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Underlining or highlighting key words is a good technique which you are probably familiar with. The following is an example of an IELTS-type essay question where the most important words have been highlighted (you may find a similar question in the TOEFL test):

Glossary

irrelevant ADJ If you describe something such as a fact or remark as irrelevant, you mean that it is not connected with what you are discussing or dealing with.

Learning to manage money is one of the key aspects of adult life.

How in your view can individuals best learn to manage their money?

(Source: Collins, Writing for IELTS, 2011)

There is usually more information in the question than you think: it can direct you both in terms of structure and content. Even a single word in the question can give you a useful clue about what you are expected to write in your essay. For example, look at the following essay title:

Does the media always misrepresent minority groups?

This question tells you that the media does misrepresent minority groups, but you will still have to briefly explain this in your essay, with examples. The question is whether this is always the case, i.e. whether there are examples you can give where the media represents minority groups correctly. You will also have to try and explain why this is or is not the case.

When the essay question is very long however, you should also analyse the structure of the question to make sure you give a full answer without including irrelevant information.

You could follow these steps:

1 Look for the topic.

2 Use your knowledge of language to find all areas and make a note of the instruction words.

3 Use your knowledge of language to decide what should be included in your answer and what should be excluded.

Let’s apply this to the following question.

Discuss the factors that give rise to parallel trade and evaluate how much of a problem this is for international marketers. Give examples of what a firm can do to minimize the problem.

1 The topic is ‘parallel trade’.

2 There are two sentences. The first sentence has two parts: ‘Discuss the factors … AND evaluate …’. The second sentence asks you to ‘give examples’. In total there are three parts.

3 

Part	Instruction	What I should do
1	Discuss the factors that give rise to parallel trade.	define parallel tradestate and describe the different causes of (what ‘gives rise to’) parallel trade
2	Evaluate how much of a problem this is for international marketers.	introduce international marketing (what it is)answer the questions: Is parallel trade a problem for international marketing? How much (= in which ways)? How important is this problem and why? (‘evaluate’ refers to importance and reasons)
3	Give examples of what a firm can do to minimize the problem.	answer the question: what can be done to reduce the problem of parallel trade?give examples of actions that firms have taken (with positive results) or give suggestions about what they could do and say why this would work

Note that your knowledge of language helps you understand the question: ‘this’ refers to ‘parallel trade’, and ‘a’ in the second sentence tells you that you do not have to give examples of one specific firm, as ‘a’ here means ‘any’.

The word ‘and’ is very important. Normally it means that you will need to look at two areas separately. Occasionally you could look at both areas at the same time.

Exercise 3

Analyse the following essay question using steps a, b and c. Label your answers a, b and c, writing step c in a table as shown above.

What are the most important key urban planning theories of the post-war period? Outline in summary their key characteristics. With reference to one of these theories, explain how they help us understand the nature of planning practice.

Tip

 Increase your knowledge of language: get into the habit of observing the way academic language is used by others, and think about the meaning of words and phrases in their context.

The next exercise shows you how, by comparing phrases in different contexts, you can work out the meaning.

Exercise 4

Look at the example essay titles and work out the meaning of the highlighted word or phrase. Choose the correct multiple-choice option.

1

Why, when Britain has one of the richest economies, does homelessness still occur?

‘when’ here means:

1 at a certain time

2 at the same time

3 despite the fact that

4 only if

2

How is local government financed at present and how, if at all, should that financial system be reformed? Discuss.

‘if at all’ suggests:

1 we need to take everything into consideration

2 or perhaps this is not the case

3 if not

4 in your opinion

There are support structures in place at university. You will probably be given the name of a personal tutor, who you can see for advice. Moreover, it is unlikely that you will be given very difficult titles to start with – the first essays will probably require a relatively easy content and structure in comparison to the ones you have to write later in the academic year. You are likely to get a number of titles to choose from, and the ones in the first semester may ask you to ‘describe’, or ‘explain’, before you are asked later on to carry out more difficult tasks, such as ‘analyse’ or ‘evaluate’. The required essay length will probably also be relatively short to start with.

Remember that it is perfectly acceptable to ask the tutor who set the question if you have understood it correctly. You will, however, need to show that you have put effort into interpreting the question.

Exercise 5

Look at the notes made by a student about an essay question. Put if you think he is right about it, if you disagree, and ‘?’ if you think the student might have misunderstood something. Use a dictionary to help you.

An appreciation of politics is essential to understand the opportunities for and limitations on development.

Analyse this statement with reference to a selected country and by reflecting on development theory and thinkers.

This is my understanding. The question asks me to:
1 Give an idea of how development and politics are related.(in general, probably in the introduction)
2 State what opportunities for development come from politics.(reference to my selected country, i.e. China, with the supporting development theory and/or thinkers)
3 State what constraints for development come from politics.(reference to my selected country, i.e. China, with the supporting development theory and/or thinkers)
‘appreciation of politics’: I think I should look at the importance of politics in order to relate it to the development.(somehow I wonder if there is any further meaning than that or how I can incorporate the appreciation of politics into my answers)
The question says theory and thinker. For the thinker part: in my understanding, a thinker is a person that states his/her idea about certain topics. So in this case, I can use his/her opinion and thought to support my point. It does not have to be theory related.

Tip

 You will have to make many decisions about whether to include something in your essay or to leave it out, but you can work out the answer: remind yourself of the purpose of essays in general, and go back to your analysis of your specific question.