Assignment planning is an important skill to ensure that your assignment is structured, logical and directly answers the assignment brief. If you launch straight into an assignment it may end up being under researched and may provide lots of information which could be influenced by your train of thought rather than the assignment brief. This can result in students describing topics that they do not need to and not being as critical as is needed.
By planning your assignment in detail it may be possible to identify what you already know, what you need to research, and in what order specific topics should be addressed to effectively communicate your point. This process may make the assignment writing stage more organised.
Please see the Library Skills Guide on Being Critical for more information on critical thinking, reading and writing.