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Analyse the task

 

Read and analyse the essay question

Carefully read and analyse the essay question and focus on key words. There are two types of key words to look for.

  1. Words that tell you WHAT the topic is.
  2. Words that tell you HOW to write the essay. This includes the type of essay (argue, discuss, describe etc.) and how many parts there are to the essay (First…then…finally…).

Look at the example below. Notice how the content words outline the topic.

Content words. See link below for long description

Discuss the [content words: effects of long term poverty on health outcomes in Australia] and suggest strategies to address these issues.

Notice how the instructional words explain how to write the essay

Instructional words. See link below for long description

[instructional word: Discuss] the effects of long term poverty on health outcomes in Australia and [instructional word: suggest strategies] to address these issues.

What does this mean?

You need to write this essay in two parts.

Part 1
Present an argument by discussing the effects of long-term poverty.

Part 2
Suggest possible solutions.

The next step is to rewrite the task in your own words.

Example 2 - Rewrite the Task

Discuss the effects of long term poverty on the health outcomes in Australia and suggest strategies to address these issues.

Instructional words
Content words

[instructional word: Discuss] the [content words: effects of long term poverty] on the [content words: health outcomes in Australia] and [instructional word: suggest] strategies to [instructional word: address] these issues.