Analysing the question

The first step to writing academically is to clearly define the purpose of the writing. Remember here that you assignment is set by an academic tutor who will follow a set of marking criteria to assess your work. In preparing for writing, you need to spend enough time interpreting your question/title/brief and deciding how to tackle your assignment.  

Usually, assignment tasks can be broken down into direction (what is it that the examiner wants from you in the essay?), topic (refer to the subject(s) that you need to cover in your essay and what you need to concentrate your attention on) and boundary words (define the scope of your essay).  

Activity

Take a look at one of your assignment tasks, can you breakdown the question or statement into direction words, topic words and boundary words? You may find using 3 different highlighters or coloured pens helpful.