if necessary.

If the medical provider's office clarifies that the balance bill was not an error and that you do indeed owe the money, consider the situation—did you make a mistake and select an out-of-network healthcare provider? Or was the service not covered by your health plan?

If you went to an in-network facility for a non-emergency, did you waive your rights under the No Surprises Act (NSA) and then receive a balance bill from an out-of-network provider? This is still possible in limited circumstances, but you would have had to sign a document indicating that you had waived your NSA protections.

Negotiate With the Medical Office

If you've received a legitimate balance bill, you can ask the medical office to cut you some slack. They may be willing to agree to a payment plan and not send your bill to collections as long as you continue to make payments.

Or they may be willing to reduce your total bill if you agree to pay a certain amount upfront. Be respectful and polite, but explain that the bill caught you off guard. And if it's causing you significant financial hardship, explain that too.

The healthcare provider's office would rather receive at least a portion of the billed amount rather than having to wait while the bill is sent to collections. So the sooner you reach out to them, the better.

Negotiate With Your Insurance Company

You can also negotiate with your insurer. If your insurer has already paid the out-of-network rate on the reasonable and customary charge, you’ll have difficulty filing a formal appeal since the insurer  didn’t actually deny your claim . It paid your claim, but at the out-of-network rate.

Instead, request a reconsideration. You want your insurance company to  reconsider the decision to cover this as out-of-network care , and instead cover it as in-network care. You’ll have more luck with this approach if you had a compelling medical or logistical reason for choosing an out-of-network provider .

If you feel like you’ve been treated unfairly by your insurance company, follow your health plan’s internal complaint resolution process.

You can get information about your insurer’s complaint resolution process in your benefits handbook or from your human resources department. If this doesn’t resolve the problem, you can complain to your state’s insurance department.

• Learn more about your internal and external appeal rights.
• Find contact information for your Department of Insurance using this resource .

If your health plan is self-funded , meaning your employer is the entity actually paying the medical bills even though an insurance company may administer the plan, then your health plan won't fall under the jurisdiction of your state’s department of insurance.

Self-funded plans are instead regulated by the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefit Services Administration. Get more information from the  EBSA’s consumer assistance web page  or by calling an EBSA benefits advisor at 1-866-444-3272.

If You Know You’ll Be Legally Balance Billed

If you know in advance that you’ll be using an out-of-network provider or a provider that doesn’t accept Medicare assignment, you have some options. However, none of them are easy and all require some negotiating.

Ask for an estimate of the provider’s charges. Next, ask your insurer what they consider the reasonable and customary charge for this service to be. Getting an answer to this might be tough, but be persistent.

Once you have estimates of what your provider will charge and what your insurance company will pay, you’ll know how far apart the numbers are and what your financial risk is. With this information, you can narrow the gap. There are only two ways to do this: Get your provider to charge less or get your insurer to pay more.

Ask the provider if he or she will accept your insurance company’s reasonable and customary rate as payment in full. If so, get the agreement in writing, including a no-balance-billing clause.

If your provider won’t accept the reasonable and customary rate as payment in full, start working on your insurer. Ask your insurer to increase the amount they’re calling reasonable and customary for this particular case.

Present a convincing argument by pointing out why your case is more complicated, difficult, or time-consuming to treat than the average case the insurer bases its reasonable and customary charge on.

Single-Case Contract

Another option is to ask your insurer to negotiate a  single-case contract   with your out-of-network provider for this specific service.

A single-case contract is more likely to be approved if the provider is offering specialized services that aren't available from locally-available in-network providers, or if the provider can make a case to the insurer that the services they're providing will end up being less expensive in the long-run for the insurance company.

Sometimes they can agree upon a single-case contract for the amount your insurer usually pays its in-network providers. Sometimes they’ll agree on a single-case contract at the discount rate your healthcare provider accepts from the insurance companies she’s already in-network with.

Or, sometimes they can agree on a single-case contract for a percentage of the provider’s billed charges. Whatever the agreement, make sure it includes a no-balance-billing clause.

Ask for the In-Network Coinsurance Rate

If all of these options fail, you can ask your insurer to cover this out-of-network care using your in-network coinsurance rate. While this won’t prevent balance billing, at least your insurer will be paying a higher percentage of the bill since your coinsurance for in-network care is lower than for out-of-network care.

If you pursue this option, have a convincing argument as to why the insurer should treat this as in-network. For example, there are no local in-network surgeons experienced in your particular surgical procedure, or the complication rates of the in-network surgeons are significantly higher than those of your out-of-network surgeon.

Balance billing refers to the additional bill that an out-of-network medical provider can send to a patient, in addition to the person's normal cost-sharing and the payments (if any) made by their health plan. The No Surprises Act provides broad consumer protections against "surprise" balance billing as of 2022.

A Word From Verywell

Try to prevent balance billing by staying in-network, making sure your insurance company covers  the services you’re getting, and complying with any pre-authorization requirements. But rest assured that the No Surprises Act provides broad protections against surprise balance billing.

This means you won't be subject to balance bills in emergencies (except for ground ambulance charges, which can still generate surprise balance bills) or in situations where you go to an in-network hospital but unknowingly receive care from an out-of-network provider.

Congress.gov. H.R.133—Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 . Enacted December 27, 2021.

Kona M. The Commonwealth Fund. State balance billing protections . April 20, 2020.

Data.CMS.gov. Opt Out Affidavits .

Chhabra, Karan; Schulman, Kevin A.; Richman, Barak D. Health Affairs. Are Air Ambulances Truly Flying Out Of Reach? Surprise-Billing Policy And The Airline Deregulation Act . October 17, 2019.

Kaiser Family Foundation. 2022 Employer Health Benefits Survey .

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Members of New Federal Advisory Committee Named to Help Improve Ground Ambulance Disclosure and Billing Practices for Consumers . December 13, 2022.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Advisory Committee on Ground Ambulance and Patient Billing (GAPB) .

Internal Revenue Service; Employee Benefits Security Administration; Health and Human Services Department. Requirements Related to Surprise Billing . August 26, 2022.

National Conference of State Legislatures. States Tackling "Balance Billing" Issue . July 2017.

By Elizabeth Davis, RN Elizabeth Davis, RN, is a health insurance expert and patient liaison. She's held board certifications in emergency nursing and infusion nursing.

Assignments usually ask you to demonstrate that you have immersed yourself in the course material and that you've done some thinking on your own; questions not treated at length in class often serve as assignments. Fortunately, if you've put the time into getting to know the material, then you've almost certainly begun thinking independently. In responding to assignments, keep in mind the following advice.

• Beware of straying.  Especially in the draft stage, "discussion" and "analysis" can lead you from one intrinsically interesting problem to another, then another, and then ... You may wind up following a garden of forking paths and lose your way. To prevent this, stop periodically while drafting your essay and reread the assignment. Its purposes are likely to become clearer.
• Consider the assignment in relation to previous and upcoming assignments.  Ask yourself what is new about the task you're setting out to do. Instructors often design assignments to build in complexity. Knowing where an assignment falls in this progression can help you concentrate on the specific, fresh challenges at hand.

Understanding some key words commonly used in assignments also may simplify your task. Toward this end, let's take a look at two seemingly impenetrable instructions: "discuss" and "analyze."

1. Discuss the role of gender in bringing about the French Revolution.

• "Discuss" is easy to misunderstand because the word calls to mind the oral/spoken dimension of communication. "Discuss" suggests conversation, which often is casual and undirected. In the context of an assignment, however, discussion entails fulfilling a defined and organized task: to construct an argument that considers and responds to an ample range of materials. To "discuss," in assignment language, means to make a broad argument about a set of arguments you have studied. In the case above, you can do this by
• pointing to consistencies and inconsistencies in the evidence of gendered causes of the Revolution;
• raising the implications of these consistencies and/or inconsistencies (perhaps they suggest a limited role for gender as catalyst);
• evaluating different claims about the role of gender; and
• asking what is gained and what is lost by focusing on gendered symbols, icons and events.

A weak discussion essay in response to the question above might simply list a few aspects of the Revolution—the image of Liberty, the executions of the King and Marie Antoinette, the cry "Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite!" —and make separate comments about how each, being "gendered," is therefore a powerful political force. Such an essay would offer no original thesis, but instead restate the question asked in the assignment (i.e., "The role of gender was very important in the French Revolution" or "Gender did not play a large role in the French Revolution").

In a strong discussion essay, the thesis would go beyond a basic restatement of the assignment question. You might test the similarities and differences of the revolutionary aspects being discussed. You might draw on fresh or unexpected evidence, perhaps using as a source an intriguing reading that was only briefly touched upon in lecture.

2. Analyze two of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, including one not discussed in class, as literary works and in terms of sources/analogues.

The words "analyze" and "analysis" may seem to denote highly advanced, even arcane skills, possessed in virtual monopoly by mathematicians and scientists. Happily, the terms refer to mental activity we all perform regularly; the terms just need decoding. "Analyze" means two things in this specific assignment prompt.

• First, you need to divide the two tales into parts, elements, or features. You might start with a basic approach: looking at the beginning, middle, and end. These structural features of literary works—and of historical events and many other subjects of academic study—may seem simple or even simplistic, but they can yield surprising insights when examined closely.
• Alternatively, you might begin at a more complex level of analysis. For example, you might search for and distinguish between kinds of humor in the two tales and their sources in Boccaccio or the Roman de la Rose: banter, wordplay, bawdy jokes, pranks, burlesque, satire, etc.

Second, you need to consider the two tales critically to arrive at some reward for having observed how the tales are made and where they came from (their sources/analogues). In the course of your essay, you might work your way to investigating Chaucer's broader attitude toward his sources, which alternates between playful variation and strict adherence. Your complex analysis of kinds of humor might reveal differing conceptions of masculine and feminine between Chaucer and his literary sources, or some other important cultural distinction.

Analysis involves both a set of observations about the composition or workings of your subject and a critical approach that keeps you from noticing just anything—from excessive listing or summarizing—and instead leads you to construct an interpretation, using textual evidence to support your ideas.

Some Final Advice

If, having read the assignment carefully, you're still confused by it, don't hesitate to ask for clarification from your instructor. He or she may be able to elucidate the question or to furnish some sample responses to the assignment. Knowing the expectations of an assignment can help when you're feeling puzzled. Conversely, knowing the boundaries can head off trouble if you're contemplating an unorthodox approach. In either case, before you go to your instructor, it's a good idea to list, underline or circle the specific places in the assignment where the language makes you feel uncertain.

William C. Rice, for the Writing Center at Harvard University

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A publication of the harvard college writing program.

Harvard Guide to Using Sources 

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• Understanding Your Assignment

Before you visit the library, you should make sure you understand what you're being asked to do and what constraints, if any, have been placed on your assignment. If you have been asked to review the literature on post-traumatic stress disorder, for example, do you understand how far back you should go? If you have been asked to write a paper about American policy in relation to Vietnam, do you know what policies to focus on? Or is the choice of policies up to you? Has your professor offered any guidance in narrowing your topic? If you are researching a genetic disorder, are there any guidelines for what you should be seeking to learn about the disorder beyond what it is and how it presents itself?

Even when you understand the basic expectations of your assignment, you should be prepared for the fact that you won't necessarily know exactly what you're looking for—and that you shouldn't know what you want to find before you start looking. Research is an iterative process—the more you learn about what's available and what's been written already, the clearer your own project becomes, which in turn means you need to go back to the library to further narrow and continue your search. Before you take the first plunge into your research, it will be helpful to ask the following questions:

How wide a net should I cast, given the scope of my assignment?

What is required what is optional.

Some professors will tell you how many outside sources to consult. When this is the case, try to think of this as a guideline for how much work seems reasonable rather than as a quota you must meet. If you think of the number of sources as a quota, you'll be less likely to look for sources that help you build your own argument and more likely to simply check off a number. If you choose the first three sources you find, you risk ending up with a paper that strings together unrelated ideas, rather than one that truly integrates the most important ideas to make a compelling argument.

Sometimes requirements laid out in an assignment will help you shape your paper. For example, an assignment might tell you to "look for an argument to critique" or to "use at least one source that puts forth a counterargument." If your assignment doesn't offer possible approaches, you can come up with your own. Consult the section of this guide on the roles that a source can play in your paper for some ideas on what sources can do in your paper that might, in turn, help you think about what types of sources to look for.

How will my use of sources help me meet the terms of the assignments?

If you have a sense of why you're using sources to write a particular paper, you will be able to begin the process of locating them efficiently. If you are doing a literature review and your goal is to analyze past research on a particular topic, then your use of sources is fairly straightforward, and you know what you're looking for. If your assignment is to come up with your own question based on course readings and then find your own sources to answer that question, your task may be less clear cut. Here are some questions to ask yourself as you search for sources:

• Am I surveying the literature on a particular topic?
• Am I looking for sources in order to better understand a particular topic so that I can come up with a question to ask?
• Am I looking for sources to help me develop my thesis and argument?
• As you begin your research process, keep in mind that it's important to avoid looking only for sources that back up a position you've already decided to argue. Rather, you should see what ideas are out there and then decide how those ideas affect your thinking on a topic. It may be that someone disagrees with your interpretation, but rather than weakening your argument, this source may well prompt you to strengthen your position. On the other hand, if you find that every source seems to validate your position, it's worth asking yourself if your thesis is, in fact, arguable.

How will I know when I'm done with my research?

Writing a research paper is rarely a linear process. In many cases you won't be able to narrow your focus to a research question until you begin reading about your chosen topic. Once you formulate your question, you'll need to go back to the library resources you've identified and look for the sources that are most useful to you as you answer your question. As you read those sources, you'll likely refine your thesis and consult even more sources as your paper takes shape. This doesn't mean that you'll never be finished with your paper, however. Remember that you need to decide what's reasonable for the scope of your assignment, and that your goal is to answer your research question, not to report on every source that has ever been produced on your topic. If you're having trouble knowing when to stop reading, consult your instructor.

Library research can be overwhelming, especially given the many resources available at Harvard. You might find it helpful to remember that most research assignments are designed to provide you with an opportunity to learn something about a topic related to your course material that interests you. With that in mind, use the resources available to you through the Harvard library system, and don't be afraid to ask for help.

• Navigating the Harvard Libraries
• Online Library Tools
• Evaluating Sources
• Integrating Sources

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• Using sources
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How strict should you be? A guide to assignment due dates.

Colleges typically require instructors to include a calendar of assignment due dates in every course syllabus. But most syllabi also include a disclaimer that assignment deadlines are subject to change.  

So, how flexible should deadlines really be in a college course? 

Be Flexible, or be Rigid, but Always be Consistent 

Be consistent in your approach to deadline flexibility, whether you never accept late work or are always willing to make an exception. Nothing irritates strong students more than their instructor announcing, “Since so many of you asked for more time on the assignment that was due today, I’m extending its deadline to next week.”  

Syllabi should always include a clearly stated policy about the circumstances under which late work might be accepted, if at all.  

But should this policy be applied equally to low-stakes and high-stakes assignments? 

Low-Stakes Assessments  

If a course has many low-stakes assessments, like quizzes or homework problems, those assignments are usually due on the same day each week.  

For example, if class meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays, there might a reading quiz due every Monday, to ensure that students are prepared for the week’s in-class discussions, and a homework problem due every Friday, to verify understanding of the week’s concepts. 

Here are three solid approaches to deadline flexibility for low-stakes assessments: 

1. Not flexible: Late work is never accepted  

If a student misses a deadline, they receive zero points on that assignment. 

This approach works best in courses that have many low-stakes assignments, such as reading quizzes on every textbook chapter, where missing one or two deadlines will not jeopardize a student’s understanding of the core concepts nor greatly impact their final letter grade. 

2. Somewhat flexible: Late work is accepted, at a penalty  

If a student misses a deadline, they can submit the assignment late, but their score will be penalized a specified amount (e.g. -5 points). 

This approach works best in courses where content acquisition is scaffolded such that missing one assignment will negatively impact a student’s understanding of core concepts and successful completion of future assignments. In this case, students who miss deadlines should be permitted to complete the missed assignments, but with a small scoring penalty to encourage on-time submissions in future weeks. 

3. Very flexible: Late work is made up, with instructor permission 

If a student misses a deadline, they must contact the instructor and arrange an alternate way to complete the assignment (e.g. by taking a make-up quiz during the instructor’s office hours). 

This approach works best in courses where low-stakes assessments are considered part of a student’s participation grade. In this case, missing a deadline is like missing a class meeting. Students should be encouraged to initiate contact with the instructor to arrange a way to verify their understanding of the missed assignment’s concepts.  

High-Stakes Assessments  

Every course has one or more high-stakes assessments, such as exams or research papers. These assessments are weighted more heavily (worth more of the overall course grade) than lower-stakes assessments because these are higher-level demonstrations of students’ proficiency in the course outcomes. Failure to successfully complete high-stakes assessments generally leads to failure of the entire course. 

What kind of flexibility is appropriate then for key, high-stakes course assessments? 

1. Not flexible: Deadlines do not change, under any circumstances  

If a student misses a deadline, they receive zero points on that assessment. 

This is the most common approach to deadlines for high-stakes assessments. It is rare for a college instructor to permit students to make up a missed midterm or final exam because students making up an exam would receive the unfair advantage of more time to prepare for the exam. Also, many final exams are scheduled for the very end of term, when there is no time remaining for make-up testing before instructors must report course grades to the college. 

2. Somewhat flexible: Deadlines are extended, at a penalty 

If a student misses a deadline, they can submit the assessment late, but their score will be penalized a specified amount (e.g. one letter grade per day). 

This approach is more common for midterm assessments, or for courses with single high-stakes assessments, such as a research paper that students work on throughout the term. If students who miss the deadline for a high-stakes assessment can still submit their work, but their score is heavily penalized, the course grades will accurately reflect the students’ term-long proficiency in the course outcomes. For example, a student who earned “A” scores all term but submitted their final paper one day late could still finish the course with a “B” grade. 

Remember, flexibility around assignments should be geared towards what makes sense in your course and for your students. While there are a lot of possible variations in regards to policy, the most critical element is to be clear and upfront with your students early in the term. This will help avoid confusion and complaints – and help you keep your sanity at the end of the term when students come looking for extra chances to make up missed work! 

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Teaching excellence & educational innovation, creating assignments.

Here are some general suggestions and questions to consider when creating assignments. There are also many other resources in print and on the web that provide examples of interesting, discipline-specific assignment ideas.

Consider your learning objectives.

What do you want students to learn in your course? What could they do that would show you that they have learned it? To determine assignments that truly serve your course objectives, it is useful to write out your objectives in this form: I want my students to be able to ____. Use active, measurable verbs as you complete that sentence (e.g., compare theories, discuss ramifications, recommend strategies), and your learning objectives will point you towards suitable assignments.

Design assignments that are interesting and challenging.

This is the fun side of assignment design. Consider how to focus students’ thinking in ways that are creative, challenging, and motivating. Think beyond the conventional assignment type! For example, one American historian requires students to write diary entries for a hypothetical Nebraska farmwoman in the 1890s. By specifying that students’ diary entries must demonstrate the breadth of their historical knowledge (e.g., gender, economics, technology, diet, family structure), the instructor gets students to exercise their imaginations while also accomplishing the learning objectives of the course (Walvoord & Anderson, 1989, p. 25).

Double-check alignment.

After creating your assignments, go back to your learning objectives and make sure there is still a good match between what you want students to learn and what you are asking them to do. If you find a mismatch, you will need to adjust either the assignments or the learning objectives. For instance, if your goal is for students to be able to analyze and evaluate texts, but your assignments only ask them to summarize texts, you would need to add an analytical and evaluative dimension to some assignments or rethink your learning objectives.

Name assignments accurately.

Students can be misled by assignments that are named inappropriately. For example, if you want students to analyze a product’s strengths and weaknesses but you call the assignment a “product description,” students may focus all their energies on the descriptive, not the critical, elements of the task. Thus, it is important to ensure that the titles of your assignments communicate their intention accurately to students.

Consider sequencing.

Think about how to order your assignments so that they build skills in a logical sequence. Ideally, assignments that require the most synthesis of skills and knowledge should come later in the semester, preceded by smaller assignments that build these skills incrementally. For example, if an instructor’s final assignment is a research project that requires students to evaluate a technological solution to an environmental problem, earlier assignments should reinforce component skills, including the ability to identify and discuss key environmental issues, apply evaluative criteria, and find appropriate research sources.

Think about scheduling.

Consider your intended assignments in relation to the academic calendar and decide how they can be reasonably spaced throughout the semester, taking into account holidays and key campus events. Consider how long it will take students to complete all parts of the assignment (e.g., planning, library research, reading, coordinating groups, writing, integrating the contributions of team members, developing a presentation), and be sure to allow sufficient time between assignments.

Check feasibility.

Is the workload you have in mind reasonable for your students? Is the grading burden manageable for you? Sometimes there are ways to reduce workload (whether for you or for students) without compromising learning objectives. For example, if a primary objective in assigning a project is for students to identify an interesting engineering problem and do some preliminary research on it, it might be reasonable to require students to submit a project proposal and annotated bibliography rather than a fully developed report. If your learning objectives are clear, you will see where corners can be cut without sacrificing educational quality.

Articulate the task description clearly.

If an assignment is vague, students may interpret it any number of ways – and not necessarily how you intended. Thus, it is critical to clearly and unambiguously identify the task students are to do (e.g., design a website to help high school students locate environmental resources, create an annotated bibliography of readings on apartheid). It can be helpful to differentiate the central task (what students are supposed to produce) from other advice and information you provide in your assignment description.

Establish clear performance criteria.

Different instructors apply different criteria when grading student work, so it’s important that you clearly articulate to students what your criteria are. To do so, think about the best student work you have seen on similar tasks and try to identify the specific characteristics that made it excellent, such as clarity of thought, originality, logical organization, or use of a wide range of sources. Then identify the characteristics of the worst student work you have seen, such as shaky evidence, weak organizational structure, or lack of focus. Identifying these characteristics can help you consciously articulate the criteria you already apply. It is important to communicate these criteria to students, whether in your assignment description or as a separate rubric or scoring guide . Clearly articulated performance criteria can prevent unnecessary confusion about your expectations while also setting a high standard for students to meet.

Specify the intended audience.

Students make assumptions about the audience they are addressing in papers and presentations, which influences how they pitch their message. For example, students may assume that, since the instructor is their primary audience, they do not need to define discipline-specific terms or concepts. These assumptions may not match the instructor’s expectations. Thus, it is important on assignments to specify the intended audience http://wac.colostate.edu/intro/pop10e.cfm (e.g., undergraduates with no biology background, a potential funder who does not know engineering).

Specify the purpose of the assignment.

If students are unclear about the goals or purpose of the assignment, they may make unnecessary mistakes. For example, if students believe an assignment is focused on summarizing research as opposed to evaluating it, they may seriously miscalculate the task and put their energies in the wrong place. The same is true they think the goal of an economics problem set is to find the correct answer, rather than demonstrate a clear chain of economic reasoning. Consequently, it is important to make your objectives for the assignment clear to students.

Specify the parameters.

If you have specific parameters in mind for the assignment (e.g., length, size, formatting, citation conventions) you should be sure to specify them in your assignment description. Otherwise, students may misapply conventions and formats they learned in other courses that are not appropriate for yours.

A Checklist for Designing Assignments

Here is a set of questions you can ask yourself when creating an assignment.

• Provided a written description of the assignment (in the syllabus or in a separate document)?
• Specified the purpose of the assignment?
• Indicated the intended audience?
• Articulated the instructions in precise and unambiguous language?
• Provided information about the appropriate format and presentation (e.g., page length, typed, cover sheet, bibliography)?  
• Indicated special instructions, such as a particular citation style or headings?  
• Specified the due date and the consequences for missing it?
• Articulated performance criteria clearly?
• Indicated the assignment’s point value or percentage of the course grade?
• Provided students (where appropriate) with models or samples?

Adapted from the WAC Clearinghouse at http://wac.colostate.edu/intro/pop10e.cfm .

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Does your provider accept Medicare as full payment?

You can get the lowest cost if your doctor or other health care provider accepts the Medicare-approved amount  as full payment for a covered service. This is called “accepting assignment.” If a provider accepts assignment, it’s for all Medicare-covered Part A and Part B services.

Using a provider that accepts assignment

Most doctors, providers, and suppliers accept assignment, but always check to make sure that yours do.

If your doctor, provider, or supplier accepts assignment:

• Your out-of-pocket costs may be less.
• They agree to charge you only the Medicare deductible and coinsurance amount, and usually wait for Medicare to pay its share before asking you to pay your share.
• They have to submit your claim directly to Medicare and can't charge you for submitting the claim.

How does assignment impact my drug coverage?

Using a provider that doesn't accept Medicare as full payment

Some providers who don’t accept assignment still choose to accept the Medicare-approved amount for services on a case-by-case basis. These providers are called "non-participating."

If your doctor, provider, or supplier doesn't accept assignment:

• You might have to pay the full amount at the time of service.
• They should submit a claim to Medicare for any Medicare-covered services they give you, and they can’t charge you for submitting a claim. If they refuse to submit a Medicare claim, you can submit your own claim to Medicare. Get the Medicare claim form .
• They can charge up to 15% over the Medicare-approved amount for a service, but no more than that. This is called "the limiting charge."  

Does the limiting charge apply to all Medicare-covered services?

Using a provider that "opts-out" of Medicare

• Doctors and other providers who don’t want to work with the Medicare program may "opt out" of Medicare.
• Medicare won’t pay for items or services you get from provider that opts out, except in emergencies.
• Providers opt out for a minimum of 2 years. Every 2 years, the provider can choose to keep their opt-out status, accept Medicare-approved amounts on a case-by-case basis ("non-participating"), or accept assignment.

Find providers that opted out of Medicare.

Private contracts with doctors or providers who opt out

• If you choose to get services from an opt-out doctor or provider you may need to pay upfront, or set up a payment plan with the provider through a private contract.
• Medicare won’t pay for any service you get from this doctor, even if it’s a Medicare-covered service.

What are the rules for private contracts?

You may want to contact your  State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) for help before signing a private contract with any doctor or other health care provider.

What do you want to do next?

• Next step: Get help with costs
• Take action: Find a provider
• Get details: How to get Medicare services

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What is Medicare assignment and how does it work?

Kimberly Lankford,

​Because Medicare decides how much to pay providers for covered services, if the provider agrees to the Medicare-approved amount, even if it is less than they usually charge, they’re accepting assignment.

A doctor who accepts assignment agrees to charge you no more than the amount Medicare has approved for that service. By comparison, a doctor who participates in Medicare but doesn’t accept assignment can potentially charge you up to 15 percent more than the Medicare-approved amount.

That’s why it’s important to ask if a provider accepts assignment before you receive care, even if they accept Medicare patients. If a doctor doesn’t accept assignment, you will pay more for that physician’s services compared with one who does.

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How much do I pay if my doctor accepts assignment?

If your doctor accepts assignment, you will usually pay 20 percent of the Medicare-approved amount for the service, called coinsurance, after you’ve paid the annual deductible. Because Medicare Part B covers doctor and outpatient services, your $240 deductible for Part B in 2024 applies before most coverage begins.

All providers who accept assignment must submit claims directly to Medicare, which pays 80 percent of the approved cost for the service and will bill you the remaining 20 percent. You can get some preventive services and screenings, such as mammograms and colonoscopies , without paying a deductible or coinsurance if the provider accepts assignment. 

What if my doctor doesn’t accept assignment?

A doctor who takes Medicare but doesn’t accept assignment can still treat Medicare patients but won’t always accept the Medicare-approved amount as payment in full.

This means they can charge you up to a maximum of 15 percent more than Medicare pays for the service you receive, called “balance billing.” In this case, you’re responsible for the additional charge, plus the regular 20 percent coinsurance, as your share of the cost.

How to cover the extra cost? If you have a Medicare supplement policy , better known as Medigap, it may cover the extra 15 percent, called Medicare Part B excess charges.

All Medigap policies cover Part B’s 20 percent coinsurance in full or in part. The F and G policies cover the 15 percent excess charges from doctors who don’t accept assignment, but Plan F is no longer available to new enrollees, only those eligible for Medicare before Jan. 1, 2020, even if they haven’t enrolled in Medicare yet. However, anyone who is enrolled in original Medicare can apply for Plan G.

Remember that Medigap policies only cover excess charges for doctors who accept Medicare but don’t accept assignment, and they won’t cover costs for doctors who opt out of Medicare entirely.

Good to know. A few states limit the amount of excess fees a doctor can charge Medicare patients. For example, Massachusetts and Ohio prohibit balance billing, requiring doctors who accept Medicare to take the Medicare-approved amount. New York limits excess charges to 5 percent over the Medicare-approved amount for most services, rather than 15 percent.

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How do I find doctors who accept assignment?

Before you start working with a new doctor, ask whether he or she accepts assignment. About 98 percent of providers billing Medicare are participating providers, which means they accept assignment on all Medicare claims, according to KFF.

You can get help finding doctors and other providers in your area who accept assignment by zip code using Medicare’s Physician Compare tool .

Those who accept assignment have this note under the name: “Charges the Medicare-approved amount (so you pay less out of pocket).” However, not all doctors who accept assignment are accepting new Medicare patients.

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What does it mean if a doctor opts out of Medicare?

Doctors who opt out of Medicare can’t bill Medicare for services you receive. They also aren’t bound by Medicare’s limitations on charges.

In this case, you enter into a private contract with the provider and agree to pay the full bill. Be aware that neither Medicare nor your Medigap plan will reimburse you for these charges.

In 2023, only 1 percent of physicians who aren’t pediatricians opted out of the Medicare program, according to KFF. The percentage is larger for some specialties — 7.7 percent of psychiatrists and 4.2 percent of plastic and reconstructive surgeons have opted out of Medicare.

Keep in mind

These rules apply to original Medicare. Other factors determine costs if you choose to get coverage through a private Medicare Advantage plan . Most Medicare Advantage plans have provider networks, and they may charge more or not cover services from out-of-network providers.

Before choosing a Medicare Advantage plan, find out whether your chosen doctor or provider is covered and identify how much you’ll pay. You can use the Medicare Plan Finder to compare the Medicare Advantage plans and their out-of-pocket costs in your area.

Return to Medicare Q&A main page

Kimberly Lankford is a contributing writer who covers Medicare and personal finance. She wrote about insurance, Medicare, retirement and taxes for more than 20 years at  Kiplinger’s Personal Finance  and has written for  The Washington Post  and  Boston Globe . She received the personal finance Best in Business award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers and the New York State Society of CPAs’ excellence in financial journalism award for her guide to Medicare.

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Definition of assignment

task , duty , job , chore , stint , assignment mean a piece of work to be done.

task implies work imposed by a person in authority or an employer or by circumstance.

duty implies an obligation to perform or responsibility for performance.

job applies to a piece of work voluntarily performed; it may sometimes suggest difficulty or importance.

chore implies a minor routine activity necessary for maintaining a household or farm.

stint implies a carefully allotted or measured quantity of assigned work or service.

assignment implies a definite limited task assigned by one in authority.

Examples of assignment in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'assignment.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

see assign entry 1

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing assignment

• self - assignment

Dictionary Entries Near assignment

Cite this entry.

“Assignment.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assignment. Accessed 16 May. 2024.

Legal Definition

Legal definition of assignment, more from merriam-webster on assignment.

Nglish: Translation of assignment for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of assignment for Arabic Speakers

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• assignments basic law

Assignments: The Basic Law

The assignment of a right or obligation is a common contractual event under the law and the right to assign (or prohibition against assignments) is found in the majority of agreements, leases and business structural documents created in the United States.

As with many terms commonly used, people are familiar with the term but often are not aware or fully aware of what the terms entail. The concept of assignment of rights and obligations is one of those simple concepts with wide ranging ramifications in the contractual and business context and the law imposes severe restrictions on the validity and effect of assignment in many instances. Clear contractual provisions concerning assignments and rights should be in every document and structure created and this article will outline why such drafting is essential for the creation of appropriate and effective contracts and structures.

The reader should first read the article on Limited Liability Entities in the United States and Contracts since the information in those articles will be assumed in this article.

Basic Definitions and Concepts:

An assignment is the transfer of rights held by one party called the “assignor” to another party called the “assignee.” The legal nature of the assignment and the contractual terms of the agreement between the parties determines some additional rights and liabilities that accompany the assignment. The assignment of rights under a contract usually completely transfers the rights to the assignee to receive the benefits accruing under the contract. Ordinarily, the term assignment is limited to the transfer of rights that are intangible, like contractual rights and rights connected with property. Merchants Service Co. v. Small Claims Court , 35 Cal. 2d 109, 113-114 (Cal. 1950).

An assignment will generally be permitted under the law unless there is an express prohibition against assignment in the underlying contract or lease. Where assignments are permitted, the assignor need not consult the other party to the contract but may merely assign the rights at that time. However, an assignment cannot have any adverse effect on the duties of the other party to the contract, nor can it diminish the chance of the other party receiving complete performance. The assignor normally remains liable unless there is an agreement to the contrary by the other party to the contract.

The effect of a valid assignment is to remove privity between the assignor and the obligor and create privity between the obligor and the assignee. Privity is usually defined as a direct and immediate contractual relationship. See Merchants case above.

Further, for the assignment to be effective in most jurisdictions, it must occur in the present. One does not normally assign a future right; the assignment vests immediate rights and obligations.

No specific language is required to create an assignment so long as the assignor makes clear his/her intent to assign identified contractual rights to the assignee. Since expensive litigation can erupt from ambiguous or vague language, obtaining the correct verbiage is vital. An agreement must manifest the intent to transfer rights and can either be oral or in writing and the rights assigned must be certain.

Note that an assignment of an interest is the transfer of some identifiable property, claim, or right from the assignor to the assignee. The assignment operates to transfer to the assignee all of the rights, title, or interest of the assignor in the thing assigned. A transfer of all rights, title, and interests conveys everything that the assignor owned in the thing assigned and the assignee stands in the shoes of the assignor. Knott v. McDonald’s Corp ., 985 F. Supp. 1222 (N.D. Cal. 1997)

The parties must intend to effectuate an assignment at the time of the transfer, although no particular language or procedure is necessary. As long ago as the case of National Reserve Co. v. Metropolitan Trust Co ., 17 Cal. 2d 827 (Cal. 1941), the court held that in determining what rights or interests pass under an assignment, the intention of the parties as manifested in the instrument is controlling.

The intent of the parties to an assignment is a question of fact to be derived not only from the instrument executed by the parties but also from the surrounding circumstances. When there is no writing to evidence the intention to transfer some identifiable property, claim, or right, it is necessary to scrutinize the surrounding circumstances and parties’ acts to ascertain their intentions. Strosberg v. Brauvin Realty Servs., 295 Ill. App. 3d 17 (Ill. App. Ct. 1st Dist. 1998)

The general rule applicable to assignments of choses in action is that an assignment, unless there is a contract to the contrary, carries with it all securities held by the assignor as collateral to the claim and all rights incidental thereto and vests in the assignee the equitable title to such collateral securities and incidental rights. An unqualified assignment of a contract or chose in action, however, with no indication of the intent of the parties, vests in the assignee the assigned contract or chose and all rights and remedies incidental thereto.

More examples: In Strosberg v. Brauvin Realty Servs ., 295 Ill. App. 3d 17 (Ill. App. Ct. 1st Dist. 1998), the court held that the assignee of a party to a subordination agreement is entitled to the benefits and is subject to the burdens of the agreement. In Florida E. C. R. Co. v. Eno , 99 Fla. 887 (Fla. 1930), the court held that the mere assignment of all sums due in and of itself creates no different or other liability of the owner to the assignee than that which existed from the owner to the assignor.

And note that even though an assignment vests in the assignee all rights, remedies, and contingent benefits which are incidental to the thing assigned, those which are personal to the assignor and for his sole benefit are not assigned. Rasp v. Hidden Valley Lake, Inc ., 519 N.E.2d 153, 158 (Ind. Ct. App. 1988). Thus, if the underlying agreement provides that a service can only be provided to X, X cannot assign that right to Y.

Novation Compared to Assignment:

Although the difference between a novation and an assignment may appear narrow, it is an essential one. “Novation is a act whereby one party transfers all its obligations and benefits under a contract to a third party.” In a novation, a third party successfully substitutes the original party as a party to the contract. “When a contract is novated, the other contracting party must be left in the same position he was in prior to the novation being made.”

A sublease is the transfer when a tenant retains some right of reentry onto the leased premises. However, if the tenant transfers the entire leasehold estate, retaining no right of reentry or other reversionary interest, then the transfer is an assignment. The assignor is normally also removed from liability to the landlord only if the landlord consents or allowed that right in the lease. In a sublease, the original tenant is not released from the obligations of the original lease.

Equitable Assignments:

An equitable assignment is one in which one has a future interest and is not valid at law but valid in a court of equity. In National Bank of Republic v. United Sec. Life Ins. & Trust Co. , 17 App. D.C. 112 (D.C. Cir. 1900), the court held that to constitute an equitable assignment of a chose in action, the following has to occur generally: anything said written or done, in pursuance of an agreement and for valuable consideration, or in consideration of an antecedent debt, to place a chose in action or fund out of the control of the owner, and appropriate it to or in favor of another person, amounts to an equitable assignment. Thus, an agreement, between a debtor and a creditor, that the debt shall be paid out of a specific fund going to the debtor may operate as an equitable assignment.

In Egyptian Navigation Co. v. Baker Invs. Corp. , 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30804 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 14, 2008), the court stated that an equitable assignment occurs under English law when an assignor, with an intent to transfer his/her right to a chose in action, informs the assignee about the right so transferred.

An executory agreement or a declaration of trust are also equitable assignments if unenforceable as assignments by a court of law but enforceable by a court of equity exercising sound discretion according to the circumstances of the case. Since California combines courts of equity and courts of law, the same court would hear arguments as to whether an equitable assignment had occurred. Quite often, such relief is granted to avoid fraud or unjust enrichment.

Note that obtaining an assignment through fraudulent means invalidates the assignment. Fraud destroys the validity of everything into which it enters. It vitiates the most solemn contracts, documents, and even judgments. Walker v. Rich , 79 Cal. App. 139 (Cal. App. 1926). If an assignment is made with the fraudulent intent to delay, hinder, and defraud creditors, then it is void as fraudulent in fact. See our article on Transfers to Defraud Creditors .

But note that the motives that prompted an assignor to make the transfer will be considered as immaterial and will constitute no defense to an action by the assignee, if an assignment is considered as valid in all other respects.

Enforceability of Assignments:

Whether a right under a contract is capable of being transferred is determined by the law of the place where the contract was entered into. The validity and effect of an assignment is determined by the law of the place of assignment. The validity of an assignment of a contractual right is governed by the law of the state with the most significant relationship to the assignment and the parties.

In some jurisdictions, the traditional conflict of laws rules governing assignments has been rejected and the law of the place having the most significant contacts with the assignment applies. In Downs v. American Mut. Liability Ins. Co ., 14 N.Y.2d 266 (N.Y. 1964), a wife and her husband separated and the wife obtained a judgment of separation from the husband in New York. The judgment required the husband to pay a certain yearly sum to the wife. The husband assigned 50 percent of his future salary, wages, and earnings to the wife. The agreement authorized the employer to make such payments to the wife.

After the husband moved from New York, the wife learned that he was employed by an employer in Massachusetts. She sent the proper notice and demanded payment under the agreement. The employer refused and the wife brought an action for enforcement. The court observed that Massachusetts did not prohibit assignment of the husband’s wages. Moreover, Massachusetts law was not controlling because New York had the most significant relationship with the assignment. Therefore, the court ruled in favor of the wife.

Therefore, the validity of an assignment is determined by looking to the law of the forum with the most significant relationship to the assignment itself. To determine the applicable law of assignments, the court must look to the law of the state which is most significantly related to the principal issue before it.

Assignment of Contractual Rights:

Generally, the law allows the assignment of a contractual right unless the substitution of rights would materially change the duty of the obligor, materially increase the burden or risk imposed on the obligor by the contract, materially impair the chance of obtaining return performance, or materially reduce the value of the performance to the obligor. Restat 2d of Contracts, § 317(2)(a). This presumes that the underlying agreement is silent on the right to assign.

If the contract specifically precludes assignment, the contractual right is not assignable. Whether a contract is assignable is a matter of contractual intent and one must look to the language used by the parties to discern that intent.

In the absence of an express provision to the contrary, the rights and duties under a bilateral executory contract that does not involve personal skill, trust, or confidence may be assigned without the consent of the other party. But note that an assignment is invalid if it would materially alter the other party’s duties and responsibilities. Once an assignment is effective, the assignee stands in the shoes of the assignor and assumes all of assignor’s rights. Hence, after a valid assignment, the assignor’s right to performance is extinguished, transferred to assignee, and the assignee possesses the same rights, benefits, and remedies assignor once possessed. Robert Lamb Hart Planners & Architects v. Evergreen, Ltd. , 787 F. Supp. 753 (S.D. Ohio 1992).

On the other hand, an assignee’s right against the obligor is subject to “all of the limitations of the assignor’s right, all defenses thereto, and all set-offs and counterclaims which would have been available against the assignor had there been no assignment, provided that these defenses and set-offs are based on facts existing at the time of the assignment.” See Robert Lamb , case, above.

The power of the contract to restrict assignment is broad. Usually, contractual provisions that restrict assignment of the contract without the consent of the obligor are valid and enforceable, even when there is statutory authorization for the assignment. The restriction of the power to assign is often ineffective unless the restriction is expressly and precisely stated. Anti-assignment clauses are effective only if they contain clear, unambiguous language of prohibition. Anti-assignment clauses protect only the obligor and do not affect the transaction between the assignee and assignor.

Usually, a prohibition against the assignment of a contract does not prevent an assignment of the right to receive payments due, unless circumstances indicate the contrary. Moreover, the contracting parties cannot, by a mere non-assignment provision, prevent the effectual alienation of the right to money which becomes due under the contract.

A contract provision prohibiting or restricting an assignment may be waived, or a party may so act as to be estopped from objecting to the assignment, such as by effectively ratifying the assignment. The power to void an assignment made in violation of an anti-assignment clause may be waived either before or after the assignment. See our article on Contracts.

Noncompete Clauses and Assignments:

Of critical import to most buyers of businesses is the ability to ensure that key employees of the business being purchased cannot start a competing company. Some states strictly limit such clauses, some do allow them. California does restrict noncompete clauses, only allowing them under certain circumstances. A common question in those states that do allow them is whether such rights can be assigned to a new party, such as the buyer of the buyer.

A covenant not to compete, also called a non-competitive clause, is a formal agreement prohibiting one party from performing similar work or business within a designated area for a specified amount of time. This type of clause is generally included in contracts between employer and employee and contracts between buyer and seller of a business.

Many workers sign a covenant not to compete as part of the paperwork required for employment. It may be a separate document similar to a non-disclosure agreement, or buried within a number of other clauses in a contract. A covenant not to compete is generally legal and enforceable, although there are some exceptions and restrictions.

Whenever a company recruits skilled employees, it invests a significant amount of time and training. For example, it often takes years before a research chemist or a design engineer develops a workable knowledge of a company’s product line, including trade secrets and highly sensitive information. Once an employee gains this knowledge and experience, however, all sorts of things can happen. The employee could work for the company until retirement, accept a better offer from a competing company or start up his or her own business.

A covenant not to compete may cover a number of potential issues between employers and former employees. Many companies spend years developing a local base of customers or clients. It is important that this customer base not fall into the hands of local competitors. When an employee signs a covenant not to compete, he or she usually agrees not to use insider knowledge of the company’s customer base to disadvantage the company. The covenant not to compete often defines a broad geographical area considered off-limits to former employees, possibly tens or hundreds of miles.

Another area of concern covered by a covenant not to compete is a potential ‘brain drain’. Some high-level former employees may seek to recruit others from the same company to create new competition. Retention of employees, especially those with unique skills or proprietary knowledge, is vital for most companies, so a covenant not to compete may spell out definite restrictions on the hiring or recruiting of employees.

A covenant not to compete may also define a specific amount of time before a former employee can seek employment in a similar field. Many companies offer a substantial severance package to make sure former employees are financially solvent until the terms of the covenant not to compete have been met.

Because the use of a covenant not to compete can be controversial, a handful of states, including California, have largely banned this type of contractual language. The legal enforcement of these agreements falls on individual states, and many have sided with the employee during arbitration or litigation. A covenant not to compete must be reasonable and specific, with defined time periods and coverage areas. If the agreement gives the company too much power over former employees or is ambiguous, state courts may declare it to be overbroad and therefore unenforceable. In such case, the employee would be free to pursue any employment opportunity, including working for a direct competitor or starting up a new company of his or her own.

It has been held that an employee’s covenant not to compete is assignable where one business is transferred to another, that a merger does not constitute an assignment of a covenant not to compete, and that a covenant not to compete is enforceable by a successor to the employer where the assignment does not create an added burden of employment or other disadvantage to the employee. However, in some states such as Hawaii, it has also been held that a covenant not to compete is not assignable and under various statutes for various reasons that such covenants are not enforceable against an employee by a successor to the employer. Hawaii v. Gannett Pac. Corp. , 99 F. Supp. 2d 1241 (D. Haw. 1999)

It is vital to obtain the relevant law of the applicable state before drafting or attempting to enforce assignment rights in this particular area.

Conclusion:

In the current business world of fast changing structures, agreements, employees and projects, the ability to assign rights and obligations is essential to allow flexibility and adjustment to new situations. Conversely, the ability to hold a contracting party into the deal may be essential for the future of a party. Thus, the law of assignments and the restriction on same is a critical aspect of every agreement and every structure. This basic provision is often glanced at by the contracting parties, or scribbled into the deal at the last minute but can easily become the most vital part of the transaction.

As an example, one client of ours came into the office outraged that his co venturer on a sizable exporting agreement, who had excellent connections in Brazil, had elected to pursue another venture instead and assigned the agreement to a party unknown to our client and without the business contacts our client considered vital. When we examined the handwritten agreement our client had drafted in a restaurant in Sao Paolo, we discovered there was no restriction on assignment whatsoever…our client had not even considered that right when drafting the agreement after a full day of work.

One choses who one does business with carefully…to ensure that one’s choice remains the party on the other side of the contract, one must master the ability to negotiate proper assignment provisions.

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Mortgage Assignment Laws and Definition

(This may not be the same place you live)

  What is a Mortgage Assignment?

A mortgage is a legal agreement. Under this agreement, a bank or other lending institution provides a loan to an individual seeking to finance a home purchase. The lender is referred to as a creditor. The person who finances the home owes money to the bank, and is referred to as the debtor.

To make money, the bank charges interest on the loan. To ensure the debtor pays the loan, the bank takes a security interest in what the loan is financing — the home itself. If the buyer fails to pay the loan, the bank can take the property through a foreclosure proceeding.

There are two main documents involved in a mortgage agreement. The document setting the financial terms and conditions of repayment is known as the mortgage note. The bank is the owner of the note. The note is secured by the mortgage. This means if the debtor does not make payment on the note, the bank may foreclose on the home. 

The document describing the mortgaged property is called the mortgage agreement. In the mortgage agreement, the debtor agrees to make payments under the note, and agrees that if payment is not made, the bank may institute foreclosure proceedings and take the home as collateral .

An assignment of a mortgage refers to an assignment of the note and assignment of the mortgage agreement. Both the note and the mortgage can be assigned. To assign the note and mortgage is to transfer ownership of the note and mortgage. Once the note is assigned, the person to whom it is assigned, the assignee, can collect payment under the note. 

Assignment of the mortgage agreement occurs when the mortgagee (the bank or lender) transfers its rights under the agreement to another party. That party is referred to as the assignee, and receives the right to enforce the agreement’s terms against the assignor, or debtor (also called the “mortgagor”). 

What are the Requirements for Executing a Mortgage Assignment?

What are some of the benefits and drawbacks of mortgage assignments, are there any defenses to mortgage assignments, do i need to hire an attorney for help with a mortgage assignment.

For a mortgage to be validly assigned, the assignment document (the document formally assigning ownership from one person to another) must contain:

• The current assignor name.
• The name of the assignee.
• The current borrower or borrowers’ names. 
• A description of the mortgage, including date of execution of the mortgage agreement, the amount of the loan that remains, and a reference to where the mortgage was initially recorded. A mortgage is recorded in the office of a county clerk, in an index, typically bearing a volume or page number. The reference to where the mortgage was recorded should include the date of recording, volume, page number, and county of recording.
• A description of the property. The description must be a legal description that unambiguously and completely describes the boundaries of the property.

There are several types of assignments of mortgage. These include a corrective assignment of mortgage, a corporate assignment of mortgage, and a mers assignment of mortgage. A corrective assignment corrects or amends a defect or mistake in the original assignment. A corporate assignment is an assignment of the mortgage from one corporation to another. 

A mers assignment involves the Mortgage Electronic Registration System (MERS). Mortgages often designate MERS as a nominee (agent for) the lender. When the lender assigns a mortgage to MERS, MERS does not actually receive ownership of the note or mortgage agreement. Instead, MERS tracks the mortgage as the mortgage is assigned from bank to bank. 

An advantage of a mortgage assignment is that the assignment permits buyers interested in purchasing a home, to do so without having to obtain a loan from a financial institution. The buyer, through an assignment from the current homeowner, assumes the rights and responsibilities under the mortgage. 

A disadvantage of a mortgage assignment is the consequences of failing to record it. Under most state laws, an entity seeking to institute foreclosure proceedings must record the assignment before it can do so. If a mortgage is not recorded, the judge will dismiss the foreclosure proceeding. 

Failure to observe mortgage assignment procedure can be used as a defense by a homeowner in a foreclosure proceeding. Before a bank can institute a foreclosure proceeding, the bank must record the assignment of the note. The bank must also be in actual possession of the note. 

If the bank fails to “produce the note,” that is, cannot demonstrate that the note was assigned to it, the bank cannot demonstrate it owns the note. Therefore, it lacks legal standing to commence a foreclosure proceeding.

If you need help with preparing an assignment of mortgage, you should contact a mortgage lawyer . An experienced mortgage lawyer near you can assist you with preparing and recording the document.

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• Grade Calculators

Final Grade Calculator

Enter Final Info

My final exam is worth:

I want (at least) this in the class:

Enter Class Grades

Calculator Instructions

• In the top part of the form, enter how much your final exam is worth and the grade that you would like to get in the class. For example, your final test might be worth 20% of your overall grade and you want to get at least a 93% in the class. You would enter these numbers into the form.
• In the bottom half of the form, enter a description (optional) of the classwork, the grade received for that classwork, and the weight of the classwork. Most class grades are made up of several components such as homework assignments, tests, exams, quizzes, class participation, attendance, etc. For example, a class exam might be worth 10% of your grade and you received a 95% on the test. You would enter those values into the form.
• If you need more than four rows, press the "Add Row" button to add an additional line. You can add as many rows as you need.
• Once you have finished entering your grades, press the "Calculate" button and the grade you need on the final exam will be displayed.

Final Grade Formula

final grade = ((g wanted x w total ) - gw) / w final

w total = w 1 + w 2 + w 3 + ... + w final

w 1 = weight of assignment #1

w final = weight of final exam

gw = g 1 x w 1 + g 2 x w 2 + g 3 x w 3 + ...

g 1 = grade for assignment #1

g wanted = grade wanted in the class

Example Calculation

Let's say your class has the following grading plan.

Now let's assume you received the following grades on your classwork.

Finally, let's assume that you want to get a 90% in the class. To determine what you need to get on your final exam in order to get a 90% in the class, let's do some math using the formula above.

First add the weight of all the class assignments together including your final:

w total = 10% + 10% + 20% + 20% + 20% = 100%

Next, multiple the grade you received on each assignment by the weight of the assignment.

gw = (91% x 10%) + (85% x 10%) + (75% x 20%) + (95% x 20%) + (97% x 20%) = 7100%

Now, calculate what you need on the final exam:

final exam grade = ((90% x 100%) - 7100%) / 20% = 95%

This is how you manually calculate your final grade. Of course, you can make your life a little easier using the calculator above!

What if my class grade is based on points rather than percentages?

Let's assume you have the following class syllabus that is based on points.

Let's assume you received the following grades.

To enter these grades in the calculator above, you first need to calculate your grade percentage for each assignment using the following formula:

grade percentage = points earned / possible points x 100

So taking your mid-term test grade as an example, we get the following:

mid-term test = 190 points earned / 200 possible points x 100 = 95%

In the weight column of the calculator, you would enter the possible points for each assignment.

Assuming you wanted to get at least a 90% in the class and your final exam is worth 250 points (i.e.the weight), you would enter the following information into the calculator.

In this example, you would need to get a 93.6% on your final in order to get a 90% in the class.

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‘A Dangerous Assignment’ Director and Reporter Discuss the Risks in Investigating the Powerful in Maduro’s Venezuela

A still from FRONTLINE and Armando.info's documentary "A Dangerous Assignment: Uncovering Corruption in Maduro's Venezuela."

The investigation at the heart of FRONTLINE’s new documentary A Dangerous Assignment: Uncovering Corruption in Maduro’s Venezuela unfolded as Venezuelan journalist Roberto Deniz started looking into complaints about the poor quality of food distributed by a government program.

Venezuela was in the throes of economic collapse in 2016. The value of the country’s oil had fallen, leading to a deficit, and Venezuelans faced high inflation and food shortages. President Nicolás Maduro responded by launching a food program called the Local Committees for Supply and Production (Comité Locales de Abastecimiento y Producción or CLAP).

As Deniz and the Venezuelan independent news site Armando.info where he worked looked into the program, they would help uncover a corruption scheme and the figure at the heart of the scandal: Alex Saab. The documentary, made in collaboration with Armando.info, was directed by Juan Ravell, produced by Jeff Arak and reported by Deniz — who is now living and working in exile.

Deniz and Ravell spoke with FRONTLINE about the risks of reporting on Venezuela, tracing a corruption scandal that reached into the Venezuelan government and spanned continents, and the price that journalists pay for investigating the powerful in Maduro’s government.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Some of the responses have been translated from Spanish.

Can you both take me back to how this whole investigation started?

Deniz: This has been a long story for us — “us” being Armando.info, but also for me, as a journalist. My investigation about Alex Saab started in 2016. That was the moment in which I decided to start investigating what was happening behind the CLAP program. But in 2015, the name Alex Saab came up in an investigation about a contract that he got to build buildings for poor people in Venezuela. The moment when I realized that Alex Saab was also behind the CLAP food program, it was a big signal: This is not a simple contractor of the Venezuelan government. He’s a man who is more powerful than we could imagine.

Ravell: I wasn’t there from the beginning, but I did start collaborating with Armando.info around 2019. They were doing short pieces with different styles in their investigation, so I was making shorts for them and little videos. I remember clearly when the Alacran [Scorpion] investigation broke. An investigation by Armando.info found that opposition lawmakers worked secretly to defend some of Alex Saab’s businesses abroad. And I remember listening to the phone call that Roberto had with Venezuelan opposition politician Luis Parra and I was thinking, “This is insane that nobody’s listening to this call and so few people are aware of the job that Roberto is doing.” The way that Roberto behaved — very controlled, pressing but fair — was impressive to me. That’s when I got the initial idea. Then, when Alex Saab was detained in Cape Verde, we were pretty much convinced that this needs to be a documentary.

Alex Saab’s business network was complicated and vast. Juan, how did you decide what aspects of the story to focus on while filming this documentary?

Ravell: Roberto’s investigation led the narrative. We wanted to follow the most important stories Roberto was publishing, and those that had the most impact. The milk investigation is pretty important to Venezuelans and finding out who was behind its import. A chemical analysis requested by Armando.info showed some of the powdered milk in the CLAP boxes was so deficient in calcium and high in sodium that a researcher noted it couldn’t be classified as milk.

We knew Alex Saab before that. There had been some reporting by Armando.info, but when they connect him to the CLAP importing scheme, that’s when this story gets going. So from then on, we’re basically following Roberto through his investigation and his stories. Other journalists were also working on this case like Gerardo Reyes from Univision and Joshua Goodman from The Associated Press.

Roberto, at what point did you realize the scale of Saab’s business network and its connection to so many Venezuelan government projects?

Deniz: Since 2016, when I realized that Alex Saab was behind the CLAP program. For me, it was very clear that Alex Saab was a man that we have to investigate. The idea that he was the man behind this program to provide food to poor people in Venezuela — that Nicolás Maduro gave all this power to these guys — was a very important signal. When I started, I realized that there was a lot of fear to talk about him. Some sources immediately told me, “Well, Roberto, you have to be careful, because this is a powerful man and is very close to Nicolás Maduro.”

Roberto, you say in the film that some of the information about Saab’s dealings was difficult to uncover, and you needed to find alternative sources. Can you share the process you used to vet these sources to make sure that the information that they were providing was legitimate?

Deniz: In a country like Venezuela, there are severe threats and intimidation against the journalists that dare to do this kind of work. Normally, a journalist can access information from public records, and you can access officials and expect some kind of response. But that doesn’t happen in Venezuela. They won’t even want to acknowledge that you have contacted them.

I spoke to many of the sources that I had gathered for many years, whom I thought could have useful information about what was happening with the CLAP program. That was how I started to gain access to information, documents, papers that confirmed and signaled that Alex Saab was behind all this. You have to double-check, check three or even four times, every piece of information.

I also had many off-the-record sources. I think that over time, those sources have seen the determination that I and the team at Armando.info have had regarding this investigation, and that’s the main reason why they have trusted in our rigor and perseverance.

What was the most challenging aspect of telling the story visually?

Ravell: I’d say finding the balance. It’s a lot of documents. It’s a lot of words. It’s a lot of very dry information that we need to present in an interesting way, so I think what we managed to do is just rely on the narrative and try to find the best ways to translate that into a compelling film.

We were present in certain key moments. When Roberto’s house in Venezuela was raided, we had a camera with Roberto and we were able to interview him that night. The day of the prisoner swap — when Saab was returned from Miami to Venezuela — was interesting, because we had a team in Bogotá following Roberto and a team in Miami. So two different teams in two separate cities covering the same thing. It was an interesting experiment. And I think it comes across nicely in the film.

Roberto, you shared how reporting this story has led to you living in exile. How has that affected your ability to tell stories about what’s going on in Venezuela? What kind of challenges do you face now doing the same kind of journalism you used to do from inside the country?

Deniz: Since I had to get out of Venezuela in 2018, the most difficult thing was answering, “How can I do my work now?” It was so difficult. All of my life, since I decided to become a journalist, I was living in Venezuela, working in Venezuela. But ultimately, my exile was a solution for me, because I could keep working.

The most difficult thing, I think, is the personal part, the family. I know that all of these investigations are not easy for my family, all their grief, all the personal costs that I decided to face during all of these years.

People told me, “Wow, Roberto, you are brave,” “You are a strong person.” I am totally convinced that it’s not related to that. It’s related to our duty as journalists, our responsibility as journalists in a country like Venezuela. People don’t have the opportunity to know what is really happening in the country. I think that has pushed me to continue on in this investigation.

Many times I have thought that this is the moment to end the investigation. I cannot continue anymore. But I have to continue on what we have tried to do in Armando.info.

Can you both speak about the government’s reaction to this journalism, and what it says about press freedoms in Venezuela? What impact is the current atmosphere having on reporters still working inside Venezuela?

Ravell: It’s pretty clear from NGOs that research freedom of expression that investigative journalism and free, independent journalism is at risk in Venezuela. If you publish something and you get sued for defamation, that could end up getting you criminal charges and that can put you in jail. What Armando.info decided to do is just go in and report on hard things, subjects like corruption, and report on people who are very connected to the highest reaches of the Venezuelan government. By doing that, the choice they had to make was to leave the country. One of the few ways you can report on Venezuela is by going into exile. Still, in exile, there are risks, as you can see in the film. Roberto’s house in Venezuela was raided right before Alex Saab was extradited. So he’s in exile, and he’s still persecuted.

Deniz: I have been in exile since 2018, and nowadays I don’t feel that I am safe living abroad. I think that shows how powerful the message of an autocratic government is when they decide to oppose the work of independent journalists. If you see all the stories related to the Alex Saab case, the first legal action that I faced was in 2017 when he decided to sue me. I could face jail if I stayed in Venezuela. I’m totally sure about that. But then in 2021, I got a new legal action against me. I think that is a clear message that even if you get out of Venezuela, but you continue with your work, you are going to face all of the power of the Venezuelan government. It’s so sad for us as journalists.

Shortly before the premiere of this film, the Venezuelan government began responding to the documentary. Can you give us your take on their response?

Deniz: The attorney general of Venezuela accused us — Ewald Scharfenberg, editor and founder of Armando.info, and me, as a reporter — of supposedly being part of and benefiting from a “corruption scheme” related to Venezuela’s ex-oil minister, Tarek El Aissami, who was incarcerated some weeks ago and who’s been questioned for more than a year within a corruption investigation in PDVSA, the Venezuelan state-owned oil company.

It’s not a coincidence that this is happening right after we released the documentary’s trailer. For me, it’s more than evident that this accusation is total nonsense, but that doesn’t make it less serious, because this is a criminalization of the journalism that we have been doing in Armando.info. Sometimes I think that if you compare the work of Armando.info with all the power of the Venezuelan government, we’re like a dwarf fighting a giant, a tiny particle against a huge government, but that only shows you the authoritarian nature of this regime. They won’t tolerate, they won’t accept that some people persist and keep investigating.

Watch the full documentary A Dangerous Assignment: Uncovering Corruption in Maduro’s Venezuela :

Max Maldonado , Tow Journalism Fellow, FRONTLINE/Newmark Journalism School Fellowships , FRONTLINE

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‘It Would Have Been Easier To Look Away’: A Journalist’s Investigation Into Corruption in Maduro’s Venezuela

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Should you give job applicants an assignment during the interview process? Be thoughtful about the ask

Hiring is a time-consuming and expensive endeavor. Companies need candidates who offer the right skills and experience for a given role, and who align with their organization’s vision and mission.

To find the best fit, many companies still lean on a strategy that continues to generate debate : the assignment. Some candidates believe their experience and interviews should give prospective employers enough information to determine whether they will fit the role. Employers have to ask themselves whether they are willing to turn off a strong candidate by asking them to do additional work.

Is the assignment valuable enough to the evaluation process that they cannot move someone forward without it? Sometimes it is—sometimes they help an employer decide between two strong candidates. And if they are necessary, how can employers make assignments fair and equitable for the candidate or candidates?

When done right, assignments help assess practical skills and problem-solving abilities, giving a clearer picture of a candidate beyond what their resume or interview reveals. But employers should be thoughtful about the ask. While it may make sense for roles that require specific technical expertise or creative thinking, it isn’t appropriate for all roles—so assignments should always be given with a clear reason for why they are needed.

Plus, they don’t just benefit the employer. For job seekers, an assignment during the interview process might also help them stand out from the competition. It can also offer a window into what their day-to-day in the new role might entail. Remember that the candidate should be interviewing the company, too. Having a test run of the work they’d be asked to do is a great way to see whether they believe the role is a fit.

However, there is a rift in how people perceive the assignment as part of the interview process. Workers today span many generations, each with unique values and expectations. Whereas older workers often prioritize stability and loyalty, younger millennials and Gen Zers are more focused on flexibility and work well-being, Indeed data shows .

This mindset impacts the amount of time and energy a candidate is willing to devote to each application. After multiple rounds of interviews and prep, taking on an in-depth assignment may feel like a bridge too far—especially if the expectations for the assignment are not clearly communicated ahead of time.

Some candidates are wary of providing free labor to a company that may use their work and not hire them. Hiring managers should be clear about how the work will be used. They may also consider offering compensation if the assignment requires more than a couple hours of someone’s time, or if they plan to use the work without hiring the candidate.

The key for early career candidates in particular is to ensure their time and efforts are respected. This is a win-win for employers: By providing clarity and transparency, they not only elicit the additional information they want from candidates, but they demonstrate that the organization is transparent and fair.

Equity is also imperative: Which candidates are being asked to complete assignments? Is the hiring team consistent in giving out assignments across ages, experience levels, and roles? There should always be a process and clear evaluation criteria in place to ensure fairness.

As we adapt to the rapidly evolving world of work, we must continue to think critically about each step in the hiring process. Candidate assignments can be a valuable tool, but only with appropriate respect for job seekers’ time and contributions.

With the right strategy, we can bridge the gap between generations in the workplace and build a hiring culture that values efficiency, talent, and integrity.

Eoin Driver is the global vice president of talent at Indeed.

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'A Dangerous Assignment:' Meet a journalist covering corruption in Venezuela

Jeremy Siegel: This is GBH's Morning Edition. In 2016, Venezuela was in economic turmoil. President Nicolás Maduro had recently taken office after the death of Hugo Chávez, and amid a mounting crisis, his government announced a new initiative billed as providing high-quality and essential food to people at risk of starvation. But a new documentary produced by Frontline sheds light on a shadowy corruption scandal spanning from Venezuela to the United States, revealing that this program in Venezuela was not at all what the government claimed it would be, and how the reporters covering it became targets of Maduro. Joining me now is journalist Roberto Deniz of the Venezuelan independent news site Armando.Info. He's the subject of the new film called "A Dangerous Assignment: Uncovering Corruption in Maduro's Venezuela." Roberto, good morning. Thanks for joining us.

Roberto Deniz: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

Siegel: So take me back to 2016.

Deniz: Venezuela was leaving a tremendous economic and social crisis, and the government at that moment decided to create a kind of social program to help poor people in Venezuela and to provide food for people in Venezuela. But the problem that we have uncovered with our investigation that now is in our documentary is that this was not a social aid from the Venezuelan government to the people. The real thing behind all of this was a business, a business belonging to a Colombian entrepreneur very close to Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan president. And not only that, also the main problem that was behind the social program was that they decided to import, to buy food in different countries, especially in Mexico, and send those products to Venezuela. But it was very poor quality food for the poor people in Venezuela.

Siegel: This program was billed as providing high-quality food, but it was not high-quality food; and it was benefiting people living in other countries. Tell me more about what you learned in your reporting and your investigation.

Deniz: We saw that the Venezuelan government decided to send money to different entrepreneurs very close to the Venezuelan government. But these entrepreneurs, like Alex Saab, that maybe was the main entrepreneur behind the program, they bought food that was not the quality that they said. Even worse: We demonstrate that in the case of the powdered milk that we were selling in these boxes to the poor people in Venezuela. We saw that it was a very, very bad quality product because the product was very high in carbohydrates, very high in salt, but very low in calcium and very low in protein.

Siegel: This film, "A Dangerous Assignment," doesn't just illustrate your reporting surrounding the scandal, but also tracks the story of how you and your colleagues were attacked by Maduro's government as a result of your reporting. What was your experience in the aftermath of your investigation?

Deniz: I started to investigate this case and all of the story in 2016, and just a year after it, at the end of 2017, I was sued this Colombian guy, beef entrepreneur, that was benefiting off this social program of Nicolas Maduro. And in 2018, I had to flee Venezuela, I had to get out of Venezuela. And I continued the investigation, living abroad, living in Bogotá, in Colombia. And right now I can't go back to Venezuela because of this investigation, this and other investigations related to our job in Armando.info. And so as you said, this is the cost, this is the risk that we have to face when we decide to do this kind of job in a country like Venezuela right now.

Siegel: Do you have any confidence that things will change in your country and you'll ever be able to go back home?

Deniz: I hope that Venezuela can change, and Venezuela maybe, you know, can fix all the problem that they have. If that happens, I hope to come back in Venezuela. But right now, I'm not sure that that is going to happen.

Siegel: Roberto Deniz is a reporter for the Venezuelan independent news site Armando.Info. He's featured in the new FRONTLINE documentary, "A Dangerous Assignment," which airs tonight on GBH. This is GBH News.

In 2016, Venezuela was in economic turmoil.

President Nicolás Maduro had recently taken office after the death of Hugo Chávez, and amid a mounting crisis, his government announced a new initiative billed as providing high-quality and essential food to people at risk of starvation.

A new documentary produced by FRONTLINE “A Dangerous Assignment: Uncovering Corruption in Maduro's Venezuela,” sheds light on a shadowy corruption scandal spanning from Venezuela to the United States, revealing that this program in Venezuela was not at all what the government claimed it would be, and how the reporters covering it became targets of Maduro.

“Venezuela was leaving a tremendous economic and social crisis, and the government at that moment decided to create a kind of social program to help poor people in Venezuela and to provide food for people in Venezuela,” journalist Roberto Deniz of the Venezuelan independent news site Armando.Info, told GBH’s Morning Edition co-host Jeremy Siegel. “But the problem that we have uncovered with our investigation that now is in our documentary is that this was not a social aid from the Venezuelan government to the people.”

The program, Deniz said, was a way to funnel business to entrepreneurs close to the president. And the food was often of poor quality and low nutritional value, he said.

“We saw that the Venezuelan government decided to send money to different entrepreneurs very close to the Venezuelan government,” he said, like entrepreneurs Alex Saab. “Even worse: We demonstrate that in the case of the powdered milk that we were selling in these boxes to the poor people in Venezuela. We saw that it was a very, very bad quality product because the product was very high in carbohydrates, very high in salt, but very low in calcium and very low in protein.”

Deniz himself had to face investigations and ultimately fled Venezuela because of backlash from the powerful people he reported on, he said.

“In 2018, I had to flee Venezuela,” he said. “And I continued the investigation, living abroad, living in Bogota, in Colombia. … And so as you said, this is the cost, this is the risk that we have to face when we decide to do this kind of job in a country like Venezuela right now.”

He hopes to one day be able to return.

“I hope that Venezuela can change,” he said. “If that happens, I hope to come back in Venezuela. But right now, I'm not sure that that is going to happen.”

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On Assignment: Coaching Goes ‘Far beyond Football’ for Green

Coaching goes ‘far beyond football’ for green.

By Matt Burglund

Donta Green won’t rest. How could he when there is so much to do?

Donta Green and the Westinghouse Bulldogs in November 2022 (Brian Henry)

He is surrounded by people and things that need his attention. Underfunded schools. People surviving in neighborhoods that are dying. Drugs and crime. He looks around and knows what he has to do. He helps, he guides, he pushes, and he pulls. His days start early. They end late.

A 2010 IUP graduate, Green by day is the executive director of the Trade Institute of Pittsburgh. Almost every other waking minute, he’s the football coach at the high school he attended, Westinghouse Academy. The two jobs are about a mile and a half apart––the institute in Homewood South and the high school in Homewood West––each in neighborhoods that are among Pittsburgh’s poorest.

“My [players] come home to a neighborhood that blight has taken over,” he said. “I have moms calling me, asking if I know anybody that has some food stamps, because they have run out of food. I have kids who don’t have a ride home from school, and they’re afraid to walk, because it’s too dangerous. Some of them wear the same clothes all week.”

Green takes their calls. He finds ways to help. He believes it’s why God put him on this earth.

“There is not a better human being on the face of the earth than Donta Green,” said IUP football assistant coach Mike Campolo ’96, who recruited Green and now counts him as one of his closest friends. “Nobody is more giving than Donta. Nobody makes time for people more than Donta. He is the definition of someone who always gives and never takes.”

Green is a devout Christian, a devoted husband, a loving father, a loyal friend, a community activist, and an inspiring motivator. That’s a long way from where he started his life’s journey.

“The hours that we put in outside football are probably the most important.”

He came from Larimer, another poverty-stricken Pittsburgh neighborhood where dreams were for other people. But after graduating from IUP, he returned to the city and now lifts up the people and places around him. He doesn’t have to think long about how his life would have turned out if he’d never made it to IUP.

“I would have ended up in jail––or dead,” he said. “If IUP didn’t take a chance on me, I probably would have ended up coming home and selling drugs. That usually ends with you being shot and killed or put in jail.”

At Westinghouse, the on-field stuff comes easy for Green, but the off-field demands are difficult. His players need him to be a father figure, a career advisor, a college connection, and a resource they can rely on for a meal or a ride home after practice. He pushes them to be better players, better students, and better citizens.

“I tell my coaches all the time that we are social workers first, and we just happen to know a little bit about football,” Green said earnestly. “I feel like God has placed me here for an assignment. I think the assignment is to do whatever I need to do to support those kids and to make sure that they’re safe and taken care of and that they’re getting the high school experience that they deserve. It’s far beyond football. The hours that we put in outside football are probably the most important.”

The Bulldogs have gone 52-8 since Green became the head coach in 2019, they’ve won four Pittsburgh City League titles, and they’ve advanced to the state championship game the past two years. The statistic he’s proudest of is the number of players he has helped get into college. As of February, it’s 29.

“The players love him, and he loves them just as much, if not more,” said the former Tonia Charles ’09, Green’s wife of 10 years.

Understanding Their World

Donta Green at his day job, with students and staff members at the Trade Institute of Pittsburgh (Emily Jaros Smith ’03, M’05)

Everyone knew Chance Battle was a talented player, but his focus in the classroom didn’t match his focus on the field. In 10th grade, he was academically ineligible to play for the Bulldogs.

Donta and Tonia Green got involved, and while Battle showed improvement, in 11th grade he was again sidelined because of academics. But the coach and his wife worked extra hours to help him catch up. And just before the team was to begin preseason camp his senior year, Battle learned he was eligible to play. He earned All-City League honors and is now a starter at IUP.

“Coach Green is an extremely important person in my life, and he’s that way for all the guys,” Battle said. “He never gave up on me.”

Green understands the world in which his players grow up. The son of mostly absent parents, he was raised in Larimer by Antoinette Hunter, a double-transplant patient who lived with her elderly parents. Initially, she was Green’s babysitter, but eventually, the days at her house turned to nights at her house, and although she didn’t legally adopt him, he called her his mom.

Conditions were rough. Until he got his first bed when he was a teenager, Green slept in a recliner. A couple times a year, the gas was shut off, because the bill went unpaid. Green didn’t use a shower until he was in college (he had taken only baths, and those were sometimes in water heated in the microwave, because the gas was turned off). When he did take a bath, first he had to place a garbage can on top of the refrigerator directly below, because the tub drain leaked, and there wasn’t money to fix it.

But Green felt loved. He and Hunter cared for one another. By the time he was in kindergarten, he was able to identify her pills and open their packaging to give her the medicine she needed following her lung and kidney transplants. He learned from those experiences that a house does not make a home. And a home is what he tries to create every day for his players at Westinghouse and students at the institute.

“The thing I love about Donta is that he isn’t loved because he is soft,” Campolo said. “He is demanding, but he is consistent, and he provides structure. The kids respond to that.”

Green remembers a time when a tree fell and crashed through Hunter’s bathroom window. The solution, because there was no other available, was to put plywood over the hole. Years later, while Green was at IUP, Hunter lost the house. He was still calling her mom when she died in 2017, leaving a hole in Green’s heart that, like that bathroom window, can’t be repaired. The house now sits abandoned, and the window is still boarded up. Sometimes Green drives by, just as a reminder of how far he’s come.

A Winding Path to IUP

In high school, Green was not a good student: he left Westinghouse with a 1.6 grade point average, but he excelled on the football field.

Despite IUP and many other colleges offering him opportunities to play, he did not have the grades to get into those schools. But, as he would do for Battle more than a decade later, Green found someone who would push him. Taunya Tinsley, who at the time worked at Westinghouse as a student advocate, implored Green to find a way to get to college.

“My job with Donta was to nourish the seed and make sure he saw what was possible,” Tinsley said. “I told him not to look at the here and now, but to look at what could be.”

“If nobody recognized him for what he does, he'd still do it.”

Green eventually made his way to Bethany College, a tiny, private Division III school in the northern panhandle of West Virginia. Bethany was only 50 miles from Pittsburgh, but to Green, it felt like a million miles. He finished the year with good grades and, because Division III schools do not offer athletic scholarships, with some debt. He came home for the summer and decided he was not going back.

Green got in touch with Campolo, who had visited him at Westinghouse the previous year. A couple weeks before the season began, he came to IUP and learned about the football program and its winning tradition. Thanks to his one year at Bethany, this time he had the grades to get in.

In three seasons, Green played 28 games at linebacker and was named all-conference after his senior season. He graduated with a bachelor’s in criminology, the first member of his family to earn a degree.

“When I look back at it,” he said, “God was telling me that IUP is where I was supposed to be.”

Committed to Helping

The Trade Institute of Pittsburgh is a nonprofit agency operating out of a reconditioned brick warehouse. 

Many of the institute’s students have drugs and/or incarcerations in their backgrounds, which make it hard to find consistent work. The institute provides them with soft skills, such as résumé writing and interviewing, plus trade skills, like masonry and carpentry, so they can get work that will give them a better future. In 2021, 45 students graduated from the institute and landed decent-paying jobs. In 2022, that number rose to 77. 

“I tell people all the time that these students are just older versions of the kids I have at Westinghouse,” Green said. “I feel like I am in a unique space, because I can be on the preventive side of things for those kids. If I give them the support and exposure they need, they won’t end up having to utilize a program like [the institute].”

Green has been lauded for his success in the boardroom and on the football field. In 2019, after the Bulldogs won their first City League title in more than two decades, Pittsburgh Steelers star Cameron Heyward came to the team banquet and gave Green two tickets to the Super Bowl. In 2022, Pittsburgh Magazine chose him for its 40 under 40 awards, and KDKA selected him as one of its five Hometown Heroes. He was also a recipient of the FBI Community Leadership Award, and after the past two football seasons, he has been named the Pennsylvania Football Writers’ Coach of the Year.

But awards aren’t his motivation. “If nobody recognized him for what he does,” Tonia said, “he’d still do it.”

After being best friends since they were 13, Donta and Tonia started dating a couple years after they graduated from IUP. Married since 2014, they have a daughter, Dru, and a son, Troy, and their strong foundation is built on love, compassion, and a we, not me, philosophy guided by their spirituality. When Westinghouse hired Donta, in effect it also hired Tonia, who spends her day as program director for the Center of Urban Education at the University of Pittsburgh.

“I think the beauty of our union is that we both are committed to helping,” she said. “We understand the call. We help people when they need help. If people trust my husband enough to call for help, there’s merit to that.”

It’s a life to be proud of, but Donta won’t say that in so many words.

“Am I proud of myself?” he asks, repeating the question. “That would be a bold statement.”

Tinsley, who 20 years ago pushed Green to make something positive out of his circumstances,  will be so bold.

“Oh, my God, I am so proud of him,” she said. “I love what he does and who he has become.”

Where He Needs to Be

Green has served as Westinghouse’s head football coach for five seasons. (Brian Henry)

In a video, Green reads a letter from Dick’s Sporting Goods as he is surrounded by his players. He chokes up for a second and bows his head. He then reads the part about the Westinghouse football program being chosen for Dick’s 75for75 program, a distinction that comes with a check for $75,000, to fund a new weight room for the Bulldogs.

What anyone watching the video on YouTube probably doesn’t know is that, a few days before it was filmed in January 2023, Green was all but gone from Westinghouse. He had been offered a lucrative deal to take over the program at Woodland Hills High School in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh, and in his mind, he was “90 percent gone.”

The school had offered a dramatic salary increase for Green and all his assistants, and it was allowing him to hire eight of them, three more than he had with the Bulldogs. The school had better facilities and a higher profile than Westinghouse. It was an opportunity to move up the coaching ladder, and Green felt he was ready. Earlier that month, he sat on the bed with Tonia, and they talked it over. He mentioned the increase in salary, the better hours, the better facilities, the better job.

“In my mind, I was going through my first team speech,” Donta said. “And then she said, ‘Is that what we got into this for?’ It was like a punch in the stomach.”

He knew what she meant. There was more to do at Westinghouse.

“I was praying about it,” he said. “I said to my wife, ‘I’m not hearing anything.’ And she said, ‘Well, then you already know what to do. If God isn’t giving you the green light, he’s telling you to sit still.’”

Turning down the Woodland Hills job was a difficult phone call to make. But not long after, he got the letter from Dick’s. Rather than giving him a directive, maybe that was God’s way of answering Green’s prayer. A few weeks later, he was in New York City, a guest on ABC’s Good Morning America being interviewed about the 75for75 program.

For those hearing the story of the Bulldogs, their coach, and their community, it’s clear Donta Green is where he needs to be. All he ever wanted was a home, and he has found it. So, is he proud of himself? There’s no time for that kind of talk.

“Part of my growth as a coach,” Green said, “is being able to sit back and reflect on some of the things that I’ve done. But proud of myself? I can’t say that, because there are still kids who don’t make it in our program. There are still kids who are making bad decisions. There are still kids who just aren’t getting it academically yet. There’s just so much more work to do.”

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MLB Trade Rumors

Jasson Dominguez Begins Rehab Assignment

By Steve Adams and Anthony Franco | May 14, 2024 at 6:32pm CDT

Yankees outfielder Jasson Dominguez began a minor league rehab assignment Tuesday, per a team announcement. That effectively presses the start button on a 20-day rehab window before he must either be optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre or reinstated to the MLB roster. He’s starting out in Class-A Tampa, though he’ll very likely move up the ladder over the next couple weeks.

Dominguez underwent Tommy John surgery last summer, so it’s fairly natural that Yankees skipper Aaron Boone indicated over the weekend that the 21-year-old will be limited to DH work in the early stages of rehab. This will be the first game action for Dominguez since early September, when he burst onto the big league scene with a promising .258/.303/.677 batting line in 33 plate appearances. Dominguez homered off notable big leaguers like Justin Verlander and Cristian Javier , ultimately popping four round-trippers in his brief debut before being diagnosed with a ligament tear in his elbow.

Prior to that debut, Dominguez had split the season between Double-A and Triple-A, recording 507 plate appearances at the former level and 37 at the latter. He batted a combined .265/.377/.425 despite being just 20 years old. He was about four years younger than his average opponent in Double-A and more than six years younger than the average Triple-A player.

Had Dominguez been healthy, the Yankees’ offseason could well have looked different. They’d still quite likely have made an aggressive push to land Juan Soto from the Padres, but it’s fair to wonder whether Alex Verdugo would’ve still been a prominent trade target with both Dominguez and Aaron Judge projected to be healthy. It seems likely that would not have been the case.

Now, with Verdugo, Soto and Judge all hitting well and Giancarlo Stanton still providing thump from the DH spot (despite a .283 OBP), it’s not as clear how Dominguez might fit onto the roster. He’d certainly be expected to outproduce the surprisingly anemic .069/.270/.172 line that Trent Grisham has mustered thus far, but that’s come in a sample of only 38 plate appearances. There’s likely some merit to the idea that a longtime starter like Grisham has struggled mightily with the move to such a limited role, but the minimal playing time he’s received is the primary reason why Dominguez likely wouldn’t be considered for such a role.

Even if the Yankees felt Dominguez could outperform that pace (which they surely do), putting a touted 21-year-old in a position to get seven or eight plate appearances per week would be a poor move for his development. Whenever Dominguez is deemed healthy enough to be reinstated from the injured list, the Yankees presumably want him to be ticketed for regular at-bats. The current construction of the big league roster doesn’t look ideal for that setup, though all it would take would be one injury to Verdugo, Judge, Soto or Stanton to open up some more substantial playing time.

Of the current outfielders, only Verdugo seems even remotely plausible as a trade candidate, but he’s produced a respectable .243/.329/.397 batting line (111 wRC+) while drawing more walks (11.4%) than strikeouts (10.8%). There’d be ample risk (to put it mildly) in moving a steady veteran enjoying that type of performance to free up playing time for a 21-year-old with eight games of big league experience, regardless of his prospect status. There’s been some speculation about a potential Verdugo trade among fans and pundits alike, but such a scenario seems decidedly unlikely.

Barring an injury in the big league outfield, an eventual minor league assignment for Dominguez feels almost inevitable. He’s still only played in 17 total games above the Double-A level. But with Verdugo and Soto both set to become free agents at season’s end and Grisham playing his way into a non-tender candidate, there’s still a clear path to a prominent role for Dominguez in the long-term — it just might not happen this season.

DJ LeMahieu will follow Dominguez in beginning a minor league rehab stint later this week, tweets Greg Joyce of the New York Post. It’s the second time he’ll start a rehab assignment as he returns from a season-opening injured list stay. LeMahieu joined Double-A Somerset on April 23 but was removed in the first inning after experiencing renewed soreness in his right foot. The veteran infielder was diagnosed with a non-displaced fracture in his foot at the end of Spring Training.

Oswaldo Cabrera and  Jon Berti have split the third base work in LeMahieu’s absence. Cabrera started the season well before a recent slump dropped his batting line to .252/.295/.390 in 132 plate appearances. The speedster Berti is hitting .263 without an extra-base hit and only two walks in 41 trips.

13 Comments

Just in time for the playoff push. Guy’s gonna rake in that lineup. Yanks will look pretty good in the second half of the season with Cole, LeMahieu & Dominguez back in the lineup.

Not to worry…Stanton and/or Judge will be on a lengthy IL stay soon, opening up an active roster spot.

If it’s Stanton, which is a good possibility, he may never regain that starting spot back. Dominguez is immensely talented and hopefully he can continue producing at the rate he was.

That’s the news Yankee fans were all waiting for!

Hoping that they play “Indian Love Call” as his walk up music.

Slim Whitman reference from Mars Attacks. Nice.

I’m with OP. There’s going to need to be an injury or Dominguez is gonna have to go bananas in AAA to come up before September. He’s a huge part of the future but Grisham is the ideal 4th outfielder until someone’s on the IL.

Stanton is currently sitting at 106 OPS+. He’s hardly a stumbling block if Dominguez is hitting well in AAA.

Stanton is hitting just enough to hold his spot. The team’s not run in a vacuum, benching Stanton with that salary may be a bridge too far. He’s got three full years guaranteed after this season. The Marlins money kicks in by 2026, that’s when you may see him benched/fired into the sun…

Stanton is hitting above average by OPS+ and he’s on pace for 30 HRs. He’s makes a ton of money. There’s your block.

They could eventually work out a platoon that’s beneficial to all, but worry about that in July, assuming Dominguez does his part.

Agreed. Also we’d need to jettison Grisham if everyone’s healthy. With championship aspirations I’m not sure they want to dump the only guy on the roster who can play gold glove caliber D anywhere in the outfield.

With my contacts briefly bubbling and causing blurred vision, I thought it said he “begins retirement”

Doubt we’ll see him before July if not August. The Yankees don’t need him at the moment so they’ll bring him along slowly, and they will almost assuredly get “back” service time.

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Yankees tip hand on Jasson Dominguez’s future a day after start of rehab assignment

• Updated: May. 16, 2024, 1:22 a.m. |
• Published: May. 15, 2024, 6:55 p.m.

Yankees outfielder Jasson Dominguez began a rehab assignment with Low A Tampa on Tuesday night. Photo courtesy Mark LoMoglio | Tampa Tarpons

• Randy Miller | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

MINNEAPOLIS — The Yankees already know what they’ll do with No. 1 prospect J asson Dominguez once his 20-day rehab assignment is up on June 4.

He’ll be optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and not rejoin the Yankees as a starting center fielder or bench player.

Not right away.

Maybe not even this season.

Dominguez is rusty after undergoing Tommy John surgery last Sept. 20 and then rehabbing with no games for almost eight months.

The Yankees haven’t announced their plans for Dominguez, and they won’t until they have to, but manager Aaron Boone practically did so prior to Wednesday night’s 4-0 win over the Twins .

When Boone was asked if Dominguez needs the equivalent of a full spring training, he responded, “Yeah, a month’s worth of playing and building up.”

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Dominguez played his first rehab game on Tuesday night. Hitting second and DHing for Low A Tampa, the switch-hitter was 1-for-3 with a walk in four plate appearances. He was 1-for-2 facing former Yankees right-hander Domingo German, who started for Bradenton in his season debut a member of hte Pirates organization.

Dominguez, who was given a planned rest day on Wednesday, will only DH for about two weeks and then start playing some center. The Yankees want him playing a bunch of minor-league games in the outfield to get his throwing arm into regular-season playing shape.

That’s one reason why Dominguez will be optioned.

Another is the Yankees are happy with the outfield options that they have on their current 26-man roster – starters Juan Soto in right, Aaron Judge in center, Alex Verdugo in left, fourth outfielder Trent Grisham (even though he’s not hitting a lick) plus super utility man Oswaldo Cabrera and DH Giancarlo Stanton.

On Dominguez, Boone said, “He’s in the first days of spring training games and for the first couple of weeks he’s just going to be DHing. Let’s just get out of his way right now. Get him right and get him playing and get him the regular reps and then we’ll see where we are.

“Hopefully in 10 days, two weeks from now we’re getting him into the outfield and starting to really build him up. And then if we have a decision to make at some point, we’ll obviously make that. But that’s a long ways off.”

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Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected] .

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Injured New York Yankees Star Set to Resume Rehab Assignment

Matthew postins | may 15, 2024.

• New York Yankees

New York Yankees third baseman DJ LeMahieu appears ready to resume a rehab assignment this week after getting live at-bats at the team’s complex in Tampa, Fla., on Tuesday.

Per the New York Post , the plan is for LeMahieu to begin a rehab assignment with Double-A Somerset on either Thursday or Friday.

Two other injured Yankees, infielder Oswald Peraza and pitcher Tommy Kahnle, are with the Patriots on an rehab assignment. They are hosting Portland this week.

Returning to live game action is a significant step forward for LeMahieu, a player the Yankees were hoping would be their starting third baseman on Opening Day.

Instead, LeMahieu suffered non-displaced fracture of his right foot on a foul ball March 16 during spring training and was moved to the injured list after that. Originally, the Yankees termed it a foot contusion before an second MRI revealed the fracture after the swelling went down after the first MRI.

LeMahieu started a rehab assignment on April 23, but he only lasted one inning after he reported soreness in the foot and the Yankees opted to shut him down.

LeMahieu is in the fourth year of a six-year contract that pays him $90 million. He won the American League batting title in the truncated 2020 season, hitting .364 in his first year with the Yankees. But his average in each of his last three full seasons has been below his career average of .298, as he batted only .243 last season in 136 games.

In order to build depth around the position before the season the Yankees traded for Jon Berti, who spent some time on the injured list earlier this season.

The Yankees have used Oswaldo Cabrera primarily at third base and he has put together a solid season in LeMahieu’s absence.  

MATTHEW POSTINS

Matthew Postins is an award-winning sports journalist who covers the Texas Rangers, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, New York Mets, New York Yankees and Houston Astros for Sports Illustrated/FanNation