Technical question of answering the questions

• List: Very basic. Simply write items in the form of a list with no need for detail or explanation.
• State: not much more than list. No need to explain.
• Outline: just the main features to be covered.
• Describe: you need to give detail to ‘paint the full picture’
• Distinguish: compare two or more things; point out what makes them different.
• Explain: this is more than a description. Write one sentence that describes, then write at least on other to explain why the ?rst sentence is so, or the consequences of the ?rst sentence. Use examples to help your explanations.
• Identify: selective description. You pick up on key points.
• Compare and contrast: How are things similar and how they are different?
• Discuss: There needs to be a dialogue between two or more points of view. Ideally a discussion should end with a conclusion. Think about: advantages/ disadvantages/ conclusion, or reasons why/reasons why not/conclusion. It is also possible to ‘discuss’ one viewpoint. For example you may be asked to ‘discuss the advantages of…’. Does this mean you have to do the disadvantages as well? No – simply go through the advantages, saying whether they apply in this situation, or whether they are each a major advantage or a relatively minor one.
• Evaluate: You have to judge the worth, importance or value of something. Think of this as a higher level discuss.
• Suggest/recommend: Telling our audience what to do. This is usually the last requirement in a question because you ?rst need to identify, explain and evaluate before you can recommend or suggest a way forward.