Identifying what Assignment Titles and Exam Questions are actually
asking you to do
One of the most common mistakes students make when doing written work for formal
assessment is to ignore the instructions given by the assessor in the wording of exam questions
or assignment titles. Thus, the questions might be:
a) Evaluate A. J. P. Taylor's contribution of our understanding of War. or
b) Discuss the relevance of behaviourist psychology to food marketing. or
c) Compare and contrast Darwin's explanation of the origin of species with that of Christian
Fundamentalists.
but the student interprets each of these different instructions as:
List everything you know about - A. J. P. Taylor or Behaviourism or Darwin or whatever.
It is extremely important that you actually answer the question that the assessor has asked; that
you do what the assessor wants you to do. Good answers, that refer to all the right knowledge
or use all of the right techniques and provide the assessor with plenty of evidence that you
understand the material you are using to construct your answer, can be transformed into very
good or excellent answers, and marginal failures into passes if they answer the specific question
that was asked in the way that the question specified. In order to achieve this, you need to be
able to interpret the assessor's instructions correctly. You may find the following list of verbs
that are frequently used in exam questions and assignment titles along with a description of what
(I think) they are asking you to do, helpful. NB This is not an exact science. Different members
of staff may have slightly different interpretations about what they think each of these terms
means. It is always safest to check with each individual assessor, before the assessment takes place.
Define: write down the precise meaning of a word or phrase. If there is more than one
commonly used meaning, you would be expected to refer to them all.
Describe: provide a graphic or detailed account of events.
Criticise: assess or make a judgement on the merit of a theory or opinion or approach to some
activity, description of an event, presentation of facts and the like. You are expected to base your
judgement not simply on personal opinion or prejudice, but on reasoned, logical argument
founded on accepted theory or agreed facts.
Evaluate: express an opinion about the worth or merit of something, explaining , in the process,
the reasoning behind your opinion; the facts that support it; the logic of the arguments upon
which it is based. Where appropriate you would quote supporting arguments from recognised
academic authorities and the like.
Contrast: set two or more ideas, theories or concepts in opposition with each other in order to
highlight the differences between them.
Explain: make explicit or plain, account for or give reasons for reaching, a given conclusion.
Compare: look for similarities and differences between specified concepts, theories, processes
etc. In carrying this out you will be expected to make a judgement between the various ideas and
come to a conclusion about which is preferable.
Interpret or Analyse: make the meaning of something clear and explicit. You would be
expected to assess its value at the same time, basing your judgement not simply on personal
opinion or prejudice, but on reasoned, logical argument founded on accepted theory or agreed
facts.
Discuss: use reasoned argument to examine or investigate a concept, theory, approach etc. In
the process you would be expected to assess the concepts'/theories'/approaches' value or worth,
basing your assessment on reasoned, logical argument founded on accepted theory or agreed
essquest/skills/2600/J. Ramsay
facts. This term is frequently used in questions or titles that appear to contain contradictions or
paradoxes. For example :
'Companies are in business to survive and make profits. If a company can become the largest single supplier in a
market, it can use its power to increase profits by, e.g. increasing prices. This is perfectly rational and desirable
behaviour. Consequently, the activities of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission, which is required to try to
prevent companies gaining significant market power, are undesirable and irrational.'
Discuss the validity of this statement.
In those circumstances you would be expected to sift through data or debate the pros and cons
of different (usually) conflicting theories or ideas.
NB If the question you are working on uses a term that does not appear in the above list you
should be able to find some advice on the Web – search for ‘assessment action verbs’.
Dr. John Ramsay
essquest/skills/2600/J. Ramsay