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Analysing questions

• Why analyse the question or task?
• The format of essay question/tasks at university
• How to do the analysis
• Practising analysis
• If you are still unsure how to tackle your essay
• Analysing exam questions
• Commonly used task words

Essay questions or tasks for assignments and exams are designed so that you can demonstrate your critical understanding of a topic to your lecturer.  The questions or tasks ask you to focus on a specific aspect of a topic and your essay is assessed on how well you have concentrated on that aspect and developed an argument around it (see ‘Writing Essays’).

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Why analyse the question or task?

A thorough analysis of the question/task is essential for you to identify the specific focus for your assignment and to direct your research so that you don't go off on a tangent and not answer the question appropriately. Analysing the question/task is the first thing you need to do before you begin to research for your essay and again before you begin to write.

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The format of essay questions/tasks at university

Essay tasks are presented in three main ways.

1. the command type of task - simply tells you to do something, for example:
   'Discuss the importance to the study of behaviour of the phenomenon of imprinting.'
2. the question type of task - asks a direct question, for example:
   'What is the significance for human service professionals in recognising that knowledge and beliefs are socially constructed?'
3. the statement or quote followed by a command or a question task, for example:
   'Recently a writer stated that the Australian Constitution had become ‘fossilised’ and that changes were urgently required to modernise it. Briefly outline some of the changes that would assist this modernisation process.' (a statement + the command ‘outline’)
   and
   'Chaos theory provides a radically different paradigm from reductionist science. To what extent can the chaos paradigm be seen as analogous with the emergent postmodern paradigm?' (a statement + the question ‘to what extent?’)

Sometimes essay tasks may contain more than one command or more than one question. In these cases it is important that you identify and respond to each command or question. An example is

Macintyre (1999) asserts that with the realisation that colonisation began with invasion, present day Australians are coming to terms with their past and recognising the need to redefine and reposition Australia in a changing world. Discuss the clash of values and lifestyles of First Australians and Europeans that were evident in the first 50 years after invasion. Explore the ideas of each culture and explain how these could be interpreted from each cultural perspective. In particular consider the relationship of First Australians to the land and the impact of the European land settlement. Finally explore the tensions that surround contemporary efforts to address native title claims . (a statement followed by 5 commands, ‘discuss’, ‘explore’, ‘explain’, ‘consider’ and ‘explore’)
and
What were the origins of deconstruction: what constitutes its critical method and to what extent and for what uses can it be applied to the codes of visual culture ? (4 questions, ‘what were’, ‘what constitutes’, ‘to what extent’ and ‘for what uses’)

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How to do the analysis

There are three steps to analysing the task. They are:

Step 1 - Checking the meaning

Check the meaning of any individual word or words in your essay task that you are unsure about. This usually means looking them up in your Course Notes or text book or in a specialist dictionary (such as a Dictionary of Art or a Dictionary of Accounting) rather than in an English language dictionary.

If your essay task includes a statement or quote you will also need to analyse the statement/quote. Rewrite the statement or quote in your own words. The statement or quote may present a particular opinion on a topic which may be a controversial opinion. Identify the writer’s opinion or position on the topic as you will need to consider that opinion in your essay.

Step 2. - Identifying the three main parts

There are three main parts of the task that you need to identify. These are:

• the directive word or words, such as ‘analyse’, ‘discuss’, ‘compare’. These tell you the kind of activity you will carry out in your essay such as ‘analysing’, ‘discussing’ or ‘comparing’. A list of commonly used task words and an interpretation of what they mean has been included on page 7 of this guide.
  If the essay task is presented as a question it may be useful to use the list on page 6 to convert the question to a command so that you can more easily identify the activity you need to carry out. You can do this by taking the question you have been given and look through the list on page 7 to see which command word has a similar meaning. For example a question ‘what is the difference between’ is similar in meaning to the task word ‘contrast’
• the information words which tell you the broad topic of your essay. You can locate these by taking each directive word and asking the question ‘what?’ after it, for example, ‘analyse what?’ or ‘discuss what?’
• the focus words which tell you the specific aspects of the topic which you need to concentrate on

There will also be two kinds of limits associated with your essay questions. These are the limits set on the length of the essay and the amount of time you have to produce the essay. Essays at university are commonly between 1,000 and 3,000 words in length.

Step 3. - Putting it together

Finally put your analysis together so that you can specify what information you will need to find  and make an initial plan of what you will be writing about.

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Practising analysis

Example 1

Discuss the impact of three new technologies on institutions, the public service and the consumer in Australia

Step 1 Checking the meaning	‘Impact’: which means the influence or effect of one thing on another ‘New technologies’: the meaning would depend on what was covered in the course. As this essay task was set in a communications course it would refer to technologies such as email and mobile phones ‘Institutions’: refers to organisations which have a particular purpose such as education or health ‘Public service’: departments which are set up to administer government policies and laws ‘Consumer’: refers to someone who uses goods or services
Step 2 Identifying the three main parts Directive word/s Information word/s ‘Consider and evaluate’ what? Focus words	‘Discuss’ which means consider and evaluate ‘the impact’ of three new technologies on institutions on the public service on the consumer in Australia
Step 3 Putting it together	You will need to write about: the effect of the first technology 1) on institutions, 2) on the public service and 3) on consumers the effect of the second technology 1) on institutions, 2) on the public service and 3) on consumers the effect of the third technology 1) on institutions, 2) on the public service and 3) on consumers Once you have chosen three specific technologies this initial plan helps you to specify the information that you will need to find.

Example 2

Which set of factors do you consider to be more important in explaining the appalling health status of Aboriginal and Torres strait Islander Australians – socio-economic factors or historical explanations? Is a consideration of these factors the whole story? What other factors might we need to consider? (2000 words, due Sept 24)

Step 1 Checking the meaning	‘factors’ refers to something which contributes to bringing about a particular result ‘health status’ refers to the condition of overall physical and mental health ‘socio-economic’ here you would look through the course materials or a specialist source for the meaning and also to clarify how this differs from an ‘historic’ explanation or approach
Step 2 Identifying the three main parts Directive words     Information words Identify and discuss what? Identify if what? Identify and discuss what? Focus words which is the more important factor these are the only factors other factors	This essay task is presented as a number of questions and it is useful to change the questions to commands so that you can more easily identify the activity you need to carry out . ‘Which set of factors…?’ changes to ‘Identify and discuss…’ ‘Is…the whole story?’ changes to ‘Evaluate if …“ ‘What other…?’ changes to ‘Identify and discuss other…’ Which is the more important factor These are the only factors socio-economic or historical in explaining the health status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders socio-economic and historical factors are the only ones which can explain this health status other explanatory factors, if any, and their importance in explaining the health status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders
Step 3 Putting it together	You will need to find information so you can write about: the state of health among Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. Is it very bad and if so, what evidence is there for this? the socio-economic factors which experts have used to explain this state the historical factors which experts have used to explain this state which of these sets of factors is more important in explaining this state whether experts/researchers in this area have given any factors other than socio-economic or historical to explain this state; what these other factors are and how important they are for the explanation of the health status.

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If you are still unsure how to tackle your essay?

What can you do if you have tried to analyse the question and are still not sure how to tackle the essay?

• Discuss your analysis with your lecturer / tutor.
• Attend a Drop-In session at Learning Connection to discuss your task with a Learning Adviser.

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Analysing exam questions

Analysing questions is also important in exams in order to succeed.  If you do not analyse the exam question you can easily miss the focus of the question and lose valuable marks. Exam essay questions also have task, information and focus words. For example:

Discuss the most important reasons why good listening skills are essential in a business setting.

Step 1 Checking the meaning	‘good listening skills’ – what these skills are and their importance would have been covered in your course. List the skills you can remember on a separate piece of paper. ‘business setting’ – again these would have been covered in your course but might include day-to-day communication in an office setting; meetings; negotiating deals etc.
Step2 Identifying the three main parts Directive words Information ‘Give reasons why’ what? Focus	‘Discuss… reasons why ’ which means ‘give the reasons why’ and also only the most important reasons Good listening skills are essential In a business setting
Step 3 Putting it together	You would need to: identify good listening skills show the positive effects of each of them in business settings show what can go wrong if they are not used in these settings

Analysing questions, whether for an essay or exam, is an important academic skill. Practising and improving your question analysis skills can have a significant positive effect on your assignment and exam results.

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Commonly used task words

Task word	Meaning
analyse	examine closely; examine something in terms of its parts and how they are related to each other
argue	present a case for and/or against something
assess	decide the value of something
compare	discuss two or more things in terms of their similarities and differences
contrast	discuss two or more things, emphasising their differences
criticise	give a judgment about the value of something and support that judgment with evidence
define	make clear what is meant by something; or use a definition or definitions to explore a concept
describe	present a detailed account of something
discuss	consider and offer an interpretation or evaluation of something; or give a judgment on the value of arguments for and against something
enumerate	give an item by item account of something
evaluate	attempt to form a judgment about something
examine	inspect something in detail and investigate the implications
explain	make clear the details of something; or show the reason for, or underlying cause of, or the means by which something occurs
illustrate	offer an example or examples to show how or that something happens, or make concrete a concept by giving examples
interpret	make clear the meaning of something and its implications
justify	give reasons why certain decisions should be made, or certain conclusions reached
outline	go through and identify briefly the main features of something
prove	show by logical argument
review	report the chief facts about something; or offer a criticism of something
summarise	describe something concisely
trace	identify and describe the development or history of something from some point, or from its origin
Adapted from: Marshall, L & Rowland, F 1993, 2nd edn, A guide to learning independently, Longman Cheshire, Milton, Qld. Peters, P 1985, Strategies for student writers, Wiley & Sons, Melbourne .

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Sources:

Hamp-Lyons, L & Heasley, B 1987, Study writing, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Hipp, H, Kokkinn, B & Stevenson, M 1997, Assignment writing at University: the essay, University of South Australia, Adelaide.
Marshall, L & Rowland, F 1993, 2nd edn, A guide to learning independently, Longman Cheshire, Milton, Queensland.
Northedge, A 1997, The good study guide, Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.
Peters, P 1985, Strategies for student writers, Wiley & Sons, Melbourne.

 

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