1 Explaining the business world in HSC extended responses Trish Weekes Senior Lecturer in Literacy Education Australian Catholic University Introduction The Business Studies Higher School Certificate (HSC) examination in New South Wales requires students to show their knowledge of business theory and also to apply this theory to case studies. One of the ways that students demonstrate their knowledge is by writing the extended response in the HSC examination. In order to succeed in the examination, students not only need to know the content of Business Studies, they also have to know how to write about Business Studies. Writing about Business Studies can be considered subject-specific literacy. The Australian Curriculum makes it clear that ‘all teachers are responsible for teaching the subject-specific literacy of their learning area’, not just English teachers. For this reason, Business Studies teachers need ‘a clear understanding of the literacy demands and opportunities of their learning area’ (ACARA, 2013, pp. 9-10). This article aims to help teachers and students understand the literacy demands of one of the parts of the HSC examination for Business Studies: the extended response in Section IV of the examination paper, worth 20% of the examination mark. The findings in this article are drawn from a research project that identified the language features of successful HSC answers in Business Studies and then trialled the teaching of these features in HSC classes in two schools (Weekes, 2014). This article reports on one aspect of the research project, namely, the importance of explanations in Business Studies extended responses. Firstly, the importance of explanations in Business Studies will be explored, followed by findings about how cause and effect language is used by students who achieve the highest marks in the extended response. Teaching suggestions will also be provided, to offer practical support for teachers and students in composing successful HSC examination answers in Business Studies. The importance of explaining in Business Studies Explaining is an important aspect of the Business Studies syllabus. In the Preliminary course outcomes, a student ‘explains the business life cycle’ (P3.1) and ‘explains the responsibilities of business to internal and external stakeholders’ (P3.2), and also ‘explains the relationship between the internal and external factors on business’ (P4.2). Similarly, in the HSC course, a student ‘explains the impact of the global business environment on business’ (H1.1) and ‘explains management theories and strategies and their impact on business’ (H3.1) (Board of Studies NSW, 2009, pp. 10-11). In the glossary provided by the Board of Studies (2014), to