In some classes, you may take tests and quizzes that required short answers. The answers to these assessments should be approached in the same way that you approach writing a paper or completing any other written assignment and with the same care.
Here are some tips for answering short answer questions on tests and quizzes:
- Approach short answer questions just as you would any test/quiz. Give the best answer you can.
- First, read the question carefully and make sure that you understand it. Look for keywords or concepts that will help you to understand what is being asked.
- Then think about what you know about the topic. Consider everything you have read and learned in class about the question before you write the answer.
- Consider doing a little pre-writing. List everything you can think of about the question being asked. Then determine what you have listed best answers the question.
- Use complete sentences (unless you have been directed otherwise). Make sure that your sentences are easy to read and clearly answer the question.
- Read over your answer to make sure that it is the best answer to the question.
Some of the tests or quizzes you take will require you to write a short essay or several short essays. Some tests or quizzes are essay-only tests. You should approach writing the answers to an essay test in much the same way that you would prepare to write a longer essay.
Here are some guidelines for writing answers to essay test questions:
- Approach essay questions just as you would prepare to write an out-of-class essay.
- First, read the question carefully and make sure that you understand it. Look for keywords or concepts that will help you to understand what is being asked.
- Then think about what you know about the topic. Consider everything you have read and learned in class about the question before you write the answer.
- Pre-write for your essay. Use the kind of pre-writing that works best for you. You might list everything you can think of about the question being asked. You may prefer to use clustering or outlining. Freewriting also works for many students. No matter what your preferred method of prewriting is, the key is to use it to prepare yourself to write your answer to the essay question.
- Use complete sentences and paragraphs. Write clearly and organize your essay so that you have a thesis statement that tells your reader what the essay will do and so that you can write the essay in an orderly way.
- Make sure that your sentences are easy to read and add substance to your essay. Strong sentences that clearly relate to the question you have been asked will ensure that you are communicating well with your reader.
- Write paragraphs that are organized and that work together to adequately answer the question you have been asked to respond to.
- Be sure to revise.
- Read over your essay to make sure that it is the best answer to the question.
- When you revise, you should read over the question again to make sure that you have addressed all parts of the question in your answer.
- After you have finished, read over the answer one last time.
In some of your classes, you may have to complete reflection essays, journal entries, answers to discussion questions online, lab reports, or short writing assignments that do not require research. When you complete these assignments, you will need to follow the rules of writing in an academic environment in addition to your professor’s guidelines. While these assignments may not seem less important than longer assignments, they are an important part of your learning process and can help you to become a better writer. Applying the skills you learned in writing papers in your English composition classes will help you to practice writing and to make a higher grade.
Here are some tips for completing short writing assignments:
- Approach short writing assignments just as you would any other writing assignment. Write clearly and concisely so that your assignment meets the requirements for the assignment and is well written.
- First, read the assignment directions carefully and make sure that you understand them. Look for keywords or concepts that will help you to understand what is being asked of you and how to express your thoughts on the topic.
- Consider doing a little pre-writing. Pre-writing is valuable for all kinds of writing no matter the length. List everything you can think of about the topic you are being asked to write about. Then determine what you should include in the assignment.
- Write clearly. Make sure that your sentences are easy to read and adequately meet the assignment requirements.
- Vary sentence structure. Don’t write all long sentences or all short sentences. Use a mixture of short, medium, and long sentences. Don’t try to say too much in one sentence.
- Be concise. Avoid wordy phrases that add nothing to the meaning of your sentence. Here are two resources that you can use to identify and replace wordy phrases:
- Revise the assignment, even if it is just a paragraph or two. Reading over what you have just read with an eye toward making sure your assignment is well written and fulfills the assignment requirements can lead to a higher grade.
When you write an email to a professor, an administrator, or another student, be sure that you write clearly and with respect. Students often need to email their professors for a variety of reasons, many involving important course questions.
Here are some guidelines for writing successful emails to your professors.
- Always greet your professor and use his or her last name (unless you have been instructed to use his or her first name): Dear Dr. Jones or Dear Professor Jones. Depending on the situation, you might also use a less formal greeting such as Hello, Dr. Smith or Hello, Professor Smith.
- Keep the email short and to the point. Be sure that you address only one question per email to avoid overwhelming your professor with too many questions or too many explanations.
- Respect your professor’s time and commitments. Often your professor cannot respond to you immediately. Give him or her at least 24 hours to respond. Usually, you will receive an answer within 24 hours.
- Use capital letters, punctuation, and complete sentences when you email your professor. These writing conventions make it easier for your professor to read your email and, therefore, respond to you more easily.
- Be polite. In some cases, you might be concerned about an issue such as a grade. Avoid a confrontational tone if you are asking for your professor a question about a grade or assignment.
Many students are not aware that they have a writing “voice,” a particular way they choose words, compose sentences, and form paragraphs. You may have had a comment on a paper that your tone was too informal or casual. An informal or casual tone of writing voice is not appropriate for most academic writing.
Academic writing is slightly more formal than writing you do in other situations. For example, when you text a friend or write an email to an acquaintance, your tone will be more casual. You may use abbreviations or slang. Any time you write, you need to understand who the reader of your writing is (audience), why you are writing (purpose), and the situation you are writing in (context). These considerations are called the Rhetorical Situation, and understanding your situation will help you to use the correct word choice and tone when you write.
For example, when you write an essay for a class at King University, you need to consider your rhetorical situation:
- Audience: Your professor, fellow students, others interested in your research
- Purpose: To write a competent essay on the assigned topic for a particular class
- Context: University study
When you analyze this rhetorical situation, you understand that your tone needs to be appropriate for a university audience and requires a well-written, serious response to your writing prompt or directions.
The suggested resources below can help you to learn to analyze your own rhetorical situation so that you can successfully complete writing assignments at the university level.
Suggested Resources:
Appropriate language for academic writing:
Writing, creating presentations, and presenting them can be a source of stress for many students. Fear of public speaking is one of the most prevalent phobias in modern society. Preparation is the key to overcoming any fear of public speaking you may have and to helping you create a successful presentation.
Here are some tips to keep in mind as you prepare a presentation:
- Read over the assignment directions carefully to make sure that you understand the requirements of the assignment. Note time limits, slide requirements, and other directions outlined in the assignment.
- Give yourself plenty of time. A good presentation, like a good essay, takes time. Start early and give yourself time to practice and revise as necessary.
- Determine which visual aid is best for your presentation. You may be required to use PowerPoint or Prezi. You may be required to create a poster or handouts. Your assignment sheet will probably designate which visual aid you should use. If it does not, be sure to ask.
- Outline or write out what you want to cover in your presentation. You can then create slides or a poster that addresses your main points.
- Pay close attention to detail when you create the visual aid. Look for grammar and spelling errors. Be sure to cite sources of information and/or images.
- Practice, practice, practice. The more you practice, the more confident you will feel.
- Know your material. If you have a good grasp of the information, you will be less nervous.
- Stay within the required time limits given in the assignment. Do not go over or under the stated times.
- Make an appointment at King’s Speaking Center. Tutors are available to help you with all aspects of your presentation.
Suggested Resources:
Issues in professional writing situations:
Many students do not feel comfortable expressing themselves in writing. These feelings are often the result of a lack of confidence in their ability to write grammatically correct sentences. For example, if you have to write a short answer or essay question on a test, you may be so concerned with overcoming any grammar issues you have that you do not spend the appropriate amount of time on the content of the answer, which is the most important part of the answer. Some students even suffer severe writer’s block because of the uneasiness they feel about their grammar skills. Spending some time reviewing grammar rules often helps students to become more confident in their answers on essay tests and quizzes.
Wordiness, or lack of conciseness, is another common problem that many students experience when they write. Wordiness often leads to long, complicated sentences, which, in turn, lead to grammar errors. One of the resources listed below can help you to identify whether wordiness is part of your problem with grammar and writing and how to address this problem if necessary.
Below, you will find resources that will help you to overcome any areas you believe you need to improve on: parts of speech, punctuation, sentence structure, conciseness and more.
Suggested Resources:
In some of your classes, you may have to complete an essay that requires research. Some research essays require more sources and research than others. When you complete these longer researched writing assignments, you will need to follow the rules of writing in an academic environment in addition to your professor’s guidelines. These assignments are an important part of your learning process and can help you to become a better researcher and writer. In addition, applying skills you learned in writing and researching the research projects in your English composition classes will make your research and writing process easier, and it can help you to make a higher grade.
Here are some tips for completing research essays:
- Approach long writing assignments as a long-term project. Do not try to write a research paper in a day or even a few days. Researching a topic and writing an essay based on that research takes time.
- First, read the assignment directions carefully and make sure that you understand them. Look for keywords or concepts that will help you to understand what is being asked of you and how to express your thoughts on the topic.
- Do some pre-writing. Pre-writing is valuable for all kinds of writing no matter the length. List everything you can think of about the topic you are being asked to write about. Then determine what you should include in the assignment.
- Write clearly. Make sure that your sentences are easy to read and adequately meet the assignment requirements.
- Be thorough. Meeting the word count of an essay is not adding meaningless extra, empty words to your essay. Instead, fill your paper with information and data from sources. Explain how the sources you quote, paraphrase, and summarize relate to the main idea (thesis) of your essay.
- Vary sentence structure. Don’t write all long sentences or all short sentences. Use a mixture of short, medium, and long sentences. Don’t try to say too much in one sentence.
- Be concise. Avoid wordy phrases that add nothing to the meaning of your sentence. Here are two resources that you can use to identify and replace wordy phrases:
- Revise the assignment. Revision means “see” (vis) “again” (re), so you will want to read over your assignment seeing again what you have written. Give yourself time by putting the essay aside for a day if possible before looking at it again with a critical eye. Consider revising and editing your essay several times. Reading over what you have just written with an eye toward making sure your assignment is well written and fulfills the assignment requirements can lead to a higher grade.
Suggested Resources:
- Citation Guide
- Evaluating Sources:
- Writing Research Papers:
- Writing and Revising:
- Avoiding plagiarism
- Thesis statements
- Paragraph writing:
- Research and evidence
- Organizing arguments
- Essay writing:
In some of your classes, you may have to complete an essay that requires some research but is not a long research essay. These essays will require fewer sources than a typical research paper. When you complete these kinds of assignments, you will need to follow the rules of writing in an academic environment in addition to your professor’s guidelines. These assignments are an important part of your learning process and can help you to become a better researcher and writer. In addition, applying skills you learned in writing and researching the research projects in your English composition classes will make your research and writing process easier, and it can help you to make a higher grade.
Here are some tips for completing research essays:
- Approach research assignments that require fewer sources and less research just as you would any other essay. Do not try to write the paper in a few hours or a day. Researching a topic, even if you are only looking for one or two sources, and writing an essay based on that research takes time.
- First, read the assignment directions carefully and make sure that you understand them. Look for keywords or concepts that will help you to understand what is being asked of you and what kind of essay you should write. In the suggested resources below, you will find tips on writing different kinds of essays: expository, descriptive, narrative, or argumentative.
- Do some pre-writing. Pre-writing is valuable for all kinds of writing no matter the length. List everything you can think of about the topic you are being asked to write about. Then determine what you should include in the assignment.
- Write clearly. Make sure that your sentences are easy to read and adequately meet the assignment requirements.
- Be thorough. Meeting the word count of an essay is not adding meaningless extra, empty words to your essay. Instead, fill your paper with information and data from sources. Explain how the sources you quote, paraphrase, and summarize relate to the main idea (thesis) of your essay.
- Vary sentence structure. Don’t write all long sentences or all short sentences. Use a mixture of short, medium, and long sentences. Don’t try to say too much in one sentence.
- Be concise. Avoid wordy phrases that add nothing to the meaning of your sentence. Here are two resources that you can use to identify and replace wordy phrases:
- Revise the assignment. Revision means “see” (vis) “again” (re), so you will want to read over your assignment seeing again what you have written. Give yourself time by putting the essay aside for a day if possible before looking at it again with a critical eye. Consider revising and editing your essay several times. Reading over what you have just written with an eye toward making sure your assignment is well written and fulfills the assignment requirements can lead to a higher grade.
Suggested Resources:
King University Writing Center materials:
Purdue’s OWL Website materials:
- Writing and Revising:
- Avoiding plagiarism
- Thesis statements
- Paragraph writing:
- Research and evidence
- Organizing arguments
- Essay writing: