Assessment does not just involve systematic collection of information and careful observation. There is eventually a need to bring information together and to make critical evaluations. One such evaluation involves arriving at a diagnosis. As discussed in Chapter 1, this is relatively straightforward, thanks to modern operationalised diagnostic systems, but it is in itself an inadequate way of understanding the patient. There are three other evaluation tasks that are important in every case, namely the assessment of personality, the assessment of risk and the communication of one's findings to others. Assessment of personality and risk are complicated by some intrinsic ambiguities. The communication of findings is a difficult task which is given scant attention in training. No one can be expected to learn how to do it well without properly understanding the task.