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Writer's Studio

Interpreting an Assignment

Even though all writers need to analyze the language of assignments, many writers pay little attention to it. By doing so, they miss opportunities to identify key concepts and relationships and to think critically about them. To help you interpret assignments better this section will help you identify key concepts, commands and questions, and signal words. The last section will help you recognize the purpose of the assignment and to whom you are writing--this will give you some focus so you can give him what he wants.

Circling Key Concepts

This simple technique allows you to do more than just give information about a topic. It will help you subdivide the problem into components and see how they are related. Here's a sample assignment:

Write an essay discussing the reasons why transition from colonial status to independence was more successful in some African countries than in others.

The words in bold are the key concepts that should be circled.

Interpreting commands and questions

Here's a list of several commonly used imperatives:

  • Compare and contrast
  • Explain the causes
  • Define
  • Describe
  • Discuss
  • List
  • Investigate
  • Explore
  • Find
  • Analyze

These words (and others) are commands and should be taken notice of when analyzing an assignment: they tell you what to do.

Another way professors will write assignments is through questions: who, what, when, where, why, or how.

In both these situations, you should analyze the question to determine exactly what it is asking. One way to do this is to rephrase the command sentence into a question and vice versa. For example:

Analyze the opposing arguments concerning the issue of use of the V-chip in households.
Whom do you agree with? Why?

The first sentence of this assignment could be turned into several questions: What are the opposing arguments? Who are on the opposing sides? Are there more than two arguments/views? Why is this issue of concern? How does the V-chip affect each group? etc. The second two questions could also be turned into command statements: Tell where you stand on this issue, support your beliefs, etc.

Identifying Signal Words

Another way to help you understand an assignment is to look for signal words which identify specific kinds of relationships. Here is an extensive list of them:

  • Part/Whole: includes, overlaps, example of, same kind of ______ as, part of, made up of, complementary to
  • List: one, another, besides, also, furthermore, too, more, and, in addition, three things, several, many, a few
  • Time: begins, next, then, from here, soon, shortly, after, meanwhile, later, at last, finally, first, second
  • Comparison/Contrast: similar, like, in the same way, all comparative forms of adjectives and adverbs (e.g., better, worse, faster, more slowly), but, however, nevertheless, yet, on the other hand, other, those, former, latter, different
  • Cause/Effect: because, consequently, for this reason, therefore, on that account, hence, as a result of, so that, since, resulting in
  • Climax: finally, thus, in conclusion, in summary, looking back, all superlative forms of the adjective and adverb (e.g., most, best, worst, least, most important, least important, most quickly)

These words signal relationships between different things; if you are having a hard time interpreting the assignment, circle these connection words and see where they fit on this list (some words were probably left off of this list; use your own discretion as to where those words would or would not fit). That may help.

Once you have interpreted the assignment, or whatever else you are working on, you can use these words to help you express any of these types of relationships in your paper.

Analyzing an Assignments Purpose and Intended Audience

When writing a paper for an academic class, determining the purpose of an assignment may help you focus your ideas more. Here are some simple questions you could ask:

  1. Why was this topic assigned for this course?
  2. How does it fit in with the other readings, lectures, and other paper assignments?
  3. Why did you choose this topic for this course or occasion?

Another way of figuring out the point of your paper is to focus on your audience. Who am I writing to is a good question for you to ask a professor. Most will tell you to write to an informed audience, but others will give you directions to write to the average John walking in Target. Here are some questions to think about when you know who your audience is:

  1. What does my intended reader already know about this problem?
  2. Why does my intended reader need to know about this problem?
  3. What interests does my intended reader share with me regarding this issue?
  4. On what aspects of this problem might my reader disagree with me? Why?
  5. How can I overcome or defuse opposition?
  6. What kind of person do I want to project myself as being? What's my style? Why?