Once you have figured out “what they want,” your next challenge is to determine “what it is.” As you read and write in a particular field, you may recognize common strategies or approaches. For example, historians frequently use cause-and-effect analysis, natural scientists rely on classification, nurses value accurate description, and specialists in many fields use comparison and contrast to examine cases, techniques, or theories. In addition, many assignments — such as lab reports, proposals, or reviews — require a genre, or type, of writing defined by specific characteristics and assumptions. Identifying assumptions and genre features will help you to tackle each kind of writing more successfully.