Analysing Essay questions with mind maps

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Analysing Essay questions with mind maps
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Unpacking the Question

• This involves reading and analysing it carefully
  to identify if there is a
• Topic
• Focus
• Instruction
• (Viewpoint)

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Identifying the Topic

• Each assignment title should contain a general
  topic which indicates the overall range of the
  subject matter
• Example
• How important was colonialism in the development
  of anthropology?

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Identifying the Focus

• Addressing the general topic is not sufficient.
  What aspect of the subject matter is the question
  about?
• Example
• How important was colonialism in the development
  of anthropology?

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Identifying the instruction or comment

• This tells us what we need to do
• How important was colonialism in the development
  of anthropology?

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Possible questions that need to be asked

• What do I understand by the terms anthropology
  colonialism?
• Was colonialism important? Yes/No?
• How important?
• In what ways?
• Other factors that affected its development?
• Was colonialism the most important factor?
• How can we prove its influence?

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The viewpoint

• Sometimes questions are framed to include a
  particular viewpoint
• Example
• Colonialism was the most important factor in
  the development of anthropology. Discuss.
• You would be required to give evidence to
  support or challenge this viewpoint. Most cases
  are not clear cut so there is usually evidence to
  support or challenge a particular viewpoint to a
  certain extent.

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Answer the Whole Question

• What, in general, do you have to write about? (
  topic)
• What particular aspect of the topic do you have
  to address? (focus)
• What do you have to do? (instruction)
• What do you need to support or challenge?
  (viewpoint)

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Example Questions

• Identify the topic, focus and instruction in
  these assignment titles
• 1. In what ways is the study of social
  exclusion relevant to criminologists?
• 2. Discuss uses, advantages and dangers of
  performance appraisal.
•  

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Getting Started

• Spend a few minutes on this exercise
• Write your next assignment title in the middle of
  a blank piece of A4 paper
• Draw a circle around it and identify the key
  words (topic, focus, instruction)
• Draw lines out from these words and jot down
  anything that relates to them

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Talking it over

• Turn to the person next to you and explain how
  these ideas connect to each other.
• Draw lines between the different parts to show
  these connections

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Developing your plan

• You will need to do further reading around the
  topic but before this, can you visualise a
  possible structure to this essay (number the
  sections on the mind map)

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Using the mind map

• List all the questions you need to find answers
  for and use this as a reading guide. This should
  help you to avoid reading that is not relevant to
  the essay question

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References

• Effective Learning Website
• http//www.lancs.ac.uk/depts/celt/sldc/materials/w
  riting/general.htm
• Tony Buzan (1993)The Mind Map Book.London BBC