Do Your Own - Explain - Assignment Key Words - Writing Projects

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Get your assignment in front of you, then follow the instructions below. Type your answers to each step in the box below it. When you have filled in all the boxes, click on the button at the bottom of the page and you will be well on your way with this project.

Step 1: Which topic or idea requires an explanation?

Step 2: Identify and list the necessary points of information your reader must know in order to understand the topic or idea in question. These points of information could involve defining unfamiliar terms or tracing the development or history of a topic or idea.
Step 3: Using the points you listed in Step 2, provide your reader with enough information to lead him or her to a clear understanding of the topic or idea named in Step 1.

•When you explain, you will probably use a variety of writing strategies.
•Explaining often works hand in hand with writing activities like define, describe, compare and contrast, identify, illustrate, list, narrate and trace.

Are you curious about how other instructors design writing tasks that ask students to explain? CUNY Assignments has some samples.

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