What to Send Before Asking for an Assignment Quote

The starting point for any academic support enquiry is the brief itself — the task description your tutor or institution has given you. This tells a provider what you are being asked to produce, what the work is supposed to demonstrate, and what the academic expectations are.

If you have a marking rubric or assessment criteria document, include that too. Marking criteria tell a provider what the assessors are looking for, which shapes the kind of support that will be most useful. Without the brief, a quote is essentially an estimate based on limited information — sharing it upfront produces a more accurate and relevant response.

Include the required word count for the assignment, along with your current academic level — foundation year, undergraduate (Level 4, 5 or 6), postgraduate (Level 7) or doctoral. These two pieces of information are fundamental to calculating the time and expertise involved in any support work.

If you have already written a draft, mention its current length too. A draft that is well below the required word count may indicate that significant structural or content development is needed. A draft at or near the target length that needs only proofreading involves a very different scope of work.

Always state your deadline clearly, including both the date and the time if your institution has a specific submission time. If your submission is through a specific platform — Turnitin, an institutional VLE, a portal — mention that too, in case it affects the format of anything returned to you.

If you are working towards a staged deadline — for example, submitting a draft to your tutor before a final submission date — clarify which deadline the support needs to meet. Providers plan their work around the date you give them, so accuracy here protects you from misunderstandings.

Specify the referencing style your institution or module requires — for example, Harvard, APA 7, OSCOLA, Vancouver or another style. If your institution uses a specific version of a referencing style, or has its own referencing guide, mention that. Referencing conventions vary enough between institutions that 'Harvard' alone can mean slightly different things at different universities.

Your subject area helps a provider understand the conventions, terminology and academic register expected in the work. Business management, nursing, law, engineering and psychology all have different disciplinary conventions. Sharing the subject — and the module title if you have it — helps ensure the support you receive is appropriate to your field.

If you have already started writing — even if the draft is partial or rough — share it. Seeing what you have produced so far helps a provider understand how much work is involved, where the gaps or weaknesses are, and what kind of support will be most effective.

A student who has a complete draft needing proofreading and a student who has a 200-word outline needing comprehensive structural development have very different needs. Sharing your draft makes it possible to assess that difference accurately and give you a quote that reflects the actual support required.