Interpreting the question

Generally

Interpreting an essay question is the first step towards writing a good essay. In practice, what it means is that you must ask yourself these questions and sub-questions:

1.

Sub-questions: Are there any presumptions, approaches or sub-issues implicit in the question?

2. What does the question ask me to do?

Sub-questions: Are there any expansions or limitations in the question?

Until you can identify the main ideas or key concepts in the question, and clearly understand what you are being asked to do, you risk falling into the trap of reciting all you know on a given subject and producing a £10 Note Answer. And you will never be asked to do this in a law essay.

Identifying the key concepts tells you what the question is about, while the instructional words in the question tell you what you are being asked to do. Often the instructions will ask you to evaluate or critically analyse a particular topic. Alternatively, they may ask you to discuss or explain a specific issue. All these terms require you to do a great deal more than simply describe the relevant law and you must be clear from the outset about their meanings. (The most commonly used instructions are explained at the end of this section.) When thinking about the key concepts in the question, it is important to take into account whether you are being asked to look at the issues from a particular angle, and whether any statements in the question make presumptions or have implications that you need to address. When reflecting on what the question is asking you to do, you will find that identifying the scope of the question will also tell you what you are not being asked to do.

Consider the following essay question which we will use as a working example throughout this chapter:

‘The Human Rights Act 1998 effectively gives the people of England and Wales a bill of rights… the Act is of enormous significance in that it has bestowed “higher law” status on most Convention rights.’ Critically discuss.

One way to begin interpreting the question is to highlight the text of the question, identifying the component parts as we have done below. We have done this for the present question as follows:

the key concepts are in bold text,

the approach which the question invites is in bold italics,

the three sub-issues are in bold and each is asterisked*, while A the instructional words are underlined, and

a limitation on the scope of the essay is italicised.

‘The Human Rights Act 1998 effectively gives the people of England and Wales a bill of rights*… the Act is of enormous significance in that it has bestowed “higher law”* status on most Convention rights*.’ Critically discuss.

Another way to interpret the question is to rewrite it in your own words. This is a little harder than highlighting the key terms in the title, but has the advantage of improving your analysis and understanding of the question. You might rewrite the question to read:

The way in which the Convention rights in the Human Rights Act 1998 are protected and elevated as ‘higher law’ means that to all intents and purposes the English and Welsh peoples have, in the Human Rights Act, a bill of rights.

By rewriting the question you have made explicit a link which is only implicit in the original question, namely that it is only because the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA 1998) is a higher form of law that England and Wales now has something akin to a bill of rights.

An alternative to rewriting the question in your own words is to expand on the component parts of the question as a series of bullet points:

What the statement says:

– The Convention rights protected by the HRA 1998 have been given special status in English law, thus the HRA 1998 is to all intents and purposes a bill of rights.

Approach:

– The words ‘effectively gives’ make it clear that the HRA 1998 is not a bill of rights but indicate the angle the essay should take, i.e. an examination of whether:

– The HRA 1998 protects the human rights of citizens in the same way as a bill of rights might.

– The HRA 1998 is protected in the same way as a bill of rights would be protected or entrenched.

What the question asks me to do:

– Explain the scheme of the HRA 1998 and ‘Convention rights’.

– Explain what is meant by a bill of rights and whether the HRA fits that mould.

– Interpret the concept of ‘higher law’ and consider whether the HRA 1998 is such a ‘higher law’.

Limitations:

– Question is limited to England and Wales, i.e. English law.

This interpretation and analysis of the question produces something that has the beginnings of a plan, but in reality this is merely a sketch map for your research, rather than the plan you will use when you write your essay.

The instructional words ask for critical discussion of the statement, which calls for a consideration of a range of viewpoints, both for and against the statement, together with an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of each of these perspectives. A lecturer or tutor setting this question would expect you to explain (among other things) what a bill of rights is. He or she would not be looking for a detailed description of a bill of rights, but would want to see whether you can identify the fundamental features of such basic constitutional documents, and then evaluate the HRA 1998 in order to detect whether it shared or lacked those necessary features. To reach such a judgment you will first need to have examined the views of authors and the courts.

Before moving on to consider the topic of researching the question, it may be useful to consider, briefly, what is meant by a variety of other commonly used instructional words.

Some commonly used instructional words

Unfortunately, many students never achieve their full potential in course-work and examination essays because they fail to understand what the question is asking them to do. This selection of commonly used instructional words should help you to interpret most of the essay questions you encounter. Learning to interpret instructional words when you have a term-time essay to complete will help you produce an answer appropriate to the question, but it will also prepare you for when the same instructions appear in examination questions.