You sigh a heavy sigh and re-read the assignment. You start thinking about the easiest way to get through this with the best possible marks.
Given that we're looking for quick and easy:
You've got a lot on and your mark in this course is pretty good. You decide to do a quick web search, find a couple of sites and try and reword what you read into an essay. Another quick search pulls up enough documents to cobble into a bibliography and we're done as quick as possible.
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You need the mark. Things could be going better in this course. Maybe a well-written and well-researched essay will help pull your mark up. You buckle down and get it done.
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As luck would have it, you did a similar paper earlier in the year in another course. You get to work re-working that paper to match the current assignment.
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This is your dream assignment. For some reason this question resonates with you. You find it incredibly interesting and you can't wait to jump in.
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It is interesting how quickly this kind of prescribed approach can turn into hoop-jumping. The students that I have spoken with tend to default to a very product oriented outcome. While it is possible to luck into an interesting topic with a student who particularly enjoys creating the type of product being prescribed, the tendency seems to be for students to focus on the task of completing the assignment rather than investigating a path of inquiry.