 Hi and welcome back here on my study channel, The London Writing Academic. So I'm here today with a back to basics video, which is basically back to basics is a playlist here on my channel and also a series on my blog, The London Writing Academy, which you can access at blog.NefisaLondon.co.uk. And it's all about going back to basics in terms of academic writing skills. Now, the reason why I called it this is because the topics that I am going to cover in this mini series and playlist are basic academic skills that you need to master in terms of developing your skills in both undergraduate and postgraduate study. However, there are also skills that a lot of people need to refresh and that is absolutely fine. When I first started this PhD program that I'm doing, there was a forum that we were discussing a specific paper that we had to write. And there were people there who hadn't studied for 20 years plus. Of course, they have their first degrees, I have their masters, but they were just kind of, you know, a little bit shaky and apprehensive about basic academic skills such as, you know, referencing even which voice to use, whether to use the passive voice, whether to lead with I, the I voice, paraphrasing all of these basic skills. So it's not that they didn't know what they were, but of course, you know, because, you know, they spent years working in industry where perhaps academic writing wasn't necessary for them to do, you know, they kind of needed to brush up on those skills. So for those that profile of people and also for people who are getting started or getting into academic writing who don't have experience of that, these are basic skills. And, you know, while they are a starting point for the basis of good academic writing, they're also skills that, you know, we need to revisit, we need to sharpen. And that's fine, because life skills, you don't just learn them. And that's it for life. A lot of the time, you need to come back and kind of refresh and, you know, what am I doing? For me, referencing is one referencing is something that especially if you have to switch between different styles of referencing, it is easy to kind of forget the conventions and you have to check it. So that's the idea behind the playlist and the series that I'm doing both on this channel and on my blog back to basics. So it's to cover all the, you know, the basics of academic writing. So if you need this and you find this useful, please do subscribe to this channel if you haven't already. Take a look at my blog. I put a lot of free content that is useful. And of course, you know, have a look at my academic writing community on my Patreon, which is basically my online school where you'll have access to a plethora of academic and study skills resources. And don't forget to hit the like button. That will help me out. And it also helped me to know to make videos like this in the future. So today, the basic academic and writing skill that we are going to be focusing on is understanding the essay question. And I am going to be looking or we, we are going to be looking at five instructional verbs, which are common. They come up in undergraduate and postgraduate assignments. And essentially, the there is one, or there are several concepts, but the main concept I want to get across today is I want my students to step away. I want you to step away from just simply describing. And I speak as somebody who I teach both undergraduate and postgraduate students academic writing. And for the students who want to get the top marks, they say to me, you know, how do I get the top marks? What they have to do, what is essential is to step away from simply just describing what they are writing about. And it's something that, you know, a lot of educational systems that my students are used to, or where, you know, they, they, they come from require them to memorize information and to simply just regurgitate. But if you've watched any of my other videos, you will know that critical thinking is a big thing. In order to know if you are after the top marks, you must demonstrate level, a high level of criticality, critical thinking, and which goes beyond it's not enough to just describe something. Something if you've read a whole textbook, I do not need to see that in your writing. I do not need to be told things that I already know. The examiner doesn't need to be told things that he or she already knows. So it's really about stepping away from that. So with the five instructional verbs that we'll be looking at today, I'll be showing you what is required and what it doesn't mean, because a lot of people will look at these words and they will think, you know, okay, without really understanding what is being asked, they will just give a description of, you know, what they've read or just say what they've read. And that is really, at best, it will just get you a basic pass. Like I said, it doesn't show it doesn't demonstrate any form of criticality. It doesn't show any form of, you know, analytical skills. It doesn't show any synthesis ability to synthesize from sources. By synthesis of sources, I mean, read in a wide range of literature and being able to, you know, streamline it in an essay and, you know, put your argument forward clearly and logically. Okay. So it is important that obviously you understand what you are being asked to do, and that you do that effectively. So we're going to be focusing on five instructional verbs today, which are analyze, assess, consider, discuss and evaluate. Now, of course, this is not an exhaustive list. There are more instructional verbs. And I will put a list of the most common and what is required. I'll put that in a document and I'll have that available on my academic community. Again, the link is in the description bar below this video. But today, we're just going to be focusing on the five because these are the most common, both undergraduate and postgraduate study. And it's something that you will be asked to write about. So really understanding what it requires and being clear on what it isn't is, you know, a really, really good starting point. So let's begin. So the first verb I'm going to look at the first instructional verb is analyze. Okay, so when you are asked to analyze, you are being asked to look in depth at how and why something is the way it is using supporting arguments as evidence. Okay. Now, again, I'd like to draw your attention to supporting arguments as evidence. This is a recurring theme. You will see this is a requirement of all the instructional verbs which we are looking at today. So firstly, I would like to draw your attention to this right here. This is a bottle of Chanel nail polish, which happens to be the color that I'm writing. And yes, if any of you are familiar with my other channel, do not worry, this is not a beauty video. And it certainly isn't a makeup tutorial. However, what I would like to demonstrate is the concept of analyze. If we were to analyze this bottle, it would be it would require looking in detail at how and why it is the way it is. So if I was to tell you this is a bottle of Chanel nail polish and it's the color is what looks like pink and the lid is black, you can clearly see what I'm telling you. I haven't told you anything groundbreaking. There is no revelation here. And you're not going to be wowed. You're not going to be particularly there's nothing that you don't already know that I've told you because I'm describing. And that is what you want to get away from when you are asked to analyze. So if we're being asked to analyze this bottle, again, we're looking in depth at how and why something is the way it is. So firstly, of course, we'd have to start with some form of description. So I can say, you know, it's a bottle of, you know, what looks like pink. We look closer at the color. And I think the color here, it says Camellia. So we're going a little bit step closer. Then we'll say the material this is glass. And perhaps, you know, the reason why it is glass is because the manufacturer wanted the customer or the potential customer to see the color. The contents within the the bottle need to be displayed. So by taking, you know, a transparent material such as glass to house the product allows for the customer to see what is inside. Okay, so why did the why did the manufacturer use glass rather than plastic? Plastic is an option. It could be for several reasons. It could be that, you know, glass gives it more of a luxurious feel. Obviously Chanel is a high end product. And given, you know, using glass as opposed to plastic, plastic gives it more of a luxury feel. Also, it could be that, you know, glass is more environmentally friendly, and the manufacturer is environmentally conscious. It could be the case. If we look at the lid, if we take it off, we can see that there's a double lid. There's a one lid. And there is a second lid. So why is that the case? Why did the manufacturer use a double lid? Why wouldn't it be okay to just use one lid? Okay, it could be that having two lids, one serves as an aesthetic function. It looks good. It fits a certain, it keeps the certain shape that the manufacturer wanted, which is a kind of a cuboid oblong shape. It could be for ergonomic purposes, you know, it fits nicely into the hand, it's nice to hold. And then it could also be for functionality. So if we take this off, you can see that this lid requires a twist feature. And then we can open the bottle and, you know, we have access to the contents inside. So this has a twist feature. But it could also serve as a protective measure. So if you close this, maybe it is not as secure as it would be if it has a double lid feature. So the double lid allows for aesthetic in terms of ergonomics, it feels better to hold rather than just having it without. And then also it serves, you know, to protect the contents from spillage. So if there was a spillage initially, the second lid would serve as a protective feature that would stop the liquids or the products from leaking. Now, can you see how we've taken a closer look at how the bottle is the way it is and why it is the way it is? It serves the function, the purpose. However, we still have to go a step further. So if in terms of talking about the glass, the glass feature as opposed to plastic, I would need to bring in evidence that glass is, I've said that glass could be more environmentally friendly. But I have to show that this is the case. And it's not enough for me to say this. So I would need to show from evidence of reading, whether it's from a textbook from a journal article that glass is more environmentally friendly, or more biodegradable, whatever word you want to use than plastic. And that is perhaps why the manufacturer decided to use this. I would also need to show support from other literature that the design, the concept of the design maybe having a double lid feature is something that nail polish manufacturers like to use. So if we go back to what analyzing involves, you can see we have, we have looked in depth at how and why the Chanel nail polish bottle is the way it is. And then if we bring in the evidence about the glass being more environmentally friendly or more biodegradable, and we bring in evidence from maybe design books about why certain manufacturers use certain designs, then we have fulfilled the criteria of supporting arguments as evidence. And we've stepped away from simply describing and telling the reader or the viewer what they can already see. So what analyzing isn't is simply describing something, a trend or a pattern, because that does not show criticality. That does not show analytical skills. It is a basic, basic concept describing something is at the bottom of the pyramid that I had previously spoken about. Bloom's taxonomy, I will leave the link in the description bar. I suggest you have a look at that. Description is not a high, highly regarded analytical skill, and it is simply not enough to describe something. Okay. Moving on, the second instructional verb. Assess. So it's often you will be asked to assess something, you'll be given a, often a sentence. And at the end, it will say assess or the assess the instructional verb assess may come at the beginning of the sentence. So what does assess mean? Assess requires you to judge the quality, importance or effectiveness of something supported by reasons for your judgment. Again, you can see this is a repeating pattern supported by reasons. So you need to bring in evidence from your reading, you need to show that you have engaged with the literature. So let's take a closer look. If you judge the quality and importance of something, you really, again, it goes beyond describing. So again, by engaging with the literature, you will see, you know, what, what is quality, you will see, you know, you will be able to judge, but you will support and say, you know, according to what you have read, this is what is regarded as high quality, or this regard is as important. Therefore, you will be able to judge the quality, importance or effectiveness or something. But the key idea here is you have to bring in evidence from reading, because otherwise, it's very easy for students, you know, anyone can make an assessment based on their own personal opinion. But in academic writing, everything you say must be supported with evidence from sources. So it is key that you support your reasons for judgment by engaging, by showing that you've engaged with the literature. So you do need to show what you have read and how that informs you to make a judgment of the quality, importance or effectiveness of something, such as this product that we looked at in the first, the first example of analyse. What assess is not is simply stating advantages and disadvantages or something. Again, if you state advantage, if you just simply state the advantages and disadvantages of something, it's just describing. It's describing, it really doesn't show any form of critical thinking. And assess does not mean simply stating advantages and disadvantages of something. Again, you need to go a step beyond that and engage with the literature, find the support from reading textbooks, journal articles and engage and show that you can judge the quality of something based on what you have read, using that evidence to support the arguments you make in favour of something's quality, importance or effectiveness. Moving on to the third instructional verb, consider. So consider is another common instructional verb that does appear a lot in undergraduate and postgraduate essays. And obviously the word consider means to think. It's a synonym to think, but in terms of an instructional verb, consider requires you to think carefully, usually to a certain extent, about something before drawing a conclusion. You will need to look at various aspects and or different perspectives to your own. So again, the fact that you need to look at various aspects and different perspectives, again, it requires you to engage with the literature. Simply, it means you need to read. You need to read and be informed. What is the debate in your field? Well, what is, what does the literature say? What evidence can you gather from the books, from the journal, articles, from the sources that you have read? So obviously here, the key thing is to think carefully. Okay? Think carefully. Consider. Now if you're thinking carefully, this goes beyond you simply stating your opinion. If you're going to think carefully, you will have to look at various aspects which are different from your own. And that is where your reading comes in. You've read a wide variety of sources and you've gained different perspectives. And once you've done that and you've looked at that in relation to a specific topic, then you will need to draw a conclusion. Okay? Now it is very common for you to be told consider the extent that consider the extent of or to what extent does blah blah blah. Okay? So when you're asked to consider to a certain extent, obviously within the scope of what you have read, how far is what is being said true? That is something for you to think carefully about. And again, you need to think if you, if you are being asked to think carefully, the issue at hand is multifaceted. By multifaceted, I mean multi-dimensional. By multi-dimensional, I mean there are more sides to to your own. Okay? There are different perspectives and you need to demonstrate that you have thought carefully about these before you present your own conclusion. Okay? So again, the key is support evidence by engaging with the literature. So what consider does not mean is simply saying what you think without support or evidence from sources. This is not only just going back to, you know, the basic skill of describing, but also not presenting support or evidence from sources means you just haven't engaged with the literature. So therefore, you have not thought carefully and in order to consider, you need to demonstrate that you have, you have the ability to think carefully. Okay? Moving on to the fourth instructional verb, discuss. Okay? So again, discuss is another common one where you'll be given a statement or a sentence and at the end of that, usually will be accompanied by discuss. Okay? Now again, please understand that this does not mean describe, it doesn't mean describe. Discuss requires you to look specifically at issues surrounding a specific topic and make arguments for and or against based on evidence from sources. Again, the recurring pattern, evidence from sources you need to read, you must demonstrate in your writing that you have engaged with the literature and you can only do that if you have read a variety of sources. So again, like I said, look at specific issues surrounding a specific topic. When you discuss, obviously you don't typically discuss something by yourself. A discussion is usually a dialogue of two or more people. Now in writing, this is exactly the same case. In writing, if you are being asked to discuss, you will need to look at specific issues, but again, it usually is more than one point. It will require a minimum of two, but most of the time it is, again, multifaceted, multi-dimensional, or simply there are different perspectives. It is, if you are being asked to discuss something, usually it's something that is debate worthy. It is usually something that is controversial. It is something that there are different opinions and then of course there is your own opinion. So you can see here, you need to make arguments for and or against based on evidence from sources. So you've done your reading, you've taken out all the interesting points that you want to present, but you have to do this by showing that, yes, you can make an argument for something and against something and you can back this up because, yes, you can demonstrate that you have read the debate, you are aware of the debates in the field, the current debates in the field, and the way that you are aware of this is because you are able to present evidence from what you have read. A very important thing is, when we say arguments for or against, if it's a discussion, you must also show a balance. You cannot be one-sided and simply just present everything. If it's a discussion, like I said, it involves a dialogue usually of two or more and with a dialogue it has to show a balance. Now, can you form, can you present your opinion? This is where students have to be very clear. Yes and no, you can present your opinion through the arguments you form supported by evidence from reading, okay, but you also have to show, what is the what are the counter-arguments? It's fine that you make arguments, but you have to show that, yes, you are aware of other perspectives and different opinions from the literature that you've read. Therefore, it has to be, there has to be a balance there. If you make arguments for, you have to present that there are also arguments against. So therefore, discuss does not mean simply stating whether you are for or against something without giving evidence or reasons. Again, this is a very, very basic level and it's describing and to be honest with you, the only academic writing that you can get away with this is only in IELTS exam writing and that is the only reason why you can even get away with that is because the nature of the exam is focusing on your language. It's not really focusing on how well you know and understand the topic. So therefore, you don't really need to bring in evidence of engaging with the literature. However, at undergraduate and postgraduate level writing, this is absolutely not the case. You must show that you have engaged with the literature and you have to show that you have critical thinking abilities and you are able to discuss by engaging in looking at both sides of an argument and bringing in supporting evidence to show that you have engaged with the literature. Okay, last but not least, the fifth instructional verb, evaluate. So again, evaluate is one, I guess it's slightly similar to assess but it also isn't because evaluate does involve the prior instructional verb of discussing as well. It does involve a little bit more than just simply, you know, going straight and making a value judgment. So if you're being asked to evaluate, you need to decide on the worth of something by drawing your own value judgments again supported with evidence from sources. That is, this is fundamental. Again, you can see all the instructional verbs require this evidence from sources and how do you do that? You show that you engage, you show that you have engaged with the literature by reading in and around the subject. So deciding on the net worth of something, again, you would have to look widely, you'd have to look at, you know, the usefulness and the uselessness, the advantages and the disadvantages, the effectiveness or the ineffectiveness. It goes, but you have to look widely before you draw your own value judgments. Okay, so again, if we look at the products that we started off with here, if you were going to evaluate this, again, you would look at things like, okay, how useful is this? How, you know, how does it serve its function? Again, we can look at the design and we can say, okay, yes, you know, the fact that it has a double lid design, it could be useful in terms of preventing leakage. It could also be a deterrent, perhaps, for young children because they would have to, if they could just access the product by just doing that, it's quite easy and it could be dangerous, but if they have to twist it, it could be harder, it could be more challenging. Again, we would look at, you know, using glass, is that actually the best material? Or, you know, if I drop it, could it shatter? Could it be dangerous? Maybe, in this case, plastic would be better. Again, you'd have to bring in evidence, you'd have to, you know, show that you've read that this particular glass is either shatter proof, it's either shatter proof or it's shatter resistant, or it shatters easily. It's all about evidence, it's not simply about saying something, it's simply, it goes beyond simply saying something, you have to say something and support what you are saying with evidence that shows, again, you have engaged with the literature, you know what's been said in the field and you understand this and you reflect this in your work. And that is how you form your own value judgments because you've been able to read, understand, engage, and now critically apply that in order to evaluate deciding on the net worth of something. What evaluate is not is simply describing the strengths and weaknesses of something and that is something, that is something that I see so much of the time where students think, okay you know evaluate, I'll just simply describe the strengths and weaknesses of something, I'll just say the strengths and weaknesses of this but you haven't formed your own value judgment because in order to do that you need to show how do the strengths and weaknesses decide, help you to decide the value judgment, how do you draw the value, do you think this, okay so the price of this let's say is £25 if you simply just describe the strength and weaknesses you haven't shown whether you think this is worth £25 but if you engage and you you know you support the evidence, like I said you know that they've used shatterproof glass, they've thought about you know the product in terms of you know leakage or and being leak proof and you know you're able to form the judgment that this is worth the retail price of £25 then you have evaluated the product rather than just simply stating the strengths of weaknesses which most people know what the strengths of weaknesses of something are, you haven't really given, you haven't presented anything that is worthy of them reading your work people read your work because they want to know what do you have, what's your take on things, what do you have to add, what can they gain from it so simply describing strengths and weaknesses doesn't cut it for evaluating something, you need to make sure that you look beyond that, you look at the strengths and the weaknesses and you bring in evidence from the literature and then you form your own value judgment, is this now polished worth the retail price of £25? Okay so that is all I have for today, as I mentioned I do hope that you know you found this useful these five instructional verbs are possibly the most common but they are not the only instructional verbs you will be asked to write essays on so like I said if you head over to my community you will see a whole list with the definitions of more instructional verbs that you know explain what you need to do when you have been given these essay questions and like I said the main thing I'd like you to take away from this video is one to move away from describing, simply describing is a very very basic critical thinking skill and it's not going to get you to top marks and the second thing is that whatever instructional verb you've been asked to write your essay on you must show that you have engaged with the literature by bringing in evidence as support from the sources that you have read. Okay so that's it for today, again this the table that has the definitions and of what the instructional verbs are and what they are not will be available on my blog I will leave a link to the blog post but my blog the London Writing Academy is available at blog.nafisa london.co.uk so don't forget to like this video and of course if you haven't subscribed do hit the subscribe button and you'll see me soon for the continuation of this series Back to Basics for Academic and Study Skills here. Bye-bye