what does understanding the assignment mean

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2 What Does the Professor Want? Understanding the Assignment

Writing for whom writing for what.

The first principle of good communication is knowing your audience . This is where writing papers for class gets kind of weird. As Peter Elbow explains: [1]

When you write for a teacher you are usually swimming against the stream of natural communication. The natural direction of communication is to explain what you understand to someone who doesn’t understand it. But in writing an essay for a teacher your task is usually to explain what you are still engaged in trying to understand to someone who understands it better.

Often when you write for an audience of one, you write a letter or email. But college papers aren’t written like letters; they’re written like articles for a hypothetical group of readers that you don’t actually know much about. There’s a fundamental mismatch between the real-life audience and the form your writing takes. It’s kind of bizarre, really.

It helps to remember the key tenet of the university model: you’re a junior scholar joining the academic community. Academic papers, in which scholars report the results of their research and thinking to one another, are the lifeblood of the scholarly world, carrying useful ideas and information to all parts of the academic corpus. Unless there is a particular audience specified in the assignment, you would do well to imagine yourself writing for a group of peers who have some introductory knowledge of the field but are unfamiliar with the specific topic you’re discussing. Imagine them being interested in your topic but also busy; try to write something that is well worth your readers’ time. Keeping an audience like this in mind will help you distinguish common knowledge in the field from that which must be defined and explained in your paper. Understanding your audience like this also resolve the audience mismatch that Elbow describes. As he notes, “You don’t write to teachers, you write for them.” [2]

Another basic tenet of good communication is clarifying the purpose of the communication and letting that purpose shape your decisions. Your professor wants to see you work through complex ideas and deepen your knowledge through the process of producing the paper. Each assignment—be it an argumentative paper, reaction paper, reflective paper, lab report, discussion question, blog post, essay exam, project proposal, or what have you—is ultimately about your learning. To succeed with writing assignments (and benefit from them) you first have to understand their learning-related purposes. As you write for the hypothetical audience of peer junior scholars, you’re demonstrating to your professor how far you’ve gotten in analyzing your topic.

Don’t be scared whenever you are given an assignment. Professors know what it was like to be in college and write all kinds of papers. They aren’t trying to make your lives difficult, but it is their jobs to make us think and ponder about many things. Take your time and enjoy the paper. Make sure you answer the question being asked rather than rant on about something that is irrelevant to the prompt.

Timothée Pizarro

Professors don’t assign writing lightly. Grading student writing is generally the hardest, most intensive work instructors do. [3] With every assignment they give you, professors assign themselves many, many hours of demanding and tedious work that has to be completed while they are also preparing for each class meeting, advancing their scholarly and creative work, advising students, and serving on committees. Often, they’re grading your papers on evenings and weekends because the conventional work day is already saturated with other obligations. You would do well to approach every assignment by putting yourself in the shoes of your instructor and asking yourself, “Why did she give me this assignment? How does it fit into the learning goals of the course? Why is this question/topic/problem so important to my professor that he is willing to spend evenings and weekends reading and commenting on several dozen novice papers on it?”

As I briefly discussed in Chapter 1 , most instructors do a lot to make their pedagogical goals and expectations transparent to students: they explain the course learning goals associated with assignments, provide grading rubrics in advance, and describe several strategies for succeeding. Other professors … not so much. Some students perceive more open-ended assignments as evidence of a lazy, uncaring, or even incompetent instructor. Not so fast! Professors certainly vary in the quantity and specificity of the guidelines and suggestions they distribute with each writing assignment. Some professors make a point to give very few parameters about an assignment—perhaps just a topic and a length requirement—and they likely have some good reasons for doing so. Here are some possible reasons:

They figured it out themselves when they were students . Unsurprisingly, your instructors were generally successful students who relished the culture and traditions of higher education so much that they strove to build an academic career. The current emphasis on student-centered instruction is relatively recent; your instructors much more often had professors who adhered to the classic model of college instruction: they gave lectures together with, perhaps, one or two exams or papers. Students were on their own to learn the lingo and conventions of each field, to identify the key concepts and ideas within readings and lectures, and to sleuth out instructors’ expectations for written work. Learning goals, rubrics, quizzes, and preparatory assignments were generally rare.
They think figuring it out yourself is good for you . Because your professors by and large succeeded in a much less supportive environment , they appreciate how learning to thrive in those conditions gave them life-long problem-solving skills. Many think you should be able to figure it out yourself and that it would be good practice for you to do so. Even those who do include a lot of guidance with writing assignments sometimes worry that they’re depriving you of an important personal and intellectual challenge. Figuring out unspoken expectations is a valuable skill in itself.
They’re egg-heads . As I explained in Chapter 1 , many of your instructors have been so immersed in their fields that they may struggle to remember what it was like to encounter a wholly new discipline for the first time. The assumptions, practices, and culture of their disciplines are like the air they breathe; so much so that it is hard to describe to novices. They may assume that a verb like “analyze” is self-evident, forgetting that it can mean very different things in different fields. As a student, you voluntarily came to study with the scholars, artists, and writers at your institution. Rightly or wrongly, the burden is ultimately on you to meet them where they are.
Professors value academic freedom ; that is, they firmly believe that their high-level expertise in their fields grants them the privilege of deciding what is important to focus on and how to approach it. As I also explain in Chapter 1 , college professors differ in this way from high school teachers who are usually obligated to address a defined curriculum. Professors are often extremely wary of anything that seems to threaten academic freedom . Some see specified learning goals and standardized rubrics as the first step in a process that would strip higher education of its independence, scholarly innovation, and sense of discovery. While a standardized set of expectations and practices might make it easier to earn a degree, it’s also good to consider the benefits of the more flexible and diversified model.

It is understandably frustrating when you feel you don’t know how to direct your efforts to succeed with an assignment. However, except for rare egregious situations, you would do well to assume the best of your instructor and to appreciate the diversity of learning opportunities you have access to in college. Like one first-year student told Keith Hjortshoj, [4] “I think that every course, every assignment, is a different little puzzle I have to solve. What do I need to do here? When do I need to do it, and how long will it take? What does this teacher expect of me?” The transparency that you get from some professors—along with guides like this one—will be a big help to you in situations where you have to be scrappier and more pro-active, piecing together the clues you get from your professors, the readings, and other course documents.

The prompt: what does “analyze” mean anyway?

Often, the handout or other written text explaining the assignment—what professors call the assignment prompt —will explain the purpose of the assignment, the required parameters (length, number and type of sources, referencing style, etc.), and the criteria for evaluation. Sometimes, though—especially when you are new to a field—you will encounter the baffling situation in which you comprehend every single sentence in the prompt but still have absolutely no idea how to approach the assignment. No one is doing anything wrong in a situation like that. It just means that further discussion of the assignment is in order. Here are some tips:

Focus on the verbs . Look for verbs like “compare,” “explain,” “justify,” “reflect” or the all-purpose “analyze.” You’re not just producing a paper as an artifact; you’re conveying, in written communication, some intellectual work you have done. So the question is, what kind of thinking are you supposed to do to deepen your learning?
Put the assignment in context . Many professors think in terms of assignment sequences . For example, a social science professor may ask you to write about a controversial issue three times: first, arguing for one side of the debate; second, arguing for another; and finally, from a more comprehensive and nuanced perspective, incorporating text produced in the first two assignments. A sequence like that is designed to help you think through a complex issue. Another common one is a scaffolded research paper sequence: you first propose a topic, then prepare an annotated bibliography, then a first draft, then a final draft, and, perhaps, a reflective paper. The preparatory assignments help ensure that you’re on the right track, beginning the research process long before the final due date, and taking the time to consider recasting your thesis, finding additional sources, or reorganizing your discussion. [5] If the assignment isn’t part of a sequence, think about where it falls in the semester, and how it relates to readings and other assignments. Are there headings on the syllabus that indicate larger units of material? For example, if you see that a paper comes at the end of a three-week unit on the role of the Internet in organizational behavior, then your professor likely wants you to synthesize that material in your own way. You should also check your notes and online course resources for any other guidelines about the workflow. Maybe you got a rubric a couple weeks ago and forgot about it. Maybe your instructor posted a link about “how to make an annotated bibliography” but then forgot to mention it in class.
Try a free-write . When I hand out an assignment, I often ask students to do a five-minute or ten-minute free-write. A free-write is when you just write, without stopping, for a set period of time. That doesn’t sound very “free;” it actually sounds kind of coerced. The “free” part is what you write—it can be whatever comes to mind. Professional writers use free-writing to get started on a challenging (or distasteful) writing task or to overcome writers block or a powerful urge to procrastinate. The idea is that if you just make yourself write, you can’t help but produce some kind of useful nugget. Thus, even if the first eight sentences of your free write are all variations on “I don’t understand this” or “I’d really rather be doing something else,” eventually you’ll write something like “I guess the main point of this is …” and—booyah!—you’re off and running. As an instructor, I’ve found that asking students to do a brief free-write right after I hand out an assignment generates useful clarification questions. If your instructor doesn’t make time for that in class, a quick free-write on your own will quickly reveal whether you need clarification about the assignment and, often, what questions to ask.
Ask for clarification the right way . Even the most skillfully crafted assignments may need some verbal clarification, especially because students’ familiarity with the field can vary enormously. Asking for clarification is a good thing. Be aware, though, that instructors get frustrated when they perceive that students want to skip doing their own thinking and instead receive an exact recipe for an A paper. Go ahead and ask for clarification, but try to convey that you want to learn and you’re ready to work.In general, avoid starting a question with “Do we have to …” because I can guarantee that your instructor is thinking, “You don’t have to do crap. You’re an adult. You chose college. You chose this class. You’re free to exercise your right to fail.” Similarly, avoid asking the professor about what he or she “wants.” You’re not performing some service for the professor when you write a paper. What they “want” is for you to really think about the material.

Rubrics as road maps

If a professor provides a grading rubric with an assignment prompt, thank your lucky stars (and your professor). If the professor took the trouble to prepare and distribute it, you can be sure that he or she will use it to grade your paper. He or she may not go over it in class, but it’s the clearest possible statement of what the professor is looking for in the paper. If it’s wordy, it may seem like those online “terms and conditions” that we routinely accept without reading. But you really should read it over carefully before you begin and again as your work progresses. A lot of rubrics do have some useful specifics. Mine, for example, often contain phrases like “makes at least six error-free connections to concepts or ideas from the course,” or “gives thorough consideration to at least one plausible counter-argument.” Even less specific criteria (such as “incorporates course concepts” and “considers counter-arguments”) will tell you how you should be spending your writing time.

Even the best rubrics aren’t completely transparent. They simply can’t be. Take, for example, the AAC&U rubric discussed in Chapter 1 . It has been drafted and repeatedly revised by a multidisciplinary expert panel and tested multiple times on sample student work to ensure reliability. But it is still seems kind of vague. What is the real difference between “demonstrating a thorough understanding of context, audience, and purpose” and “demonstrating adequate consideration” of the same? It depends on the specific context. So how can you know whether you’ve done that? A big part of what you’re learning, through feedback from your professors, is to judge the quality of your writing for yourself. Your future bosses are counting on that. At this point, it is better to think of rubrics as roadmaps, displaying your destination, rather than a GPS system directing every move you make.

Behind any rubric is the essential goal of higher education: helping you take charge of your own learning, which means writing like an independently motivated scholar. Are you tasked with proposing a research paper topic? Don’t just tell the professor what you want to do, convince him or her of the salience of your topic, as if you were a scholar seeking grant money. Is it a reflection paper? Then outline both the insights you’ve gained and the intriguing questions that remain, as a scholar would. Are you writing a thesis-driven analytical paper? Then apply the concepts you’ve learned to a new problem or situation. Write as if your scholarly peers around the country are eagerly awaiting your unique insights. Descriptors like “thoroughness” or “mastery” or “detailed attention” convey the vision of student writers making the time and rigorous mental effort to offer something new to the ongoing, multi-stranded academic conversation. What your professor wants, in short, is critical thinking.

What’s critical about critical thinking?

Critical thinking is one of those terms that has been used so often and in so many different ways that if often seems meaningless. It also makes one wonder, is there such a thing as uncritical thinking? If you aren’t thinking critically, then are you even thinking?

Despite the prevalent ambiguities, critical thinking actually does mean something. The Association of American Colleges and Universities usefully defines it as “a habit of mind characterized by the comprehensive exploration of issues, ideas, artifacts, and events before accepting or formulating an opinion or conclusion.” [6]

That definition aligns with the best description of critical thinking I ever heard; it came from my junior high art teacher, Joe Bolger. [7] He once asked us, “What color is the ceiling?” In that withering tween tone, we reluctantly replied, “Whiiiite.” He then asked, “What color is it really?” We deigned to aim our pre-adolescent eyes upwards, and eventually began to offer more accurate answers: “Ivory?” “Yellow-ish tan.” “It’s grey in that corner.” After finally getting a few thoughtful responses, Mr. Bolger said something like, “Making good art is about drawing what you see, not what you think you’re supposed to see.” The AAC&U definition, above, essentially amounts to the same thing: taking a good look and deciding what you really think rather than relying on the first idea or assumption that comes to mind.

The critical thinking rubric produced by the AAC&U describes the relevant activities of critical thinking in more detail. To think critically, one must …

(a) “clearly state and comprehensively describe the issue or problem”,

(b) “independently interpret and evaluate sources”,

(c) “thoroughly analyze assumptions behind and context of your own or others’ ideas”,

(d) “argue a complex position and one that takes counter-arguments into account,” and

(e) “arrive at logical and well informed conclusions”. [8]

While you are probably used to providing some evidence for your claims, you can see that college-level expectations go quite a bit further. When professors assign an analytical paper, they don’t just want you to formulate a plausible-sounding argument. They want you to dig into the evidence, think hard about unspoken assumptions and the influence of context, and then explain what you really think and why.

Interestingly, the AAC&U defines critical thinking as a “habit of mind” rather than a discrete achievement. And there are at least two reasons to see critical thinking as a craft or art to pursue rather than a task to check off. First, the more you think critically, the better you get at it . As you get more and more practice in closely examining claims, their underlying logic, and alternative perspectives on the issue, it’ll begin to feel automatic. You’ll no longer make or accept claims that begin with “Everyone knows that …” or end with “That’s just human nature.” Second, just as artists and craftspersons hone their skills over a lifetime, learners continually expand their critical thinking capacities, both through the feedback they get from others and their own reflections . Artists of all kinds find satisfaction in continually seeking greater challenges. Continual reflection and improvement is part of the craft.

As soon as I see the phrase “critical thinking,” the first thing I think is more work . It always sounds as if you’re going to have to think harder and longer. But I think the AAC&U’s definition is on point, critical thinking is a habit. Seeing that phrase shouldn’t be a scary thing because by this point in many people’s college career this is an automatic response. I never expect an answer to a question to be in the text; by now I realize that my professors want to know what I have to say about something or what I have learned. In a paper or essay, the three-step thesis process explained in Chapter 3 is a tool that will help you get this information across. While you’re doing the hard work (the thinking part), this formula offers you a way to clearly state your position on a subject. It’s as simple as: make a general statement, make an arguable statement, and finally, say why it is important. This is my rule of thumb, and I would not want to start a thesis-driven paper any other way!

Critical thinking is hard work. Even those who actively choose to do it experience it as tedious, difficult, and sometimes surprisingly emotional. Nobel-prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman explains that our brains aren’t designed to think; rather, they’re designed to save us from having to think. [9] Our brains are great at developing routines and repertoires that enable us to accomplish fairly complex tasks like driving cars, choosing groceries, and having a conversation without thinking consciously and thoroughly about every move we make. Kahneman calls this “fast thinking.” “Slow thinking,” which is deliberate and painstaking, is something our brains seek to avoid. That built-in tendency can lead us astray. Kahneman and his colleagues often used problems like this one in experiments to gauge how people used fast and slow thinking in different contexts: [10]

A bat and ball cost $1.10.

The bat costs one dollar more than the ball.

How much does the ball cost?

Most people automatically say the ball costs $0.10. However, if the bat costs $1 more, than the bat would cost $1.10 leading to the incorrect total of $1.20. The ball costs $0.05. Kahneman notes, “Many thousands of university students have answered the bat-and-ball puzzle, and the results are shocking. More than 50% of students at Harvard, MIT, and Princeton gave the intuitive—incorrect—answer.” These and other results confirm that “many people are overconfident, prone to place too much faith in their intuitions.” [11] Thinking critically—thoroughly questioning your immediate intuitive responses—is difficult work, but every organization and business in the world needs people who can do that effectively. Some students assume that an unpleasant critical thinking experience means that they’re either doing something wrong or that it’s an inherently uninteresting (and oppressive) activity. While we all relish those times when we’re pleasantly absorbed in a complex activity (what psychologist Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi calls “flow” [12] ), the more tedious experiences can also bring satisfaction, sort of like a good work-out.

Critical thinking can also be emotionally challenging, researchers have found. Facing a new realm of uncertainty and contradiction without relying on familiar assumptions is inherently anxiety-provoking because when you’re doing it, you are, by definition, incompetent. Recent research has highlighted that both children and adults need to be able to regulate their own emotions in order to cope with the challenges of building competence in a new area. [13] The kind of critical thinking your professors are looking for—that is, pursuing a comprehensive, multi-faceted exploration in order to arrive at an arguable, nuanced argument—is inevitably a struggle and it may be an emotional one. Your best bet is to find ways to make those processes as efficient, pleasant, and effective as you can .

The thing no one tells you when you get to college is that critical thinking papers are professors’ favorites. College is all about learning how to think individual thoughts so you’ll have to do quite a few of them. Have no fear though; they do get easier with time. The first step? Think about what you want to focus on in the paper (aka your thesis) and go with it.

Kaethe Leonard

As Chapter 1 explains, the demands students face are not at all unique to their academic pursuits. Professional working roles demand critical thinking, as 81% of major employers reported in an AAC&U-commissioned survey , [14] and it’s pretty easy to imagine how critical thinking helps one make much better decisions in all aspects of life. Embrace it. And just as athletes, artists, and writers sustain their energy and inspiration for hard work by interacting with others who share these passions, look to others in the scholarly community—your professors and fellow students—to keep yourself engaged in these ongoing intellectual challenges. While writing time is often solitary, it’s meant to plug you into a vibrant academic community. What your professors want, overall, is for you to join them in asking and pursuing important questions about the natural, social, and creative worlds.

Other resources

This website from the Capital Community College Foundation has some good advice about overcoming writer’s block. And student contributor Aly Button recommends this funny clip from SpongeBob Squarepants .
The Foundation for Critical Thinking maintains a website with many useful articles and tools.
The Online Writing Laboratory (OWL) at Purdue University is a wonderful set of resources for every aspect of college writing. Especially germane to this chapter is this summary of the most common types of writing assignments.
This website , BrainBashers.com offers logic puzzles and other brain-teasers for your entertainment.
Free-write on an assignment prompt. If you have one, do that one. If not, here’s one to practice with:A. “Please write a five-page paper analyzing the controversy surrounding genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the food supply.”B. What clarification questions would you like to ask your professor? What additional background knowledge do you need to deeply understand the topic? What are some starter ideas that could lead to a good thesis and intriguing argument?
Find a couple of sample student papers from online paper mills such as this one (Google “free college papers”) and journals featuring excellent undergraduate writing (such as and prize-winning undergraduate papers (such as these from the Norton Writers Prize ), and use the AAC&U rubric on critical thinking to evaluate them. Which descriptor in each row most closely fits the paper?
Peter Elbow, Writing With Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process (Oxford University Press, 1981), 219. ↵
Ibid., 220. ↵
A lot of professors joke, “I teach for free. They pay me to grade.” ↵
Keith Hjortshoj, The Transition to College Writing , 2nd Edition (New York: Norton, 2009), 4. ↵
Most professors are perpetually frustrated with the “one-and-done” attitude that most students bring to their work, and some sequences are specifically designed to force you to really rethink your conclusions. ↵
Terrel Rhodes, ed., Assessing Outcomes and Improving Achievement: Tips and Tools for Using Rubrics (Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities, 2010). ↵
Thank you, Mr. Bolger! ↵
Ibid. ↵
Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011). ↵
Ibid., 44. ↵
Ibid., 45. ↵
Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (New York: Harper & Row, 1990). ↵
Rosen, Jeffrey A., Elizabeth J. Glennie, Ben W. Dalton, Jean M. Lennon, and Robert N. Bozick. Noncognitive Skills in the Classroom: New Perspectives on Educational Research . RTI International. PO Box 12194, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2194, 2010. ↵
Hart Research Associates, Raising the Bar , 9. ↵

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Understood the Assignment

“Understood the assignment" is a phrase that is used to acknowledge someone who has done an exceptional job or exceeded expectations.

What does "Understood the Assignment" mean on social media?

The phrase has become popular on social media and in popular culture and is often used to praise someone who is giving it their all whether that’s with their achievements, what they’re wearing or what they’re doing more generally.

For example, if someone shows up to the party in a great outfit in this context, saying they “Understood the assignment” means that the person is at the top of their game and pulled up in a great look.

The phrase can also be used sarcastically to criticize someone who has failed to meet expectations or has done a poor job. Overall, "Understood the assignment" is a phrase that is used to acknowledge someone's efforts or accomplishments and has become a popular way to express praise or criticism in slang.

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NCI LIBRARY

Academic writing skills guide: understanding assignments.

Key Features of Academic Writing
The Writing Process
Understanding Assignments
Brainstorming Techniques
Planning Your Assignments
Thesis Statements
Writing Drafts
Structuring Your Assignment
How to Deal With Writer's Block
Using Paragraphs
Conclusions
Introductions
Revising & Editing
Proofreading
Grammar & Punctuation
Reporting Verbs
Signposting, Transitions & Linking Words/Phrases
Using Lecturers' Feedback

Below is a list of interpretations for some of the more common directive/instructional words. These interpretations are intended as a guide only but should help you gain a better understanding of what is required when they are used.

Communications from the Library: Please note all communications from the library, concerning renewal of books, overdue books and reservations will be sent to your NCI student email account.

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Next: Brainstorming Techniques >>
Last Updated: Apr 23, 2024 1:31 PM
URL: https://libguides.ncirl.ie/academic_writing_skills

The Research and Writing Process: A Step-by-Step Guide: Understand the Assignment

Understand the Assignment
Select a Topic
Write Your Thesis
Finding Keywords
Search Strategies
Locating Sources
Evaluate Those Sources
Draft an Outline of Your Paper
Begin Writing
Proofread Your Paper
Cite Your Sources
Paraphrasing

The first step in any successful college writing venture is understanding the assignment. While this sounds like a simple task, it can be a tough one. This guide will help you unravel your assignment and begin to craft an effective response. Much of the following advice will involve translating typical assignment terms and practices into meaningful clues to the type of writing your instructor expects.

Before selecting a topic or starting your research, make sure you understand your assignment and its requirements. Consider the following:

Have you been assigned a topic or can you pick your own?
How many pages/words do you need to write? How long is your presentation?
Do you need to include specific types of sources? (e.g. scholarly journal, book, etc.)
When is the assignment due? How much time do you have to research?
Is currency of information important?

When in doubt, consult with your instructor.

Understanding Your Assignment

Ask yourself a few basic questions as you read and jot down the answers on the assignment sheet. Click each question for more detail.

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

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

What kinds of textbooks or coursepack 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 her 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.

Who is your audience?

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. But you do not have to explain every single word or issue. If you are telling your roommate 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 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. The grim truth With a few exceptions (including some lab and ethnography reports), you are probably being asked to make an argument. You must convince your audience. 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.” So, 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 our handout on argument.

What kind of evidence do you need to support your ideas?

Einstein proof—a famous (or not so famous) smart person agrees with you or says something you can use to back up your point. This kind of evidence can come from course materials or outside research. Be sure to cite these scholars as sources (see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial).
Case proof—a case in which your point works or the other person’s point does not work to demonstrate your idea. These may come from your experience, hypothetical situations, or from outside sources.
Fact proof—statistics, “objective” information. You will need lots of documentation here and probably several trips to the library.
For example proof—examples from the subject or text you are studying to back up your focused point. For example (!), you might quote several of Hamlet’s lines to try to establish that he is depressed.

Professors will usually tell you what kind of proof they want. If the assignment tells you to “do research,” head quickly to the library. 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; you are learning how to argue with specific types of materials and ideas.

What kind of writing style is acceptable?

What are the absolute rules of the paper.

Spend more time on the cover page than the essay—graphics, cool binders, and cute titles are no replacement for a well-written paper, use huge fonts, wide margins, or extra spacing to pad the page length—these tricks are immediately obvious to the eye. Most instructors use the same word processor you do. They know what’s possible. Such tactics are especially damning when the instructor has a stack of 60 papers to grade and yours is the only one that low-flying airplane pilots could read.
Use a paper from another class that covered “sort of similar” material. Again, the instructor has a particular task for you to fulfill in the assignment that usually relates to course material and lectures. Your other paper may not cover this material. Ask the instructor—it can’t hurt.
Get all wacky and “creative” before you answer the question. Showing that you are able to think beyond the boundaries of a simple assignment can be good, but you must do what the assignment calls for first. Again, check with your instructor. A humorous tone can be refreshing for someone grading a stack of papers, but it will not get you a good grade if you have not fulfilled the task.

Critical reading of assignments leads to skills in other types of reading and writing. If you get good at figuring out what the real goals of assignments are, you are going to be better at understanding the goals of all of your classes and fields of study.

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.

Assignment formats

Two good habits.

1. Read the assignment carefully as soon as you receive it. Do not put this task off—reading the assignment at the beginning will save you time, stress, and problems later. An assignment can look pretty straightforward at first, particularly if the instructor has provided lots of information. That does not mean it will not take time and effort to complete; you may even have to learn a new skill to complete the assignment.

2. Ask the instructor about anything you do not understand. Do not hesitate to approach your instructor. Instructors would prefer to set you straight before you hand the paper in. That’s also when you will find their feedback most useful.

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Last Updated: Jan 17, 2024 5:21 PM
URL: https://libraryhelp.sfcc.edu/research-and-writing-process

What Does the Professor Want? Understanding the Assignment

Amy Guptill

Learning Objectives

Understand assignment parameters
Understand the rhetorical situation

Writing for whom? Writing for what?

The first principle of good communication is knowing your audience. This is where writing papers for class gets kind of weird. As Peter Elbow explains:

When you write for a teacher you are usually swimming against the stream of natural communication. The natural direction of communication is to explain what you understand to someone who doesn’t understand it. But in writing an essay for a teacher your task is usually to explain what you are still engaged in trying to understand to someone who understands it better.

Student Advice

Professors don’t assign writing lightly. Grading student writing is generally the hardest, most intensive work instructors do. With every assignment they give you, professors assign themselves many, many hours of demanding and tedious work that has to be completed while they are also preparing for each class meeting, advancing their scholarly and creative work, advising students, and serving on committees. Often, they’re grading your papers on evenings and weekends because the conventional work day is already saturated with other obligations. You would do well to approach every assignment by putting yourself in the shoes of your instructor and asking yourself, “Why did she give me this assignment? How does it fit into the learning goals of the course? Why is this question/topic/problem so important to my professor that he is willing to spend evenings and weekends reading and commenting on several dozen novice papers on it?”

Most instructors do a lot to make their pedagogical (teaching) goals and expectations transparent to students: they explain the course learning goals associated with assignments, provide grading rubrics in advance, and describe several strategies for succeeding. Other professors … not so much. Some students perceive more open-ended assignments as evidence of a lazy, uncaring, or even incompetent instructor. Not so fast! Professors certainly vary in the quantity and specificity of the guidelines and suggestions they distribute with each writing assignment. Some professors make a point to give very few parameters about an assignment—perhaps just a topic and a length requirement—and they likely have some good reasons for doing so. Here are some possible reasons:

They figured it out themselves when they were students. Unsurprisingly, your instructors were generally successful students who relished the culture and traditions of higher education so much that they strove to build an academic career. The current emphasis on student-centered instruction is relatively recent; your instructors much more often had professors who adhered to the classic model of college instruction: they gave lectures together with, perhaps, one or two exams or papers. Students were on their own to learn the lingo and conventions of each field, to identify the key concepts and ideas within readings and lectures, and to sleuth out instructors’ expectations for written work. Learning goals, rubrics, quizzes, and preparatory assignments were generally rare.

They think figuring it out yourself is good for you. Because your professors by and large succeeded in a much less supportive environment, they appreciate how learning to thrive in those conditions gave them life-long problem-solving skills. Many think you should be able to figure it out yourself and that it would be good practice for you to do so. Even those who do include a lot of guidance with writing assignments sometimes worry that they’re depriving you of an important personal and intellectual challenge. Figuring out unspoken expectations is a valuable skill in itself.

They’re egg-heads. Many of your instructors have been so immersed in their fields that they may struggle to remember what it was like to encounter a wholly new discipline for the first time. The assumptions, practices, and culture of their disciplines are like the air they breathe; so much so that it is hard to describe to novices. They may assume that a verb like “analyze” is self-evident, forgetting that it can mean very different things in different fields. As a student, you voluntarily came to study with the scholars, artists, and writers at your institution. Rightly or wrongly, the burden is ultimately on you to meet them where they are.

Professors value academic freedom ; that is, they firmly believe that their high-level expertise in their fields grants them the privilege of deciding what is important to focus on and how to approach it. College professors differ in this way from high school teachers who are usually obligated to address a defined curriculum. Professors are often extremely wary of anything that seems to threaten academic freedom. Some see specified learning goals and standardized rubrics as the first step in a process that would strip higher education of its independence, scholarly innovation, and sense of discovery. While a standardized set of expectations and practices might make it easier to earn a degree, it’s also good to consider the benefits of the more flexible and diversified model.

It is understandably frustrating when you feel you don’t know how to direct your efforts to succeed with an assignment. However, except for rare egregious situations, you would do well to assume the best of your instructor and to appreciate the diversity of learning opportunities you have access to in college. Like one first-year student told Keith Hjortshoj, “I think that every course, every assignment, is a different little puzzle I have to solve. What do I need to do here? When do I need to do it, and how long will it take? What does this teacher expect of me?” The transparency that you get from some professors—along with guides like this one—will be a big help to you in situations where you have to be scrappier and more pro-active, piecing together the clues you get from your professors, the readings, and other course documents.

The prompt: what does “analyze” mean anyway?

Often, the handout or other written text explaining the assignment—what professors call the assignment prompt—will explain the purpose of the assignment, the required parameters (length, number and type of sources, referencing style, etc.), and the criteria for evaluation. Sometimes, though—especially when you are new to a field—you will encounter the baffling situation in which you comprehend every single sentence in the prompt but still have absolutely no idea how to approach the assignment. No one is doing anything wrong in a situation like that. It just means that further discussion of the assignment is in order. Here are some tips:

Focus on the verbs . Look for verbs like “compare,” “explain,” “justify,” “reflect” or the all-purpose “analyze.” You’re not just producing a paper as an artifact; you’re conveying, in written communication, some intellectual work you have done. So the question is, what kind of thinking are you supposed to do to deepen your learning?

Put the assignment in context . Many professors think in terms of assignment sequences. For example, a social science professor may ask you to write about a controversial issue three times: first, arguing for one side of the debate; second, arguing for another; and finally, from a more comprehensive and nuanced perspective, incorporating text produced in the first two assignments. A sequence like that is designed to help you think through a complex issue. Another common one is a scaffolded research paper sequence: you first propose a topic, then prepare an annotated bibliography, then a first draft, then a final draft, and, perhaps, a reflective paper. The preparatory assignments help ensure that you’re on the right track, beginning the research process long before the final due date, and taking the time to consider recasting your thesis, finding additional sources, or reorganizing your discussion.5If the assignment isn’t part of a sequence, think about where it falls in the semester, and how it relates to readings and other assignments. Are there headings on the syllabus that indicate larger units of material? For example, if you see that a paper comes at the end of a three-week unit on the role of the Internet in organizational behavior, then your professor likely wants you to synthesize that material in your own way. You should also check your notes and online course resources for any other guidelines about the workflow. Maybe you got a rubric a couple weeks ago and forgot about it. Maybe your instructor posted a link about “how to make an annotated bibliography” but then forgot to mention it in class.

Try a free-write . When I hand out an assignment, I often ask students to do a five-minute or ten-minute free-write. A free-write is when you just write, without stopping, for a set period of time. That doesn’t sound very “free;” it actually sounds kind of coerced. The “free” part is what you write—it can be whatever comes to mind. Professional writers use free-writing to get started on a challenging (or distasteful) writing task or to overcome writers block or a powerful urge to procrastinate. The idea is that if you just make yourself write, you can’t help but produce some kind of useful nugget. Thus, even if the first eight sentences of your free write are all variations on “I don’t understand this” or “I’d really rather be doing something else,” eventually you’ll write something like “I guess the main point of this is …” and—booyah!—you’re off and running. As an instructor, I’ve found that asking students to do a brief free-write right after I hand out an assignment generates useful clarification questions. If your instructor doesn’t make time for that in class, a quick free-write on your own will quickly reveal whether you need clarification about the assignment and, often, what questions to ask.

Ask for clarification the right way . Even the most skillfully crafted assignments may need some verbal clarification, especially because students’ familiarity with the field can vary enormously. Asking for clarification is a good thing. Be aware, though, that instructors get frustrated when they perceive that students want to skip doing their own thinking and instead receive an exact recipe for an A paper. Go ahead and ask for clarification, but try to convey that you want to learn and you’re ready to work.In general, avoid starting a question with “Do we have to …” because I can guarantee that your instructor is thinking, “You don’t have to do crap. You’re an adult. You chose college. You chose this class. You’re free to exercise your right to fail.” Similarly, avoid asking the professor about what he or she “wants.” You’re not performing some service for the professor when you write a paper. What they “want” is for you to really think about the material.

Rubrics as road maps

Even the best rubrics aren’t completely transparent. They simply can’t be. Even well-written, nationally admired rubrics may still seem kind of vague. Take, for example, the Association of American Universities and Colleges critical thinking rubric as an example, what is the real difference between “demonstrating a thorough understanding of context, audience, and purpose” and “demonstrating adequate consideration” of the same? It depends on the specific context. So how can you know whether you’ve done that? A big part of what you’re learning, through feedback from your professors, is to judge the quality of your writing for yourself. Your future bosses are counting on that. At this point, it is better to think of rubrics as roadmaps, displaying your destination, rather than a GPS system directing every move you make.

What’s critical about critical thinking?

That definition aligns with the best description of critical thinking I ever heard; it came from my junior high art teacher, Joe Bolger. He once asked us, “What color is the ceiling?” In that withering tween tone, we reluctantly replied, “Whiiiite.” He then asked, “What color is it really?” We deigned to aim our pre-adolescent eyes upwards, and eventually began to offer more accurate answers: “Ivory?” “Yellow-ish tan.” “It’s grey in that corner.”

After finally getting a few thoughtful responses, Mr. Bolger said something like, “Making good art is about drawing what you see, not what you think you’re supposed to see.” The AAC&U definition, above, essentially amounts to the same thing: taking a good look and deciding what you really think rather than relying on the first idea or assumption that comes to mind.

The critical thinking rubric produced by the AAC&U describes the relevant activities of critical thinking in more detail. To think critically, one must …

(a) “clearly state and comprehensively describe the issue or problem”

(b) “independently interpret and evaluate sources”

(d) “argue a complex position and one that takes counter-arguments into account”

(e) “arrive at logical and well informed conclusions”

Interestingly, the AAC&U defines critical thinking as a “habit of mind” rather than a discrete achievement. And there are at least two reasons to see critical thinking as a craft or art to pursue rather than a task to check off. First, the more you think critically, the better you get at it. As you get more and more practice in closely examining claims, their underlying logic, and alternative perspectives on the issue, it’ll begin to feel automatic. You’ll no longer make or accept claims that begin with “Everyone knows that …” or end with “That’s just human nature.” Second, just as artists and craftspersons hone their skills over a lifetime, learners continually expand their critical thinking capacities, both through the feedback they get from others and their own reflections. Artists of all kinds find satisfaction in continually seeking greater challenges. Continual reflection and improvement is part of the craft.

Critical thinking is hard work. Even those who actively choose to do it experience it as tedious, difficult, and sometimes surprisingly emotional. Nobel-prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman explains that our brains aren’t designed to think; rather, they’re designed to save us from having to think. Our brains are great at developing routines and repertoires that enable us to accomplish fairly complex tasks like driving cars, choosing groceries, and having a conversation without thinking consciously and thoroughly about every move we make. Kahneman calls this “fast thinking.” “Slow thinking,” which is deliberate and painstaking, is something our brains seek to avoid. That built-in tendency can lead us astray. Kahneman and his colleagues often used problems like this one in experiments to gauge how people used fast and slow thinking in different contexts:

A bat and ball cost $1.10.
The bat costs one dollar more than the ball.
How much does the ball cost?

Most people automatically say the ball costs $0.10. However, if the bat costs $1 more, than the bat would cost $1.10 leading to the incorrect total of $1.20. The ball costs $0.05. Kahneman notes, “Many thousands of university students have answered the bat-and-ball puzzle, and the results are shocking. More than 50% of students at Harvard, MIT, and Princeton gave the intuitive—incorrect—answer.” These and other results confirm that “many people are overconfident, prone to place too much faith in their intuitions.” Thinking critically—thoroughly questioning your immediate intuitive responses—is difficult work, but every organization and business in the world needs people who can do that effectively. Some students assume that an unpleasant critical thinking experience means that they’re either doing something wrong or that it’s an inherently uninteresting (and oppressive) activity. While we all relish those times when we’re pleasantly absorbed in a complex activity (what psychologist Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi calls “flow”), the more tedious experiences can also bring satisfaction, sort of like a good work-out.

Critical thinking can also be emotionally challenging, researchers have found. Facing a new realm of uncertainty and contradiction without relying on familiar assumptions is inherently anxiety-provoking because when you’re doing it, you are, by definition, incompetent. Recent research has highlighted that both children and adults need to be able to regulate their own emotions in order to cope with the challenges of building competence in a new area. The kind of critical thinking your professors are looking for—that is, pursuing a comprehensive, multi-faceted exploration in order to arrive at an arguable, nuanced argument—is inevitably a struggle and it may be an emotional one. Your best bet is to find ways to make those processes as efficient, pleasant, and effective as you can.

The demands students face are not just from school. Professional working roles demand critical thinking, as 81% of major employers reported in an AAC&U-commissioned survey, and it’s pretty easy to imagine how critical thinking helps one make much better decisions in all aspects of life. Embrace it. And just as athletes, artists, and writers sustain their energy and inspiration for hard work by interacting with others who share these passions, look to others in the scholarly community— your professors and fellow students—to keep yourself engaged in these ongoing intellectual challenges. While writing time is often solitary, it’s meant to plug you into a vibrant academic community. What your professors want, overall, is for you to join them in asking and pursuing important questions about the natural, social, and creative worlds.

What Does the Professor Want? Understanding the Assignment Copyright © 2016 by Amy Guptill is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Understand the Assignment

What Does "Understand the Assignment" Mean?

Examples in sentences.

She came to the party in the perfect outfit â€“ she understood the assignment.
Every time he gives a presentation, he exceeds expectations. He always understands the assignment.
Her performance was outstanding; she truly understood the assignment.

What Is an Idiom?

A quick test.

This test has questions.
A correct answer is worth 5 points.
You can get up to 5 bonus points for a speedy answer.
Some questions demand more than one answer. You must get every part right.
Beware! Wrong answers score 0 points.
🏆 If you beat one of the top 3 scores, you will be invited to apply for the Hall of Fame.
Do you disagree with something on this page?
Did you spot a typo?

Understanding the Assignment: Writing

The Tension
The Question

Overview of understanding the assignment

So you have been given an essay title: now what? Many writers move straight from reading the assignment prompt to paddling around in a swimming pool of bewildered dread. If that's you, please hop out of the dread-pool and inhale. It's going to be okay!

Getting to grips with the expectations for an assignment can take a lot of back-and-forth: read the prompt or title; jot down some ideas; take a walk; revisit the prompt to highlight key phrases; read a couple journal articles; and so on. Please don't expect to read the essay title and immediately sit down to write a focused rough draft. That's not how writing works.

That said, there are organised approaches you can deploy when you don't get what you're supposed to do. Stick with this guide to discover quick activities that will help you lay a productive foundation.

Guide contents

The tabs of this guide will support you in unpicking assignment prompts and learning what to do with them. The sections are organised as follows:

The Verb - Begin breaking down the essay title, and get to grips with what you are actually meant to do .
The Tension - Identify the zone of uncertainty where ideas start to take shape.
The Question - Use question-based tactics to begin moving from essay title to essay plan.
The Scope - Learn why instructors love to assign essay titles that feel totally mismatched to the word count limits, and how to navigate this.

What's the verb?

Highlighting key words in the essay title or assignment brief is a great first step in understanding the assignment. Among those words, make sure you pay close attention to the verb – that is, the action word that indicates what you are expected to do . Consider this example:

" Critically evaluate whether the Magna Carta is still relevant today."

To evaluate , you reach a conclusion about a topic by considering evidence that supports different positions on, or perspectives about, that topic. The adverb critically emphasizes the need not only to explore a range of evidence, but to assess it in an argumentative (rather than simply descriptive) manner.

What if we slightly amend the verb? Consider this change:

" Critically discuss whether the Magna Carta is still relevant today."

Does changing the verb from evaluate to discuss meaningfully change your goal? To be honest, most instructors use these verbs interchangeably in essay briefs. For some, though, discuss would suggest greater emphasis on forging a dialogue between sources, demonstrating where perspectives align and where they diverge.

Importantly, the expectation to be critical exists with essay verbs like discuss, evaluate, analyse, examine , etc. even if the adverb critically isn’t used. Unless you are specifically asked to summarise or describe something in an objective way, criticality is key.

The likely suspects

Instructors describe assignment aims in any number of ways, but there tends to be shared language when it comes to the key verbs. Below, you will find a sampling of the most common "actions" to conduct as a writer, with explanations and tips to help you out.

Advise, suggest, recommend, propose

With verbs like these, you need to use informed logic and relevant supporting evidence to put forward an approach, idea, solution, or similar. For example, you might propose a specific treatment protocol based on critically synthesizing a patient's case history, NHS guidelines, and evidence from medical journals. You might recommend a specific advertising approach based on a company's financial goals, their target consumers, and marketing research.
When asked to suggest a path forward, don't sit on the fence : it would be unwise to list a variety of options without critically and clearly "backing" one of them. However, it does demonstrate good critical thought to address any shortcomings or risks in your proposal, and how these might be mitigated.

Analyse, examine

Here, you are being asked to break something down and consider its parts . This requires close critical attention.
Imagine your topic as a cube. Instead of standing back and saying, "That's a cube," you will take the cube into your hands and rotate it again and again, carefully investigating each of its facets.
For example, to analyse a business model, you would break the model down into its parts (e.g. management, target clients, production, distribution, etc.) and "dig into" those. Depending on the scope of the assignment, you might need to further break down the parts you identify.

Assess, appraise, evaluate

Here, you are being asked to reach conclusions about the validity, efficacy, reliability, impacts, etc. of something. That "something" could be a piece of academic literature (e.g. critical appraisals of medical studies). It might be a policy, law, or similar (e.g. assessment of a judicial change intended to reduce crime). Maybe it's a business campaign or financial restructure – many options exist!
In any case, ensure you understand not only what you are meant to assess (the object), but how that object is best evaluated in your field (the approach/method). Are there industry standards that govern "success"? Do you need to use a particular appraisal tool that features set steps?

Compare, contrast

C ompare suggests the need to find the similarities and differences between two things; contrast calls for you to compare two things with more attention paid to differences.
Instructors will almost never ask you to compare/contrast in a merely descriptive way, so look for the next step: what are you expected to do with , or make of , the comparison(s)? For example, you might contrast two interpretations of a cultural artefact in order to analyse how and why the differences exist.

Defend, argue, make an argument

These verbs call for you to back a stance or perspective . You should focus on making clear claims and offering solid academic evidence to support them.
When you have to argue a point, don't forget to engage with counterarguments. Think of it this way: your instructor KNOWS that multiple perspectives exist, or they wouldn't have assigned the essay! Actively grappling with any counterarguments (and conceding minor points as needed) boosts the sense that a) you are trustworthy, and b) you conducted balanced research.

Discuss, explore

These verbs are worryingly vague, but don't fret. Discuss and explore imply that you should consider the topic from more than one angle, using academic literature to capture multiple perspectives.
Hint: if you pretend the assignment says analyse , instead, this tends to produce what the instructor was hoping for.

Outline, delineate

The goal with these verbs is to identify the main beats of something. For example, if you are asked to "outline the political strategy used by Politician ABC in Election XYZ," make sure you communicate the primary components or elements of the overall strategy. Imagine boiling the whole strategy down into a TL;DR version .
As with compare/contrast, you should look out for an additional step or expectation that takes the assignment from descriptive to critical . For example, you might have to delineate a diagnostic procedure in order to critically reflect on its relevance to your nursing practice.

Reflect, write a critical reflection/account

The assignment verbs can get redundant, but reflect is its own beast. Unlike most essays, reflective assignments prioritise your own relevant experience . Project work, for example, may culminate in a reflective component (i.e., reflecting on how a business presentation went; reflecting on the process of creating a video game).
Although reflection centres something you completed or did, avoid relying on biased feelings and personal opinion: this is still academic writing!
Think of it as a reflective analysis . Break the subject down into parts: namely, decisions you made along the way, why you made them, their effects (good, bad, or neutral), and what you learned . Justify the "why" with evidence relevant to your field. In nursing, tying your actions to best practices from NHS guidelines would make sense. In a creative writing module, you might cite craft manuals when discussing your approach to backstory and dialogue.

Synthesize, "use a range of literature to..."

To synthesize means to create a new thing by combining parts of other things. For example, you are synthesizing if you write a paragraph that defines "influencer" by weaving together how the concept has been defined in two academic articles, in a digital newspaper, and on social media platforms. Synthesis demonstrates your ability to draw relevant connections between multiple sources of information.
Synthesis is the heart of academic writing . Odds are that you ought to be synthesizing ideas, facts, and data from different sources even if the assignment prompt doesn't use this term.
As with compare/contrast and outline/delineate, look for additional cues on how to use your synthesis . Are you meant to synthesize in order to defend an argument, support a reflective account, etc.?

What's the tension?

With any essay title you receive, you'll notice that some tension or uncertainty exists at the heart of it. It would be rare (and pointless!) for an instructor to assign an essay title that has one clear answer. Consider this invented essay question:

"How many people own houseplants in the UK now compared to pre-COVID?"

This is a terrible essay title because it is flat. There is nothing to explore or think through critically: just the expectation to provide the pre-pandemic number, find the post-pandemic number, and...then what? There is no tension.

Now, consider this essay question:

“Analyse the rising popularity of houseplants that began in the UK during the pandemic.”

This is a better essay prompt because it leaves room for the writer to discover and develop an angle. The question itself begets more questions. For example, what factors (social, personal, economic, etc.) influenced this change? Did popularity shift across all demographics or just some (and which, and why)? In other words, this question reveals layers of uncertainty that you can dig into as a writer.

Let’s return to examine the tension in an earlier essay prompt:

“Critically evaluate whether the Magna Carta is still relevant today .”

The word still suggests potential change over time, and there we discover a tension between the past and present. The writer will need to closely consider if/how the Magna Carta (i.e., a legal document of the past ) translates or applies to contemporary society (i.e., the present ).

If you are still struggling to identify the tension in an essay title, turning it into a question can help. We'll explore that trick in the next tab of this guide.

Can you turn the statement into a question?

Instructors often use statements as essay titles. Keep the required title when you submit, of course, but as you plan your approach to the essay, it often helps to reformat the statement as a question for yourself. Returning to our now familiar example…

“Critically evaluate whether the Magna Carta is still relevant today.”

This could be posed in question form as the following:

“ Is the Magna Carta still relevant today?”

This slight change gives you something more tangible to focus on since, by nature, questions spark the mind to begin contemplating answers . You can also play with more specific variations of the questions you form to get your ideas flowing:

“Is the Magna Carta still relevant today, and if so, how ?”

" Which tenets of the Magna Carta are still relevant today? How can the relevance of those tenets be proven ?”

" What factors or qualities make the Magna Carta less relevant today?”

As you can see, framing and reframing such questions in new ways lays the groundwork for you to truly dig in and analyse the situation as a writer.

What if it's already a question?

If the assignment prompt is already in question form, you can still build it out with relevant questions to help you think through your writing strategy and potential content. For example, let's say this is the essay question:

"How do a nurse's communication practices influence trust when treating gender-diverse patients?"

Try putting this central question at the centre of a mind map, then adding branches for questions that help you dig in. You can also use a bulleted list to try this out, as so:

"What kinds of literature could I use to unpack and define this?"
"And why is 'trust' imperative? What risks exist when trust is absent?"
"And how might negative/damaging 'influence' arise?"
"Do LGBTQ+ groups and medical literature define this differently?"
"What could make 'communication practices' more inclusive of gender-diverse patients?"

Note that each grouping of questions expands on keywords from the original question. By interrogating the question itself with further questions, you can really get the ball rolling! This will help you develop an initial sense of the research you need to conduct and points that might be relevant to make.

Can you narrow the scope?

By design, most assignment titles give you a great deal of breadth or scope . The seeming bigness of an assignment can be daunting: you might panic and ask yourself, “How in the world am I supposed to discuss ALL OF THIS in just 2,000 words?!”

The short answer? You likely aren’t supposed to discuss all of it, so take a deep breath! When the essay title is broad, instructors generally expect you to narrow the scope of your response. This means you limit your evaluation in some manner, finding one “angle” of exploration amongst the many options that exist. Let's return to our old title friend:

Okay, the Magna Carta is a very long, significant document. So if you're responding to this title, your essay will lack depth and feel rushed if you try to evaluate whether EVERY aspect of the Magna Carta is relevant in EVERY way in EVERY place, today. Instead, you can narrow the scope by doing things like…

Focusing on a specific clause or a couple related clauses of the Magna Carta (i.e., not the whole document);
Limiting the evaluation of relevance to a specific legal area, such as criminal court or land rights (i.e., not the entirety of LAW).

The way you choose to narrow the scope will vary according to the essay and field. Analysing a situation through one theoretical lens might sufficiently limit the scope: for example, analysing a poem using ecocritical theory rather than analysing the poem "in general." In other cases, the narrowing might relate to the evidence bank you choose to use, the demographic/population discussed, a tool or model used, etc.

Once you have found your angle, remember to use your introduction to clearly communicate your focus and argument (see our Crafting the Introduction guide for tips on thesis statements, aim statements, and essay maps).

Last Updated: Jan 8, 2024 10:09 AM
URL: https://library.soton.ac.uk/understanding_assignments

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Understanding the Writing Assignment

Before you begin working on an essay or a writing assignment, don’t forget to spend some quality time analyzing the assignment sheet. By closely reading and breaking down the assignment sheet, you are setting yourself up for an easier time planning and composing the assignment.

Understanding what you need to do

First , carefully read the assignment sheet and search for the required page length, due dates, and other submission-based information.
Second , determine the genre of the assignment
Third , identify the core assignment questions that you need to answer
Fourth , locate the evaluation and grading criteria

Identifying Writing Requirements & Disciplinary Expectations

Some instructors offer indications of what certain parts of the essay/composition should contain. Does the assignment sheet offer suggestions or requirements for the Intro paragraph? For the thesis statement? For the structure or content of the body paragraphs or conclusion paragraphs?

Depending on the discipline in which you are writing, different features and formats of your writing may be expected. Always look closely at key terms and vocabulary in the writing assignment, and be sure to note what type of evidence and citation style your instructor expects.

Does the essay need to be in MLA, APA, CMS, or another style?
Does the professor require any specific submission elements or formats?

Writing Genre

What, in the broadest sense, are you being asked to do? What writing genre is expected?

Narrative – The act of telling a story through an essay. Also note that narrative includes the act of writing about yourself, which is exceptionally difficult for most writers but is nonetheless required for many circumstances in and out of college.
Analysis – Analysis questions often contain words like how, in what ways, and what are some of the ____. Analysis asks you to examine small pieces of the larger whole and indicate their meaning or significance.
Synthesis – If you are asked to draw from and connect several different sources, then you will be synthesizing.
Argument – Any text in which you are attempting to get a reader to accept your claim. Argument is persuasive writing, and it can include things like argument-based research papers or critiques/evaluations of others’ work.
Explanation – Any text in which you merely report (as opposed to attempting to persuade) is going to be an explanation paper. None of your own opinions is being sought. Summaries, annotations, and reports are often explanatory.
Compare and Contrast – This essay is usually between two ideas. The primary aim of comparing and contrasting in college writing is to clarify meaningful, non-obvious features of similarity and difference.

Answer the Assignment Questions & Implied Questions

Sometimes, a list of prompts or questions may appear with an assignment. Likely, your instructor will not expect you to answer all of the questions listed. They are simply offering you some ideas so that you can think of your questions to ask.

Circle all assignment questions that you see on the assignment sheet
Put a star next to the question that is either the most important OR that you will pursue in creating the assignment

A prompt may not include a clear ‘how’ or ‘why’ question, though one is always implied by the language of the prompt. For example:

“Discuss the effects of the No Child Left Behind Act on special education programs” is asking you to write how the act has affected special education programs. “Consider the recent rise of autism diagnoses” is asking you to write why the diagnoses of autism are on the rise.

Identifying Evaluation Criteria

Many assignment sheets contain a grading rubric or some other indication of evaluation criteria for the assignment. You can use these criteria to both begin the writing process and to guide your revision and editing process. If you do not see any rubric or evaluation criteria on the assignment sheet — ask!

Attributions

A Guide to Rhetoric, Genre, and Success in First-Year Writing by Melanie Gagich & Emilie Zickel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

This chapter has additions, edits, and organization by James Charles Devlin.

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Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

Chapter 2: Understanding Assignment Outlines and Instructions

Understanding assignment outlines and instructions, writing for whom writing for what.

The first principle of good communication is knowing your audience . Often when you write for an audience of one, you might write a text or email. But college papers aren’t written like emails; they’re written like articles for a hypothetical group of readers that you don’t actually know much about. There’s a fundamental mismatch between the real-life audience and the form your writing takes.

Unless there is a particular audience specified in the assignment, you would do well to imagine yourself writing for a group of peers who have some introductory knowledge of the field but are unfamiliar with the specific topic you’re discussing. Imagine them being interested in your topic but also busy; try to write something that is well worth your readers’ time. Keeping an audience like this in mind will help you distinguish common knowledge in the field from that which must be defined and explained in your paper.

Another basic tenet of good communication is clarifying the purpose of the communication and letting that purpose shape your decisions. Your professor wants to see you work through complex ideas and demonstrate your learning through the process of producing the paper. Each assignment—be it an argumentative paper, reaction paper, reflective paper, lab report, discussion question, blog post, essay exam, project proposal, or what have you—is ultimately about your learning. To succeed with writing assignments (and benefit from them) you first have to understand their learning-related purposes. As you write for your audience, you’re demonstrating to your professor how far you’ve gotten in analyzing your topic.

Professors don’t assign writing lightly. Grading student writing is generally the hardest, most intensive work instructors do. You would do well to approach every assignment by putting yourself in the shoes of your instructor and asking yourself, “Why did she give me this assignment? How does it fit into the learning goals of the course? Why is this question/topic/problem so important to my professor that he is willing to spend time reading and commenting on several dozen papers on it?”

Professors certainly vary in the quantity and specificity of the guidelines and suggestions they distribute with each writing assignment. Some professors make a point to give very few parameters about an assignment—perhaps just a topic and a length requirement—and they likely have some good reasons for doing so. Here are some possible reasons:

They figured it out themselves when they were students . Many instructors will teach how they were taught in school. The emphasis on student-centered instruction is relatively recent; your instructors more often had professors who adhered to the classic model of college instruction: they went to lectures and/or labs and wrote papers. Students were often ‘on their own’ to learn the lingo and conventions of each field, to identify the key concepts and ideas within readings and lectures, and to sleuth out instructors’ expectations for written work. Learning goals, rubrics, quizzes, and preparatory assignments were generally rare.
They think figuring it out yourself is good for you . Because your professors often succeeded in a much less supportive environment , they appreciate how learning to thrive in those conditions gave them life-long problem-solving and critical thinking skills. Many think you should be able to figure it out yourself and that it would be good practice for you to do so. Even those who do include a lot of guidance with writing assignments sometimes worry that they’re depriving you of an important personal and intellectual challenge. Figuring out unspoken expectations is a valuable skill in itself. They may also want to give you the freedom to explore and produce new and interesting ideas and feel that instructions that are too specific may limit you. There’s a balancing act to creating a good assignment outline, so sometimes you might need to ask for clarification.
They think you already know the skills/concepts : Some professors assume that students come with a fully developed set of academic skills and knowledge. You may need to ask your professor for clarification or help and it’s good to learn what additional resources are out there to assist you (the Library, Writing Guides, etc).

It is understandably frustrating when you feel you don’t know how to direct your efforts to succeed with an assignment. The transparency that you get from some professors—along with books like this one—will be a big help to you in situations where you have to be scrappier and more pro-active, piecing together the clues you get from your professors, the readings, and other course documents.

The assignment prompt: what does “analyze” mean anyway?

Often, the handout or other written text explaining the assignment—what professors call the assignment prompt or outline—will explain the purpose of the assignment, the required parameters (length, number and type of sources, referencing style, etc.), and the criteria for evaluation.

Sometimes, though—especially when you are new to a field—you will encounter the baffling situation in which you comprehend every single sentence in the prompt but still have absolutely no idea how to approach the assignment. No one is doing anything wrong in a situation like that. It just means that further discussion of the assignment is in order. Here are some tips:

Video source: https://youtu.be/JZ175MLpOmE

Try to brainstorm or do a free-write . A free-write is when you just write, without stopping, for a set period of time. That doesn’t sound very “free;” it actually sounds kind of coerced. The “free” part is what you write—it can be whatever comes to mind. Professional writers use free-writing to get started on a challenging (or distasteful) writing task or to overcome writers block or a powerful urge to procrastinate. The idea is that if you just make yourself write, you can’t help but produce some kind of useful nugget. Thus, even if the first eight sentences of your free write are all variations on “I don’t understand this” or “I’d really rather be doing something else,” eventually you’ll write something like “I guess the main point of this is …” and—booyah!—you’re off and running. If your instructor doesn’t make time for that in class, a quick free-write on your own will quickly reveal whether you need clarification about the assignment and, often, what questions to ask.

Rubrics as road maps

Not all professors use rubrics : some mark “holistically” (which means that they evaluate the paper as a whole), versus “analytically” (where they break down the marks by criteria). If the professor took the trouble to prepare and distribute a rubric, you can be sure that they will use it to grade your paper. A rubric is the clearest possible statement of what the professor is looking for in the paper. If it’s wordy, it may seem like those online “terms and conditions” that we routinely accept without reading. But you really should read it over carefully before you begin and again as your work progresses. A lot of rubrics do have some useful specifics. Even less specific criteria (such as “incorporates course concepts” and “considers counter-arguments”) will tell you how you should be spending your writing time.

Even the best rubrics aren’t completely transparent because they simply can’t be. For example, what is the real difference between “demonstrating a thorough understanding of context, audience, and purpose” and “demonstrating adequate consideration” of the same? It depends on the specific context. So how can you know whether you’ve done that? A big part of what you’re learning, through feedback from your professors, is to judge the quality of your writing for yourself. Your future employers are counting on that. At this point, it is better to think of rubrics as roadmaps, displaying your destination, rather than a GPS system directing every move you make.

Video source: https://youtu.be/mXRzyZAE8Y4

What’s critical about critical thinking?

The critical thinking rubric produced by the AAC&U describes the relevant activities of critical thinking in more detail. To think critically, one must …

(a) “clearly state and comprehensively describe the issue or problem”,

(b) “independently interpret and evaluate sources”,

(d) “argue a complex position and one that takes counter-arguments into account,” and

(e) “arrive at logical and well informed conclusions”. [2]

Thinking critically—thoroughly questioning your immediate intuitive responses—is difficult work, but every organization and business in the world needs people who can do that effectively. The ability to think critically also entails being able to hear and appreciate multiple perspectives on an issue, even if we don’t agree with them. While writing time is often solitary, it’s meant to plug you into a vibrant academic community. What your professors want, overall, is for you to join them in asking and pursuing important questions about the natural, social, and creative worlds.

Terrel Rhodes, ed., Assessing Outcomes and Improving Achievement: Tips and Tools for Using Rubrics (Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities, 2010). ↵
Ibid ↵

Writing for Academic and Professional Contexts: An Introduction Copyright © 2023 by Sheridan College is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Module 4: Developing a Research Project

Understanding the assignment, learning objectives.

Outline effective strategies for understanding an essay assignment

One of things that makes the university such a vibrant intellectual space is the variety of pedagogical styles represented on campus; as students, we can attest that this diversity makes for more flexible and creative thinkers. That said, we know that it can be difficult to develop a consistent way to interpret and approach writing assignments when those assignments vary by professor and even by course.

It’s important to get started on your essay as early as you can to allow yourself the most time to develop and revise your ideas. To this end, read through your assignment as soon as you receive it! The rest of this section is dedicated to showing you a useful framework for breaking down a writing prompt.

Step 1. Read the prompt, then read it again.

Person reading on computer and writing in a notebook

Consider your perspective on the topic . Ask yourself: “How do I feel about this topic?” This may seem like brainstorming or prewriting, and it is– just think of it as “connection brainstorming.” If we just don’t know much about a topic, it’s difficult to feel any investment in it. So, jot down what you know and feel, even if it’s not much. Then ask yourself “What do I want to know?” or “How could this topic affect me in my personal life?” These questions can help direct your focus later on. On the other hand, you may be heavily invested in a topic and have lots of feelings on the matter. Now, ask yourself, “Why am I heavily invested?” Here, it’s helpful to organize those feelings and knowledge bits because that can also direct your focus and help you see strengths, holes, or biases.

Step 2. Find the verbs and action items

Now that you’ve spent some time with the assignment prompt, it’s time to identify what the assignment is asking you to do. To do so, pay attention to the active verbs of the prompt. If your prompt asks you to “ Analyze Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland ,” make sure your essay is founded on textual analysis . If your prompt asks you to “ Compare the timelines of the Korean War and the Vietnam War,” make sure your paper compares . Identifying these active verbs can give you a basic sense of how your professor will evaluate your essay—Does it analyze the novel? Does it compare the wars?—and can guide your writing to meet those expectations.

Step 3: Identify the deliverables

In project management, “deliverables” are the specific items that must be delivered to consider the project or project phase completed. In the case of an assignment, the deliverable would be whatever it is you’re supposed to hand in. Is the deliverable a five-page paper? A paper plus bibliography? Just handwritten notes? It’s probably obvious why this information is important, but it can be all too easy to skip this step and end up doing too much work, or too little, or the wrong thing altogether.

Key Information . Once you know what you should be handing in, identify any stipulations regarding length, citation format, the number of required sources (both primary and secondary), and, of course, the due date. Knowing this information will help you to plan your approach and allocate your time: You probably shouldn’t wait until Thursday night to begin outlining the six-page paper due in class on Friday. Having this information will also give you a sense of the extent and scope of your response: If you’re limited to three pages, you probably won’t be able to argue about the evolution of Los Angeles’s urban landscape from 1980 to the present; perhaps you could focus on a single aspect—building height—and hold off on the rest until your 12-page final. Identifying key information can also help you to plan your essay: The tone you adopt (Is it professional or conversational?) and the background that you provide are largely determined by your audience: Are you writing for your professor, your peers, or the general population? Your grasp of key information can help you to contour your approach.

Suggestions Versus Requirements. There are things you must do for an assignment, and there are also things you might do. Professors sincerely want you to succeed. They might provide some suggestions for writing or constructing an argument in response to the prompt. These suggestions can be helpful points of departure, especially if you’re having difficulty formulating a response. They’re also good examples of responses that your professor would accept. If it seems like there are a lot of questions, chances are, you aren’t required to answer all of them (professors don’t want to read essays full of a bunch of disjointed ideas). If you’re not sure whether something is required or just suggested, ask your professor.

Evidence . Also, identify what type of evidence that you’ll need to substantiate your argument: If your professor explicitly asks for a “statistical analysis of American automobile consumption in the past decade,” make sure you draw on statistics. (Often, this information is implied in the language of the prompt: When a prompt asks you to analyze Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, you know you’ll be working with passages from the novel.) If you don’t know what type of evidence your professor expects you to use, ask.

Step 4: Make a plan

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Understood the Assignment

What do you mean by understood the assignment.

"Understood the assignment" is an expression utilized to recognize individuals who have performed exceptionally well or surpassed expectations.

What is the meaning of "Understood the Assignment" on social media?

This phrase has gained popularity on social media and in mainstream culture, often employed to commend individuals who are giving their best, whether it be through their achievements, attire, or general actions.

For instance, within this context, if someone arrives at a party wearing an impressive outfit, saying they "Understood the assignment" signifies that they have showcased their expertise and arrived in a remarkable look.

Alternatively, the phrase can be used sarcastically to criticize someone who has failed to meet expectations or performed poorly. In summary, "Understood the assignment" is a phrase that acknowledges someone's efforts or accomplishments and has become a prevalent slang expression to convey praise or criticism.

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Understanding Writing Assignments

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How to Decipher the Paper Assignment

Many instructors write their assignment prompts differently. By following a few steps, you can better understand the requirements for the assignment. The best way, as always, is to ask the instructor about anything confusing.

Read the prompt the entire way through once. This gives you an overall view of what is going on.
Underline or circle the portions that you absolutely must know. This information may include due date, research (source) requirements, page length, and format (MLA, APA, CMS).
Underline or circle important phrases. You should know your instructor at least a little by now - what phrases do they use in class? Does he repeatedly say a specific word? If these are in the prompt, you know the instructor wants you to use them in the assignment.
Think about how you will address the prompt. The prompt contains clues on how to write the assignment. Your instructor will often describe the ideas they want discussed either in questions, in bullet points, or in the text of the prompt. Think about each of these sentences and number them so that you can write a paragraph or section of your essay on that portion if necessary.
Rank ideas in descending order, from most important to least important. Instructors may include more questions or talking points than you can cover in your assignment, so rank them in the order you think is more important. One area of the prompt may be more interesting to you than another.
Ask your instructor questions if you have any.

After you are finished with these steps, ask yourself the following:

What is the purpose of this assignment? Is my purpose to provide information without forming an argument, to construct an argument based on research, or analyze a poem and discuss its imagery?
Who is my audience? Is my instructor my only audience? Who else might read this? Will it be posted online? What are my readers' needs and expectations?
What resources do I need to begin work? Do I need to conduct literature (hermeneutic or historical) research, or do I need to review important literature on the topic and then conduct empirical research, such as a survey or an observation? How many sources are required?
Who - beyond my instructor - can I contact to help me if I have questions? Do you have a writing lab or student service center that offers tutorials in writing?

(Notes on prompts made in blue )

Poster or Song Analysis: Poster or Song? Poster!

Goals : To systematically consider the rhetorical choices made in either a poster or a song. She says that all the time.

Things to Consider: ah- talking points

how the poster addresses its audience and is affected by context I'll do this first - 1.
general layout, use of color, contours of light and shade, etc.
use of contrast, alignment, repetition, and proximity C.A.R.P. They say that, too. I'll do this third - 3.
the point of view the viewer is invited to take, poses of figures in the poster, etc. any text that may be present
possible cultural ramifications or social issues that have bearing I'll cover this second - 2.
ethical implications
how the poster affects us emotionally, or what mood it evokes
the poster's implicit argument and its effectiveness said that was important in class, so I'll discuss this last - 4.
how the song addresses its audience
lyrics: how they rhyme, repeat, what they say
use of music, tempo, different instruments
possible cultural ramifications or social issues that have bearing
emotional effects
the implicit argument and its effectiveness

These thinking points are not a step-by-step guideline on how to write your paper; instead, they are various means through which you can approach the subject. I do expect to see at least a few of them addressed, and there are other aspects that may be pertinent to your choice that have not been included in these lists. You will want to find a central idea and base your argument around that. Additionally, you must include a copy of the poster or song that you are working with. Really important!

I will be your audience. This is a formal paper, and you should use academic conventions throughout.

Length: 4 pages Format: Typed, double-spaced, 10-12 point Times New Roman, 1 inch margins I need to remember the format stuff. I messed this up last time =(

Academic Argument Essay

5-7 pages, Times New Roman 12 pt. font, 1 inch margins.

Minimum of five cited sources: 3 must be from academic journals or books

Design Plan due: Thurs. 10/19
Rough Draft due: Monday 10/30
Final Draft due: Thurs. 11/9

Remember this! I missed the deadline last time

The design plan is simply a statement of purpose, as described on pages 40-41 of the book, and an outline. The outline may be formal, as we discussed in class, or a printout of an Open Mind project. It must be a minimum of 1 page typed information, plus 1 page outline.

This project is an expansion of your opinion editorial. While you should avoid repeating any of your exact phrases from Project 2, you may reuse some of the same ideas. Your topic should be similar. You must use research to support your position, and you must also demonstrate a fairly thorough knowledge of any opposing position(s). 2 things to do - my position and the opposite.

Your essay should begin with an introduction that encapsulates your topic and indicates 1 the general trajectory of your argument. You need to have a discernable thesis that appears early in your paper. Your conclusion should restate the thesis in different words, 2 and then draw some additional meaningful analysis out of the developments of your argument. Think of this as a "so what" factor. What are some implications for the future, relating to your topic? What does all this (what you have argued) mean for society, or for the section of it to which your argument pertains? A good conclusion moves outside the topic in the paper and deals with a larger issue.

You should spend at least one paragraph acknowledging and describing the opposing position in a manner that is respectful and honestly representative of the opposition’s 3 views. The counterargument does not need to occur in a certain area, but generally begins or ends your argument. Asserting and attempting to prove each aspect of your argument’s structure should comprise the majority of your paper. Ask yourself what your argument assumes and what must be proven in order to validate your claims. Then go step-by-step, paragraph-by-paragraph, addressing each facet of your position. Most important part!

Finally, pay attention to readability . Just because this is a research paper does not mean that it has to be boring. Use examples and allow your opinion to show through word choice and tone. Proofread before you turn in the paper. Your audience is generally the academic community and specifically me, as a representative of that community. Ok, They want this to be easy to read, to contain examples I find, and they want it to be grammatically correct. I can visit the tutoring center if I get stuck, or I can email the OWL Email Tutors short questions if I have any more problems.

Assignments usually ask you to demonstrate that you have immersed yourself in the course material and that you've done some thinking on your own; questions not treated at length in class often serve as assignments. Fortunately, if you've put the time into getting to know the material, then you've almost certainly begun thinking independently. In responding to assignments, keep in mind the following advice.

Beware of straying. Especially in the draft stage, "discussion" and "analysis" can lead you from one intrinsically interesting problem to another, then another, and then ... You may wind up following a garden of forking paths and lose your way. To prevent this, stop periodically while drafting your essay and reread the assignment. Its purposes are likely to become clearer.
Consider the assignment in relation to previous and upcoming assignments. Ask yourself what is new about the task you're setting out to do. Instructors often design assignments to build in complexity. Knowing where an assignment falls in this progression can help you concentrate on the specific, fresh challenges at hand.

Understanding some key words commonly used in assignments also may simplify your task. Toward this end, let's take a look at two seemingly impenetrable instructions: "discuss" and "analyze."

1. Discuss the role of gender in bringing about the French Revolution.

"Discuss" is easy to misunderstand because the word calls to mind the oral/spoken dimension of communication. "Discuss" suggests conversation, which often is casual and undirected. In the context of an assignment, however, discussion entails fulfilling a defined and organized task: to construct an argument that considers and responds to an ample range of materials. To "discuss," in assignment language, means to make a broad argument about a set of arguments you have studied. In the case above, you can do this by
pointing to consistencies and inconsistencies in the evidence of gendered causes of the Revolution;
raising the implications of these consistencies and/or inconsistencies (perhaps they suggest a limited role for gender as catalyst);
evaluating different claims about the role of gender; and
asking what is gained and what is lost by focusing on gendered symbols, icons and events.

A weak discussion essay in response to the question above might simply list a few aspects of the Revolution—the image of Liberty, the executions of the King and Marie Antoinette, the cry "Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite!" —and make separate comments about how each, being "gendered," is therefore a powerful political force. Such an essay would offer no original thesis, but instead restate the question asked in the assignment (i.e., "The role of gender was very important in the French Revolution" or "Gender did not play a large role in the French Revolution").

In a strong discussion essay, the thesis would go beyond a basic restatement of the assignment question. You might test the similarities and differences of the revolutionary aspects being discussed. You might draw on fresh or unexpected evidence, perhaps using as a source an intriguing reading that was only briefly touched upon in lecture.

2. Analyze two of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, including one not discussed in class, as literary works and in terms of sources/analogues.

The words "analyze" and "analysis" may seem to denote highly advanced, even arcane skills, possessed in virtual monopoly by mathematicians and scientists. Happily, the terms refer to mental activity we all perform regularly; the terms just need decoding. "Analyze" means two things in this specific assignment prompt.

First, you need to divide the two tales into parts, elements, or features. You might start with a basic approach: looking at the beginning, middle, and end. These structural features of literary works—and of historical events and many other subjects of academic study—may seem simple or even simplistic, but they can yield surprising insights when examined closely.
Alternatively, you might begin at a more complex level of analysis. For example, you might search for and distinguish between kinds of humor in the two tales and their sources in Boccaccio or the Roman de la Rose: banter, wordplay, bawdy jokes, pranks, burlesque, satire, etc.

Second, you need to consider the two tales critically to arrive at some reward for having observed how the tales are made and where they came from (their sources/analogues). In the course of your essay, you might work your way to investigating Chaucer's broader attitude toward his sources, which alternates between playful variation and strict adherence. Your complex analysis of kinds of humor might reveal differing conceptions of masculine and feminine between Chaucer and his literary sources, or some other important cultural distinction.

Analysis involves both a set of observations about the composition or workings of your subject and a critical approach that keeps you from noticing just anything—from excessive listing or summarizing—and instead leads you to construct an interpretation, using textual evidence to support your ideas.

Some Final Advice

If, having read the assignment carefully, you're still confused by it, don't hesitate to ask for clarification from your instructor. He or she may be able to elucidate the question or to furnish some sample responses to the assignment. Knowing the expectations of an assignment can help when you're feeling puzzled. Conversely, knowing the boundaries can head off trouble if you're contemplating an unorthodox approach. In either case, before you go to your instructor, it's a good idea to list, underline or circle the specific places in the assignment where the language makes you feel uncertain.

William C. Rice, for the Writing Center at Harvard University

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See the bottom of the main Writing Guides page for licensing information.

While some writing assignments are straightforward, others may need careful deciphering to make sure you are following the guidelines. Looking carefully at the instructions provided for any writing assignment to be certain that you understand the guidelines not only prevents missteps but can also help you develop strategies for conquering the task ahead.

General Considerations

Some terms found in assignments relate to genres used in different disciplines. Close Reading, Literature Review, Report, Study, Memorandum, and Proposal are some examples of terms that relate to specific formats. There are important distinctions between these genres. For example, a Close Reading of a piece of literature requires more analysis than a Literature Review , which asks for key points of summary that relate to an argument. If you are unfamiliar with these terms and they show up in an assignment, be sure to clarify the guidelines with your instructor.

In Practice

Ask questions.

One of the most important things to know about understanding assignments is that if an assignment or any part of an assignment confuses you, you can always ask your instructor for clarification. Asking questions might help your instructor to realize what other students might be struggling with as well. Before stopping by office hours or after class with questions, you might first consider the suggestions below so that you can identify exactly what parts of the assignment remain unclear.

Become Familiar with Common Assignment Goals

Assignments will often contain a variety of terms that can help you to identify the task or tasks you need to perform. The terms generally fall into one of the following categories:

Summarize – A summary provides a condensed explanation of key features from a text or activity. Many assignments might require some summary even if summarizing isn’t the main goal of the assignment. A summary may be required if the assignment includes words such as describe, explain, depict, and illustrate .
Analyze – If an assignment asks you to analyze something, it is asking for your own logical interpretation of the meaning behind the constituent parts of the subject. An analysis is different than a summary as it provides a new understanding about the subject in question, not just an overview. Other words that may be asking for analysis are elaborate, examine, discuss, explore, investigate, and determine .
Argue – If an assignment asks you to make an argument, you need to take a stand on a topic and develop your claim to show why your position makes sense. There are many terms related to argument. For example, evaluate, critique, assess, and review may ask for an argument about the worth of a subject. Propose, recommend, and advise may ask for a solution to a problem. Define asks for an argument about what a word or concept means Compare/contrast, synthesize, and apply (as in apply one text to another ) may ask for an argument about key points of similarity and difference in your subjects, and an analysis about why those points matter.

Break Down the Tasks and Locate the Central Goal

Just like any other text, an assignment can be broken down and analyzed. By keeping in mind that any good essay will have one main goal and one central argument or thesis that incorporates the various subparts, you can begin to determine what shape your essay should take. (In some cases an instructor might not expect an argument or thesis; however, this is rare. If you suspect a thesis is not needed but don’t know for sure, check with your instructor.)

What Should This Essay Really Contain? Highlight each separate task included in the instructions. Consider the terms above as you identify the tasks you need to perform. If the assignment is relatively simple, write out the tasks that will need to be performed. If there are terms that you aren’t familiar with, consider what kind of task they imply.
What Should the Thesis/Argument Be About? Once you have identified the tasks and goals, determine which is the main goal. Every essay should have a well-stated, debatable, and complex thesis statement that guides the essay, but it might be up to you to figure out what the focus of the argument should be. Think about the most important issues discussed in class as they can be clues to what an instructor wants. What would your instructor want you to take a stand on?
How Should This Essay Be Structured? Once you have determined the central goal, outline the essay according to how you think it should be completed, showing how each sub-goal will relate to the main goal or goals. Consider how the other tasks or sub-goals connect to the main argument. If you find you can’t outline with confidence or still aren’t sure how the assignment should be completed, make a note of which elements remain unclear and plan to meet with your instructor.

Analyzing a Sample Assignment

Imagine you have been given this essay prompt: Compare Denmark’s current environmental policies with those of the past. What difficulties have the policies faced over time and how have they been adapted to current environmental concerns? Incorporate the ideas presented in the article by Smith and discuss whether or not the new environmental standards helped or hurt the farmers in Denmark based on the timeline that we discussed in class? What needs to be changed?

Step One: What Should This Essay Really Contain? The essay asks for several tasks of various kinds. 1.) A comparison between past and present environmental policies in Denmark. 2.) A description or summary of the problems these policies have faced and how they have changed. 3.) An analysis of what Smith says about the success and failure of the policies. 4.) An evaluation of what the policies have meant for farmers. 5.) A proposal for changes that would need to be made.

Step Two: What Should The Thesis/Argument Be About? Though the essay asks for a comparison first, that task seems like more of a summary than an argument. The analysis of what Smith says also sounds like the potential central focus, but the analysis seems to be needed mostly to help strengthen the evaluation to come. Since the class is a policy class that focuses on understanding why policies in many governments succeed or fail, it is probably important to evaluate the policies. So task 4 is probably the central argument, combined with task 5.

Step Three: How Should This Essay Be Structured? With tasks 4 and 5 as the central focus, the introduction should include an evaluation in the thesis along with a sense of the proposal. After the thesis, it makes sense to first summarize the past and present policies, which will then lead to a summary of what has changed. Smith could be brought in during both summaries to provide commentary on what has occurred. Once these elements have been established, analyzing the successes and failures of the policies should enter. A proposal could come last and would be based on avoiding future policy failures.

Complete the tasks described above for the following essay assignment. Remember, there might be more than one right way to complete the task.

Sample Art History Assignment: Focusing on Courbet’s painting, Woman with a Parrot , and Cabanal’s painting, Birth of Venus , can you describe the similarities and differences in the way these two artists have depicted the female nude? (Think about the subjects of each of the works when you answer this question.) When it was shown at the Salon, Courbet's painting ignited quite a scandal; Cabanal's, on the other hand, was a favorite with the critics. Which painting had more impact and why? [Assignment taken from http://mysite.pratt.edu/~wtc/sample1.html ]

What Tasks Does This Essay Contain?
What Should The Thesis/Argument Be About?
How Should This Essay Be Structured?

Possible Solution: 1. Describe, Compare/Contrast, Evaluate (which had more impact) and Argue why. 2. I would argue why the painting I chose had a greater impact. 3. I would begin by describing the scandal in my intro, then include a thesis of evaluation, then describe both paintings in depth (including details of subject matter), then analyze the worth of each, then argue the greater worth of one painting, then analyze why I made that choice.

Hjorthoj, Keith. Transitions to College Writing . 3rd Ed. Boston: Bedford St. Martin’s, 2001.

Last updated August 2013

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The Stress Paper Assignment

Congress approved a TikTok ban. Why it could still be years before it takes effect.

A person holds a sign supporting TikTok at the U.S. Capitol.

TikTok’s fate in the U.S. has never been more in doubt after Congress approved a bill that gives its parent company two options: sell it to an approved buyer or see it banned.

President Joe Biden signed the legislation into law on Wednesday.

But it could take years for the TikTok ban to actually go into effect, since its Chinese-owned parent company, ByteDance, is likely to challenge the statute in court.

And even if it survives a legal challenge, no one is quite sure what would happen next.

How soon could a potential ban take effect?

It would probably be several years from now.

According to the statute’s language, ByteDance would have nine months to divest and find an American buyer for TikTok once the bill is signed into law.

On top of that, the president can push back the deadline by an additional 90 days.

That means, without a sale, the soonest TikTok could shut down in the U.S. would be more than one year from now.

But it’s more complicated than that.

If ByteDance sues to block the implementation of the statute — which it has said it would do — the bill will be taken up by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, according to Isaac Boltansky, director of policy for the financial services firm BTIG.

Boltansky said ByteDance would file a suit no later than this fall. And while the case is under judicial review, the “clock” on any ban is effectively paused, he said.

Once the D.C. court issues its ruling, whichever side loses is likely to request a review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

That would forestall the ban by another year — meaning nothing would go into effect until 2026, Boltansky said.

TikTok will argue that the ban is unconstitutional and that it’s also taken steps to protect American users’ data. The app has already launched an aggressive lobbying campaign, featuring a number of small-business owners and influencers who say it's their lifeblood.

“We have got to make enough noise so that they don’t take away our voice,” TikTok user @dadlifejason, who has 13.8 million followers, says in a TikTok ad shared on social media.

What about finding a buyer?

The bill stipulates that TikTok can continue to operate in the U.S. if ByteDance sells the app to a U.S.-approved firm.

While large U.S. tech companies would love to get their hands on the platform, Boltansky said that Biden administration regulators — not to mention GOP critics of Big Tech firms — have no interest in expanding the power, reach or influence of such companies.

Some other outside groups might emerge. At least one led by Steve Mnuchin, who was Treasury secretary in the Trump administration, has already sought to make a bid, telling CNBC in March that he was putting together an investor group . The Wall Street Journal has also reported that former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick was looking for potential buyer partners. While ByteDance, which owns other companies, is worth hundreds of billions of dollars, TikTok would fetch less than that, experts say — especially if it is sold without its powerful recommendation algorithm.

But Boltansky believes ByteDance is unlikely to agree to any kind of sale. The Chinese government has said as much, arguing that it regards the algorithm as a national security asset. And without that, TikTok becomes much less appealing to potential buyers.

So is TikTok in the U.S. going away?

It might — but the ultimate impact may be limited. The fact is, most TikTok users already have a presence on other platforms, so the impact on their livelihoods to the extent that they operate businesses on TikTok could be limited.

According to a survey from the financial services group Wedbush, approximately 60% of TikTok user respondents said they’d simply migrate to Instagram (or Facebook) in the event of a sale, while 19% said they’d go to YouTube.

Analysts with financial services company Bernstein arrived at similar estimates. In a note to clients, they forecast that Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, would take over as much as 60% of TikTok’s U.S. ad revenue, with YouTube gaining 25%. Snapchat would also benefit, they said.

Why did lawmakers feel they needed to take this drastic step?

Boltansky said many political pundits remain surprised that the bill got over the finish line. But a wave of anxiety about both Chinese influence and the impact of social media on youth converged to get it passed.

“This has been noteworthy,” Boltansky said. “Everyone is so conditioned to D.C. doing nothing or the bare minimum to keep the lights on.”

As tensions with Beijing have grown, congressional lawmakers, along with top law enforcement officials, have warned that TikTok is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and is a national security threat to the United States.

“It screams out with national security concerns,” FBI Director Christopher Wray testified on Capitol Hill last year

U.S. officials fear that the Chinese government is using TikTok to access data from, and spy on, its American users, spreading disinformation and conspiracy theories.

It felt like a TikTok ban was moving slowly, then quickly. What happened?

The House passed its standalone TikTok bill on a big bipartisan vote in March. But the Senate appeared in no hurry to take up the measure as Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., drafted her own legislation.

That all changed when Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., working with the White House, rolled out his $95 billion foreign aid supplemental plan last week that included billions of dollars for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

Included in that sweeping aid package: the House’s TikTok bill, with some minor changes. Johnson pushed the package through his chamber, then sent the House on a recess, forcing the Senate to take it or leave it.

Rather than further delay the critical, long-stalled military and humanitarian aid, the Democratic-controlled Senate is moving to quickly pass the package — including the TikTok bill and other Johnson priorities.

Rob Wile is a breaking business news reporter for NBC News Digital.

Scott Wong is a senior congressional reporter for NBC News.

The Inventory

Diddy and R. Kelly Were Accused of Sexual Grooming, and Here's What It Means

Here’s what you need to know about sexual grooming allegations against several powerful men in the entertainment industry..

Editor’s note: The following article includes a discussion of sexual coercion and abuse.

The Pied Piper

Grooming typically involves underaged victims, as was the case with fallen R&B star R. Kelly, who’s serving two federal prison sentences after his conviction in New York City and Chicago. His offenses includes child pornography, enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity, sex trafficking and racketeering.

Over a period of decades, alleged victims have come forward and said Kelly would groom them for sexual acts that he recorded on video. Many of them were underaged aspiring singers when he exploited them.

But, as Diddy and Weinstein have proven, adults are also vulnerable to grooming: Typically, predators leverage the power imbalance they have with potential victims, which can include employer-employee, mentor-mentee and doctor-patient relationships.

Sexual groomers are masters of using psychology and behavioral dynamics in targeting minors and adults, attorney Paul Mones wrote in The Los Angeles Times about Weinstein, who was convicted of rape and other sexual offenses in New York and Los Angeles, setting off the #MeToo movement.

“With the obvious difference that Weinstein’s alleged victims weren’t children, he reportedly employed similarly manipulative tactics to achieve his ends, promising movie roles and attempting to normalize such propositions by rattling off the names of other actresses who had purportedly complied,” Mones wrote.

Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction was overturned Thursday, bringing into question the future of his incarceration. But Diddy, who has denied all allegations against him, will have his day in court to respond to his grooming claims – along with the rest of his laundry list of claims.

What is behind US college protests over Israel-Gaza war?

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WHAT ARE THE PROTESTERS DEMANDING?

Who are the protesters, what has been the response from authorities.

Columbia, US colleges on edge in face of growing protests

WHAT HAS BEEN THE IMPACT ON REGULAR CAMPUS LIFE?

How are political leaders responding.

Reporting by Julia Harte in New York, Kanishka Singh in Washington, Brendan O'Brien in Chicago, and Andrew Hay in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. New Tab , opens new tab

Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump, in the Harlem section of New York

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The Russian Defence Ministry said on Saturday that its forces had carried out 35 strikes in the last week against Ukrainian energy facilities, defence factories, railway infrastructure, air defences, and ammunition stocks.

Aftermath of a Russian missile strike in Kharkiv

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‘Like a film in my mind’: hyperphantasia and the quest to understand vivid imaginations

Research that aims to explain why some people experience intense visual imagery could lead to a better understanding of creativity and some mental disorders

W illiam Blake’s imagination is thought to have burned with such intensity that, when creating his great artworks, he needed little reference to the physical world. While drawing historical or mythical figures, for instance, he would wait until the “spirit” appeared in his mind’s eye. The visions were apparently so detailed that Blake could sketch as if a real person were sitting before him.

Like human models, these imaginary figures could sometimes act temperamentally. According to Blake biographer John Higgs , the artist could become frustrated when the object of his inner gaze casually changed posture or left the scene entirely. “I can’t go on, it is gone! I must wait till it returns,” Blake would declaim.

Such intense and detailed imaginations are thought to reflect a condition known as hyperphantasia, and it may not be nearly as rare as we once thought, with as many as one in 30 people reporting incredibly vivid mind’s eyes.

Just consider the experiences of Mats Holm, a Norwegian hyperphantasic living in Stockholm. “I can essentially zoom out and see the entire city around me, and I can fly around inside that map of it,” Holm tells me. “I have a second space in my mind where I can create any location.”

This once neglected form of neurodiversity is now a topic of scientific study, which could lead to insights into everything from creative inspiration to mental illnesses such as post-traumatic stress disorder and psychosis.

Francis Galton – better known as a racist and the “father of eugenics” – was the first scientist to recognise the enormous variation in people’s visual imagery. In 1880, he asked participants to rate the “illumination, definition and colouring of your breakfast table as you sat down to it this morning”. Some people reported being completely unable to produce an image in the mind’s eye, while others – including his cousin Charles Darwin – could picture it extraordinarily clearly.

“Some objects quite defined. A slice of cold beef, some grapes and a pear, the state of my plate when I had finished and a few other objects are as distinct as if I had photos before me,” Darwin wrote to Galton.

Unfortunately, Galton’s findings failed to fire the imagination of scientists at the time. “The psychology of visual imagery was a very big topic, but the existence of people at the extremes somehow disappeared from view,” says Prof Adam Zeman at Exeter University. It would take more than a century for psychologists such as Zeman to take up where Galton left off.

william blake’s depiction of minos for dante’s divine comedy

Even then, much of the initial research focused on the poorer end of the spectrum – people with aphantasia , who claim to lack a mind’s eye. Within the past five years, however, interest in hyperphantasia has started to grow, and it is now a thriving area of research.

To identify where people lie on the spectrum, researchers often use the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ), which asks participants to visualise a series of 16 scenarios, such as “the sun rising above the horizon into a hazy sky” and then report on the level of detail that they “see” in a five-point scale. You can try it for yourself. When you picture that sunrise, which of the following statements best describes your experience?

1. No image at all, you only “know” that you are thinking of the object 2. Vague and dim 3. Moderately clear and lively 4. Clear and reasonably vivid 5. Perfectly clear and as vivid as real seeing

The final score is the sum of all 16 responses, with a maximum of 80 points. In large surveys, most people score around 55 to 60 . Around 1% score just 16; they are considered to have extreme aphantasia; 3%, meanwhile, achieve a perfect score of 80, which is extreme hyperphantasia.

The VVIQ is a relatively blunt tool, but Reshanne Reeder, a lecturer at Liverpool University, has now conducted a series of in-depth interviews with hyperphantasic people – research that helps to delineate the peculiarities of their inner lives. “As you talk to them, you start to realise that this is a very different experience from most people’s experience,” she says. “It’s extremely immersive, and their imagery affects them very emotionally.”

Some people with hyperphantasia are able to merge their mental imagery with their view of the world around them. Reeder asked participants to hold out a hand and then imagine an apple sitting in their palm. Most people feel that the scene in front of their eyes is distinct from that inside their heads. “But a lot of people with hyperphantasia – about 75% – can actually see an apple in the hand in front of them. And they can even feel its weight.”

As you might expect, these visual abilities can influence career choices. “Aphantasia does seem to bias people to work in sciences, maths or IT – those Stem professions – whereas hyperphantasia nudges people to work in what are traditionally called creative professions,” says Zeman. “Though there are many exceptions.”

A photographic portrait of the scientist francis galton

Reeder recalls one participant who uses her hyperphantasia to fuel her writing. “She said she doesn’t even have to think about the stories that she’s writing, because she can see the characters right in front of her, acting out their parts,” Reeder recalls.

H yperphantasia can also affect people’s consumption of art. Novels, for example, become a cinematic experience. “For me, the story is like a film in my mind,” says Geraldine van Heemstra , an artist based in London. Holm offers the same description. “When I listen to an audiobook, I’m running a movie in my head.”

This is not always an advantage. Laura Lewis Alvarado, a union worker who is also based in London, describes her disappointment at watching The Golden Compass, the film adaptation of the first part of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials . “I already had such a clear idea of how every character looked and acted,” she says. The director’s choices simply couldn’t match up.

Zeman’s research suggests that people with hyperphantasia enjoy especially rich autobiographical memories. This certainly rings true for Van Heemstra. When thinking of trips in the countryside, she can recall every step of her walks, including seemingly inconsequential details. “I can picture even little things, like if I dropped something and picked it up,” she says.

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Exactly where these abilities come from is unknown. Aphantasia is known to run in families, so it’s reasonable to expect that hyperphantasia may be the same. Like many other psychological traits, our imaginative abilities probably come from a combination of nature and nurture, which will together shape the brain’s development from infancy to old age.

Zeman has taken the first steps to investigate the neurological differences that underpin the striking variation in the mind’s eye. Using fMRI to scan the brains of people at rest, he has found that hyperphantasic people have greater connectivity between the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in “higher-order” thinking such as planning and decision-making, and the areas responsible for visual processing, which lie towards the back of the skull.

“My guess is that if you say ‘apple’ to somebody with hyperphantasia, the linguistic representation of ‘apple’ in the brain immediately transmits the information to the visual system,” says Zeman. “For someone with aphantasia, the word and concept of ‘apple’ operate independently of the visual system, because those connections are weaker.”

Further research will no doubt reveal the nuances in this process. Detailed questionnaires by Prof Liana Palermo at the Magna Graecia University in Catanzaro, Italy, for instance, suggest that there may be two subtypes of vivid imagery . The first is object hyperphantasia, which, as the name suggests, involves the capacity to imagine items in extreme detail.

The second is spatial hyperphantasia, which involves an enhanced ability to picture the orientation of different items relative to one another and perform mental rotations. “They also report a heightened sense of direction,” Palermo says. This would seem to match Holm’s descriptions of the detailed 3D cityscape that allows him to find a route between any two locations.

william blake’s muscular miniature the ghost of a flea

Many mysteries remain. A large survey by Prof Ilona Kovács, at Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary, suggests that hyperphantasia is far more common among children, and fades across adolescence and into adulthood. She suspects that this may reflect differences in how the brain encodes information. In infancy, our brains store more sensory details, which are slowly replaced by more abstract ideas. “The child’s memories offer a more concrete appreciation of the world,” she says – and it seems that only a small percentage of people can maintain this into later life.

Reeder, meanwhile, is interested in studying the consequences of hyperphantasia for mental health. It is easy to imagine how vivid memories of upsetting events could worsen the symptoms of anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder, for example.

Reeder is also investigating the ways that people’s mental imagery may influence the symptoms of illnesses such as schizophrenia . She suspects that, if someone is already at risk of psychosis, then hyperphantasia may lead them to experience vivid hallucinations, while aphantasia may increase the risk of non-sensory delusions, such as fears of persecution.

For the moment, this remains an intriguing hypothesis, but Reeder has shown that people with more vivid imagery in daily life are also more susceptible to seeing harmless “ pseudo-hallucinations ” in the laboratory. She asked participants to sit in a darkened room while watching a flickering light on a screen – a set-up that gently stimulates the brain’s visual system. After a few minutes, many people will start to see simple illusions, such as geometric shapes. People with higher VVIQ scores, however, tended to see far more complex scenes – such as a stormy beach, a medieval castle or a volcano. “It was quite psychedelic,” says Lewis Alvarado, who took part in the experiment.

Reeder emphasises that the participants in her study were perfectly able to recognise that these pseudo-hallucinations were figments of their imagination. “If someone never has reality discrimination issues, then I don’t think they’re going to be more prone to psychosis.” For those with mental illness, however, a better understanding of the mind’s eye could offer insights into the patient’s experiences.

For now, Reeder hopes that greater awareness of hyperphantasia will help people to make the most of their abilities. “It’s a skill that could be tapped,” she suggests.

Many of the people I have interviewed are certainly grateful to know a little more about the mind’s eye and the way theirs differs from the average person’s.

Lewis Alvarado, for instance, only came across the term when she was listening to a podcast about William Blake, which eventually led her to contact Reeder. “For the first month or so I couldn’t get it out of my head,” she says. “It’s not something I talk about loads, but I think it has helped me to realise why I experience things more intensely, which is comforting.”

David Robson is the author of The Laws of Connection: 13 Social Strategies That Will Transform Your Life , published by Canongate on 6 June (£18.99). To support the Guardian and Observer , order your copy at guardianbookshop.com . Delivery charges may apply

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What Do Your Dreams Mean? Sleep Experts Reveal Common Interpretations

Our weird and wacky dreams can be open to interpretation, but they might actually mean something. Here are common dream themes explained by sleep experts.

Turns out, that dream where you fall from the sky and jerk yourself awake is pretty common.

Given the extensive list of health reasons humans need rest, it's easy to understand why we close our eyes and go to sleep every night. But it's much more difficult to explain what happens as we drift off into dreamland. Why do we dream? How do we interpret those dreams, especially if they're bizarre or terrifying ?

Dreams are common. In fact, you have one to six dreams a night, the strongest ones happening during REM sleep . Nobody remembers all the dreams they have, and if you've ever woken from a particularly unsettling or offbeat dream, you may wonder why you're having it in the first place. You can start dissecting what your dreams mean with the help of three sleep experts we interviewed.

Here's what to know about your dreams, what they mean and why you have them.

What are dreams?

Simply put, "Dreams are thoughts, images, sensations and sometimes sounds that occur during sleep," Alan Kuras , a licensed clinical social worker at Westmed Medical Group , tells CNET.

There's no definitive evidence about what dreams consist of, but it's generally accepted that dreams represent a collection of thoughts, struggles, emotions, events, people, places and symbols that are relevant to the dreamer in some way.

The most vivid dreams typically occur during REM sleep , though you can dream during other stages of sleep.

Why do I dream?

Dreams may serve multiple purposes, including memory formation.

Kuras says there are many theories about the function of dreams. "They appear to assist in memory formation, integration, problem-solving and consolidation of ideas both about ourselves and the world," he says, adding that neuroscientists have discovered that dreams help with information processing and mood regulation, too.

While scientists know a great deal about what happens physiologically when people dream , there's still much to learn about what happens psychologically. For example, researchers know that people with post-traumatic stress disorder are likely to have nightmares . But people without PTSD have nightmares, too, so it can't be said that nightmares always accompany psychological conditions.

One generally accepted concept is that dreaming is a highly emotional process because the amygdala (an emotional center in your brain) is one of the areas most active during dreams, according to neuroimaging studies .

Why can't I remember my dreams?

If you're one of those people who "doesn't dream," you probably just forget them.

Part of this is biological, Kuras says, as neurotransmitters that form memories are less active during sleep. Dream forgetfulness also appears to be related to the level of electrical activity in the brain during dreams.

Additionally, it could have something to do with the content of your dreams. Early psychoanalytic theory suggested that difficult or traumatic information in dreams is suppressed, and the dreamer is less likely to retrieve or analyze it.

Dr. Meir Kryger, a sleep medicine doctor at Yale Medicine , tells CNET that most people remember their dreams when they're awakened in the middle of a dream or in the first few moments after a dream has ended. But the catch is that the memory only lasts for a short time. Unless you write it down or replay it in your head over and over, there's a good chance you'll forget the dream. It's more common to forget our dreams than it is to remember them, Kryger says.

When you wake up also matters. Research has shown that people who wake up during REM sleep report more vivid, detailed dreams, whereas people who wake up during non-REM sleep report fewer dreams, no dreams or dreams of little significance.

What does my dream mean?

Dream meanings are mostly speculation, but what matters is how your dreams relate to your own life.

Different cultures throughout history have ascribed meaning and importance to dreams, though there's little scientific evidence that dreams have particular meanings attached to them, Kuras says. "No one has yet determined with exactitude what dreams or the images in dreams mean. That dreams are significant indicators of one's subconscious mind is a basic assumption in various cultures, but in different ways."

Kryger says dreams are "mostly speculation in terms of specific meanings." He continues that there are two main trains of thought in the scientific community: One is that every part of a dream has a specific meaning, and the other is that dreams are entirely spontaneous and mean nothing.

The first train of thought can be attributed to Sigmund Freud , who is recognized as the first person to assign definitive meanings to dreams -- like that dreaming about a king and a queen actually means you're dreaming about your mother and father, Kryger says.

Although dream psychoanalysis may have only begun in the last century or two, people have studied dreams for far longer: Aristotle wrote about dreams as early as 325 B.C., according to Kryger.

Lauri Quinn Loewenberg, a professional dream analyst, says the problem with arriving at proof across the board "is that dreams and their meanings are so very personal because they are based on the person's individual life experiences."

Additionally, neuroscience tends to focus on the function of dreaming (like memory retention) rather than the "comparative analysis between the imagery in dreams and the content of the previous day, which is how I approach dream analysis," Loewenberg says.

That said, certain dreams do have meanings attached to them, if for no reason other than holding significance for many people. Below, Kryger, Kuras and Loewenberg discuss the potential meanings of common dreams and symbols in dreams.

What does it mean when you dream about water, wind or fire?

child swimming through a bedroom filled with water and fish

Dreaming about water, wind or fire may offer some insight into your emotions.

Though there's no concrete evidence that the elements have particular meanings (it's mostly speculation, Kryger says), some associations seem common.

Water is thought to symbolize emotions, Loewenberg says, and different types of water can mimic different emotions. For instance, muddy water can represent sadness, tidal waves can represent overwhelm and clear water can represent emotional clarity.

Fire most often equates to anger or distress, Loewenberg says, while wind can represent imminent changes or changes that you're currently going through.

"As far as these being accepted meanings, all that truly matters is what fits for the dreamer," Loewenberg says. While many symbols have a general meaning that can fit most people and common situations, you have to account for your personal associations with symbols, she explains.

What does it mean when you dream about death?

It's actually very common to dream about death.

Kryger says it's very common to dream about death, particularly about the death of someone close to you emotionally. It's also common to interpret those types of dreams as communication from the dead, which isn't really a surprise: "Death has such a great impact on the living that it is often incorporated into dream content," he says.

Loewenberg says dreaming about death can signify the end of something in real life, and that doesn't necessarily mean the end of a life.

"To dream of your own death isn't a premonition but rather a reflection of how you are coming to realize that life as you now know it is coming to an end," she says, adding that it's not unusual to dream about death during things like moving, the process of quitting smoking or making a career change.

According to Kuras, "This all depends on what these images mean to the dreamer in the context of their life and challenges. Dream work is very much the exploration of feelings and meaning for the dreamer and is somehow related to the 'work' of managing life and its challenges."

What does it mean when dreams are set at nighttime vs. daytime?

Dreaming in dark settings, like this one, may indicate sadness or loneliness.

Like the elements, there's no scientific proof that darkness and light have set meanings, but many dreamers associate each with a particular feeling, Loewenberg says. For example, dreams that take place in the dark can represent uncertainty in real life -- such as if you are "in the dark" about something going on and need more information to make a decision. Darkness has also been associated with sadness or loneliness.

Dreams that take place in the daytime, on the other hand, may not mean anything for most people. But if you typically dream in dark settings and suddenly have dreams set in the daytime, it could signify that an issue was resolved or that you've come out of a period of sadness.

Again, dream interpretation is almost entirely speculation, and what's important is how you relate your dreams to your own life.

Why some dreams are common

Dreaming about flying is pretty common.

Have you ever dreamt that you were falling and jerked awake? If you've ever discussed said dream with other people, there's a good chance someone else chimed in saying, "I've had that dream, too!" Dreaming of falling seems to be pretty common, and it's something called an archetype, Loewnberg says.

An archetype, by definition, is "a very typical example of a certain person or thing" (Oxford); when applied to dreams, an archetype is something that signifies " patterns of the psyche ."

Other common dreams, which may or may not be archetypes depending on what's happening in your life at the time you have the dream, include:

Showing up late for something important
Being chased by someone or something
Dreams about sexual relations that shouldn't happen in real life (such as you or your partner engaging in relations with someone else)
Encountering someone who has died
Being paralyzed or unable to speak
Being naked or embarrassed in front of a crowd

Loewenberg says these dreams are so common because they're connected to common behaviors, actions, thoughts and fears. For example, many (if not most) people worry about arriving late for something important, such as a work presentation or a plane flight. Likewise, many people may worry about their partner having an affair, which can show up in dreams.

Having dreams where you appear naked or embarrassed in front of a crowd is often related to social anxiety, Loewenberg says, or worrying about how others perceive you.

How to interpret your dreams

Two lizards crawling over city buildings

Some dreams are straight-up weird, and it's up to you to interpret them.

Since, as mentioned before, there's no solid body of evidence about the meanings of dreams, you have to interpret your dreams in ways that make sense to you.

"The determination of what dreams convey are particular to the person and current situation," Kuras says, "so what the person is experiencing, what challenges they are facing, and what psychological developments are occurring will inform meaning in each case."

Dreaming is a thinking process, Loewnberg reiterates. "Our dreams, those strange little stories we experience every night while we sleep, are actually our subconscious thoughts," she says. "They are a continuation of our stream of consciousness from the day."

But during sleep, instead of talking to yourself in words, you are talking to yourself in symbols, metaphors and emotions, Loewenberg says. The change in language happens because your brain works differently during REM sleep: Notably, the prefrontal cortex, or decision-making center of your brain, is less active or inactive, while the amygdala, the emotional center of your brain, is highly active.

That's why dreams can be so frightening or frustrating and feature events that shouldn't or couldn't happen in real life.

"In a nutshell," Loewenberg says, "dreams are a conversation with the self about the self, but on a much deeper, subconscious level."

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IMAGES

Understanding Assignment Methods In Learning
Top 15 tips to Write a Perfect Assignment
Assignment. Meaning, types, importance, and good characteristics of assignment
How to Write an Assignment: Step by Step Guide
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How to Start an Assignment Right: Tips and Examples

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Understanding Assignments
An assignment can look pretty straightforward at first, particularly if the instructor has provided lots of information. That does not mean it will not take time and effort to complete; you may even have to learn a new skill to complete the assignment. Ask the instructor about anything you do not understand.
Understanding the Assignment
Determining the Purpose. The wording of an assignment should suggest its purpose. Any of the following might be expected of you in a college writing assignment: Summarizing information. Analyzing ideas and concepts. Taking a position and defending it. Combining ideas from several sources and creating your own original argument.
2 What Does the Professor Want? Understanding the Assignment
Each assignment—be it an argumentative paper, reaction paper, reflective paper, lab report, discussion question, blog post, essay exam, project proposal, or what have you—is ultimately about your learning. To succeed with writing assignments (and benefit from them) you first have to understand their learning-related purposes.
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Academic Writing Skills Guide: Understanding Assignments
Understanding the question is the first and most important step when starting your assignments and helps to ensure that your research and writing is more focused and relevant. This means understanding both the individual words, and also the general scope of the question. A common mistake students make with their assignments is to misinterpret ...
Understand the Assignment
An assignment can look pretty straightforward at first, particularly if the instructor has provided lots of information. That does not mean it will not take time and effort to complete; you may even have to learn a new skill to complete the assignment. 2. Ask the instructor about anything you do not understand.
What Does the Professor Want? Understanding the Assignment
The prompt: what does "analyze" mean anyway? Often, the handout or other written text explaining the assignment—what professors call the assignment prompt—will explain the purpose of the assignment, the required parameters (length, number and type of sources, referencing style, etc.), and the criteria for evaluation.
Understand the Assignment
An idiom is a commonly used expression whose meaning does not relate to the literal meaning of its words. In other words, if you were to translate "Understand the Assignment" word for word, there is no guarantee the translation would help you to understand the meaning. An idiom often includes a cultural or historical context that makes it ...
Writing
Getting to grips with the expectations for an assignment can take a lot of back-and-forth: read the prompt or title; jot down some ideas; take a walk; revisit the prompt to highlight key phrases; read a couple journal articles; and so on. Please don't expect to read the essay title and immediately sit down to write a focused rough draft.
Understanding the Assignment
95 Understanding the Assignment Though any writing process is a flexible one, clearly understanding the assignment expectations ensures that you avoid any potential missteps. It's crucial, in other words, that you make sure you have a good sense of what the assignment requires you to do. Read the assignment carefully.
Understanding the Writing Assignment
Understanding what you need to do. First, carefully read the assignment sheet and search for the required page length, due dates, and other submission-based information. Second, determine the genre of the assignment. Third, identify the core assignment questions that you need to answer. Fourth, locate the evaluation and grading criteria.
Chapter 2: Understanding Assignment Outlines and Instructions
The assignment prompt: what does "analyze" mean anyway? Often, the handout or other written text explaining the assignment—what professors call the assignment prompt or outline—will explain the purpose of the assignment, the required parameters (length, number and type of sources, referencing style, etc.), and the criteria for evaluation.
Understanding the Assignment
To this end, read through your assignment as soon as you receive it! The rest of this section is dedicated to showing you a useful framework for breaking down a writing prompt. Step 1. Read the prompt, then read it again. Consider the purpose of the assignment. When approaching an assignment, it's useful to identify the purpose of the assignment.
What do you mean by Understood the Assignment?
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Understanding Writing Assignments
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Understanding Your Assignment
3. Identify the Action Words. Next, underline or highlight all the action words in the assignment directions. Action words tell you what you need to do in your assignment. The number of action words will often tell you how many steps or parts you need to complete for that assignment. For Example.
PDF Understanding Your Assignment
Understanding Your Assignment . Every assignment poses a challenge and presents an opportunity to show that you can think clearly and concisely, and on your own, about the course material. Writing assignments do more than give you a topic to discuss in vague terms—they invite you to . formulate an idea. about your topic.
How to Read an Assignment
In the context of an assignment, however, discussion entails fulfilling a defined and organized task: to construct an argument that considers and responds to an ample range of materials. To "discuss," in assignment language, means to make a broad argument about a set of arguments you have studied. In the case above, you can do this by
How Do I Make Sure I Understand an Assignment?
Argue - If an assignment asks you to make an argument, you need to take a stand on a topic and develop your claim to show why your position makes sense. There are many terms related to argument. For example, evaluate, critique, assess, and review may ask for an argument about the worth of a subject. Propose, recommend, and advise may ask for ...
The Stress Paper Assignment (docx)
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PDF Understanding Assignments
the assignment at the beginning will save you time, stress, and problems later. An assignment can look pretty straightforward at first, particularly if the instructor has provided lots of information. That does not mean it will not take time and effort to complete; you may even have to learn a new skill to complete the assignment. 2.
What Do Your Dreams Mean? Sleep Experts Reveal Common ...
Dreaming is a thinking process, Loewnberg reiterates. "Our dreams, those strange little stories we experience every night while we sleep, are actually our subconscious thoughts," she says. "They ...

2 What Does the Professor Want? Understanding the Assignment

The prompt: what does “analyze” mean anyway?

Rubrics as road maps

What’s critical about critical thinking?

Other resources

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The Research and Writing Process: A Step-by-Step Guide: Understand the Assignment

Understanding Your Assignment

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

Who is your audience?

What kind of evidence do you need to support your ideas?

What kind of writing style is acceptable?

Assignment formats

What Does the Professor Want? Understanding the Assignment

Learning Objectives

Writing for whom? Writing for what?

Student Advice

The prompt: what does “analyze” mean anyway?

Rubrics as road maps

What’s critical about critical thinking?

Share This Book

Understand the Assignment

What Does "Understand the Assignment" Mean?

What Is an Idiom?

Understanding the Assignment: Writing

Overview of understanding the assignment

Guide contents

What's the verb?

The likely suspects

What's the tension?

Can you turn the statement into a question?

What if it's already a question?

Can you narrow the scope?

Understanding the Writing Assignment

Understanding what you need to do

Identifying Writing Requirements & Disciplinary Expectations

Writing Genre

Answer the Assignment Questions & Implied Questions

Identifying Evaluation Criteria

Share This Book

Chapter 2: Understanding Assignment Outlines and Instructions

The assignment prompt: what does “analyze” mean anyway?

Rubrics as road maps

What’s critical about critical thinking?

Share This Book

Module 4: Developing a Research Project

Step 1. Read the prompt, then read it again.

Step 2. Find the verbs and action items

Step 3: Identify the deliverables

Step 4: Make a plan

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Understanding Writing Assignments

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

How to Decipher the Paper Assignment

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General Considerations

In Practice

Become Familiar with Common Assignment Goals

Break Down the Tasks and Locate the Central Goal

Analyzing a Sample Assignment