Chapter 2: Understanding the Assignment and Choosing a Topic

What You Will Make

Create an assignment checklist and a focused question. Keep the original prompt beside the checklist so that your summary does not quietly change what the teacher asked.

Separate the Task from the Conditions

First identify what you must do with the material. “Compare” asks you to explain a relationship between things; “analyse” asks you to examine how details work. Then record the subject, allowed sources, length, format, deadline, and submission method. If a rubric specifies evidence or reasoning, give those requirements their own lines.

Do not guess whether outside research, group work, or AI assistance is permitted. Record the uncertainty and ask the teacher before relying on that approach.

Work Through a Prompt

Fictional practice assignment: “In 600–800 words, explain how the chair shows a change in Mina in ‘The Empty Chair.’ Use two or more details from the passage. Do not use outside research. Include a title and submit a PDF on Friday.” These conditions are invented for practice, not rules for your course.

A useful checklist reads: explain the chair’s role; use the assigned passage; analyse at least two details; stay within 600–800 words; add a title; inspect and submit the PDF by the stated deadline. The prompt does not specify an exact citation format or a time on Friday, so those are questions to clarify.

“Why is friendship important?” is too broad for this task. “How does the blocked seat become an invitation?” stays with the object and change the prompt identifies. Chapter 3 develops that question into a provisional answer.

Try It Yourself

Annotate your real prompt with three labels: task, conditions, and questions. Choose a topic narrow enough that you can identify the relevant evidence now. If your topic is “technology,” narrow it to a specific tool, context, and question that the assignment permits.

Self-correction example: If your plan depends on interviewing classmates but the teacher permits only assigned readings, replace that research plan before drafting. A more interesting project is not necessarily the assigned project.

Check Your Work

• Can every checklist item be traced back to the prompt, rubric, or teacher’s clarification?
• Does the question fit the source limits and word count?
• Have you separated known requirements from assumptions?

Save the checklist with your draft and return to it before submission.

Source Guidance

Action verbs, scope, and audience help identify what an assignment asks. (Harvard College Writing Center)