what is course work

What is Coursework? | Definition, Meaning & keypoints!

What is coursework.

Coursework is a practical work or study done by a student in partial fulfilment of a degree or training. Projects, field work, design studies, long essays etc constitutes a coursework. The nature of work which requires to be carried out depends on the course. It is largely a part of learning exercise and a step to prepare you to handle the required work/ task effectively and efficiently.

• folios of essays
• art and craft items
• speaking tests
• practical work
• assignments and experiments undertaken and assessed during the course

As per Oxford dictionary “Coursework” is defined as

Written or practical work done by a student during a course of study, usually assessed in order to count towards a final mark or grade.

Who assigns coursework and why?

Coursework can be assigned by your teacher or mentor. The reason can be an assessment by the teacher but in most of the cases it’s a requirement as per course structure. A coursework is meant to reflect understanding of what has been taught. How well you understand it and apply it in different situations. Your own thoughts and way of thinking about a topic is reflected in your final work. As mentioned earlier nature of coursework is very diverse. Institutions may make you to write (essays, paper, term paper, thesis etc) or make something (sculpture, are & craft related things) or take some form of test. All these activities done as a coursework award you marks or grades which are counted to evaluate your overall grade for a particular course or purpose. Your creativity, understanding, innovative aspect, talent etc are reflected in the work done by you. Some of the most widely used form of coursework include thesis, dissertations, research paper & term paper as far as writing is concerned. Model making, crafts and other similar activity is generally given when creativity aspect is to be assessed. There may be a combination of these in few cases. The whole purpose largely depends on what your course and what it prepares you to be.

Major types of coursework & how to go about them?

Students have different and mix reaction when coursework is given. Some are excited as it gives them an option to put in effort and bring out something new. They are happy and confident to present their viewpoint and grasp of the topic. While some feels it is a burden and unnecessary task and just want to get away with it. Whatever the case may be there are few guidelines and rules while writing coursework which everyone should follow. Writing a coursework can also be fun!

Some of the steps to help you get started includes:

Coursework for academic topics which require writing:

• Do some research about your topic of interest or assigned topic
• Finalize your topic
• Prepare a structure especially for long writing coursework such as thesis
• Write an abstract or summary for approval from mentor/teacher.
• Do a thorough research for collecting data , facts.
• Start writing and keep on doing the required research
• Check for plagiarism (if any) and work to remove it
• Give credits & references

What makes a good and effective content

A good and effective content is easy to read and understand by readers. Some of the points while writing a content to improve its quality are

• Well- structured
• Well Illustrated
• Predictable

Coursework requiring you to make something like model, sculpture or artwork

• Find something which you appreciate (its design, concept, through, history, significance)
• Come up with what remains the focus area for your coursework
• Decide what you wish to make and in what form eg. model (scaled or not to scale), sculpture or some craftwork
• Finalize the materials to be used such as waste materials, wax, wood, metal, plastic etc
• Collect all the required stuff for making your masterpiece
• Have a mental image prepared and preferably a rough sketch
• Get working!

Key points to be kept in mind while working on coursework

• Originality – Your topic/ idea should be original. Originality of idea is given significant importance and can be a deal breaker. This is not just of the requirement in most of the cases but also a scoring parameter. There are countless number of students and scholars doing research so having an original idea keeps you on positive side. Some students prefer contacting  SmartWritingService coursework writing service to get professional help from experts.
• Need – If you coursework is solution oriented then you must clearly identify the key problems and issues which you aim to cover under your work. A good solution cannot be provided unless the problem has been understood well.
• Uniqueness – Uniqueness in terms of idea and work. Preparing good questionnaires and conducting surveys adds to uniqueness and originality of content. Not only your topic and but also content should be unique. Avoid plagiarism, copying is a strict “NO”. Any form and extent of plagiarism is dealt seriously if caught and can even disqualify your submission.
• Your Input – This is the most crucial aspect. Your inputs will reflect the understanding and applicability of topic by you. This is the whole purpose of having a coursework. Try your best and put best foot forward. Having a well structured and presented work is something a teacher and mentor is looking for.
• Outcomes & way forward – Having worked and making lots of efforts doesn’t have much value unless useful outcomes are shown. Having a good & meaningful analysis and presentation of data with the  best data extraction service is an essential factor. These can be in form of proposals or problem identification. Your work might conclude your topic or pave a path for others to continue working. Depending on the work and nature of coursework give a conclusion to your study and propose what can be done next or how it can be used.

Coursework & Higher Education

Doctorates are the highest degrees conferred by universities. An online or on campus doctorate can lead to a high-level position in a number of different fields, from business administration to health care to quality control. The lengthy road to earning a doctorate can be shortened by at least several months through online study.

The doctorate degree requires two to five years of postgraduate work, the writing of a thesis, and the passing of oral and written examinations. Most doctoral degrees are the doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) degree, although recipients of this degree may have studied a number of academic fields other than philosophy.

Doctorate degrees are now available in numerous fields, including:

• Business Administration
• Computer Science
• Environmental Engineering
• Health Administration
• Industrial Engineering
• International Business
• Quality Control

Admission to doctoral programs requires completion of an undergraduate degree program and typically, but not always, of a master’s degree program. Students earning a doctorate must take a specified number of advanced graduate-level courses, requiring at least two or three years of study beyond the master’s degree. Upon passing written or oral examinations, or a combination of both, doctoral students are granted the status of doctoral candidates. Then they must research and write a dissertation on an original topic, and then satisfactorily defend the dissertation before a committee of professors in the field.

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What is Coursework?

Table of Contents

Definition and Meaning

So what is coursework? Coursework is an integral part of the educational process, which refers to written or practical tasks that students perform during educational courses. These assignments are typically evaluated and contribute to the final grade or mark. The coursework definition, especially the term “curriculum-mandated” signifies that instructors are required to assign coursework within certain guidelines. This aspect of academic work is crucial as it extends learning beyond the traditional classroom setting.

While some coursework may involve practical tasks conducted within the classroom, a significant portion is often completed independently by students, such as in their homes or dormitories. Notably, certain colleges in Texas are adopting policies that mandate a minimum of 20% of writing coursework to be completed in class, under the supervision of educators. This approach ensures the authenticity of students’ work and provides an opportunity for direct observation of their writing skills.

Additionally, it’s common for students to access previously submitted coursework online, serving as a resource for their own assignments. However, when utilizing such materials, it is imperative to thoroughly rewrite and adapt the content to maintain originality and avoid plagiarism.

Types and Examples of Coursework

The many faces of coursework.

So, what is coursework? Coursework isn’t a one-size-fits-all kind of deal. It morphs to fit the subject, the course, and the learning objectives. Here’s a snapshot:

• Essays and Written Assignments. From reflective pieces to extensive research papers, these are staples in humanities and social sciences.
• Lab Reports and Scientific Research. Science and engineering students often get hands-on with experiments, followed by detailed reporting.
• Art and Design Portfolios. For the creatives, it’s about showcasing their artistic journey through portfolios.
• Group Projects and Presentations. These emphasize collaboration and communication skills, common in business and management courses.
• Fieldwork and Case Studies. Especially in disciplines like anthropology or marketing, where real-world application is key.

Examples in Different Fields

• Biology Coursework. Might involve a lab-based investigation into a specific biological phenomenon.
• Literature Coursework. Could be an analysis of a particular literary work or a comparative study of multiple pieces.
• Computer Science Coursework. Often involves coding projects or developing software solutions.

Importance and Objectives

More than just grades.

What is coursework? Coursework is about more than chasing an ‘A’. It’s an integral part of the learning process. Through coursework, you:

• Develop Critical Skills. Like research, analysis, and problem-solving.
• Apply Theoretical Knowledge. It’s your chance to use what you’ve learned in a practical context.
• Prepare for the Future. Whether it’s further academic pursuits or the professional world, coursework lays the groundwork.

Educational Objectives

Graduate coursework, in particular, is designed to deepen expertise in a field. It’s less about memorizing facts and more about developing a sophisticated understanding of complex concepts.

Challenges and Strategies

Common roadblocks.

• Time Management: Juggling multiple assignments can be overwhelming.
• Understanding Requirements: Sometimes, assignment briefs are as clear as mud.
• Maintaining Academic Integrity: The line between inspiration and plagiarism can get blurry.

Navigating the Coursework Maze

• Start Early: Procrastination is your enemy. Begin as soon as you get the assignment.
• Seek Clarification: If you’re not sure, ask. Better safe than sorry.
• Use Resources Wisely: Libraries, online databases, and even study groups can be goldmines.

Helpful Sources

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Merriam-Webster
• Can you attend two colleges at once ?

Final Thoughts

In a nutshell, what is coursework? Coursework is an indispensable part of the academic journey. It’s where theory meets practice, where skills are honed, and knowledge is deepened. As education continues to evolve with technology and changing societal needs, so does coursework. It adapts, transforms, and continues to play a crucial role in shaping competent, well-rounded individuals ready to take on the world. So, embrace your coursework – it’s not just a stepping stone to a grade, but a pathway to learning, growth, and success.

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[ kawrs -wurk , kohrs - ]

• the work required of a student in a particular course of study; classroom work .
• curricular studies or academic work .

/ ˈkɔːsˌwɜːk /

• written or oral work completed by a student within a given period, which is assessed as an integral part of an educational course

Discover More

Word history and origins.

Origin of coursework 1

Example Sentences

Derek Dodson is practicing with the Georgetown University soccer team for a rescheduled season while preparing for the resumption of senior coursework next week.

In San Diego, and throughout the state, an unconscionable number of students are failing or haven’t completed their coursework.

She took a full load of classes in the spring, summer and fall, and in November completed all the coursework for an undergraduate degree in psychology.

Pevzner, who took over the program in 2017, still heads into the field—though day to day he focuses more on developing coursework and swapping insights with similar programs around the world.

Although most schools have increased their offerings of online coursework, the number and sizes of in-person classes vary widely, as does the density of students in on-campus housing.

Digital art coursework at the Rhode Island School of Design simultaneous with an English Ph.D. at Yale?

Her pre-college education had been weak, and Leo was utterly unprepared for the academic part of the coursework.

An obsession with college preparation permeated all of our coursework.

The ad-hocs spent their time badmouthing the profs and tearing apart their coursework.

How to Write a Coursework

Coursework projects do not resemble essays, research papers, or dissertations. They are the combination of all three. Students spend less time writing coursework than on making a term paper, but this type of work requires more time and efforts than an ordinary essay - it is made of several essays. Thanks to our guide, each student can discover how to write coursework. If you are running out of time or lack experience to complete the specific coursework, we recommend using our coursework writing services to hire professional academic writers.

What is Coursework and Why Does It Matter?

Coursework definition: General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) coursework is a typical academic assignment, given in the course of study to evaluate the student’s knowledge, skills, and identify the final grade. Many students face this type of writing in the US colleges. One of the examples is a coursework UTD (The University of Texas at Dallas) - the requirements of this institution are strict, and many students fail to submit their papers and pass the corresponding courses.

Such type of assignment helps to have the ‘detective’ hat on: a student observes, examines, and evaluates the chosen topic using credible, up-to-date, and relevant sources. Working under controlled conditions is important. Participating in every school class will help to prepare good coursework by the end of the term. Take a look at the examples of what students of various profiles may face:

• English Composition - English coursework is an extended essay in most cases. A student has a right to pick the topic. The tutors provide their students with the list of recommended titles to choose from, sources to observe & analyze, and a format (e.g., a comparison between different relevant articles)
• Sciences - coursework for science is a complicated assignment. Such type of work appears in the form of a scientific paper to test what a writer investigates and reports independently.
• Geography - geography coursework is about collecting, reporting, and explaining information to reply to a certain geographical question or offer solutions to the problem. One idea is to explore the usage of a shopping mall or analyze the recent tornado. No matter whether you have to prepare a coursework Columbia or such paper for other educational institutions, keep in mind these differences!

Types of Coursework Explained

English Language coursework is the most common type of this assignment. At advanced GCE level, the student will be expected to write a couple of essays, totaling 3,000 words. Every assignment is 20 marks maximum.

An analytical essay : Evaluate, compare, & contrast 3 different sources of data interconnected by a common theme; written /spoken / multimedia content. Discuss different uses for targeting various audiences. Learn more on our blog.

Original essay with a supportive commentary : A student will have to come up with a single piece of media writing in the observed modes (written, spoken, or multimodal). Add a supporting piece with details about the aspects of English language. English Language & Literature coursework is a bit different. The basic requirements are the same, and the parts are:

An analytical study : Sharing an analysis of the chosen piece and its relation to the related content. It will show how well the writer understands the original piece. Tutors grade such works based on the:

• Use of the proper terminology and the coherence of the written words;
• Understanding & evaluation of the way a structure, form, and language create the written & spoken word;
• Opportunity to observe relationships between various pieces of writing.

Creative writing & commentary : Produce a creative piece that imitates the style of the assessed text. Share comments to backup your understanding. The goal is to show the knowledge, prove the competence, and use appropriate language skills in communicating with the target audience. You will also need a relevant coursework resume (review) in both cases. Keep on reading to learn how to write coursework of A level.

How to Write a Coursework: Guide for Students

Several factors may lead to the coursework being disqualified. It is a serious matter! The risk factors include:

• Plagiarism - it is the worst thing that could happen to any type of academic assignment. Lots of relevant information is available on the world wide web today, and the tutors are strict about the issue of plagiarism. Write everything in your own words! If you decide to insert the quotes from the sources, apply the suggested citation format and develop a list of references. Sign the declaration claiming it is your original project. If you're unsure about how to approach this, seeking professional help by choosing to write my coursework can be a wise decision.
• Word count - do not ignore the specific requirements concerning the length of the coursework. Specify if the footnotes, appendices, & references are included in the word count.
• Topics - go through the list of available themes. If there is an examination planned on the specific topic, try to pick another idea for the coursework.
• Tutor’s assistance - do not ignore the help of your instructor, ask them to provide guidance on what to write. Ask the questions to learn more details, but keep in mind they can go through the 1st draft once and just offer some general recommendations.

Choosing a Topic for Your Project

Dedicate enough time to this extra important question. Select the field of your interest if it is possible to relate it to the course. That is the golden rule of choosing a coursework topic - keep in mind the rest of the hints:

• Analyze the offered list of topics or develop yours
• Pick a topic from the area of your expertise related to the studied subject
• Select the topic you are interested in
• Choose the topic you’ve started to observe in the past
• Check how much relevant, up-to-date information is available on the Internet about each of the topics
• Pick what you can measure, change, & control (they call it a ‘fair test’)
• Use the ideas of previous researchers and students
• Do not choose a topic with a vast scope - you risk struggling to research it correctly

10 Good Coursework Topics

• Non-traditional Forms of Poetry with TC Tolbert
• Documentary Foundations: Usage of Oral Histories with Beth Alvarado
• Traditional Forms of Poetry
• Hermit Crabs: Type of Fiction
• Writing the Autobiographical Poem
• Creative Non-Fiction on the Examples of New Journalists
• Authors without Borders
• Writing the Sticky Stuff
• Socially Engaged Literary Arts
• Common Vocabulary

Research & Data Collection

Research is an integral part of coursework. Have you written research papers before? If yes, you will find it easier to select proper primary & secondary sources and gather the necessary information (evidence to support the main point - thesis). Depending on the required paper format, cite & reference the following sources:

• Books & e-Books

Base the project on a specific hypothesis. The research must start with minimum one hypothesis. The research stage for some topics may consist of visiting websites to collect information. Leave another time for collecting the data as it is the heart of the research. Three methods of data collection are known:

• Direct personal investigation : The one an author does individually (using literature and findings from previous studies);
• Interview/Questionnaire : The researcher should gather the data from the respondents asking questions regarding required data;
• Discussion with community leaders : Community leaders are approached to fetch information for the necessary data.

In case a student works on a scientific experiment, they should pay attention to planning the analysis with the help of rigorous scientific methods (keeping in mind the Health & Safety precautions you take). Review background information and theories. Take notes to express what you expect to occur to compare & contrast it to what happened in real life. In the write-up stage, one has to evaluate and present the findings.

Writing a Coursework Outline

The writing process follows the research. Do not start it without preparing an action plan and scheduling the work - a paper pin for English coursework is based on an extended essay . An outline will look different for the science coursework projects. The goal of creating a plan is to prevent a writer from being disorganized and waffling.

Let us explain coursework outline on the specific example - a project on the global pursuit of lower costs and the role of human rights.

Start with the brief introduction explaining why it might be a topic of interest for many people. Mention those vast corporations like Wal-Mart abuse human rights by choosing and using child labor in the factories.

Provide an overview of the problem . Define human rights and costs. Pick the definitions from the official dictionaries and cite them properly when inserting in the text. Try to explain the terms in your own words.

Develop a body of the coursework , start with the case for & against ethical business practices. Using evidence and examples, list the arguments supporting ethical business practices and another side of the coin. Include a business case for ethical practices after the opening body paragraph.

Move to discussing ethical responsibilities ; explain why business organizations should care about the ethical aspects of their activities. After three sections of the body, one can conclude the paper. It can be a good idea to share a fact or statistics stressing the importance of research problem in the essay conclusion. End up with the reference list that may look this way:

• Klein N (2000) No Logo (Flamingo, London)
• Marcousé I, Gillespie A, Martin B, Surridge M and Wall N (2003) Business Studies 2e (Hodder Arnold, Oxon)
• Royal Dutch Shell (2006) 4th Quarter Financial Report at (site example)

Additional Elements

Supporting materials and pictures are a must! The sciences & geography projects require tables, charts, graphs, and other types of images to illustrate the complicated topic. Not only should you add the pictures - it is essential to interpret and reference each of them. A separate part of the coursework where the student list and explains every visual element is Appendix , and it is an optional part. The presence of appendix increases the chances to earn an A+.

How to Write an Introduction for Coursework?

Most of the students underestimate the role of introduction & conclusion when it comes to writing an essay. An eye-catchy introduction is a key to success. The primary purposes of a coursework introduction are:

• To grab the reader’s attention
• To introduce the topic
• To explain the research importance
• To come up with a compelling thesis statement

The opening paragraph shows the depth of the writer’s acquaintance with the topic. Look at the expert tips below. They will help to learn how to write a coursework introduction to make the tutor want to read your entire paper.

What Is an Introduction?

The introduction of GCSE coursework is the opening paragraph that aims to interpret the central questions and purposes of the entire paper. It should have several elements to be effective. Those are:

• A hook sentence
• Background information
• Problem significance
• Solid thesis statement

Advice from our Experienced Writer

How to write an introduction to coursework? The quality of this part predetermines paper’s success. Look at some common mistakes writers do while working on the coursework introduction - try to prevent them!

Ignoring the prompt. Many students tend to neglect the tutor’s instructions. It is critical to read the prompt several times, highlight the main points, research question, rules, and grading rubric details.

Missing a plan. The prompt does not always say to develop a coursework outline. Without a plan for every separate section, it is impossible to write a flawless piece step-by-step. No matter whether you have to write a term paper, research paper, dissertation, or C3 coursework, get ready with the detailed plan. Once you understand how to write an introduction, it will be easier to develop the rest of the paper.

For those who need a helping hand in ensuring their work meets all the standards and deadlines, don't hesitate to buy coursework from trusted professionals.

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• How to Make Your Coursework as Good as It Can Possibly Be

Many GCSE and A-level subjects are assessed in part by coursework in addition to exams, meaning that the mark you receive for coursework contributes to your overall grade. Many students prefer coursework, because it’s a chance to showcase your academic abilities away from the high-pressured environment of the exam room, making it ideal for those who don’t perform to the best of their abilities in exams. However, the time you have available for coursework, in contrast with the time constraints of the exam room, can lull some students into a false sense of security. Coursework is arguably just as challenging as exams, just in different ways – and, given the fact that you have more time, much higher standards are expected of you in coursework than in exams. Careful planning and research are needed for successful coursework, as well as strong data-gathering and essay-writing skills. In this article, we look at how to produce excellent coursework, from planning to proofreading. This information might also be useful to you if you’re planning on attending an Oxford Summer School this summer.

What is coursework?

GCSE and A-level coursework typically takes the form of an extended essay or project. Its objectives vary from one subject to another, but there’s usually an emphasis on the student conducting independent research into a topic of their own choice. Thus coursework often takes the form of some sort of investigation; it may, therefore, help to have your ‘detective’ hat on as you explore, investigate and analyse your topic. You can usually work on your coursework at home, though it’s sometimes completed under controlled conditions through sessions at school. To give you a better idea of how coursework varies from one subject to another, here are some examples:

• English – English coursework usually takes the form of an extended essay with a title of your choice. You’re usually given a choice of themes and/or texts to explore, and you could choose a format such as a comparison between a set text and another one.
• Geography – Geography coursework usually focuses on the gathering, reporting and interpretation of data designed to answer a particular geographical question. You could investigate usage of a shopping centre, for example, or look at erosion on a particular beach.
• Sciences – coursework for science subjects often takes the form of a scientific project or experiment that you conduct and report on yourself.

Before you start work on your coursework, it’s essential that you have a thorough understanding of the rules. Failing to conform to the rules – inadvertently or not – may result in your coursework (or possibly even your entire qualification) being disqualified, so it’s a serious matter.

• No plagiarism – this is particularly dangerous given the ready availability of relevant information on the internet these days. Make sure everything is in your own words; you’ll need to sign a declaration stating that it’s your own original work.
• There’s only so much help your teacher can give you . They can provide guidance on what you need to include, and on what the examiners will be looking for. You can ask them questions, but they’ll usually only be able to check through your first draft once and offer broad hints on updating it.
• Check the word count , and stick to it. Find out whether footnotes, appendices and bibliographies are included in the word count.
• Check what topics you’re allowed to do your coursework on; if there’s an exam on this topic, you’ll almost certainly have to choose a different one for your coursework.

Choose your topic wisely

Ideally, choose something you’re genuinely interested in, as your enthusiasm will come across and you’ll find it more enjoyable to write. If there’s something you’ve been working on for the course so far that you’ve particularly enjoyed, you may be able to focus more on this as part of your coursework. For science coursework, you’ll need to choose something to investigate that you can measure, change and control; it should be what’s called a ‘fair test’, meaning that you have to acknowledge all the controls you use in the experiment and why. Try not to pick a topic for which the scope is too vast, as you’ll struggle to research it properly and you’re unlikely to do it justice, and it’ll be hard to keep within the word limit. Ask your teachers for some guidance on choosing your topic if you’re not sure what to write about; they might even tell you a bit about what previous students have done to give you some inspiration.

Plan how long it’s going to take

Never leave your coursework until the last minute, even if this is your normal approach to essays and it usually works for you. Make sure you understand when the deadlines are, including time for submitting a first draft for comments from your teacher. Then schedule blocks of time for working on it, allowing plenty of time before the deadline to cater for any unexpected delays. Allow ample time for making corrections based on teacher feedback on your first draft, and keep some time aside before the deadline for final editing and proofreading. Because actual deadlines are few and far between, you’ll need to take responsibility for the writing process and impose some deadlines on yourself to ensure it’s finished in time. Write down your deadlines on a calendar, with the coursework broken into stages and dates assigned to each, by which time each task should be complete. You can base your stages on the next few points in this article – research and data gathering, a structure plan for the piece of work, writing up, and so on.

Conducting your research and gathering data

As coursework is primarily a research exercise, the research phase is crucial, so don’t be tempted to skimp on it and go straight to writing up. Use as many different resources as you can to gather data: books, journals, newspapers, television, radio, the internet and anything else you think might be relevant. For science and Geography coursework, you’ll need to base your work on a hypothesis, so the research stage should start by coming up with at least one hypothesis, otherwise your research will lack direction. The research phase for some subjects may involve site visits for gathering data, so allow plenty of time for this, particularly if you need your parents to drive you somewhere to do so. If it’s a scientific experiment you’re conducting for your coursework, you’ll need to pay careful attention to planning the experiment using rigorous scientific methods (also noting what Health and Safety precautions you are taking), as well as reading up on the background and theory so that you have an idea of what to expect from the outcome of your experiment. In the research stage, make notes about what you expect to happen, so that you can later compare your expectations with what actually did happen. The experiment itself also forms part of the research and data-gathering stage for your science coursework; in the write-up stage, which we come onto shortly, you analyse and write up the results.

Plan your structure

Once you’ve completed your research, the process of writing up begins. Before you get down to the actual writing, however, it’s advisable to write a plan for how you’re going to structure it – essentially an essay plan for English coursework and other subjects for which the coursework is based on an extended essay. It’ll look slightly different from an essay plan for science subjects and others that revolve around project work, but the principle is the same: plan out what order you’re going to present your information in. For big projects, this is particularly important, because with a lot of information to convey, you risk being disorganised and waffling.

Writing up your project

For any coursework, but particularly coursework based around an extended essay, you’ll need to perfect your essay-writing abilities. For science coursework, writing up your project also involves data analysis, as you interpret the results of your experiment and work your notes into formal scientific language. Follow the links below to find lots more useful advice on writing great essays.

• How to write dazzlingly brilliant essays
• How to write more original essays
• Techniques from creative writing that can improve your essays

When you’re writing up, it’s important to find a place where you can work quietly, without distractions that could cause you to make careless errors. You wouldn’t want noise or distractions when you were in an exam room, so treat your coursework with the same reverence.

Supporting materials and images

For some subjects, namely the sciences and Geography, it would be appropriate to include images, graphs, charts, tables and so on in your coursework. For example, for Geography coursework, your extra material could include annotated images and maps of the site you’re talking about, plus tables, graphs and charts. An appendix could then detail your raw data; if, for example, your coursework focused on the results of a survey, you could put the raw survey responses in an appendix and provide summaries and analysis in the main body of the coursework.

Footnotes and bibliography

As we said earlier, it’s important that you always use your own words in your coursework to avoid the possibility of falling foul of plagiarism rules. However, it’s acceptable to quote from another source, as you would in any piece of academic writing, but you must make sure that you state where it is from and use quotation marks to show that it’s a quote from somewhere else. The best way of citing another work is to use a footnote; word processors will allow you to insert one, and it just puts a little number at the end of the sentence and another in the footer of the document, into which you put the name of the author and work, and the page within that work that the quote can be found. At the end of your piece of work, include a bibliography that includes a list of every external source you’ve used in the creation of your coursework. Stick to a set formula when including books. A common format is: Author Surname, Initial. (Date) – Title of Book , page number For example: Lewis, C.S. (1960) – Studies in Words , p. 45 When you get to university, you’ll be expected to include footnotes and bibliographies in all your essays, so it’s a good habit to get into and coursework gives you good practice at it.

The final pre-submission check

Having completed a first draft, received feedback from your teacher, and honed your work into a finished piece of coursework, have a final check through it before you send off your coursework for submission.

• Sense check : have a read through your completed piece of work and check that it all makes sense. Make sure you haven’t contradicted yourself anywhere, or repeated yourself, or laboured the point. If there are any facts that you may have meant to look up to double check their accuracy, do so now.
• Word count : ensure that the completed work falls within the word count, and double check whether the bibliography should be included in the word count. If you’ve exceeded it, you’ll need to work through the piece and tighten up your writing, omitting unnecessary information, reordering sentences so that they use fewer words, and so on.
• Proofread : check your spelling and grammar, and ensure that there are no typos. Don’t just use the spellcheck – go through it with a fine toothcomb, manually, and if you can, ask someone to read through it for you to see if they spot anything you haven’t.
• Formatting : check that you’ve included page numbers, and that the font and line spacing is consistent throughout the work. Ensure that the font is plain and easy to read, such as Arial or Times New Roman.
• Bibliography : check that you’ve included everything, that the format is the same for all sources mentioned, and that the right information is included for each.

Once this stage is complete, you’re ready to submit your coursework along with your declaration that it’s entirely your own work. Get ready for a feeling of immense satisfaction when you finally send off your hard work!

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Definition of 'course work'

• course work

course work in British English

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• American English : course work / ˈkɔrs wɜrk /
• Brazilian Portuguese : trabalhos
• Chinese : 课程作业
• European Spanish : trabajo de curso
• French : contrôle continu
• German : Kursarbeiten
• Italian : esercitazioni
• Japanese : コースワーク
• Korean : 수업
• European Portuguese : trabalho do curso
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Your Guide to Conquering College Coursework

Getting good grades in college can be a lot tougher than in high school. For many students, it requires building new skills and establishing new habits. Learning those skills now—before starting college—will help make your transition as easy and as successful as possible.

Mary Sharp Emerson

The transition from high school to college is a big one. Meeting new friends, living on your own, and creating your own schedule are just some of the new, exciting challenges that await you.   

In the excitement of starting a new life on campus, college coursework can sometimes become a second priority.

However, adjusting to college coursework is often the biggest challenge of all. Even the best students may be surprised at how difficult college courses are. The subject matter is more complex. The workload is larger. And instructors’ standards are higher.

Mastering college-level courses requires a new level of independence, advocacy, engagement, and time management.

You can prepare yourself to succeed before you even get to campus. Identifying the skills you need, and building those skills into established habits, will help make your transition to college academics, and college life, easier, less stressful, and more successful.

Be engaged in your college coursework

College courses require your full attention and active participation.

And the more you engage with your teachers, teaching assistants, and classmates both in and out of the classroom, the easier it will be for you to succeed in that class.

The importance of active listening

Active listening is one of the most critical parts of engaging in a course, according to Gina Neugebauer, assistant director of Harvard Summer School’s Secondary School Program.

“Professors and teaching assistants can tell if you’re actively listening. They notice if you’re taking notes and making eye contact. They also notice if you’re distracted by your phone or computer,” notes Neugebauer.

Active listening means not checking your social media accounts or texting friends during class.

It also means really giving the instructor and your classmates your full attention.

It sounds easy in theory but it takes practice. It can be tough to not think about all the work you have or your next party. But the more you work on actively listening, the easier it will be to not get distracted and miss important information in class.

Different ways to actively participate

Beyond active listening, there are many ways to participate in a course. And you can tailor your level of engagement to your personality and comfort level.

“It’s all about gauging what you’re comfortable with,” says Neugebauer.

“You may not be the person who raises their hand all the time but you actively respond to online discussion posts, for example. You may not feel comfortable talking in front of hundreds of students in a large lecture hall but you take advantage of TA office hours and email the instructor with questions.”

But don’t be afraid to push yourself if you aren’t someone who usually speaks up in class.

It’s ok to start small. Work on raising your hand in small seminars or discussion sections. As you gain confidence, you’ll find it gets easier to answer questions and share your opinions.

Build independence and advocate for yourself

In college, you are responsible for your own success. You will need to advocate for yourself and know when—and how—to ask for help. That requires a level of independence that you may not have needed in high school.

The good news is that instructors and teaching assistants want to help you.

“Instructors, on the whole, enjoy hearing from you. And they’d rather hear from you right from the start, rather than have you struggle on your own for three weeks,” says Neugebauer.

If you have a question about an assignment, send your instructor an email. Are you upset about a grade you got on a recent test? Visit your instructor or TA during office hours to discuss what went wrong and how you can improve.

But remember, says Neugebauer, professors are busy and you are only one of many students.

“Your email should include your full name, what course you’re taking, and a brief description of your question or concern. And you cannot expect an answer at 2 a.m. because that’s when you’re studying. When you reach out to an instructor, give them 24-48 hours to respond.”

And remember, always be respectful and non-confrontational.

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Don’t be afraid to seek help

If you have excelled in high school without extra help, you might be tempted to persevere on your own.

In college, Neugebauer points out, asking for help is the norm.

“Once you get into your undergraduate program, you’ll find that almost everyone has, at some point, asked a TA for extra tutoring, gone to a tutoring center, or a writing or math center for extra help. It’s part of the learning process of an undergraduate program,” Neugebauer says.

Colleges have a variety of support systems in place to help you succeed.

TA office hours are a great place to start if you find yourself struggling with a specific concept or assignment. Peer tutoring programs enable you to learn from students who have been through the course themselves. Academic coaches can help with more general study tips or exam-related stress.

The key is seeking out help proactively, before you get too far behind. As the courses become more difficult, catching up becomes increasingly difficult.

Build time management techniques

Balancing everything that comes with life on a college campus can be difficult for many incoming college students.

“The biggest challenge we see facing high school students who are trying to adapt to college life is overcommitment. Students want to engage in every activity, a full course load, and even sometimes a part-time job. They don’t schedule enough time for self-care, quiet time, doing laundry, and plenty of study time. All those things take time,” Neugebauer says.

Good study habits and time management are key to avoiding the stress that comes from getting overcommitted.

Neugebauer recommends getting into the habit of keeping an accurate and up-to-date calendar.

“The best thing I can recommend is a calendar, such as Google Calendar. Use it to schedule everything: your class, your lunch time, time at the gym. It may seem counterintuitive, but work on scheduling literally everything, even sleep.”

Be sure to include assignments, tests, and other deadlines, as well as office hours for your instructors, TAs, and academic coaches.

Use your calendar to block off dedicated study time. And once you schedule it, stick to it! Avoid the temptation to procrastinate or use that time to hang out, play video games, or scroll on your phone.

Your calendar should also include dedicated time for self-care.

Regular mealtimes, good exercise habits, and a full night’s sleep are not only critical for your physical and mental health. You’ll also be surprised at how much they contribute to your academic success.

Challenge yourself as you engage in college coursework

Getting outside your comfort zone is a critical part of preparing yourself for the exciting challenges that await you in college.

“Being uncomfortable allows for growth. It means saying to yourself, ‘this is new. I want to try it. I want to see how it feels.’ This is all about adapting to a new environment but also examining yourself as a person,” says Neugebauer.

Taking on a new challenge—regardless of the ultimate outcome—builds resilience, mental toughness, and confidence, all of which you will need to succeed in your college courses.

But, warns Neugebauer, it’s also important to know your limitations.

“That uncomfortable feeling should be manageable. It should be a challenge but not so challenging that you feel panicked and wake up in cold sweats every night. It should be something that gets you a little nervous but also excited about what you’re involved in every day.”

However you decide to challenge yourself, it’s never too early to start if college is in your future. The sooner you start identifying and mastering the skills you need in college, the better prepared you’ll be to succeed right from day one.

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About the Author

Digital Content Producer

Emerson is a Digital Content Producer at Harvard DCE. She is a graduate of Brandeis University and Yale University and started her career as an international affairs analyst. She is an avid triathlete and has completed three Ironman triathlons, as well as the Boston Marathon.

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What is Coursework

First of all, you need to understand what is coursework and how to write it. When one is writing a coursework, they have to do profound research that will reveal their knowledge base. A coursework may consist of design studies, field work, projects, long essays, and other kinds of work. Depending on the particular course, it can be performed in a number of ways. You need to write a coursework not only to show what you know about a particular subject and enlarge your knowledge base but also to prepare yourself to deal with the work you will need to perform in the future.

The Oxford Dictionary defines coursework as the type of practical or written work performed by a student and assessed by their professor. Hopefully, it makes the coursework meaning clearer for you.

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Why coursework is necessary and who assigns it.

Now when you know what is coursework, you also have to understand why it is needed. Usually, a student's mentor or teacher assigns coursework as it is a part of the course structure. Writing a coursework is important since it helps the student reflect on what they have learned from the given course. Realizing the coursework meaning, one can understand the material better and see how their knowledge can be applied in various situations. This type of work also reveals the student's way of thinking and helps them learn how to express their thoughts. Coursework has an utterly diverse nature. A student's instructor can ask them to perform it in a written way and work on an essay, term paper, or thesis (this form of coursework is the most widespread). A coursework can also be done in a more creative way; for example, a student may be asked to create a sculpture. At times, taking a test is preferred by the instructor. In some cases, several types of coursework can be combined into one. Choosing a specific type or a combination of types depends on the course. Whatever the kind of coursework is, it always requires being evaluated. The student's mark will be based on their understanding of the topic, creativity, as well as on the innovative aspect of their work.

How to Perform the Most Important Types of Coursework?

Even understanding the coursework meaning, students have mixed feelings on it. Some of them like to do research, learn new information, and write about the results, while for others, it seems to be an unnecessary task, or even a burden. Whichever opinion is true for you, being a student, you will still have to write a coursework at some point. For this reason, you need to know how to do it successfully. Below you see the list of rules and guidelines that will make this task easier for you.

Read these steps carefully and make sure you follow them as they will help you get started.

Coursework that requires writing:

• Carry out superficial research on the topic of your coursework.
• Settle on your topic.
• Work on the structure of your coursework.
• Make a summary or an abstract and confirm it with your instructor.
• Conduct profound research to find all the information you need.
• While writing, keep on researching the topic more.
• When you are done, check your coursework for plagiarism.
• Make a reference list.

To make sure that your coursework features a good content that is clear and easy-to-understand for your reader, work on the structure of your work. Check out if you maintain its consistency, use relevant information, complete your topic, and make it look concise.<

Coursework that requires to create a model, sculpture, or artwork:

• Find a design or concept you like.
• See how it can be applied to the area of your study.
• Think about what you want to create and decide on the scale of this object.
• Decide what kind of materials you need to finalize your work.
• Find everything you need for creating your artwork.
• Make sure that you have a mental image of the result and make a rough sketch of it.
• Begin working!

Key points you should consider:

• Originality - You need to be sure that your topic or idea is original. It is an extremely important point you have to keep in mind from the very beginning of your work. Numerous researches are being done by numerous people, so you have to make yours stand out.
• Need - Your coursework should be able to answer certain questions or find solutions. For that, it has to identify the key problems and help the reader understand them clearly.
• Uniqueness - Both your topic and your content have to be unique. Make sure to avoid plagiarism and never copy information from other sources. Conduct surveys or prepare questionnaires to add originality to the content of your coursework.
• Your input - This aspect is very important. When working on your coursework, you need to reflect on your topic a lot and understand how you can apply it. If you do it, the purpose of writing a coursework is served. For this reason, do your best to make as much input in your work as possible.
• Outcomes & future applications - Even if you have worked hard and put a lot of effort into writing your coursework, it can turn out to be a failure in case you do not show useful outcomes. Therefore, you need to provide a well-made analysis of the information you used. Make a well-structured conclusion for your topic and talk about the way it can be researched further.

If you keep all these points in mind and follow the guidelines, you will certainly write a good coursework.

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What Is a Coursework and How to Write a Paper: A Simple Guide

• 24 August 2023
• 13 min read

Academic writing is an essential activity in high education and comes in various forms. Basically, one of these forms is coursework writing, where instructors assess students’ level of understanding of a course during a semester. In this case, unlike other papers, coursework assignments evaluate students’ understanding of the course and not just a topic in the class. Moreover, various forms of coursework writing include essays, term papers, theses, dissertations, and report projects. Hence, students need to learn what is a coursework assignment and how to write such a paper.

What Is a Coursework Paper

College and university students undertake different kinds of academic exercises, with writing projects taking a significant portion. Basically, one of these exercises is the writing of coursework, an assignment that they submit at the end of the semester. Ideally, this kind of work assesses students’ understanding of a particular field of study within a single semester. In turn, instructors rarely require students to write a coursework assignment for things they learned during the previous semester.

For writing your paper, these links will be helpful:

• Essay Writing Service
• How to Write a Research Paper
• How to Write a Research Proposal
• How to Write a Term Paper
• How to Write a Case Study

Definition of a Coursework

By definition, a coursework assignment is an academic project that students undertake in the course of study and which they must submit before the closure of the semester. For example, such an assignment aims to evaluate students’ level of knowledge and skills acquisition, meaning the work contributes to students’ final grades. Ideally, coursework is what students learn during a semester, and such an assignment is meant to measure how well they have understood the subject matter. Moreover, students use reliable and relevant sources to study, examine and evaluate the chosen coursework topic. Therefore, a coursework assignment is very similar to other writing assignments, such as essays, reports, thesis writing , and dissertations.

Differences With Other Papers

In the course of their classes, students write different types of papers , including essays and reports. Basically, the major difference between coursework writing and these papers is that it assesses students’ understanding of what they have discovered throughout the semester. In contrast, essays and other papers assess students’ understanding of a specific topic, concept, result , or theory. Moreover, students may need to address an issue in their coursework that they might have addressed in an essay assignment sometime during the semester. As such, a coursework assignment is broad in scope than other papers.

Expectations

Like essays and other papers, a coursework assignment varies from one area of study to another. For example, there is a coursework for the English subject and another for the sciences. Therefore, students are expected to complete their coursework assignments according to their instructor’s or department’s instructions. In most cases, this expectation includes presenting the assignment in an essay format, where they select a title of their choice. Depending on the subject, some coursework assignments expect students to collect, examine, infer, and report data when answering a specific question.

When it comes to the grading of academic assignments, instructors look at how well a student has attended to all the requirements and expectations. For instance, these requirements include writing about a choice of themes or text excerpts in a given format. In this case, students must use an approach that they believe is likely to give them a higher grade, meaning an approach that helps them to answer the question methodically, logically, and critically by using relevant information. In essence, these are three dimensions for grading a coursework assignment.

Constructing a Paper: A Step-by-Step Guide on How to Write a Coursework Assignment

Like an essay, a coursework assignment takes a particular structure. Basically, students should understand the core components and make sure that they address them in their academic writing . In this case, the most significant issue for students is to ensure a logical flow of ideas. Moreover, developing a thesis statement is essential to provide high-quality essays with a guideline on focal issues. Primarily, these issues are the concepts and theories that the student has learned in a specific course during the semester.

Step 1: Preparation

Planning or preparation is the first step in writing a coursework paper. For instance, the essence of any form of academic writing is to measure a student’s level of understanding about a particular area of study. Since the coursework measures what a student has learned in a given course, it is paramount for each person to prepare well when executing the assignment. Here, learners have to choose a topic that they are comfortable with, one that they are passionate about. Additionally, they should generate ideas about their coursework by deciding what is relevant and what is not. In this case, the reasoning that guides this decision is the expectation outlined in assignment instructions. Lastly, students should understand their audience – consumers of their work or readers. Like any other assignment, the audience is course instructors. Hence, writers should ensure coursework satisfies a curiosity of readers.

Step 2: Setting Up

After preparation, students should set up the stage for coursework writing. Basically, the first preoccupation is to find sources relevant to the assignment prompt – those that are more likely to provide enough evidence and support needed claims. As students review credible sources , they should take notes to provide a strong argumentation in their coursework. Then, another activity involves deciding on the coursework outline, which should help answer the assignment prompt logically and critically. Lastly, learners should create an annotated bibliography, a summary of each source they intend to use as the basis of their arguments in the coursework.

Step 3: Writing the Coursework

After preparing and setting up the stage, students should start writing the coursework assignment. In this case, armed with notes taken during the review of reliable sources and the outline they have created, students should start with the first draft, where they develop a thesis statement. Basing all opinions and arguments on the thesis, writers should answer the assignment prompt methodically, logically, and critically. Moreover, the thesis statement should ‘hook’ the audience and make them interested in reading the substantial part of the paper – the body. In essence, the body is where students use all the evidence they have gathered about the topic, while the thesis informs the audience of what individuals have focused on in the paper.

Step 4: Wrapping It Up

It is normal for a writer to make mistakes when writing an academic document. For example, these mistakes include inconsistent arguments, irrelevant content, punctuation errors, and countless grammatical mistakes. Therefore, after completing the draft, students should read it through, at least twice, to identify these mistakes and correct them. Basically, the processes of correction include revising and editing the paper. Regarding revisions, students should give their work to a friend or mentor to read it through. In their feedback, these individuals are likely to point out areas where authors should make corrections for the paper to be logical and interesting to read. Concerning editing the paper, students should proofread their work to ensure it is free of spelling mistakes, punctuation errors, and other grammatical mishaps.

Step 5: Developing Body Paragraphs

The body paragraph of any academic text, including a coursework assignment, utilizes several features to make the paper logical. Basically, the first feature is the topic sentence that opens up each paragraph. Also, the purpose of this feature is to strengthen the central idea captured in the thesis statement. Then, the rest of the paragraph structure backs up this claim using evidence gathered from different sources. In turn, another feature is a concluding sentence, which closes each paragraph. For instance, the goal of this aspect is to connect the topic sentence with the thesis statement. Finally, another feature is a transition – words and phrases that help readers sense a logical flow of ideas throughout the paper. In short, writers use transitions within and between paragraphs to create a logical flow of information and ideas.

Step 6: Referencing Format and Peer Reviewing

Besides ensuring the paper is written methodically and logically, students should see that it meets the highest academic writing standards. In this regard, they should ensure it follows after a particular format – APA, MLA, Harvard, or Chicago/Turabian. In most cases, the assignment prompt dictates the format that learners should use. Moreover, the referencing format informs about the structure of the paper and the format of citations. In turn, another essential activity that students should perform is to commit the paper to peer review. Here, authors give coursework papers to distinguished scholars, such as a professor or classmate, to assess the validity and quality of information used, including sources.

Step 7: Writing the Final Draft of a Coursework Paper

After subjecting the first draft to vigorous scrutiny through revisions, editions, and peer review, students should start writing the final draft of a coursework paper. Basically, this draft should be thoroughly polished, meaning it should be free of spelling, punctuation, and grammatical mistakes, as well as inconsistent arguments and irrelevant sentences. Moreover, it should indicate an effective use of transitions in the body paragraphs. In short, the final draft is an improved version of the first draft because writers have revised and edited it and incorporated feedback from a friend, mentor, or professor. However, they still need to read through the final draft, at least once, to ensure it is perfect before submission to the department. In turn, if students note several mistakes, it means another revision is necessary. Hence, the student’s focus should be the content, organization of ideas, style of writing, and format.

Types of Coursework

Given that coursework assignments test students’ level of understanding about a course’s content in a given semester, it means that it takes several forms. For example, these include a term paper, a Master’s thesis , a dissertation , or a report project. Ideally, the coursework is an essential requirement for a student to complete the course successfully. It also means the coursework is essential to be awarded a degree. In turn, the only difference between these types of coursework assignments is that they take a different approach to examining and analyzing a course content, with each subject taking a unique approach.

Coursework Writing Techniques

The dream of every student is to pass any assessment and attain a higher grade. In a coursework assignment, students can utilize different techniques to ensure they attain higher grades after assessments. As indicated earlier about the grading of coursework, learners should use an approach that they believe answers the assignment prompt methodically, logically, and critically. As a result, every technique they use must allow them to answer the question in a way that satisfies these three grading dimensions.

1. Compare and Contrast Technique

A compare and contrast essay technique is about analyzing two subjects, ideas, concepts, or theories by comparing them, contrasting them, or doing both. Basically, the purpose of answering a coursework assignment through this approach is that students must not state obvious things. Instead, they need to shed light on the subtle differences or unexpected similarities between subjects, ideas, concepts, or theories.

2. Cause and Effect Technique

A cause and effect essay technique allows writers to develop their paper’s body by analyzing the reasons for and the consequences of a decision, action, or event. When organizing a paragraph, students adopt a structure that allows them to arrange the causes and effects in a chronological or reverse chronological order. Alternatively, authors can present their arguments through emphasis, starting from least important to most important aspects, or vice versa.

3. Investigation Technique

An investigation technique involves undertaking an in-depth examination of a topic, idea, concept, or theory. Basically, this technique’s primary goal is to demonstrate that students have gained a thorough knowledge of the subject, which is indicated in their methodical, logical, and critical analysis and presentation of information. In this case, ensuring that research findings are interpreted and presented in an organized manner throughout the essay is critical. Ultimately, the technique enables writers to demonstrate their articulate understanding of the various viewpoints about the issue under investigation. 

How to Present Strong Arguments

For an academic paper to capture the audience’s attention and interest, students must not only develop a thesis statement but also ensure they use strong arguments to back up the central idea in the statement. Basically, the “they say, I say” technique is the simplest method to present arguments properly. In this regard, the information that the student uses in answering the coursework assignment prompt should be free of plagiarism. For instance, they need to cite sources properly. Then, another way to ensure that the writing is persuasive is to confirm that they have attained the required word count without counting footnotes, endnotes, references, and appendices. Ideally, selecting a topic that one is comfortable with and passionate about enables the writing to be high-quality in terms of argumentation. Also, students should discuss alternatives with their mentor or instructor. Finally, the thesis statement should not be complicated.

Major Mistakes in Courseworks

Students make different kinds of mistakes when writing academic texts. For example, a common mistake in coursework writing involves a scope, where students fail to focus on one area of the topic and instead tries to be broad in their argumentation. In this case, the problem with this approach is that they waste space talking about irrelevant material, leaving them with little space to write about the core idea. Also, the solution to this problem is to develop a thesis statement that sets out the paper’s specific agenda. In doing so, students can realize every time they go off-topic.

Another common mistake involves colloquialism, where students use a language that is not standard for academic writing. Basically, this problem is particularly common with students who become excited about the topic and try to express their ideas creatively. Moreover, the problem is that the coursework shifts from being evidence-based to a document about the student’s opinion. In turn, the solution to this problem is to pick a topic that is exciting and critically discussed in the literature. As a result, they can identify several sources that discuss the topic to use as bases for evidence of their claims and arguments about the topic.

Sample of a General Coursework Outline

The coursework paper adopts a typical outline, as indicated below:

• Table of Contents
• Abstract or Executive Summary
• Introduction
• Body Paragraph(s)
• Reference list

Reason for Similarity of a Coursework Assignment With a Research Paper

Ideally, the outline of a coursework assignment is similar to that of a research paper. In this case, an abstract serves as a brief overview of a research paper and informs readers of the writer’s focal points. More importantly, the coursework outline has a body, where writers use different paragraphs to make an argument about the topic. Also, each of the paragraphs begins with a topic sentence and ends with a concluding sentence. Like research papers, body paragraphs of a coursework assignment serve to cement the writer’s claims and arguments, which are linked to the thesis statement.

Summing Up on What Is a Coursework Assignment and How to Write a Paper

A coursework assignment is among the writing assignments that students in colleges and universities undertake in preparation for their degree. Unlike other papers, this assignment assesses students’ understanding of what they have learned in a course in a given semester. As such, students must complete and submit it before the semester closes. Moreover, the different types of coursework include essays, term papers, theses, dissertations, and report projects.

Students should master the following tips when it comes to writing a coursework assignment:

• Choose an exciting topic and stick to it. Basically, students come across tons of exciting information about their topic. However, to avoid going off-script, they should focus on their core subject and avoid the temptation of using data that may prove irrelevant.
• Use evidence (quotes and statistics) selectively. In this case, relevancy is a significant indicator of a high-grade paper. As such, where students are not going to refer to some data directly because it adds no value to their argument, they should avoid dwelling on it in their paper.
• Cite sources correctly. When citing sources, students should note the standards of the format in use – APA, MLA, Harvard, or Chicago/Turabian – as each has a unique approach.
• Revise, edit, and proofread the paper. In turn, high-quality coursework writing should be free of inconsistent arguments, irrelevant sentences, and spelling, punctuation, and grammatical mistakes.

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Coursework vs Exams: What’s Easier? (Pros and Cons)

In A-Level , GCSE , General by Think Student Editor September 12, 2023 Leave a Comment

Coursework and exams are two different techniques used to assess students on certain subjects. Both of these methods can seem like a drag when trying to get a good grade, as they both take so many hours of work! However, is it true that one of these assessment techniques is easier than the other? Some students pick subjects specifically because they are only assessed via coursework or only assessed via exams, depending on what they find easiest. However, could there be a definite answer to what is the easiest?

If you want to discover whether coursework or exams are easier and the pros and cons of these methods, check out the rest of this article!

Disclaimer: This article is solely based on one student’s opinion. Every student has different perspectives on whether coursework or exams are easier. Therefore, the views expressed in this article may not align with your own.

Table of Contents

Coursework vs exams: what’s easier?

The truth is that whether you find coursework or exams easier depends on you and how you like to work. Different students learn best in different ways and as a result, will have differing views on these two assessment methods.

Coursework requires students to complete assignments and essays throughout the year which are carefully graded and moderated. This work makes up a student’s coursework and contributes to their final grade.

In comparison, exams often only take place at the end of the year. Therefore, students are only assessed at one point in the year instead of throughout. All of a student’s work then leads up to them answering a number of exams which make up their grade.

There are pros and cons for both of these methods, depending on how you learn and are assessed best. Therefore, whether you find coursework or exams easier or not depends on each individual.

Is coursework easier than exams?

Some students believe that coursework is easier than exams. This is because it requires students to work on it all throughout the year, whilst having plenty of resources available to them.

As a result, there is less pressure on students at the end of the year, as they have gradually been able to work hard on their coursework, which then determines their grade. If you do coursework at GCSE or A-Level, you will generally have to complete an extended essay or project.

Some students find this easier than exams because they have lots of time to research and edit their essays, allowing the highest quality of work to be produced. You can discover more about coursework and tips for how to make it stand out if you check out this article from Oxford Royale.

However, some students actually find coursework harder because of the amount of time it takes and all of the research involved. Consequently, whether you prefer coursework or not depends on how you enjoy learning.

What are the cons of coursework?

As already hinted at, the main con of coursework is the amount of time it takes. In my experience, coursework was always such a drag because it took up so much of my time!

When you hear that you have to do a long essay, roughly 2000-3000 words, it sounds easily achievable. However, the amount of research you have to do is immense, and then editing and reviewing your work takes even more time.

Coursework should not be over and done within a week. It requires constant revisits and rephrasing, as you make it as professional sounding and high quality as possible. Teachers are also unable to give lots of help to students doing coursework. This is because it is supposed to be an independent project.

Teachers are able to give some advice, however not too much support. This can be difficult for students who are used to being given lots of help.

You also have to be very careful with what you actually write. If you plagiarise anything that you have written, your coursework could be disqualified. Therefore, it is very important that you pay attention to everything you write and make sure that you don’t copy explicitly from other websites. This can make coursework a risky assessment method.

You are allowed to use websites for research, however you must reference them correctly. This can be a difficult skill for some students to learn also!

What are the pros of coursework?

Some of the cons of coursework already discussed can actually be seen as pros by some students! Due to coursework being completed throughout the year, this places less pressure on students, as they don’t have to worry about final exams completely determining their grade.

Some subjects require students to sit exams and complete some coursework. However, if a student already knows that they have completed some high-quality coursework when it comes to exam season, they are less likely to place pressure on themselves. They know that their coursework could save their grade even if they don’t do very well on the exam.

A lot of coursework also requires students to decide what they want to research or investigate. This allows students to be more creative, as they decide what to research, depending on the subject. This can make school more enjoyable and also give them more ideas about what they want to do in the future.

If you are about to sit your GCSEs and are thinking that coursework is the way to go, check out this article from Think Student to discover which GCSE subjects require students to complete coursework.

What are the cons of exams?

Personally, I hated exams! Most students share this opinion. After all, so much pressure is put on students to complete a set of exams at the end of the school year. Therefore, the main con of sitting exams is the amount of pressure that students are put under.

Unlike coursework, students are unable to go back and revisit the answers to their exams over many weeks. Instead, after those 2 (ish) hours are up, you have to leave the exam hall and that’s it! Your grade will be determined from your exams.

This can be seen as not the best method, as it doesn’t take student’s performances throughout the rest of the year into account. Consequently, if a student is just having a bad day and messes up one of their exams, nothing can be done about it!

If you are struggling with exam stress at the moment, check out this article from Think Student to discover ways of dealing with it.

Exams also require an immense amount of revision which takes up time and can be difficult for students to complete. If you want to discover some revision tips, check out this article from Think Student.

What are the pros of exams?

Exams can be considered easier however because they are over with quickly. Unlike coursework, all students have to do is stay in an exam hall for a couple of hours and it’s done! If you want to discover how long GCSE exams generally last, check out this article from Think Student.

Alternatively, you can find out how long A-Level exams are in this article from Think Student. There is no need to work on one exam paper for weeks – apart from revising of course!

Revising for exams does take a while, however revising can also be beneficial because it increases a student’s knowledge. Going over information again and again means that the student is more likely to remember it and use it in real life. This differs greatly from coursework.

Finally, the main advantage of exams is that it is much harder to cheat in any way. Firstly, this includes outright cheating – there have been issues in the past with students getting other people to write their coursework essays.

However, it also includes the help you get. Some students may have an unfair advantage if their teachers offer more help and guidance with coursework than at other schools. In an exam, it is purely the student’s work.

While this doesn’t necessarily make exams easier than coursework, it does make them fairer, and is the reason why very few GCSEs now include coursework.

If you want to discover more pros and cons of exams, check out this article from AplusTopper.

What type of student is coursework and exams suited to?

You have probably already gathered from this article whether exams or coursework are easier. This is because it all depends on you. Hopefully, the pros and cons outlined have helped you to decide whether exams or coursework is the best assessment method for you.

If you work well under pressure and prefer getting assessed all at once instead of gradually throughout the year, then exams will probably be easier for you. This is also true if you are the kind of person that leaves schoolwork till the last minute! Coursework will definitely be seen as difficult for you if you are known for doing this!

However, if, like me, you buckle under pressure and prefer having lots of time to research and write a perfect essay, then you may find coursework easier. Despite this, most GCSE subjects are assessed via exams. Therefore, you won’t be able to escape all exams!

As a result, it can be useful to find strategies that will help you work through them. This article from Think Student details a range of skills and techniques which could be useful to use when you are in an exam situation.

Exams and coursework are both difficult in their own ways – after all, they are used to thoroughly assess you! Depending on how you work best, it is your decision to decide whether one is easier than the other and which assessment method this is.

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Meaning of course in English

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course noun ( CLASSES )

• I did a course in creative writing.
• Julie has signed up for courses on English and French this year .
• There are still some vacancies for students in science and engineering courses.
• The course comprises a class book , a practice book and an audio tape .
• She's been offered a place on the nursing course.
• academic year
• access course
• Advanced Placement
• asynchronous
• foundation course
• immersion course
• on a course
• the national curriculum
• work placement

course noun ( SPORTS AREA )

• He spends every weekend out on the golf course.
• We walked the course the horses would have to run later .
• The race was canceled because the course was waterlogged .
• He ran the course in less than an hour .
• Flags mark the course the cyclists will be taking.
• 18-yard box
• backstretch
• ground staff
• halfway line
• off his/her line idiom

course noun ( DEVELOPMENT )

• action They are considering legal action.
• course of action They have not yet decided on a particular course of action.
• measure Measures are in place to prevent flooding.
• step These simple steps will ensure that infections are not spread.
• Once we have committed to this course of action there is no going back.
• We came up against a lot of problems in the course of building our addition .
• In the course of history , love has driven men and women to strange extremes .
• I was grateful for his letter which hastened the course of the inquiry .
• He has been accused of obstructing the course of justice .
• a means to an end idiom
• methodological
• methodologically
• standard operating procedure
• stylistically

course noun ( DIRECTION )

• All attempts at diplomacy have broken down and the two states now appear to be on a collision course.
• He drove in an erratic course down the road .
• Some of the frontier between Germany and Poland follows the course of the river Oder
• The ship held its course.
• Most parents try to steer a middle course between imposing very strict discipline and letting their kids run wild .
• against the current
• circumduction
• cross-country
• direction of travel
• multidirectional
• the right/wrong/other way around idiom

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

course noun ( MEAL )

• If you make the main course, I'll make a dessert .
• I've only eaten one course and I'm already full .
• By the time the fourth course was served , I was stuffed to the gills .
• The average cost of a full three-course meal - appetizer , main course and dessert - including tip and a modest wine is about $25.
• I had salmon for my main course.
• accompaniment
• afternoon tea
• amuse-bouche
• dinner time
• English breakfast
• plat du jour
• ploughman's lunch

course noun ( MEDICAL TREATMENT )

• blister pack
• chemotherapy
• patent medicine
• pharmaceutical
• prescription
• unmedicated
• wonder drug

course noun ( LAYER )

• agglomerate
• prestressed
• unreinforced
• wattle and daub
• weatherboarding

course noun ( BLOOD )

• be dripping with something idiom
• brim with something
• reinjection

course | Intermediate English

Course noun [c] ( direction ), course noun [c] ( development ), course noun [c] ( classes ), course noun [c] ( sports area ), course noun [c] ( meal ), course | business english, examples of course, collocations with course.

These are words often used in combination with course .

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

Translations of course

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• course (CLASSES)
• course (SPORTS AREA)
• course (DEVELOPMENT)
• over the course of time
• course (DIRECTION)
• change course
• course (MEAL)
• course (MEDICAL TREATMENT)
• course (LAYER)
• course (BLOOD)
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Definition of course

 (Entry 1 of 2)

Definition of course  (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

intransitive verb

• methodology

Examples of course in a Sentence

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

Word History

Middle English cours, borrowed from Anglo-French cours, curs, going back to Latin cursus "action of running, charge, movement along a path, progress," from currere "to run, flow" + -tus, suffix of verbal action — more at current entry 1

Note: As pointed out by Michiel de Vaan ( Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the Other Italic Languages, Leiden, 2008), the expected outcome of the verbal adjective in *-to- and the verbal noun in *-tū- would be *kostus < *korstus < *kr̥s-to-, kr̥s-tū-, from the verbal base *kr̥s- (> currere ). The attested form cursus for both the past participle and verbal noun reflects remodeling on the pattern of stems ending in a dental (as morsus from mordere "to bite," versus from vertere "to turn"). As generally in Latin, the verbal noun, where full grade of the root would be expected, has been supplanted by zero grade of the verbal adjective.

Middle English coursen "to pursue," derivative of cours course entry 1

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

15th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Phrases Containing course

• as a matter of course
• assault course
• collision course
• correspondence course
• course load
• course of action
• course of events
• course of study
• crash course
• golf course
• holder in due course
• in due course
• in the course of time
• in the usual / normal / ordinary course of business
• let nature take its course
• matter of course
• normal / ordinary course of events
• obstacle course
• of course not
• on a collision course
• par for the course
• pervert the course of justice
• refresher course
• run its course
• run one's course
• sandwich course
• stay the course
• survey course
• the course of history
• veer off course

Dictionary Entries Near course

coursed ashlar

Cite this Entry

“Course.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/course. Accessed 9 May. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of course.

Kids Definition of course  (Entry 2 of 2)

Middle English cours, course "action of moving in a certain path, path of movement, progress," from early French curs, course (same meaning), derived from Latin currere "to run" — related to corridor , current

Medical Definition

Medical definition of course, more from merriam-webster on course.

Nglish: Translation of course for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of course for Arabic Speakers

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What Is Course? Definition, Types, & Key Elements

July 13, 2023

What is course?

A course is a set of lessons or classes that a student can attend to become educated on a particular topic or learn a specific skill. This is course meaning is in an educational context. The purpose of a course is for a teacher who has expertise about something to share that expertise with others. 

An example of course is Job Killing by Dan Klein . 

How to pronounce course: kors

Course synonym: Class, program, curriculum, studies

The meaning of course is a sequence of events, such as a sequence of classes. 

Why are courses important for education?

Courses are important for education because they provide students with a structured game plan for accomplishing learning objectives. Trying to learn a new skill, such as a digital marketing , without following a course can be challenging because you don’t have the necessary knowledge about the topic to know where you should start and which order of topics is best for achieving a suitable understanding of the subject. Courses allow education to be provided and received in an efficient format because they utilize experts to present the material in a logical order to optimize student comprehension.

Some common course definitions related to education are:

• What is an academic course? An academic course refers to any structured learning environment that takes place in a school, such as a high school, college, or university of higher education.
• What is course in college? A course in college is a class that a student completes as part of a degree or diploma program from a community college, liberal arts college, or technical school. College courses can also be taken without pursuing a formal degree if a student just wants to learn more about a specific subject. 
• What is course in university? A course in university is a class that a student completes as part of a degree or diploma program from a large academic institution that offers both undergraduate and graduate level programs. University courses typically have general education requirements and core courses pertaining to the chosen major that a student must complete in order to graduate from their chosen course of study. 
• What is a course of study? A course of study is a student's chosen area of specialty that consists of the series of courses they must complete before graduating from their current level of education. Some examples of common courses of study include General Education, Computer Science, or English Language Studies.
• What is course catalog? A course catalog is a collection of courses a learner can select from to meet their specific learning goals and interests. 
• What is course schedule? Course schedule is the calendar that shows when the various course content, like lecture dates, class meeting dates, homework due dates, and assessment dates, occur. 
• What is a required course? A required course is a class that a student must complete as part of their chosen course of study. It is mandatory for the student to successfully complete the class if they wish to graduate from the program. For example, a student pursuing a Marketing degree taking an affiliate marketing course because it's a requirement of the degree program. 
• What is an elective course? An elective course is a class that is not part of the core aspect of the program. Instead, elective courses are classes a student can choose based on their unique interests that meet the academic credit requirements of their overall program. For example, an international student pursuing a Business degree that goes to China to study Ecommerce  supply chains for a semester. 
• What is a crash course? A crash course is a class that provides intensive instruction and information within a short period to quickly prepare a student for an upcoming event, such as learning a new skill before starting a new job. 

What is the difference between a course and a program?

The difference between a course and a program is that a course is a specific class a student must complete as part of their particular degree program while a program is the overall degree program itself and its requirements for students to graduate. 

What is the difference between a course and a class?

The difference between a course and a class is that a course is a series of classes learners must go through to complete a student learning objective, while a class is just a single meeting of the overall course, usually lasting around an hour in the university setting. Students must attend many classes in order to complete a course, as classes are smaller units that make up an overall course. Class is often used in the place of course in modern conversation. For example, you may hear, “Who is the teacher of your accounting class?”.

What is the difference between a course of study and a degree?

The difference between a course of study and a degree is that a course of study is a learner’s chosen area of specialty, while a degree is the academic award they receive for completing all the requirements of their course of study.

What are the different types of courses available?

• Lecture course
• Seminar course
• Discussion section course
• Studio course
• Training course
• Online course

1. What is a lecture course?

A lecture course is usually a large-scale class in an auditorium-style room where a professor speaks and uses visuals like slideshows and videos to present topics while students take notes. Lecture courses in major universities can accommodate 300+ students. These lecture students are typically assessed with quizes and exams. 

2. What is a seminar course?

A seminar course is a discussion-oriented college course where students are encouraged to think critically about course topics and exchange ideas with classmates and the instructor. Seminars typically base assessment on class participation, assignments, and group projects or presentations, rather than traditional exams. 

3. What is a discussion section course?

A discussion section course is usually a smaller component of a lecture course where students break into small groups for interactive dialogue. It’s common for teaching assistants to lead discussion sections and they are equipped to help other students achieve a better comprehension of course material.

4. What is a lab course?

A lab course is class that allows students to apply key concepts of their course of study or a lecture class in a hands-on setting. Lab courses are typical of STEM majors, like biology or anatomy. They introduce students to procedures, tools and relevant methodologies that they would perform once they enter the workforce in their field. 

5. What is a studio course?

A studio course is for artistic disciplines like photography or dance, where students practice their art forms in a hands-on setting with peers and supervision from a skilled instructor. Studio courses allow students to receive constructive criticism to improve their craft. 

6. What is an independent study course?

An independent study course is when a student pursues a self-scheduled curriculum of their own devising. A student usually must first submit a proposal to receive approval and are then guided and assessed by a relevant member of the school faculty.

7. What is a training course?

Training course meaning is a series of lessons that are designed to teach you the skills and knowledge to successfully complete a particular job or activity. After completing a training course, you should be able to perform the functions you were taught in the course in the real world. Examples of training courses include CPR/first aid training, welding training, or body massage certification. 

8. What is an online course?

An online course is an education program that is presented and completed over the Internet. Online courses can be part of a degree program at an accredited university like Harvard University or just standalone training by an Internet instructor. Online courses typically consist of a combination of aspects like video recordings, interactive live training through video conference apps, digital materials like PDF guide sheets, and assignments to verify comprehension of the material. The purpose of an online course is to make education more convenient and accessible for students. 

Where can you take online courses?

You can take online courses from colleges, universities, online learning platforms like Coursera and Udemy , or from instructors' who self host their courses on their own platform. 

What is Course Hero?

Course Hero is an online learning platform where you can access course-specific study materials like study guides, practice exams, videos, and class notes that have been uploaded by previous students and educators. You can either pay a subscription to access these study materials or upload learning materials from courses you have taken to obtain access.

What are 5 key elements of a well-designed course?

• 1 Defines course goals and objectives - Student learning outcomes should be clearly communicated prior to the start of the course. 
• 2 Leverages high quality learning materials - The course should utilize learning materials that fit within the context of the course. Learning materials should provide up-to-date information and be easily accessible to students. 
• 3 Taught by professional instructor with expertise on course subject - The teacher(s) of the course should have expert level knowledge on the course material to clearly communicate course concepts and accurately respond to student questions.
• 4 Contains accountability component - In order to ensure students are keeping up with the course information and retaining concepts, there should be something to keep students accountable, such as assignments, assessments, or check-ins. Students should be able to demonstrate what they are taking away from the course learning experience.
• 5 Incorporates community aspect - It’s well documented that group collaboration has major benefits on a student’s learning outcome. It forces active learning, which helps students to solidify their understanding of new concepts through critical thinking and discussion. A community aspect can be especially beneficial for an online class so that stduents can interact with classmates because it enables the sharing of ideas and common questions. 

What does course mean outside the context of education?

Course as a noun :

• The action of moving along a path from one point to another. Example: The airplane is on course to its destination. 
• The physical plane an object moves across. Example: The ball travels along the golf course. 
• The progression of a normal action. Example: The sickness is running its course on him. 
• A food dish or set of food dishes served together. Example: Tonight I will be enjoying a 3 course meal consisting of an appetizer, main course, and dessert. 

Course as a verb :

• A liquid moving with ease on or through a surface. Example: Blood is coursing through our veins. 
• To move swiftly through or over an area. Example: Yesterday he coursed through the park on his skateboard in just 10 minutes. 

Common phrases using course :

• Course of action - Course of action meaning is the way in which a situation is dealt with. Example: His wisest course of action is to retake the class so that he learns the material. 
• Of course - Used to give a confirmation. Example: Of course she knows about SEO , she does local lead generation after all. 
• In due course - When something is done at the appropriate time. Example: I will scale my online business in due course. 

Course is a word that has many applications in the English language. However, the use of course in an educational context is likely the most common use of the word, when not considering everyday phrases containing course, such as “of course.” Educational courses are so popular because they enable people to expand their skill set and achieve a more prosperous life. For example, this local lead generation course can teach you how to make between $500 to $3,000 in passive income each month from your computer. Local lead generation is a business model that entails building websites to attract customers for local businesses. Although it can be challenging for you to set up these websites on your own, a course can efficiently teach you the skills to start making money online from local lead generation.  

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Is new AP African American Studies course too woke? We attended class to find out.

A usa today analysis reveals what kinds of school districts are offering the ap african american studies course this year – and which ones aren't..

LORTON, Virginia – Sean Miller quiets the stereo blasting Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” and begins his lessons for the day, a journey through centuries with improvisational stops along the way.

He kicks off with a discussion on Black joy . Today’s focus: Olympic gymnast and fellow Virginian Gabby Douglas . Then his roughly two dozen students move on to another topic: Black History Month . Has the yearly event outlived its relevance? Miller asks after playing a video clip about the month’s origins. No, some say. A teen proposes legislation to mandate its observance.

Next the discussion veers to distinctions between “slave” and “enslaved person." One emphasizes a person's status, the other their humanity. Then students analyze sketches of captives from the 1839 Amistad rebellion. By the time class wraps up, Miller has drifted through the good and bad referenced in the Al Green anthem, stringing together topics like a chord progression. "Finding the triumph amid all the challenges and tragedies requires a little bit of creativity," he later explains.

Welcome to Advanced Placement African American Studies. The course – still in pilot mode – has drawn praise from students nationwide but sparked restrictions in Florida and Arkansas amid concerns from conservatives that the curriculum is leftist propaganda and makes white children feel bad about themselves.  

The course has the rigor of a college-level offering and the interdisciplinary scope of an ethnic studies seminar, comprising four units that extend from ancient African civilizations to modern-day movements. In mid-May, about 13,000 students at 700 schools in 42 states and Washington, D.C., will be eligible to take the AP African American Studies test. High scores could earn students credit at more than 300 colleges that have indicated they'll grant it.

While the stakes and the difficulty level are high, students say the material is resonant and accessible. Caury Crusoe, 17, said the class often feels like “an hour-and-a-half conversation.” In interviews with USA TODAY, students and educators described the course as transformational. Taking it improved their self-esteem and gave them a newfound pride in their ancestors, many Black teens said. Others emphasized the illuminating content and their deeper appreciation for what humans have in common versus what they don’t. 

The immense demand from teens – especially Black youth,  who participate in AP classes at lower rates  than their white and Asian peers – suggests many more U.S. schools will pick up the course once it goes live this fall. The AP class could continue to face headwinds in the coming years as proposed bans targeting critical race theory (CRT) and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) turn up on legislative agendas.

The College Board declined to say which schools are offering the class. But states, districts, universities and local reporters helped USA TODAY identify roughly 370 campuses based in nearly 200 school districts that are offering the class, accounting for more than half the schools piloting it. Some of these campuses, including the only Florida institution piloting it, are private schools.

A large majority of the schools and districts offering AP African American Studies are in communities that voted for President Joe Biden in 2020, USA TODAY found. Taken together, those districts also had a greater percentage of Black high school students than the national average.

A separate USA TODAY analysis of email correspondence from education officials in some red states revealed staffers’ hesitancy to embrace the course because of the optics.

“There’s always a certain amount of fear and anxiety and backlash that’s associated with these efforts,” said Michael Hines, a Stanford education historian who studies activism in African American communities. Hines foresees an ongoing battle over this course as part of a “recurring cycle.”

AP African American Studies sparks concerns over critical race theory

The launch of AP African American Studies is a watershed moment that says "African American history – the African diaspora – it matters,” said Thomas Tucker, the chief equity officer with Kentucky’s education department. “My hope is that historians will look back on this period to say we’re finally at a point of helping Americans ... understand the beautiful complexity, the beautiful tapestry, of the long, long history of the African people.”

Critics often portray AP African American Studies as a course fixated on division and suffering. That perception nearly deterred two of Miller’s students from signing up. Renee Prox, 17, wondered whether college admissions officers would look down on her for taking it because of the politics. “I wasn’t sure if it would look bad on my transcript,” said the senior, who is Black. 

One of Prox’s few white classmates, Abigail Plageman, also debated whether to take the course. Plageman said her parents were skeptical because of what they’d heard in the news about CRT.

Claims the course would delve into CRT, a graduate-level theory that examines how racism permeates societies and systems, were widespread as the framework underwent revisions.

Florida's education department in January 2023 banned the course because it lacked "educational value," and Gov. Ron DeSantis described a draft framework as a "political agenda" that sought to "shoehorn" radical progressive concepts into history instruction. A subsequent version excluded many themes DeSantis called out , prompting critiques from course advocates who accused the College Board of whitewashing content educators had extensively workshopped. Experts last summer convened for another round of edits that led to a version released in December . Some controversial topics – like intersectionality – were reintroduced, while others – like the Black Lives Matter movement – remain optional . 

After DeSantis banned the course, Arkansas’s education department restricted it, too, and several red states promised to review it. (Ultimately, half a dozen Arkansas campuses opted to pilot it , but, because of the state's stance, participating students cannot earn credit toward graduation. However, now that the framework has been updated, Arkansas students may be able to earn credit next year under the state's graduation requirements, a department spokesperson told USA TODAY.)

Explained: Gov. Ron DeSantis' feud with the College Board over AP African American Studies

Email correspondence obtained by USA TODAY shows some employees in red states last year were questioning what to do about the class following DeSantis’s and others’ critiques. 

“I am a bit concerned about this course,” wrote Davonne Eldredge, North Dakota’s assistant director of academic support, in a January 2023 email to a superior about a College Board request that the state adopt it. “This is the course that has been in the national news due to critical race theory concerns brought forth in Florida. … Given the hot item critical race is within ND, I’m not sure how to proceed with this one. My gut says to hold off until the changes are made.” The state never formally reviewed the course because no school asked to pilot it, a spokesperson said.

In Virginia, another state where officials vowed to review the curriculum, media coverage of the controversy seemingly prompted decision-makers to waffle over their messaging. The state education department concluded that the course complied with Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s anti-CRT executive order and drafted a related statement to share its conclusion with the public, email records show. The draft included a suggestion that more edits be made to the course, but staffers worried that language would prompt inquiries from reporters.

South County High, where Miller teaches, is one of about 16 schools in Virginia piloting the class this school year. In that state, AP African American Studies will remain an elective rather than a social studies course that counts toward graduation.

Despite the revisions, some critics who closely follow the course’s development remain concerned.

Michael Gonzalez, a fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said CRT and the activist mindset of the Black Lives Matter movement remain prominent in the latest framework even though these topics have been left out or made optional. As long as discussions of systemic racism are included, it’s still grounded in CRT, in his view. The word “oppression,” he stressed, is mentioned 19 times. 

In an interview with USA TODAY, Gonzalez and his colleague, Jonathan Butcher, agreed it's important to teach about the horrors of slavery and Jim Crow. But viewing all history through the lens of racism and oppression, they said, is misleading and incendiary.

“We want young people to believe that the American dream belongs to them … that they do have a future,” said Butcher, an education policy research fellow at Heritage. “If you , instead , give young people something that they need to resist, to look down upon, you’re robbing them of the chance of having something to live up to.”

Seeing Black history ‘for more than just the bad’

Over several months and during two visits to Miller's classroom , students told USA TODAY the course broadens their knowledge and instills hope. Plageman, the white student whose parents were skeptical about the course, said she’s politically centrist and feels the lessons haven’t changed her viewpoints. Rather, they’ve expanded what she knows about the U.S. AP African American Studies is not CRT, she said, but “just another social studies class that’s different from what I’ve learned before.”

Prox, the Black student concerned about having the course on her transcript, explained she hasn’t looked back since she signed up. “It’s way more than what it’s been painted out to be,” she said. “It’s about how the African diaspora has grown and how we started and it’s just a really good representation of Black people.”

“We were oblivious to how the story of an African past is a glorious one. It’s not just a reshaping of the narrative. It is an introduction of a narrative that, for so many of us, simply did not exist." Teresa Reed, a dean and music professor at the University of Louisville, who serves on the course’s development committee

Black history is under attack: From AP African American Studies to ‘Ruby Bridges’

Crusoe, who described the course as a long conversation, said the knowledge she’s gained has made her more ambitious and proud. It inspired her to branch beyond her goal of studying business to explore a humanities discipline with an emphasis on social justice when she attends North Carolina A&T, a historically Black college in Greensboro, next fall. She regularly shares tidbits from class with her mom and is president of her school's Black Student Alliance. “I’m not a big history person, but (Miller) makes me want to talk about it,” she said. 

Her favorite part, beyond Miller’s relaxed teaching style, has been learning about the strength of her ancestors. About the ancient African civilizations with legacies far more expansive than she ever knew. About the modern Black heroes whose art touches millions. About the everyday Black people, like her parents and herself, fulfilling the American dream. “People just don’t really see Black history for more than just the bad,” she said. 

The Heritage scholars said a better strategy for teaching about African American experiences would be to broaden U.S. history education. That way, the history of Black Americans could be woven together with other groups. “African American history is my history,” Gonzalez said. 

Students and educators told USA TODAY there’s a reason to separate this curriculum: U.S. history classes seldom scrape past the surface of African Americans’ role in the narrative, beyond slavery and civil rights.

It’s groundbreaking for an African American studies course like this to come together on a national scale, endorsed by the College Board. “It feels like a gap is being filled in my own psyche,” said Teresa Reed, a dean and music professor at the University of Louisville who serves on the course’s development committee .

Growing up in predominantly Black Gary, Indiana, in the 1960s and 70s, Reed didn’t learn much about the contributions of her ancestors or the pre-slavery chapters of their story.

“We were oblivious to how the story of an African past is a glorious one,” she said. That’s what makes this course so novel: “It’s not just a reshaping of the narrative. It is an introduction of a narrative that, for so many of us, simply did not exist."

‘These are people who persevered’

The interdisciplinary, meandering nature of the South County High classes USA TODAY observed this spring is precisely what developers envisioned when they designed the course. The idea is for students to find connections between the past and present – between the Amistad rebellion and Gabby Douglas setting Olympic records.

Miller, a former marketing professional who chairs the high school’s social studies department, infuses his lessons with guidance on developing real-world skills. During a March class, students broke into groups to plan a podcast project. The final product, Miller told them, should be a neatly structured, professional-quality episode that touches on several topics of their choice from the curriculum. Their grade would count as their test score for the unit. 

The classroom buzzed as the teens deliberated how to tackle this assignment. Crusoe and her partner designed logos and debated which to use – an animated ear against the word “Black” repeated in rows or a woman in 1950s attire with a TV as a head entitled “Shades of History”? Across the room, a boy scanned C-SPAN for good clips. In the back, three students discussed themes they’d highlight: Black music, fashion, literature and media representation.  

Miller, who wears gauges in his ears and produces music in his spare time, peppers his lessons with a mix of banter, sarcasm and big words. Students fist-bump him on their way in and out. His mantra is simple: “Keep the rigor high, keep the expectations high. But create memories and keep it engaging.” Slavery, lynching and segregation are crucial elements of the African American experience, but Miller frames the discussion around resilience rather than bitterness or shame.

He strives to frame his instruction around “victories over victimization,” he said that March day. Wearing a "Built by Black History" T-shirt, he noted, “There were some dark days, but there were also some very positive days in response.”

“I want them to walk out the door and say, ‘Wow, these are people who persevered.'” 

Contributing: Doug Caruso, data editor at USA TODAY, analyzed demographic and political trends across districts we identified were piloting AP African American Studies this school year.  

Also contributing: Lily Altavena, Detroit Free Press; Caroline Beck, Indianapolis Star; Jillian Ellison, Journal & Courier; Samantha Hernandez, Des Moines Register; Kelly Lyell, the Coloradoan; Madeleine Parrish, Arizona Republic .

After 23 years in corporate America, I took a career-change course to figure out what's next. Here are 9 tips that actually helped.

• After 23 years in corporate America, I decided I needed a career change and signed up for a course.
• Throughout the program, I learned how important it was to build a network and test out new things. 
• After eight months, I was finally able to confidently start doing more fulfilling work.

Career change, shift, pivot. Whatever you call it, after 23 years in corporate America , I wanted out.

I didn't know what I wanted to do next, but I was sure it wasn't what I was doing now.

Luckily, the US job market is more stable now than it's been since before 2020. But changing careers is more than finding a new boss or moving to a different company.

During one marathon search session, I stumbled upon Careershifters and paid $1,175 for its eight-week Career Change Launch Pad course.

Now that I've successfully pivoted, here are the best tips I took away from the course.

Step back and assess where you're at

We started the course by taking a quiz that was supposed to help us determine what stage of the pivoting process we were in (questioner, browser, explorer, pathfinder, and shifter).

These kinds of assessments can sometimes feel gimmicky, but it was helpful to zoom out a bit and reflect on where I was at.

The categories stretched from questioner (wondering whether you need to make a change) to shifter (successfully finding more fulfilling work), and the assessment told me I was an explorer (ready to change but not sure what to do).

Look for people, not jobs

Building my network was exponentially more helpful than skimming through endless job descriptions.

I recommend talking to everyone about your shift — family, friends, former colleagues, yoga teachers, LinkedIn connections . You never know what or who they know.

I met a McDonald's Happy Meal toy designer through a former boss, and my chiropractor connected me with a lifestyle magazine.

Don't try to do everything alone

Surrounding myself with a community of other people going through a career change made all the difference in my process.

My program included coaches who had changed careers and about 65 fellow participants from around the world — including a programmer in the UK, a writer in Greece, and an accountant in Brooklyn.

They all understood what it was like to feel stuck and overwhelmed, and we shared ideas, work experiences, and networks.

Related stories

Even if you don't want to do a course, there are career-change coaches , podcasts, books, and so many other resources out there to help.

Career shifts don't happen overnight

We're asked what we want to be when we grow up all the time as kids, but I hadn't had the opportunity to explore that question as an adult.

Deciding to pivot allowed me to take the time to discover more about myself, explore my options, and experiment with different possibilities.

Changing careers is a process — don't rush it. I was eight months into my career shift before I felt confident about what I wanted.

Don't start with updating your résumé

A résumé is all about where you've been. But a career shift is about what you want in the future.

Instead of rushing to update résumés or spruce up my portfolio, I tried to trust the process and focus on figuring out what I wanted.

My career experience up to that point had been something like, "You're perfect. You're hired. Now change."

But after a career-shift coach told me she gets paid to be herself, that became my new mission.

Physically try new things that get you out of your head

It's going to be really hard to find fulfilling work if you're just sitting behind your desk all day looking for opportunities online.

Instead of endlessly searching job boards , I did an informational interview with an author, ran promotions for a high-school musical, and went behind the scenes at a local bakery.

Even if I wasn't necessarily interested in those fields, physically getting myself out there and trying new things helped me along in my process.

Expand your reality bubble

Everyone has what I like to call a "reality bubble," and they're full of different ideas, perspectives, people, and experiences.

Simply expanding that bubble a little bit opened my mind to new possibilities for my career shift.

When I pushed myself to have new and different conversations, I met a gift concierge who helped me identify small businesses that needed marketing help and a Disney travel planner who ended up being my first client when I started working as a career-change consultant.

Take your ideas for a low-risk test drive

Attending workshops and testing things out with friends are great, low-risk ways to experiment with different career possibilities.

I did pro-bono marketing for a doggie day care , took an hourlong course on book publishing, and designed a line of 1980s-themed scented markers — along with 25 other short-lived experiments.

Through all these different experiences, I figured out what gives me energy, what I could get good at, and what I might actually be able to get paid for.

Holding one salaried job isn't the only way to work

When I started this process, I knew I didn't want to do one thing in one place with one company anymore.

Just because having a single source of income is the norm doesn't mean that's where you have to wind up. Eventually, I was able to create a hodgepodged career that met my goal of feeling like I was getting paid to be myself.

Now I work with a variety of people and companies as a freelance writer, career-change consultant, and small-business marketing strategist.

Watch: Marketing leaders from Amazon, LinkedIn, Lego Group and more tell Insider what pandemic-fueled business changes are likely to stick around

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Sony is making a truly terrible mistake with ‘helldivers 2’ — update: sony reverses course.

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Helldivers 2

Post updated 5/5/24. See update below.

Sony is making an egregious error of judgment when it comes to the biggest PlayStation 5 hit of the year.

Helldivers 2 has been a smash success on both PS5 and Steam, not only pulling down huge player and sales numbers, but also a ton of goodwill from players. The game is genuinely fun with an innovative live-service element and a great sense of humor. It’s no wonder that people keep coming back to kill more bugs.

Sony is poised to squander a ton of the goodwill the company has accrued, not just from Helldivers 2, but from all its efforts to port PlayStation exclusives like Horizon Zero Dawn and The Last Of Us, to PC.

The company announced recently that PC players would need to link their PlayStation Network accounts to their Steam accounts in order to continue playing the game. This, they claimed, was after an initial grace period where account linking was not required, but that grace period is coming to an end.

It feels like a bait-and-switch, luring players in on false pretenses. Yes, there’s a notice saying you need to link your accounts, but this was easy to overlook and since it wasn’t a requirement, many players either never noticed or just assumed it was an error or something Sony decided against.

The Best Gaming Mouse That’ll Improve Your Aim

There are several problems here:

• First, this is annoying. Many PC players don’t have a PlayStation or a PSN account and it’s just plain irritating to have to go create one and then link it to your Steam account just for one game. It’s doubly annoying since this wasn’t properly communicated from day-one.
• Second, this is a little shady. Players might not have purchased the game or might have returned it if they’d known. Now Helldivers 2 is far, far outside of most players’ return window.
• Third, while Sony says this is being done for security reasons, many gamers have pointed out that the PSN hasn’t been the most secure network in the world. Opening up a new account always exposes people to new security risks.
• Finally, many regions don’t have PlayStation Network access but do have access to Steam. These players are unsure how they will continue to play the game once a PSN account is required. It also goes against Sony’s terms of use to setup a PSN account in a region that isn’t your own.

As for Sony’s reasons, security is a lousy excuse. If they were truly concerned about security, they could require some form of 2-factor authentication (or 2FA). This would not require a PlayStation account, but would be something gamers could do in any region without opening a brand new account of any kind. It would achieve security goals without being too much of a hindrance to players.

Fundamentally, though, even 2FA should be optional or should come with some cherry on top, incentivizing players to use it rather than preventing them from playing if they don’t (though I highly recommend it because your account could be hacked much more easily without 2FA).

Obviously most Helldivers 2 players will grumble about it but then sign up for PSN. But some won’t be able to, and the community as a whole will have lost a ton of faith in Sony. A lot of the goodwill that’s been gained over Helldivers 2 will be gone after this, and that’s no small thing.

Even the developer of the game, Arrowhead Games, is expressing dismay over the change, with one community manager suggesting that players change their Steam reviews to negative in protest . Clearly Sony has badly misjudged the situation and should walk back this utterly preposterous policy before they ruin a good thing. As the saying goes: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

In a surprise twist to this story, Sony has reversed course on the company’s decision to require PlayStation Network accounts for Steam players.

Since May 2nd, over 260,000 negative reviews and counting have dropped on Steam, returning All Reviews to “Mixed” and changing Recent Reviews to a shameful “Overwhelmingly Negative”. Tens of thousands of negative reviews a day have poured in from angry PC players who either don’t want to create a PlayStation Network account or who simply can’t, because they’re in one of 177 different regions where that’s simply not possible. Steam has now stopped selling the game in these regions.

Steam has also taken steps to refund anyone who wants a refund over this issue, even if you’ve played more than 2 hours and owned the game more than 2 weeks, breaking their normal return policy. At least Valve is doing right by gamers. Meanwhile, developer Arrowhead Games has urged players to make their dissatisfaction known and leave negative reviews on Steam.

All of this backlash has led to Sony’s decision to walk back the controversial change. On Sunday evening, the company tweeted:

“Helldivers fans,” the tweet reads, “we’ve heard your feedback on the Helldivers 2 account linking update. The May 6 update, which would have required Steam and PlayStation Network account linking for new players and for current players beginning May 30, will not be moving forward.

“We’re still learning what is best for PC players and your feedback has been invaluable. Thanks again for your continued support of Helldivers 2 and we’ll keep you updated on future plans.”

This is a wise move on Sony’s part. A rational response to this degree of backlash. While many Sony fanboys tried to defend the company’s decision, claiming it was all about security, clearly Sony has taken the more sensible approach. If Sony wants a share of the PC market, it will need to handle future decisions like this with more care. This is a step in the right direction. Kudos to Sony for changing course. Hopefully gamers will change their reviews to positive as a gesture of good faith, and Sony will find a better solution, or optional incentives for PC players to link their PSN accounts.

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Maryland governor signs bill to rebuild Pimlico, home of the Preakness Stakes

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has signed a measure to rebuild Baltimore’s historic but antiquated Pimlico Race Course and transfer the track to state control

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland Gov. Wes Moore signed a measure on Thursday to rebuild Baltimore’s historic but antiquated Pimlico Race Course and transfer the track to state control.

Under the new law, Maryland can use $400 million in state bonds to rebuild the home of the second jewel of horse racing’s Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes. The 149th running of the race is set for May 18.

“Because of this bill, we have a path forward to continue running the Preakness in Maryland and renovate the historic Pimlico Race Course,” Maryland House Speaker Adrienne Jones, a Democrat, said as Moore nodded in agreement at a ceremony. “This bill will create lasting economic benefits to the state and the Baltimore region.”

The plan also calls for transferring Pimlico from the Stronach Group, which is the current owner of Pimlico and nearby Laurel Park, to a newly formed nonprofit that would operate under the state.

Under the plan, the Preakness would relocate to Laurel Park in 2026 while the new facility is being built, before returning to Pimlico, likely in 2027. The temporary move would come as the third Triple Crown race, the Belmont Stakes, is scheduled to return to Belmont Park from a two-year hiatus at Saratoga Race Course while the New York track undergoes a $455 million reconstruction.

“The state of Maryland is investing in the sport of racing in similar ways that New York has already done,” said Tom Rooney, president and CEO of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, who’s also a member of the Maryland Thoroughbred Racetrack Operating Authority. “I know I speak for those of us within the sport there’s a lot to be excited and optimistic about as we continue through the Triple Crown season.”

Maryland lawmakers approved a plan in 2020 to rebuild the track, but it never got off the ground. The new plan increases the amount of state bonds to be used from $375 million to $400 million. The plan also calls for a training facility, with details to be determined.

Aptly nicknamed Old Hilltop, the track opened in 1870. It’s where Man o’ War, Seabiscuit, Secretariat and many others pranced to the winner’s circle. It is the nation’s second oldest racetrack behind Saratoga, which debuted in 1864.

But Pimlico’s age has long been a concern. In 2019, the Maryland Jockey Club closed off nearly 7,000 grandstand seats, citing the “safety and security of all guests and employees.” The Preakness has struggled to draw pre-pandemic attendance numbers in recent years, down to 65,000 people in 2023 for Friday and Saturday compared to more than 180,000 for the same days four years earlier.

At the end of the legislative session last year, the Maryland Thoroughbred Racetrack Operating Authority was created and tasked with taking another look at options, and it made recommendations in January to invest in Pimlico to take on a greater role in holding races.

The horse racing industry has long played a big role in Maryland culture. The racing industry and other equine industries have been a cornerstone of Maryland agriculture, as well as an integral part of preserving green space. The equine industry has an estimated $2 billion direct economic impact on the state.