analysing an assignment question

ANALYSING ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS

School of Information Studies

A five step process ...

Step 5 Determine the limitations

Step 4 Determine the task

Step 3 Identify the focus

Step 2 Identify topics and keywords

Step 1 Read the question

Step 1 Read the question

Some questions are written in such a way that the content and structure is contained within it. Most assignments, however, will require you to analyse and interpret the

question(s) to determine both the required direction and the depth of analysis.

This seems like a logical step but many people do not pay enough attention to this vital task. Read the question a few

times carefully before you start to analyse it and interpret the requirements of the assignment.

Read and think about this question

Write a 2000-word essay evaluating the new and

emerging roles of information professionals in special libraries

in the Asia-Pacific region.

Step 2 Identify keywords and topics

Having read the question, the next step is to underline or

highlight the keywords associated with the topic of the question.

Brainstorm the topic too, so you can determine any synonyms or

other words associated with these keywords.

Identify keywords and topics




Brainstorm keywords

Roles Jobs, careers, profession, tasks, positions, functions, responsibilities and so on

Information professionals

Librarians, records managers, knowledge managers, archivists and so

on

Special libraries

Health libraries, corporate libraries, law libraries and so on

Asia-Pacific Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia and so on

Step 3 Identify the focus

To answer the question successfully, you must centre your attention on the focus of the

assignment. If you don't get the focus right, then you may write a good response about the general topic, but miss actually answering the question.

Having identified the keywords associated with the assignment topic, you should now determine the

actual focus of the assignment question.

Write a 2000-word essay evaluating the new and emerging roles of information professionals in special libraries in the Asia-Pacific region.

In other words, you should NOT write a response that focuses on traditional or historical roles of information professionals in the given region, but rather on thenew and emerging roles of information professionals.

What is our focus?

Step 4 Determine the task

Write a 2000-word essay evaluating the new and emerging roles of information professionals in special libraries in the Asia-Pacific region.

Above you can see that the task in our sample question is to evaluate. To evaluate is to make an appraisal of the worth of something, supported by evidence. Your appraisal should include pros and cons, and can include your own opinion.

What is our task?

Step 5 Determine limitations

Limits are placed on assignments to guide you. It is

important to identify these limitations before you begin working on the assignment

because they will help you to tailor your response.

Common limitations are:

assignment due date or exam time limit word limit format of response (essay, report, etc.) referencing style presentation requirements submission requirements content restrictions such as time

(i.e., since 1990) or context (i.e., in the Asia-Pacific region etc.)

Our limitations are:




Other limitations would be the due date, referencing style, presentation and submission

requirements.

Now put it together ....

analysing an assignment question

Education