How to Answer Assignment Questions Like a Lecturer! 

Introduction

Would you rather use all the time you spend doing an assignment to actually answer the questions that have been asked instead of wasting time on what’s not required in the assignment? Luckily, there is a way to always ensure that you are actually answering the questions asked when doing assignments. Or, if you ever had that feeling that you are not sure if you are doing the right thing whilst working your way through an assignment, this post is also for you too. Following the suggestions in this post will put you in the driving seat when doing assignments.  

The What-to-do Instructions Within the Questions 

In an assignment brief or question paper, you will have general instructions on what to do and how to do it. However, within the assignment question, there are specific what-to-do instructions that give you more clarity and understanding about what should be done practically.

 

This helps you focus better when doing your research. The what-to-do instructions fall into three categories. These are the directive words (which are mostly command words), topic-area words and limiting words.

What are Directive Words? 

Directive words tell you what to do specifically. That is, of the many things that you can do about the assignment topic area, the directive words tell you what to do on the specific assignment occasion. In the example below, the directive words are in red. As you can see, most of the directive words are command words (describe, analyse, explain and evaluate).

 

You have to Choose a specific business and the chosen business should be made obvious. This is because the description and analysis should involve other businesses. You also have to include how the benefits/opportunities helped the businesses improve. Learn more about command words here.

Identifying Topic-area Words 

The topic area words tell you the specific areas to focus on within the topic or themes. Some topics have several areas and some themes can be broad. The topic-area words help you know the parts of the topic or theme to research for the assignment. In the example above, the topic-area words are in green.

 

Of the many marketing areas, the emphasis for this assignment is marketing on the internet. Also, of the many areas within marketing on the internet the focus should be on the 7Ps areas. These are product, price, place, promotion, people, process and physical evidence. Also, for globalisation, these should be internet-marketing-related ones.  

What are Limiting Words? 

The limiting words tell you the scope of the assignment that the topic areas should be applied. In other words, they tell you about the boundaries within which the topic areas should be dealt with in the assignment. In the example above, the limiting words are in blue.

 

For the 7Ps areas researched within internet marketing, the assignment is asking to focus on the benefits and opportunities. Also, amongst the many globalisation challenges, the assignment should focus on the ones related to internet marketing. Of the many areas the business can improve on, the focus of the assignment should be on performance.  

Conclusion

The what-to-do instructions should be used as headings and subheadings in the different parts of the assignment. Dissecting assignment questions using these suggestions may not seem very straightforward initially, but with practice, it will be a game changer. You will be smashing one assignment after the other and on your way to an excellent degree classification once you get the hang of it.

Drop your questions (and thoughts) in the comment box below.