By: Phillip Mattie
I recall my English 30 days with some fondness, though I suppose that I am looking back at them with rose-tinted glasses. Regardless of the colour I view my past in or through which lense, there were some things that I specifically despised about my English tutoring class. One of them was the Short Response, also known as the Short Answer. These were widely despised by both my friends and myself because, rather than use multiple-choice tactics, I had to actually know stuff. Difficult stuff. However today, with the added benefit of seeing without the aid of over-sized, horn-rimmed glasses with a rosy tint, I am here to tell you that there are, in fact, tactics you can use on short-answer questions much the same as you would on a multiple-choice exam.
For the sake of simplicity, I will use one very simple question that I can refer back to on all my “pro tip” points. Unfortunately, you will likely never have a short case study response as easy as this one—it’s supposed to be an example only. Here it is!
Case Study Response: Explain the Difference between Fiction and Non-fiction
Pro Tip # 1: Look for Key Words in the Question
OK, this “pro tip” probably seems a little obvious, but it bears pointing out, especially when you cannot determine what a key word is. Let’s briefly look at what makes a key word a key word: Key words are often nouns. People, places, things. And ideas. Let’s not forget about ideas, like freedom.
So, when you write your next Short Answer exam, underline or highlight all of the nouns. These are the subjects that you must address in your case study response. In the above question, there are three nouns: difference, fiction, and non-fiction. You can pretty much eliminate all extra information and wordplay and deduct from the nouns alone what your teacher expects you to do, except when you need to…
Pro Tip # 2: Find the Command Prompt
The command prompt is the little word at the beginning of a command, also known as a verb. “’Take’ out the garbage,” “’do’ the laundry,” and “’explain’ the difference between Fiction and Non-fiction.” The command prompt will change depending on the question, but it will never stray very far from the “explain,” “compare,” and “contrast” archetypes teachers so love to use. So, first off, “Explain” means to make something clearly understood. “Compare” means to analyze two or more ideas or people or things and see how they are both the same and different.
“Contrast,” however, means to only see how two ideas or things or people are different. Be prepared to do all three things on one short answer question. Now that you have all the necessary information you need, you can start writing! What do you think your first sentence should be?
Pro Tip # 3: Write Your Main Idea First
Unlike an essay where there is an entire introduction to effectively nestle your main idea into, a short case study response is, well, short. There is no time for a hook or background information; instead, get right to the main idea. And on a short answer question, there is no better place to start with your main idea. In this particular case, I will attempt to answer my own question in one compact, air-tight sentence: “Fiction is an area of literature that is specifically and purely “made up,” whereas non-fiction is the historical account of actual events.
” Here, I attempted to give the definitions of the two terms as an explanation of their differences. So I am purely contrasting the two ideas. You should attempt to do something similar on your own exam. Answer the question in a compact, air-tight sentence. This is the main idea that you will play with in the next couple of sentences in your short answer.
Pro Tip # 4: Prove Your Main Idea by Providing Examples
This section is pretty easy…if you have read the material. If you haven’t read what you needed to, then you are stuck at this point, as you will need to provide evidence from the text to support your main idea. Me? Well, my example is easy to write on. I would say something like this: “Fiction, which includes many rich and diverse genres such as fantasy, sci-fi, and historical fiction, is primarily used to entertain and provide commentary on social tropes and foibles, its characters and ideas being figments of the author’s imagination.
Non-fiction is a much more serious and fact driven format. It includes the genres of biographies, world history, essays, and documentaries.” As you can see, this section is the meat and potatoes of your short response much like the body of an essay. The only difference is that the scope of the material is much smaller. Remember, all you need to do here is give some examples and additional information about your idea. Back it up.
At the beginning of this article, I wrote that there are cues that you can use to help answer short answer questions. Do you remember what they are? Before reading on, and without looking back, see if you can remember what they are, my four “pro tips.” …. How did you do? Well, in review, first analyze the question itself by finding the nouns/key words. Second, figure out the command prompt.
Ask yourself if you should compare or contrast.
Third, write your answer in one air-tight™ sentence. This sentence acts as your main idea. Fourth and finally, provide some details and examples that back up your main idea. These ideas must be examples from the text.
It may be helpful to remember that short answer responses are exactly the same as essay writing, but without all of the fluff and pomp of a proper introduction and conclusion. However, your goal in doing these types of questions should be to initially answer the question as succinctly as possible and then giving some good, supportive examples from the text.
Yes, you will need to know stuff, lots of stuff about your texts. But let me tell you, by putting in the effort now and understanding how to analyze and then answer questions will help you throughout your life.
All of these could be the reasons why you can’t ignore online tutoring. It’s because you get to learn a lot of things and how to write short responses to case studies.
Good luck.