Understanding your assessment question is a key step in creating work that shows your knowledge of the topic and meets your lecturer’s expectations. Getting this part right can really improve your chances of doing well in the unit (in other words, getting good grades)!
In brief, understanding the question involves three steps:
To help break down your task, we recommend using the assessment planner [DOCX, 34kB].
Key concepts are the main ideas or topics in your assessment question. These become the keywords you will use when researching to find useful information.
If your question is specific, you can usually spot the key concepts straight away. If your question is broad or you’re creating your own, you might need to develop your ideas a bit more.
Broader questions give you more freedom to explore areas that interest you. Specific guide you more clearly and tell you what to focus on. Let’s look at some examples:
If your question includes several themes, you might need to do separate searches for each one. You can learn more in the Finding information guide.
If your question is broad, you might not have enough direction to start researching. You will need to developing your ideas to narrow down your topic. For example, searching for “artificial intelligence” will give you too much general information. Your goal is to find a topic that is specific enough to research properly, but not so narrow that there is no information available.
Brainstorming and free writing are useful tools when developing your ideas. If you are stuck, look at the content, theories or concepts you have already covered in your unit. Also check the learning outcomes in your unit outline; your lecturer may expect you to explore those ideas more deeply. The marking rubric might also give you extra clues.
Directive verbs are the words in your assessment question that tell you how to answer and what kind of response is expected.
Here are some common directive verbs and what they mean:
| Directive verb | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Analyse | Look at your topic in detail. Explain the main ideas and how they connect. |
| Comment on | Talk about, explain or give your opinion on something. |
| Compare | Show how things are similar and different. |
| Contrast | Show only the differences. |
| Define | Give the exact meaning. |
| Discuss | Talk about different sides or views of the topic. |
| Evaluate | Show the good and bad points, then give your opinion. |
| Explain | Make something clear and give details. |
| Illustrate | Explain using examples. You might also use diagrams or figures. |
| Interpret | Explain what something means using your own understanding and evidence. |
| Justify | Give reasons and examples to support your opinion. |
| Outline | Provide a general summary of the main ideas. |
| Prove | Use logic and evidence to show something is true. |
| Review | Summarise the literature, and identify and evaluate the main ideas. |
| State | Say the main points clearly. Leave out extra details. |
| Summarise | Give a short version of the main ideas, leaving out minor details and examples. |
| Trace | Show how something has changed or developed over time. |
Limitations and parameters are the rules that guide your assessment. They help you stay focused and make sure you meet the requirements. These might include:
It is important to know what kind of assessment you are doing. All university assessment involve research, using sources, and clearly sharing your ideas, but they are presented in different ways. This can affect how you plan your work.
To learn more about different assessment types (like essays, reports or short answers), visit the Assessment Types section in the Writing guide. If your assessment is a presentation, see the Presentations guide.
Your assessment question will usually tell you what kind of evidence to include. Most of the time, you will need to find scholarly or peer-reviewed journal articles using the Library’s catalogue and databases. The Finding information guide explains how to do this.
Your question may also say how many sources you need. Check for more information in your assessment’s rubric.
The word count affects how many topics you can cover. In essays and reports, each paragraph or section should focus on one idea. Keep this in mind when planning and researching.
The word count calculator can help you figure out how many paragraphs or sections you should include.