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Sometimes set essay questions can be difficult to interpret. You may not know exactly what you are expected to do. However, if you break the question down into parts, you will find it easier to answer.

Essay questions can generally be divided into two parts:

Glossary

trait A trait is a particular characteristic, quality, or tendency that someone or something has.

1The topic – this tells you the general area of your research.

2The focus – this tells you what you need to find out about the topic.

It is important to pay careful attention to the focus of the essay question because this indicates the boundaries of your research. The question ‘Is generosity an innate human trait?’ limits your discussion to the issue of whether human beings are generous by nature. You should not be tempted to discuss at length other issues such as whether generosity is morally good or bad.

Glossary

boundaries The boundaries of something such as a subject or activity are the limits that people think that it has.

Notice also that the question requires you to focus on generosity in humans. You may find it useful to make comparisons, for example to behaviour in animals. However, you should keep your focus on human beings.

Once you understand the topic and focus, you need to think about how you are expected to approach the question, that is, what you need to do to answer it.

Exercise 2

Choose the option a, b or c which best describes how you should approach the question.

Is generosity an innate human trait?

a You should answer ‘yes, it is’ or ‘no, it isn’t’ and give your reasons.

b You should evaluate the arguments for and against the notion that generosity is an innate hum an trait and come to a conclusion expressing your opinion.

c You should write everything that you have been able to find out about generosity in human beings.