Important Words to Help Understand Questions

Today, in my second to last post before Christmas, I would like to go over some words that students see in their assignments or exam questions. Sometimes, we never examine what an instructor/tutor/professor means when they use these simple questions in assignments or exams. Many of us believe we understand what these words mean, but actually don't know precisely what is meant by these words. So, students can write around the question, hoping that they will hit the target somewhere in this process. Yet, these are common words that mean something quite specific in the context of assignment questions.

Let's start with "describe or outline." For example, a question that tells you: "to describe or outline the steps of problem-solving." To begin with, to know things we must name them. However, that is not enough, we must be able to apply our knowledge in order to offer explanations of the terms we use.

Thus, when we are asked to "to describe or outline the steps of problem-solving" or in fact anything, the tutor is being quite specific about what we must do. We need to name the steps, then we need to explain what they are, then we can give brief examples of these steps. So, we have used the steps of critical thinking by using knowledge, understanding and application. The Hierarchy of Knowledge, developed by Bloom, is specific about these steps and one of the objectives of the School of Management at the University of Leicester is to use critical thinking.

Objective, a word I used above, is an important word in learning. Teaching by objectives ensures that tutors have achievable, measurable goals. The definition of "objective" in the Oxford Concise Dictionary (10 ed. revised, 2002) defines "objective" (where objective is a noun) as: 1. a goal or aim. It also tells us that objective results are "2. Not dependent on the mind, actual". This tells us that we are looking for concrete facts, real data that illustrates our point. Thus, let's say a question asks: "Use any business or corporation to analyse whether its environmental policies reflect the objectives of Kyoto Protocol (1997)". Objective in this sentence is a noun, thus you will be looking for the aims or goals of the environmental policies of the company you are going to discuss. You will need to know (a) the intended results or objectives of the environmental policy of a specific business and (b) the intended results or objectives of the Kyoto Protocol. Both will require research on the environmental policies of a business you work at or one that you research through the databases at University of Leicester.

Your own business may not, in fact, be suitable if it really has no environmental impact and its policies will not provide a lively discussion of the Kyoto Protocol. To understand this, first you must be aware of the intended results, aim or goals of the Kyoto Protocol. Then you can judge what kind of business you should pick to make your points clearly. You need to be specific in showing how the Kyoto Protocol influences the business you are discussing.

Influence is an important word in many assignment questions. In the question above, we could reframe the question to ask the following question: "Use any business or corporation to illustrate how the Kyoto Protocol (1997) has influenced their environmental policy." This question has been very specific: the business or corporation you choose to discuss must directly have been influenced by the Kyoto Protocol. This influence must be shown to be direct. Thus, you must see direct and clear initiatives that the business has undertaken that are directly mentioned by the Kyoto Protocol. You must also take care to make sure that any environmental initiatives, such as increasingly lower emissions on the part of, for example, a Paper Company, a Metals Refining Company or a Chemical Company (see, for example, Abitibi (paper), Sherritt (nickel refining), or Dow Chemical) happened as a result of and after the Kyoto Protocol. If the business has stated their intention to use the Protocol and change their environmental policies, this will make that company a good company to discuss in your assignment.

Taking this question a step further, the question might also ask you to "analyse their environmental policies" or "evaluate" them. In the former example, you must demonstrate a thorough knowledge of environmental policies in a particular company and must explain or analyse how these policies and the Kyoto protocol initiatives are linked. This is where students often make crucial errors. They write general knowledge about the Kyoto protocol instead of actually examining the details of environmental policies in a specific business. The question is, in fact, quite specific. If you need to analyse or evaluate the environmental policies of a specific business, you must know how effective or ineffective they are.

You should be aware if the company has been sued or cited for an environmental emissions or some other problem such as dumping. You will only know about this by good research, research that examines what a company says (for example in their yearly corporate reports) versus what a company actually does (for example newspaper articles, press releases or other public documentation). They may not write about environmental problems in corporate reports but a thorough search on the databases at University of Leicester will uncover the realities of the situation. These facts will fuel the analysis or the evaluation that you are going to make in your assignment. Evaluation and analysis imply that you should be weigh factors out in a particular field. This will be the same whether you are discussing a company's environmental policy or its corporate culture.

The tutor wants you to use evidence, that is data about a particular company, to show or demonstrate what this company's environmental record actually is and demonstrate its policies in regard to the environment. The same thing would hold true if the question was, for example, "Using Porter's five forces model, analyse the business strategy of a company of your choice." You should use a company which will prove to be a good example of business strategy and an good demonstration of Porter's five forces, not simply a company that you know. A dynamic, interesting discussion that shows how the five forces work with excellent examples using relevant evidence to demonstrate the theory is what the tutor wants to see.

When you approach an assignment question, you shouldn't, as I pointed out above, think of this as a good opportunity to discuss the copmany you work in currently. Some students think this will make doing the assignment easier. As I pointed out above, in fact if your copmany really has no environmental impact then you should do research and find a good example of the question that has been posed. Tutors mark many assignments. Providing lively debate, interesting examples and thought provoking evaluations, make your assignment stand out. Bold choices tend to provide better assignments.

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