In this section

Specific Wording

Here is a list of words commonly found in essay questions. You cannot answer a question correctly if you do not understand what is being asked of you.


Analyze

  • Break the topic into its key parts, then discuss each part separately
  • Provide your opinion on the strengths and weaknesses of each part, or how they're related


Compare

  • Identify the similarities and differences between two or more items


Contrast

  • Focus on the differences between two or more items
  • Particularly bold differences and clashing points of view


Criticize

  • Criticism often involves analysis
  • Judge the correctness or merit of the items you are to address
  • What are their limitations and benefits?
  • Positives and negatives?
  • Evaluate the comparative worth of these items


Define

  • Provide the exact meaning of an item
  • Be specific to the course or subject
  • Definitions are generally short and concise, emphasizing what is important


Describe

  • Provide a detailed account (the whole picture)
  • List characteristics, all parts (in proper sequence if there is one)
  • Give detail (who, what, when and where)
  • This is a narrative account


Discuss

  • Break apart (analyze) and evaluate each part’s strengths and weaknesses
  • Write about any conflict
  • Compare and contrast these parts
  • Be specific (provide examples)


Document

  • Support your arguments with scholarly research


Explain

  • Make the meaning of an item clear
  • Answer the “why” and “how”
  • Show how a concept is developed
  • Give the reasons for an event


Illustrate

  • Provide specific examples


Interpret

  • Provide your own conclusion and how you got there
  • Your own personal understanding of an item(s)


Outline

  • Take an idea, and provide the sub-ideas, main points or main examples of that idea
  • This is an organized description
  • No minor points, only the essential
  • Sequence could be important, so keep in mind the order in which you address these points


Prove

  • Provide facts from class or your textbooks
  • Use evidence, examples and arguments to show something is true


Relate

  • Provide connections and associations between items
  • Be descriptive


Review

  • Analyze the major points of an item
  • This is an overview (summary) of these points
  • Keep in mind that sequence could be important


State

  • Explain simply and precisely
  • No need for detail or examples
  • Be precise


Summarize

  • A brief, condensed account of important ideas
  • Avoid filler with unnecessary details


Support

  • Back your ideas with arguments, evidence and logical reasoning


Trace

  • Provide the order or progress of an event
  • You will show how something came to be, often by addressing its cause and the effects of this cause

 

Sources:
Carter, Carol, Joyce Bishop, Sarah Lyman Kravits. Keys to Effective Learning. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 1998.
Cuseo, Joseph B, Aaron Thompson, Michele Campagna, Viki Sox Fecas. Thriving in College and Beyond: Research-Based Strategies for Academic Success and Personal Development. Dubuque: Kendall Hunt Publishing Company, 2016.
Ellis, Dave. Becoming a Master Student. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006