WRITING A GOOD ANSWER TO AN

EXAMINATION QUESTION.

1. READ THE QUESTIONS CRITICALLY FIRST AND

DECIDE WHICH QUESTION(S) SUIT YOU BEST.

2. IN THE OPENING PARAGRAPH OR

INTRODUCTION YOU SHOULD OUTLINE YOUR
UNDERSTANDING OF EACH QUESTION
SELECTED.

3. NEXT IT IS USEFUL TO GIVE A LIST OF

TOPICS/EVIDENCE WHICH YOU WILL WRITE
ABOUT IN YOUR ANSWER.

4. PROCEED ON TO THE FIRST TOPIC QUICKLY

AND USE A NEW PARAGRAPH FOR EACH ONE.

5. SINCE YOUR FIELD IS BIOCHEMISTRY

ILLUSTRATE YOUR ANSWERS WITH SOME
RELEVANT FORMULAE OR REACTIONS OR
METABOLIC PATHWAYS/SEQUENCES.

6. USE DIAGRAMS TO INTEGRATE MATERIAL

WHEN YOU WISH TO GIVE AN OVERALL VIEW
OF A TOPIC SUCH AS A SIGNALLING PATHWAY
OR PROTEIN STRUCTURES.
 WRITING A GOOD ANSWER CONT’D

7. HAVING COVERED ALL OF THE TOPICS LISTED IN 3

ABOVE COMPOSE A SUMMARY OF YOUR ANSWER.
THIS WILL PROBABLY RUN TO A FINAL PARAGRAPH
OF 10-15 LINES SIMILAR TO AN ABSTRACT IN A
RESEARCH PAPER. ANSWER LENGTH SHOULD, IN
GENERAL, BE NO MORE THAN 5 PAGES.

8. WRITING NOTE: USE SHORT TO MEDIUM LENGTH

SENTENCES; THESE ARE BEST FOR CONVEYING YOUR
ANSWER MATERIAL CLEARLY. LONG SENTENCES
SHOULD BE AVOIDED GENERALLY; IF ESSENTIAL
MAKE SURE YOU PUNCTUATE THE SENTENCE
APPROPRIATELY. WHERE YOU INSERT ACRONYMS BE
SURE TO DEFINE THEM WHEN FIRST MENTIONED
e.g. AA FOR AMINO ACID.

9.REMEMBER THAT PARAGRAPHS ARE EMPLOYED

TO ORGANISE YOUR IDEAS INTO MANAGEABLE
AMOUNTS. YOU CAN USE MORE THAN ONE
PARAGRAPH PER TOPIC IN YOUR LIST.

10. FINALLY, WRITE CLEARLY WITH A DECENT PEN.

REF: BRILLIANT WRITING TIPS FOR STUDENTS (J.

COPUS, PALGRAVE MACMILLAN, 2009)