Glossary

Academic keywords in essay titles

Account for: Explain why something happens; give reasons for it Analyse: Examine in very close detail; identify important points and chief features Comment on: Identify and write about the main issues, giving your reactions based on what you have read or heard in lectures. Avoid purely personal opinion. Examine: Put the subject ‘under the microscope’, looking at it in detail. You may be asked to ‘critically evaluate’ as well. Explain: Make clear why something happens, or why something is the way it is Illustrate: Make something clear and explicit, giving examples or evidence.

Compare: Show how two or more things Interpret: Give the meaning and are similar. Indicate the relevance or relevance of data or other material consequences of these similarities. presented. Contrast: Set two or more items or arguments in opposition so as to draw out differences. Indicate whether the differences are significant. Critically Evaluate: Weigh arguments for and against something, assessing the strength of the evidence on both sides. Use criteria to guide your assessment of which opinions, theories, models or items are preferable. Define: Give the exact meaning of. Where relevant, show that you understand why the definition may be problematic. Discuss: Write about the most important aspects of the topic (probably including criticism); give arguments for and against; consider the implications of. Distinguish: Bring out the differences between two (possibly confusable) items. Evaluate: Assess the worth, importance or usefulness of something, using evidence. There will probably be cases to be made both for and against.

Cottrell, S. 2003. The Study Skills Handbook. 2

nd

Justify: Give evidence which supports an argument or idea; show why a conclusion or decisions were made, considering objections that others might make. Narrate: Concentrate on saying what happened, telling it as a story Outline: Give only the main points, showing the main...