Verbs for your NBPTS writing
Perhaps you remember Bloom’s Taxonomy from college. Six areas of
cognition were identified and descriptors given…those descriptors are in the
form of verbs. Listed on the next page is the taxonomy. Underline the
verbs that would be useful in descriptive writing. Circle the verbs that
would be useful in your analytical writing. Star the verbs that would be
useful in your reflective writing. Add additional verbs to the columns as you
think of them.
Bloom also provided additional cognitive descriptions for each of his levels:
KNOWLEDGE – Involves recognition and recall of facts and the sequence of
events
COMPREHENSION – Involves interpretations, translations, summaries or
paraphrasing of given materials. The person has the ability to describe a
situation in his own words
APPLICATION – Involves the use of material in a situation which is
different from that situation in which it was originally learned
ANALYSIS – Involves separating a complex entity into its parts, drawing
comparisons and relationships between the elements (recognize biases,
another’s point of view, read between the lines to determine an assumption
or hidden meaning)
SYNTHESIS – Involves combining elements to form a new original entity…a
process of working with pieces, parts, elements, etc., and arranging them in a
structure that was not clearly evidenced before.
EVALUATION – Involves acts of decision making, judging, or selecting based
on a given set of criteria, either subjective or objective.
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Knowledge
Define
Memorize
Repeat
Record
List
Recall
Name
Relate
Underline
Recognize
Comprehension
Restate
Discuss
Describe
Explain
Express
Identify
Locate
Report
Review
Tell
Application
Translate
Interpret
Apply
Use
Demonstrate
Dramatize
Practice
Illustrate
Operate
Show
Sketch
Analysis
Distinguish
Analyze
Differentiate
Appraise
Calculate
Experiment
Test/compare
Contrast
Criticize
Diagram
Inspect
Debate
Inventory
Question
Relate
Solve
Examine
Synthesis
Compose
Plan
Propose
Design
Formulate
Arrange
Assemble
Collect
Construct
Create
Set up
Organize
Manage
Prepare
Evaluation
Judge
Appraise
Evaluate
Rate
Compare
Value
Revise
Score
Select
Choose
Assess
Estimate
Measure