How to Design Effective Writing Assignments

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How to Design Effective Writing Assignments
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Starting with Goals . . .

• Note The instructions offered here work best for
  longer, formal assignments. For suggestions
  about using shorter, write-to-learn assignments,
  please see Writing in Large Classes at
  www.writing.uci.edu

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Goals of the Assignment

• Begin by thinking about the goals of the writing
  assignment. Is the assignment designed to enable
  your students . . .
• to learn course material?
• to practice specific modes of reading, thinking,
  or research?
• to create a particular kind of written product
  characteristic of your discipline?

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Writing a Prompt

• Put your assignment in writing (or create a
  prompt, to use the language of writing
  specialists).
• Your written assignment will give students a more
  accurate and reliable guide than notes they may
  (or may not) take if you give it orally.
• Moreover, it will help you remember what youve
  asked them to do, how you instructed them to
  carry out the task, and what criteria youve set
  up for evaluating the writing at the end of the
  process.

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Thinking Rhetorically

• Prompts address rhetorical elements such as
  situations, purpose, audience, genre.
• They give the students instructions about the
  mode of development (analysis, argument,
  narration, description, etc.).
• They should also give instructions about
  organization, appropriate forms of evidence or
  research, style, formatting, and citation of
  sources.

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Criteria for Evaluation

• Prompts make explicit your standards of
  evaluation.
• What will constitute a successful product?
• How will you weigh various elements such as
  research, organization, originality, style, and
  editing?

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Audiences
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Writing for Audiences

• When students know their audience, they have an
  easier time approaching a writing assignment.
  Students grow as writers when they have
  opportunities to address multiple audiences.
• Below are three general audiences for whom
  students are often asked to write
• academic (for teachers and students)
• professional/disciplinary
• public

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The Academic Audience

• The most common audience for writing assignments
  is, by default, the instructor. Consider varying
  the audience. Have students write . . .
• as upper-division majors to a new student trying
  to decide on a major.
• on a subject about which their audience knows
  very little.
• as if both they and their audience are literary
  critics, scientists, etc. (the typical situation
  but specified as such).

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The Professional Audience

• Asking students to write for a professional
  audience will help them connect their work to the
  real world. For instance, you might ask
  students to write as a computer software
  salesperson to a prospective client or you might
  ask them to write for a particular professional
  publication. When we assign forms of writing
  used by professionals in their field, students
  gain not only broader writing experiences but
  deeper familiarity with disciplinary habits.

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The Public Audience

• In addition to professional audiences, try having
  students write for public situations.
• For instance, try asking students to . . .
• write as a specialist in a field to a newspaper
  regarding a public problem
• write as an informed citizen to a community group
  investigating a public issue
• write as a specialist or informed citizen to a
  public official recommending a change in attitude
  or course of action about a public issue

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Teaching Genres
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A Question of Genre

• Genres are discipline specific. Foregrounding
  generic conventions and making them part of what
  you teach will help students determine audience
  and purpose.
• What are the genres most characteristic of your
  discipline?
• What forms of reasoning, evidence, organization,
  style, and format work best in the genre youve
  assigned?

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Possible Genres

• essay
• analysis (or critique) of a text or object
• position paper
• policy statement
• call to action/political speech
• editorial
• case study

• popular magazine article
• review article
• abstract
• field or lab report
• research paper
• documentation
• instructions
• technical report

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Writing as a Process
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Sequencing the Assignment

• Students will do a better job with a long written
  work if they are led to produce it in stages.
  Here are some of the stages you might include,
  along with written products you might require
  along the way
• research questions, rationale for topic,
  proposal, or prospectus
• list of sources or annotated bibliography
• sample summary or analysis of a key source
• outline
• rough draft
• peer review
• final draft
• self-evaluation or writers memo

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Preventing Plagiarism

• Breaking the assignment into parts, especially
  requiring a list of sources and rough draft, will
  help you discover students who resort to academic
  dishonesty.
• Work with the UCI subject librarians in advance
  of making the assignment They can help you
  pre-select sources, if you wish. Setting up a
  class session in the library will insure that
  your students have had an introduction to
  appropriate research techniques.

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Conducting Peer Review

• Once students have written working drafts, allow
  them to read and comment on each others work.
• This exercise gives students the opportunity to
  learn whether or not theyve communicated their
  ideas effectively. It also puts student writers
  in the position of readers and creates for them a
  community of knowledgeable peers (Bruffee).
• Peer review helps teach students how to evaluate
  writing themselves and give constructive feedback
  to peers--skills highly valued in academic,
  public, and professional communities alike.

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Conferring About Drafts

• Once youve provided written feedback on student
  drafts, hold conferences during office hours.
  Conferences enable students to ask specific
  questions about their work and allow you to
  elaborate on your written comments.
• You can conduct conferences on a one-on-one basis
  or in small groups in which you lead a
  collaborative discussion about each students
  work.
• A CWC writing consultant would be happy to help
  with peer review or student conferencing (email
  sjarratt_at_uci.edu.

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Providing Writing Samples

• Since many students learn by example or
  imitation, writing samples can be helpful. They
  show students how conventions--such as
  organization, analysis, and argument--come
  together in superior work.
• As a model, you might use a successful student
  paper from a previous quarter.
• Consult writing handbooks or on-line resources in
  your discipline for sample writing or further
  suggestions about using models in the classroom.

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Works Cited and Consulted

• Bruffee, Kenneth. Collaborative Learning and
  the Conversation of Mankind. College English
  46 (1984) 635-52.
• Hollowell, John. A Student Guide to Writing at
  UCI. Tenth Edition. Boston Pearson Custom
  Publishing, 2002.
• Jarratt, Susan. A Short Course on Rhetoric
  http //www.writing.uci.edu/shortcourse.html

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Additional Resources for Assignment Design

• http//www.writing.uci.edu/faculres.html
• http//www.cstw.ohiostate.edu/Tutor/handout11.htm
• Bean, John C. Engaging Ideas The Professors
  Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking,
  and Active Learning in the Classroom. San
  Francisco Jossey-Bass, 1996.