Interpreting the Prompt In-Depth

Introduction

The previous section of this lesson gave you some quick tricks to breaking a part a prompt to make it work for you. If you would like more explanation and tricks to utilizing an assignment sheet, please continue-on with this section.

Tip: Try to look at the question from the point of view of the instructor. Recognize that your instructor has a reason for giving you this assignment and for giving it to you at a particular point in the semester.

• In every assignment, the instructor has a challenge for you. This challenge could be anything from demonstrating an ability to think clearly to demonstrating an ability to use the library.

• See the assignment not as a vague suggestion of what to do but as an opportunity to show that you can handle the course material as directed.

• Paper assignments give you more than a topic to discuss—they ask you to do something with the topic. Keep reminding yourself of that.

• Be careful to avoid the other extreme as well: do not read more into the assignment than what is there.

1. Why did your instructor ask you to do this particular task?

Of course, your instructor has given you an assignment so that they will be able to assess your understanding of the course material and give you an appropriate grade. However, there is more to it than that. Your instructor has tried to design a learning experience of some kind. Your instructor wants you to think about something in a particular way for a particular reason.

If you read the course description at the beginning of your syllabus, review the assigned readings, and consider the assignment itself, you may begin to see the plan, purpose, or approach to the subject matter that your instructor has created for you. If you still aren’t sure of the assignment’s goals, try asking the instructor.

Given your instructor’s efforts, it helps to answer the question: What is my purpose in completing this assignment? Is it to gather research from a variety of outside sources and present a coherent picture? Is it to take material I have been learning in class and apply it to a new situation? Is it to prove a point one way or another?

Key words from the assignment can help you figure this out. Look for key terms in the form of active/action verbs that tell you what to do.

Key Terms: Finding Those Active Verbs

Here are some common key words and definitions to help you think about assignment terms:

More Clues to What Your Purpose Is

As you read the assignment, think about what the teacher does in class:

• What kinds of textbooks or course packet did your instructor choose for the course—ones that provide background information, explain theories or perspectives, or argue a point of view?

• In lecture, does your instructor ask your opinion, try to prove their own point of view, or use keywords that show up again in the assignment?

• What kinds of assignments are typical in this discipline? Social science classes often expect more research. Humanities classes thrive on interpretation and analysis.

• How do the assignments, readings, and lectures work together in the course? Instructors spend time designing courses, sometimes even arguing with their peers about the most effective course materials. Figuring out the overall design to the course will help you understand what each assignment is meant to achieve.

2. Who is your audience?

Now, what about your reader? Most undergraduates think of their audience as the instructor. True, your instructor is a good person to keep in mind as you write. However, for the purposes of a good paper, think of your audience as someone like your friend: smart enough to understand a clear, logical argument, but not someone who already knows exactly what is going on in your particular paper. Remember, even if the instructor knows everything there is to know about your paper topic, they still have to read your paper and assess your understanding. In other words, teach the material to your reader.

Additionally, there are times where your audience is not your instructor at all but someone else. Your assignment sheet will usually give clues if your audience is someone other than your instructor, like your peers, an assemblyperson, a parent, etc.

Aiming a paper at your audience happens in two ways: you make decisions about the tone and the level of information you want to convey.

Aiming a paper at your audience happens in two ways: you make decisions about the tone and the level of information you want to convey.

Tone

Tone means the “voice” of your paper. Should you be chatty, formal, or objective? Usually you will find some happy medium—you do not want to alienate your reader by sounding condescending or superior, but you do not want to, um, like, totally wig on the man, you know?

Eschew ostentatious erudition: some students think the way to sound academic is to use big words. Be careful—you can sound ridiculous, especially if you use the wrong big words.

Level of Information

The level of information you use depends on who you think your audience is. If you imagine your audience as your instructor and she already knows everything you have to say, you may find yourself leaving out key information that can cause your argument to be unconvincing and illogical.

However, you do not have to explain every single word or issue. If you are telling your friend what happened on your favorite science fiction TV show last night, you do not say, “First a dark-haired white man of average height, wearing a suit and carrying a flashlight, walked into the room. Then, a purple alien with fifteen arms and at least three eyes turned around. Then the man smiled slightly. In the background, you could hear a clock ticking. The room was fairly dark and had at least two windows that I saw.” You also do not say, “This guy found some aliens. The end.” Find some balance of useful details that support your main point as to why you are telling your roommate this story.

Use this handout on audience to find a much more detailed explanations of these concepts.

3. What kind of evidence do you need?

There are many kinds of evidence, and what type of evidence will work for your assignment can depend on several factors–the discipline, the parameters of the assignment, and your instructor’s preference. Should you use statistics? Historical examples? Do you need to conduct your own experiment? Can you rely on personal experience? Review this handout on evidence for suggestions on how to use evidence appropriately.

Make sure you are clear about this part of the assignment because your use of evidence will be crucial in writing a successful paper. You are not just learning how to argue in your academic essays; you are learning how to argue with specific types of materials and ideas.

Ask your instructor what counts as acceptable evidence. You can also ask one of our campus librarians for help.

4. What kind of writing style is acceptable?

You cannot always tell from the assignment just what sort of writing style your instructor expects. The instructor may be really laid back in class but still expect you to sound formal in writing. On the other hand, the instructor may be fairly formal in class and ask you to write a reflection paper where you need to use first person (“I,” "me," "myself," etc.) and speak from your own experiences.

Try to avoid false associations of a particular field with a style (“art historians like wacky creativity,” or “political scientists are boring and just give facts”) and look instead to the types of readings you have been given in class. No one expects you to write like Plato—just use the readings as a guide for what is standard or preferable to your instructor. When in doubt, ask your instructor about the level of formality they expect.

No matter what field you are writing for or what facts you are including, write so your reader can understand your main idea. Therefore, make clarity your main goal. For specific help with style, see our handout on style.

5. What are the absolute rules of the paper?

The technical information you are given in an assignment always seems like the easy part. This section can actually give you lots of little hints about approaching the task. Find out if elements such as page length and citation format are negotiable. Some professors do not have strong preferences as long as you are consistent and fully answer the assignment. Some professors are very specific and will deduct big points for deviations.

Tip: Checking an assignment's rubric will help give insight into the strictness of these technical requirements.

Usually, the page length tells you something important: The instructor thinks the size of the paper is appropriate to the assignment’s parameters. In plain English, your instructor is telling you how many pages it should take for you to answer the question as fully as you are expected to. Therefore, if an assignment is two pages long, you cannot pad your paper with examples or reword your main idea several times. Hit your one point early, defend it with the clearest example, and finish quickly. If an assignment is ten pages long, you can be more complex in your main points and examples—and if you can only produce five pages for that assignment, you should seek a campus tutor for help.

It is easy to forget this aim when you are researching and writing; as you become involved in your subject matter, you may become enmeshed in the details and focus on learning or simply telling the information you have found. You need to do more than just repeat what you have read.

Your writing should have a point, and you should be able to say it in a sentence. Sometimes instructors call this sentence a “thesis” or a “claim.”

Therefore, if your instructor tells you to write about some aspect of oral hygiene, you do not want to just list: “First, you brush your teeth with a soft brush and some peanut butter. Then, you floss with unwaxed, bologna-flavored string. Finally, gargle with bourbon.” Instead, you could say, “Of all the oral cleaning methods, sandblasting removes the most plaque. Therefore it should be recommended by the American Dental Association.” Or, “From an aesthetic perspective, moldy teeth can be quite charming. However, their joys are short-lived.”

Convincing the reader of your argument is the goal of academic writing. It doesn’t have to say “argument” anywhere in the assignment for you to need one. Look at the assignment and think about what kind of argument you could make about it instead of just seeing it as a checklist of information you have to present. For help with understanding the role of argument in academic writing, see this handout on argument.