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Assignment checklist before submission

Work down the list in order. Each item says what to check and how to check it, so you can use the whole thing by hand. Most of it has a definite answer — 20 of the items below are mechanical, meaning they are either satisfied or not — and those are the ones worth clearing fast, so the time you have left goes on the handful that need you to make a decision.

One thing before you start: everything here defers to your own brief. Word-count exclusions, source requirements and formatting rules differ between institutions, between modules and sometimes between two assignments on the same module. Where this list and your brief disagree, your brief wins.

The brief

Two minutes here saves every other check from being done against the wrong target.

  • You are looking at the current version of the brief

    Mechanical

    Check the module page and any announcement or forum thread for a clarification issued after the brief. A later correction usually overrides the original and is the single most common thing people miss.

  • Every explicit instruction has somewhere it is satisfied

    Mechanical

    Go through the brief line by line and point at the page in your draft that answers each one. Anything you cannot point at is not done.

  • The task verb matches what your writing does

    Judgement

    If the brief says evaluate, compare or apply, read your topic sentences alone. If they only report what other people found, the assignment is describing rather than doing what was asked.

Word count

The rule varies by institution, by module and sometimes by assignment. Find yours rather than assuming.

  • You know what your brief excludes from the count

    Mechanical

    Look for explicit wording about the reference list, in-text citations, tables, figures, headings, footnotes and appendices. If it is silent, ask — and in the meantime know the total both ways.

  • The count you are relying on comes from the real file

    Mechanical

    Counting pasted text drops what is in tables, text boxes, footnotes and captions. Count the document itself, and compare against the total Word saved with the file.

  • You are inside any stated tolerance

    Mechanical

    Some briefs allow ten per cent either way, some allow none, and some only penalise going over. The tolerance is part of the rule, not a courtesy.

Structure and formatting

Cheap marks, and the easiest category to verify completely.

  • Every required section exists and is named as the brief names it

    Mechanical

    Abstract, introduction, methodology, conclusion, appendices, declaration. Match the wording — a marker scanning for a heading should find it.

  • Headings are real headings

    Mechanical

    Open the navigation or outline pane. If your sections do not appear, they are bold paragraphs, which breaks automatic contents pages and any structural check.

  • Font, spacing, margins and page numbers match what was asked

    Mechanical

    Check against the brief rather than the template you started from. Templates get reused across modules with different rules.

  • Tables and figures are numbered and referred to in the text

    Mechanical

    Every figure should be mentioned where it is relevant. An unreferenced figure reads as decoration.

Citations and the reference list

The category with the most findings per minute spent, because errors here survive every read-through.

  • Every in-text citation has an entry in the reference list

    Mechanical

    List the citations, list the references, and compare both directions — not just the one you happen to scan.

  • Every reference is actually cited somewhere

    Mechanical

    An entry nothing cites usually means a source you removed, or one you meant to use and did not. Both are worth resolving before a marker asks.

  • Author names and years match between the citation and the entry

    Mechanical

    Mismatched years are the classic result of updating a reference and not the citation. Check the pairs, not the entries alone.

  • The reference style is consistent throughout

    Mechanical

    Pick three entries from different points in the list and compare punctuation, italics and author order. Inconsistency usually clusters around sources added last.

Sources

Where the brief sets numbers, they are requirements, not suggestions.

  • You meet the stated number and kind of sources

    Mechanical

    Count them. "Academic sources" and "peer-reviewed journal articles" are different instructions, and a brief naming one usually means it.

  • Any recency rule is satisfied

    Mechanical

    Check publication years against the window the brief gives. Watch for a recent reprint of an old work — the date that matters is usually the original.

  • Each source is doing work in the argument

    Judgement

    A source cited once in the introduction and never again is padding the count rather than supporting the case.

Evidence

The slowest checks, and the ones most likely to be skipped entirely.

  • Your strongest claims are the ones you have checked hardest

    Judgement

    Find the two or three sentences your argument depends on and confirm the cited source genuinely says that — not something adjacent in the same paper.

  • Nothing is cited from a title or abstract alone

    Judgement

    If you never opened the source, treat the claim as unverified. Abstracts routinely omit the qualifications that decide whether a sentence is accurate.

  • Numbers and directions match the source

    Mechanical

    Check quantities, percentages and whether the relationship goes the way your sentence says. Reversed direction is a common and costly slip.

Submission

None of this improves the work, and all of it can cost you the submission.

  • File format and file name match the instructions

    Mechanical

    Some portals reject on format; some markers require a naming convention that includes a student number or anonymous code.

  • Anonymity is preserved if the marking is anonymous

    Mechanical

    Check the header, the footer and the document properties. Your name often survives in the file metadata after being removed from the page.

  • The cover sheet, declaration or word-count statement is included

    Mechanical

    Where one is required, a missing one is usually treated as an incomplete submission.

  • You know the deadline in the portal's time zone

    Mechanical

    Confirm the exact time, and submit a draft version early. A submitted imperfect file beats a perfect one that missed the window.

Which of these StudyRef can do for you

Most of the mechanical items are exactly what the Assignment Checker was built to settle. Upload your assignment and your brief and it will do the word count under the exclusions your brief states, confirm the required sections exist, check referencing style consistency, count your sources and their publication years, and match every in-text citation against your reference list — both directions. That layer is free and works without an account.

The evidence items are harder and cost more to run. Resolving each source against publisher records, judging whether a source suits the claim, and reading a source’s own text to see whether it supports your sentence are part of a Full Assignment Scan or a Pro plan. Where a source cannot be retrieved, you get told it could not be checked and why — not a tick.

The judgement items stay yours. Whether a source is pulling its weight, whether you evaluated rather than described, whether the argument holds — no checker settles those, and anything claiming to would be worth distrusting.

Clear the mechanical items in one pass

Upload the document and the brief; the checks come back against the requirement each one refers to.

Run the Assignment Checker

If an item turned something up