Most essay exam questions will have one or more "key words" that indicate which organizational pattern you should use in your answer. The six most common organizational patterns for essay exams are:

• Definition
• Analysis
• Cause and Effect
• Comparison-Contrast
• Process
• Thesis and Support

You may find these exercises (further down the page) helpful in better grasping the processes involved in answering the types of essay exam questions discussed here.

Definition 

• Typical questions:
  • "Define X."
  • "What is an X?"
  • "Choose N terms from the following list and define them."

• Example
  Q: "What is a fanzine?"
  A: A fanzine is a magazine written, mimeographed, and distributed by and for science fiction or comic strip enthusiasts.
  Avoid constructions such as "An encounter group is where ..." and "General semantics is when ... ."

• Process

  • State the term to be defined.

  • State the class of objects or concepts to which the term belongs.

  • Differentiate the term from other members of the class by listing the term's distinguishing characteristics.
    

• Tools you can use
  • Details which describe the term
  • Examples and incidents
  • Comparisons to familiar terms
  • Negation to state what the term is not
  • Classification (i.e., break it down into parts)
  • Examination of origins or causes

  Examination of results, effects, or uses

Analysis

Analysis involves breaking something down into its components and discovering the parts that make up the whole.

• Typical questions
  
  • "Analyze X."
  • "What are the components of X?"
  • "What are the five different kinds of X?"
  • "Discuss the different types of X."
    
• Example
  Q: "Discuss the different services a junior college offers a community."
  A: Thesis: A junior college offers the community at least three main types of educational services: vocational education for young people, continuing education for older people, and personal development for all individuals.
  
• Process
  
  • Outline for supporting details and examples. For example, if you were answering the example question, an outline might include:
  • Vocational education
  • Continuing education
  • Personal development
  • Write the essay, describing each part or component and making transitions between each of your descriptions. Some useful transition words include:
    • first, second, third, etc.
    • next
    • another
    • in addition
    • moreover
  • Conclude the essay by emphasizing how each part you have described makes up the whole you have been asked to analyze.

Cause and Effect

Cause and effect involves tracing probable or known effects of a certain cause or examining one or more effects and discussing the reasonable or known cause(s).

• Typical questions
  • "What are the causes of X?"
  • "What led to X?"
  • "Why did X occur?"
  • "Why does X happen?"
  • "What would be the effects of X?"
    
• Example
  Q: "Define recession and discuss the probable effects a recession would have on today's society."
  A: Thesis: A recession, which is a nationwide lull in business activity, would be detrimental to society in the following ways: it would .......A......., it would .......B......., and it would .......C....... .
  The rest of the answer would explain, in some detail, the three effects: A, B, and C.
  
• Useful transition words
  • because
  • consequently
  • therefore
  • for this reason
  • as a result

Comparison-Contrast

• Typical questions
  • "How does X differ from Y?"
  • "Compare X and Y."
  • "What are the advantages and disadvantages of X and Y"
    
• Example
  Q: "Which would you rather own--a compact car or a full-sized car?"
  A: Thesis: I would own a compact car rather than a full-sized car for the following reasons: .......A......., .......B......., .......C......., and .......D.......
  
• Two patterns of development
  Pattern 1
  
  • Full-sized car
    
    • Advantages
    • Disadvantages
  • Compact car
    
    • Advantages
    • Disadvantages
  Pattern 2
  • Advantages
    
    • Full-sized car
    • Compact car
  • Disadvantages
    
    • Full-sized car
    • Compact car
      
• Useful transition words
  • on the other hand
  • similarly
  • yet
  • unlike A, B ...
  • in the same way
  • but
  • while both A and B are ..., only B ..
    nevertheless
  • on the contrary
  • though
  • despite
  • however
  • conversely
  • while A is ..., B is ...

Process

• Typical questions
  • "Describe how X is accomplished."
  • "List the steps involved in X."
  • "Explain what happened in X."
  • "What is the procedure involved in X?"
  • Process (sometimes called process analysis)
    This involves giving directions or telling the reader how to do something. It may involve discussing some complex procedure as a series of discrete steps. The organization is almost always chronological.
    
• Example
  Q: "According to Richard Bolles' What Color Is Your Parachute?, what is the best procedure for finding a job?"
  A: In What Color Is Your Parachute?, Richard Bolles lists seven steps that all job-hunters should follow: .....A....., .....B....., .....C....., .....D....., .....E....., .....F....., and .....G..... .
  The remainder of the answer should discuss each of these seven steps in some detail
  
• Useful transition words
  • first, second, third, etc.
  • next
  • then
  • following this
  • finally
  • after, afterwards, after this
  • subsequently
  • simultaneously, concurrently

Thesis and Support

Thesis and support involves stating a clearly worded opinion or interpretation and then defending it with all the data, examples, facts, and so on that you can draw from the material you have studied.

• Typical questions
  • "Discuss X."
  • "A noted authority has said X. Do you agree or disagree?"
  • "Defend or refute X."
  • "Do you think that X is valid? Defend your position."
    
• Example
  Q: "Despite criticism, television is useful because it aids in the socializing process of our children."
  A: Television hinders rather than helps in the socializing process of our children because .......A......., .......B......., and .......C....... .
  The rest of the answer is devoted to developing arguments A, B, and C.
  
• Useful transition words
  • therefore
  • for this reason
  • it follows that
  • as a result
  • because
  • however
  • consequently

Exercises

Which of the following two answers is the better one? Why?

Question: Discuss the contribution of William Morris to book design, using as an example his edition of the works of Chaucer.

a. William Morris's Chaucer was his masterpiece. It shows his interest in the Middle Ages. The type is based on medieval manuscript writing, and the decoration around the edges of the pages is like that used in medieval books. The large initial letters are typical of medieval design. Those letters were printed from woodcuts, which was the medieval way of printing. The illustrations were by Burn-Jones, one of the best artists in England at the time. Morris was able to get the most competent people to help him because he was so famous as a poet and a designer (the Morris chair) and wallpaper and other decorative items for the home. He designed the furnishings for his own home, which was widely admired among the sort of people he associated with. In this way he started the arts and crafts movement.

b. Morris's contribution to book design was to approach the problem as an artist or fine craftsman, rather than a mere printer who reproduced texts. He wanted to raise the standards of printing, which had fallen to a low point, by showing that truly beautiful books could be produced. His Chaucer was designed as a unified work of art or high craft. Since Chaucer lived in the Middle Ages, Morris decided to design a new type based on medieval script and to imitate the format of a medieval manuscript. This involved elaborate letters and large initials at the beginnings of verses, as well as wide borders of intertwined vines with leaves, fruit, and flowers in strong colors. The effect was so unusual that the book caused great excitement and inspired other printers to design beautiful rather than purely utilitarian books.

From James M. McCrimmon, Writing with a Purpose, 7th ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1980), pp. 261-263.

How would you plan the structure of the answers to these essay exam questions?

1. Was the X Act a continuation of earlier government policies or did it represent a departure from prior philosophies?

2. What seems to be the source of aggression in human beings? What can be done to lower the level of aggression in our society?

3. Choose one character from Novel X and, with specific references to the work, show how he or she functions as an "existential hero."

4. Define briefly the systems approach to business management. Illustrate how this differs from the traditional approach.

5. What is the cosmological argument? Does it prove that God exists?

6. Civil War historian Andy Bellum once wrote, "Blahblahblah blahed a blahblah, but of course if blahblah blahblahblahed the blah, then blahblahs are not blah but blahblah." To what extent and in what ways is the statement true? How is it false?

This article was produced originally by the Purdue University Online Writing Lab. Reprinted with permission.

Related reading:

• the Ultimate iamnext Exam Study Guide
• A good essay exam answer and how to write it
• Remembering the bigger picture: what goals are you aiming for?