why i write assignment

Understanding Assignments

What this handout is about.

The first step in any successful college writing venture is reading the assignment. While this sounds like a simple task, it can be a tough one. This handout will help you unravel your assignment and begin to craft an effective response. Much of the following advice will involve translating typical assignment terms and practices into meaningful clues to the type of writing your instructor expects. See our short video for more tips.

Basic beginnings

Regardless of the assignment, department, or instructor, adopting these two habits will serve you well :

• Read the assignment carefully as soon as you receive it. Do not put this task off—reading the assignment at the beginning will save you time, stress, and problems later. An assignment can look pretty straightforward at first, particularly if the instructor has provided lots of information. That does not mean it will not take time and effort to complete; you may even have to learn a new skill to complete the assignment.
• Ask the instructor about anything you do not understand. Do not hesitate to approach your instructor. Instructors would prefer to set you straight before you hand the paper in. That’s also when you will find their feedback most useful.

Assignment formats

Many assignments follow a basic format. Assignments often begin with an overview of the topic, include a central verb or verbs that describe the task, and offer some additional suggestions, questions, or prompts to get you started.

An Overview of Some Kind

The instructor might set the stage with some general discussion of the subject of the assignment, introduce the topic, or remind you of something pertinent that you have discussed in class. For example:

“Throughout history, gerbils have played a key role in politics,” or “In the last few weeks of class, we have focused on the evening wear of the housefly …”

The Task of the Assignment

Pay attention; this part tells you what to do when you write the paper. Look for the key verb or verbs in the sentence. Words like analyze, summarize, or compare direct you to think about your topic in a certain way. Also pay attention to words such as how, what, when, where, and why; these words guide your attention toward specific information. (See the section in this handout titled “Key Terms” for more information.)

“Analyze the effect that gerbils had on the Russian Revolution”, or “Suggest an interpretation of housefly undergarments that differs from Darwin’s.”

Additional Material to Think about

Here you will find some questions to use as springboards as you begin to think about the topic. Instructors usually include these questions as suggestions rather than requirements. Do not feel compelled to answer every question unless the instructor asks you to do so. Pay attention to the order of the questions. Sometimes they suggest the thinking process your instructor imagines you will need to follow to begin thinking about the topic.

“You may wish to consider the differing views held by Communist gerbils vs. Monarchist gerbils, or Can there be such a thing as ‘the housefly garment industry’ or is it just a home-based craft?”

These are the instructor’s comments about writing expectations:

“Be concise”, “Write effectively”, or “Argue furiously.”

Technical Details

These instructions usually indicate format rules or guidelines.

“Your paper must be typed in Palatino font on gray paper and must not exceed 600 pages. It is due on the anniversary of Mao Tse-tung’s death.”

The assignment’s parts may not appear in exactly this order, and each part may be very long or really short. Nonetheless, being aware of this standard pattern can help you understand what your instructor wants you to do.

Interpreting the assignment

Ask yourself a few basic questions as you read and jot down the answers on the assignment sheet:

Why did your instructor ask you to do this particular task?

Who is your audience.

• What kind of evidence do you need to support your ideas?

What kind of writing style is acceptable?

• What are the absolute rules of the paper?

Try to look at the question from the point of view of the instructor. Recognize that your instructor has a reason for giving you this assignment and for giving it to you at a particular point in the semester. In every assignment, the instructor has a challenge for you. This challenge could be anything from demonstrating an ability to think clearly to demonstrating an ability to use the library. See the assignment not as a vague suggestion of what to do but as an opportunity to show that you can handle the course material as directed. Paper assignments give you more than a topic to discuss—they ask you to do something with the topic. Keep reminding yourself of that. Be careful to avoid the other extreme as well: do not read more into the assignment than what is there.

Of course, your instructor has given you an assignment so that he or she will be able to assess your understanding of the course material and give you an appropriate grade. But there is more to it than that. Your instructor has tried to design a learning experience of some kind. Your instructor wants you to think about something in a particular way for a particular reason. If you read the course description at the beginning of your syllabus, review the assigned readings, and consider the assignment itself, you may begin to see the plan, purpose, or approach to the subject matter that your instructor has created for you. If you still aren’t sure of the assignment’s goals, try asking the instructor. For help with this, see our handout on getting feedback .

Given your instructor’s efforts, it helps to answer the question: What is my purpose in completing this assignment? Is it to gather research from a variety of outside sources and present a coherent picture? Is it to take material I have been learning in class and apply it to a new situation? Is it to prove a point one way or another? Key words from the assignment can help you figure this out. Look for key terms in the form of active verbs that tell you what to do.

Key Terms: Finding Those Active Verbs

Here are some common key words and definitions to help you think about assignment terms:

Information words Ask you to demonstrate what you know about the subject, such as who, what, when, where, how, and why.

• define —give the subject’s meaning (according to someone or something). Sometimes you have to give more than one view on the subject’s meaning
• describe —provide details about the subject by answering question words (such as who, what, when, where, how, and why); you might also give details related to the five senses (what you see, hear, feel, taste, and smell)
• explain —give reasons why or examples of how something happened
• illustrate —give descriptive examples of the subject and show how each is connected with the subject
• summarize —briefly list the important ideas you learned about the subject
• trace —outline how something has changed or developed from an earlier time to its current form
• research —gather material from outside sources about the subject, often with the implication or requirement that you will analyze what you have found

Relation words Ask you to demonstrate how things are connected.

• compare —show how two or more things are similar (and, sometimes, different)
• contrast —show how two or more things are dissimilar
• apply—use details that you’ve been given to demonstrate how an idea, theory, or concept works in a particular situation
• cause —show how one event or series of events made something else happen
• relate —show or describe the connections between things

Interpretation words Ask you to defend ideas of your own about the subject. Do not see these words as requesting opinion alone (unless the assignment specifically says so), but as requiring opinion that is supported by concrete evidence. Remember examples, principles, definitions, or concepts from class or research and use them in your interpretation.

• assess —summarize your opinion of the subject and measure it against something
• prove, justify —give reasons or examples to demonstrate how or why something is the truth
• evaluate, respond —state your opinion of the subject as good, bad, or some combination of the two, with examples and reasons
• support —give reasons or evidence for something you believe (be sure to state clearly what it is that you believe)
• synthesize —put two or more things together that have not been put together in class or in your readings before; do not just summarize one and then the other and say that they are similar or different—you must provide a reason for putting them together that runs all the way through the paper
• analyze —determine how individual parts create or relate to the whole, figure out how something works, what it might mean, or why it is important
• argue —take a side and defend it with evidence against the other side

More Clues to Your Purpose As you read the assignment, think about what the teacher does in class:

• What kinds of textbooks or coursepack did your instructor choose for the course—ones that provide background information, explain theories or perspectives, or argue a point of view?
• In lecture, does your instructor ask your opinion, try to prove her point of view, or use keywords that show up again in the assignment?
• What kinds of assignments are typical in this discipline? Social science classes often expect more research. Humanities classes thrive on interpretation and analysis.
• How do the assignments, readings, and lectures work together in the course? Instructors spend time designing courses, sometimes even arguing with their peers about the most effective course materials. Figuring out the overall design to the course will help you understand what each assignment is meant to achieve.

Now, what about your reader? Most undergraduates think of their audience as the instructor. True, your instructor is a good person to keep in mind as you write. But for the purposes of a good paper, think of your audience as someone like your roommate: smart enough to understand a clear, logical argument, but not someone who already knows exactly what is going on in your particular paper. Remember, even if the instructor knows everything there is to know about your paper topic, he or she still has to read your paper and assess your understanding. In other words, teach the material to your reader.

Aiming a paper at your audience happens in two ways: you make decisions about the tone and the level of information you want to convey.

• Tone means the “voice” of your paper. Should you be chatty, formal, or objective? Usually you will find some happy medium—you do not want to alienate your reader by sounding condescending or superior, but you do not want to, um, like, totally wig on the man, you know? Eschew ostentatious erudition: some students think the way to sound academic is to use big words. Be careful—you can sound ridiculous, especially if you use the wrong big words.
• The level of information you use depends on who you think your audience is. If you imagine your audience as your instructor and she already knows everything you have to say, you may find yourself leaving out key information that can cause your argument to be unconvincing and illogical. But you do not have to explain every single word or issue. If you are telling your roommate what happened on your favorite science fiction TV show last night, you do not say, “First a dark-haired white man of average height, wearing a suit and carrying a flashlight, walked into the room. Then a purple alien with fifteen arms and at least three eyes turned around. Then the man smiled slightly. In the background, you could hear a clock ticking. The room was fairly dark and had at least two windows that I saw.” You also do not say, “This guy found some aliens. The end.” Find some balance of useful details that support your main point.

You’ll find a much more detailed discussion of these concepts in our handout on audience .

The Grim Truth

With a few exceptions (including some lab and ethnography reports), you are probably being asked to make an argument. You must convince your audience. It is easy to forget this aim when you are researching and writing; as you become involved in your subject matter, you may become enmeshed in the details and focus on learning or simply telling the information you have found. You need to do more than just repeat what you have read. Your writing should have a point, and you should be able to say it in a sentence. Sometimes instructors call this sentence a “thesis” or a “claim.”

So, if your instructor tells you to write about some aspect of oral hygiene, you do not want to just list: “First, you brush your teeth with a soft brush and some peanut butter. Then, you floss with unwaxed, bologna-flavored string. Finally, gargle with bourbon.” Instead, you could say, “Of all the oral cleaning methods, sandblasting removes the most plaque. Therefore it should be recommended by the American Dental Association.” Or, “From an aesthetic perspective, moldy teeth can be quite charming. However, their joys are short-lived.”

Convincing the reader of your argument is the goal of academic writing. It doesn’t have to say “argument” anywhere in the assignment for you to need one. Look at the assignment and think about what kind of argument you could make about it instead of just seeing it as a checklist of information you have to present. For help with understanding the role of argument in academic writing, see our handout on argument .

What kind of evidence do you need?

There are many kinds of evidence, and what type of evidence will work for your assignment can depend on several factors–the discipline, the parameters of the assignment, and your instructor’s preference. Should you use statistics? Historical examples? Do you need to conduct your own experiment? Can you rely on personal experience? See our handout on evidence for suggestions on how to use evidence appropriately.

Make sure you are clear about this part of the assignment, because your use of evidence will be crucial in writing a successful paper. You are not just learning how to argue; you are learning how to argue with specific types of materials and ideas. Ask your instructor what counts as acceptable evidence. You can also ask a librarian for help. No matter what kind of evidence you use, be sure to cite it correctly—see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial .

You cannot always tell from the assignment just what sort of writing style your instructor expects. The instructor may be really laid back in class but still expect you to sound formal in writing. Or the instructor may be fairly formal in class and ask you to write a reflection paper where you need to use “I” and speak from your own experience.

Try to avoid false associations of a particular field with a style (“art historians like wacky creativity,” or “political scientists are boring and just give facts”) and look instead to the types of readings you have been given in class. No one expects you to write like Plato—just use the readings as a guide for what is standard or preferable to your instructor. When in doubt, ask your instructor about the level of formality she or he expects.

No matter what field you are writing for or what facts you are including, if you do not write so that your reader can understand your main idea, you have wasted your time. So make clarity your main goal. For specific help with style, see our handout on style .

Technical details about the assignment

The technical information you are given in an assignment always seems like the easy part. This section can actually give you lots of little hints about approaching the task. Find out if elements such as page length and citation format (see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial ) are negotiable. Some professors do not have strong preferences as long as you are consistent and fully answer the assignment. Some professors are very specific and will deduct big points for deviations.

Usually, the page length tells you something important: The instructor thinks the size of the paper is appropriate to the assignment’s parameters. In plain English, your instructor is telling you how many pages it should take for you to answer the question as fully as you are expected to. So if an assignment is two pages long, you cannot pad your paper with examples or reword your main idea several times. Hit your one point early, defend it with the clearest example, and finish quickly. If an assignment is ten pages long, you can be more complex in your main points and examples—and if you can only produce five pages for that assignment, you need to see someone for help—as soon as possible.

Tricks that don’t work

Your instructors are not fooled when you:

• spend more time on the cover page than the essay —graphics, cool binders, and cute titles are no replacement for a well-written paper.
• use huge fonts, wide margins, or extra spacing to pad the page length —these tricks are immediately obvious to the eye. Most instructors use the same word processor you do. They know what’s possible. Such tactics are especially damning when the instructor has a stack of 60 papers to grade and yours is the only one that low-flying airplane pilots could read.
• use a paper from another class that covered “sort of similar” material . Again, the instructor has a particular task for you to fulfill in the assignment that usually relates to course material and lectures. Your other paper may not cover this material, and turning in the same paper for more than one course may constitute an Honor Code violation . Ask the instructor—it can’t hurt.
• get all wacky and “creative” before you answer the question . Showing that you are able to think beyond the boundaries of a simple assignment can be good, but you must do what the assignment calls for first. Again, check with your instructor. A humorous tone can be refreshing for someone grading a stack of papers, but it will not get you a good grade if you have not fulfilled the task.

Critical reading of assignments leads to skills in other types of reading and writing. If you get good at figuring out what the real goals of assignments are, you are going to be better at understanding the goals of all of your classes and fields of study.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Understanding Writing Assignments

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This resource describes some steps you can take to better understand the requirements of your writing assignments. This resource works for either in-class, teacher-led discussion or for personal use.

How to Decipher the Paper Assignment

Many instructors write their assignment prompts differently. By following a few steps, you can better understand the requirements for the assignment. The best way, as always, is to ask the instructor about anything confusing.

• Read the prompt the entire way through once. This gives you an overall view of what is going on.
• Underline or circle the portions that you absolutely must know. This information may include due date, research (source) requirements, page length, and format (MLA, APA, CMS).
• Underline or circle important phrases. You should know your instructor at least a little by now - what phrases do they use in class? Does he repeatedly say a specific word? If these are in the prompt, you know the instructor wants you to use them in the assignment.
• Think about how you will address the prompt. The prompt contains clues on how to write the assignment. Your instructor will often describe the ideas they want discussed either in questions, in bullet points, or in the text of the prompt. Think about each of these sentences and number them so that you can write a paragraph or section of your essay on that portion if necessary.
• Rank ideas in descending order, from most important to least important. Instructors may include more questions or talking points than you can cover in your assignment, so rank them in the order you think is more important. One area of the prompt may be more interesting to you than another.
• Ask your instructor questions if you have any.

After you are finished with these steps, ask yourself the following:

• What is the purpose of this assignment? Is my purpose to provide information without forming an argument, to construct an argument based on research, or analyze a poem and discuss its imagery?
• Who is my audience? Is my instructor my only audience? Who else might read this? Will it be posted online? What are my readers' needs and expectations?
• What resources do I need to begin work? Do I need to conduct literature (hermeneutic or historical) research, or do I need to review important literature on the topic and then conduct empirical research, such as a survey or an observation? How many sources are required?
• Who - beyond my instructor - can I contact to help me if I have questions? Do you have a writing lab or student service center that offers tutorials in writing?

(Notes on prompts made in blue )

Poster or Song Analysis: Poster or Song? Poster!

Goals : To systematically consider the rhetorical choices made in either a poster or a song. She says that all the time.

Things to Consider: ah- talking points

• how the poster addresses its audience and is affected by context I'll do this first - 1.
• general layout, use of color, contours of light and shade, etc.
• use of contrast, alignment, repetition, and proximity C.A.R.P. They say that, too. I'll do this third - 3.
• the point of view the viewer is invited to take, poses of figures in the poster, etc. any text that may be present
• possible cultural ramifications or social issues that have bearing I'll cover this second - 2.
• ethical implications
• how the poster affects us emotionally, or what mood it evokes
• the poster's implicit argument and its effectiveness said that was important in class, so I'll discuss this last - 4.
• how the song addresses its audience
• lyrics: how they rhyme, repeat, what they say
• use of music, tempo, different instruments
• possible cultural ramifications or social issues that have bearing
• emotional effects
• the implicit argument and its effectiveness

These thinking points are not a step-by-step guideline on how to write your paper; instead, they are various means through which you can approach the subject. I do expect to see at least a few of them addressed, and there are other aspects that may be pertinent to your choice that have not been included in these lists. You will want to find a central idea and base your argument around that. Additionally, you must include a copy of the poster or song that you are working with. Really important!

I will be your audience. This is a formal paper, and you should use academic conventions throughout.

Length: 4 pages Format: Typed, double-spaced, 10-12 point Times New Roman, 1 inch margins I need to remember the format stuff. I messed this up last time =(

Academic Argument Essay

5-7 pages, Times New Roman 12 pt. font, 1 inch margins.

Minimum of five cited sources: 3 must be from academic journals or books

• Design Plan due: Thurs. 10/19
• Rough Draft due: Monday 10/30
• Final Draft due: Thurs. 11/9

Remember this! I missed the deadline last time

The design plan is simply a statement of purpose, as described on pages 40-41 of the book, and an outline. The outline may be formal, as we discussed in class, or a printout of an Open Mind project. It must be a minimum of 1 page typed information, plus 1 page outline.

This project is an expansion of your opinion editorial. While you should avoid repeating any of your exact phrases from Project 2, you may reuse some of the same ideas. Your topic should be similar. You must use research to support your position, and you must also demonstrate a fairly thorough knowledge of any opposing position(s). 2 things to do - my position and the opposite.

Your essay should begin with an introduction that encapsulates your topic and indicates 1 the general trajectory of your argument. You need to have a discernable thesis that appears early in your paper. Your conclusion should restate the thesis in different words, 2 and then draw some additional meaningful analysis out of the developments of your argument. Think of this as a "so what" factor. What are some implications for the future, relating to your topic? What does all this (what you have argued) mean for society, or for the section of it to which your argument pertains? A good conclusion moves outside the topic in the paper and deals with a larger issue.

You should spend at least one paragraph acknowledging and describing the opposing position in a manner that is respectful and honestly representative of the opposition’s 3 views. The counterargument does not need to occur in a certain area, but generally begins or ends your argument. Asserting and attempting to prove each aspect of your argument’s structure should comprise the majority of your paper. Ask yourself what your argument assumes and what must be proven in order to validate your claims. Then go step-by-step, paragraph-by-paragraph, addressing each facet of your position. Most important part!

Finally, pay attention to readability . Just because this is a research paper does not mean that it has to be boring. Use examples and allow your opinion to show through word choice and tone. Proofread before you turn in the paper. Your audience is generally the academic community and specifically me, as a representative of that community. Ok, They want this to be easy to read, to contain examples I find, and they want it to be grammatically correct. I can visit the tutoring center if I get stuck, or I can email the OWL Email Tutors short questions if I have any more problems.

Clarify Your Writing Goals for 2024: A FREE Webinar in January!

Why do you Write?

• by Kate Meadows
• July 26, 2022 July 26, 2022

Why do you write?

Have you ever paused to ask yourself that question?

When I was in graduate school, a professor turned that question into an assignment. I saw it for what it was right away: a deceptively difficult question. Like many things, I had fragments of ideas about it in my mind. But trying to turn those ideas loose on the page? Watch out! Answering the question “Why I write” in some ways felt like unleashing a an over-excited dog.

There are many ways to answer that question, “Why do you write?”. You might write to make sense of the world around you. You might write to test different ideas and possibilities through the playground of your imagination, asking over and over again, what if ? Maybe you want to connect with other people and share your experiences. Or perhaps you write to create a record of your existence, a way of saying I was here .

The question seems easy, but it’s not. Answering it can feel like trying to hit a moving target. But I want to tell you something: It is a question absolutely worth pursuing, a question worth trying to answer.

How have other writers answered this question?

For decades–heck, for centuries–writers have grappled with this question.

A few years ago, author and book coach Jonathan Gunson posed the question “Why do you write?” in a blog post . More than 350 readers responded. Here are just a few of the responses:

“It’s an affliction. Like a twitch I’m trying to control.”

“Because there is a story on my mind that I have to share with the world.”

“Because what percolates inside deserves a voice.”

“It’s the one thing that has consistently called me, my entire life. It’s also how I make meaning in my world.”

George Orwell, writing a few decades before Didion , believed that writing was part of his true nature. He couldn’t help but write. The real question became what to write and why. He found himself writing politically motivated novels because it connected his drive to write with a larger sense of purpose. Otherwise, his writing felt lifeless.

If you’re like Stephen King, you write “for the pure joy of the thing.”

What would you say? How would you answer the question?

Clearly, there are as many answers to “Why I write” as there are people who take a stab at the question.  Coming up with your own answer can seem futile. It can feel pointless as you grasp for words and attempt to put coherent, meaningful thoughts on the page.

But taking the time to think through this question can also give you a greater sense of purpose. It can fuel motivation like it did for Orwell, or offer a sense of clarity like it did for Didion. Allow yourself the space to explore why you write, and you begin to develop a road map, a mission statement .

Then, when you set out to write, you’re more likely to stop making excuses and commit.

I write because I can’t not write. I write to connect people through story and expression. I write because, at its core, writing is about communicating.

When you link your desire to write with a purpose for writing, you’ll have a stronger understanding for why writing is important to you. Maybe the next time life starts to get in the way, you won’t give in to all those excuses not to write.

Are you ready to answer the question, “Why do I write?”

If so, I invite you to join me in an upcoming “Why I Write” live course on Aug. 2. We’ll explore more in depth others’ responses to the question, create road maps together. You’ll come away with your own “Why I Write” piece – and you’ll have an opportunity to seek feedback on it if you wish.

Register here . When you can confidently assert what makes you a writer and boldly state why you write, the words and the ideas you put out there will have a clearer sense of direction.

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How to Write an Effective Assignment

At their base, all assignment prompts function a bit like a magnifying glass—they allow a student to isolate, focus on, inspect, and interact with some portion of your course material through a fixed lens of your choosing.

The Key Components of an Effective Assignment Prompt

All assignments, from ungraded formative response papers all the way up to a capstone assignment, should include the following components to ensure that students and teachers understand not only the learning objective of the assignment, but also the discrete steps which they will need to follow in order to complete it successfully:

• Preamble.  This situates the assignment within the context of the course, reminding students of what they have been working on in anticipation of the assignment and how that work has prepared them to succeed at it. 
• Justification and Purpose.  This explains why the particular type or genre of assignment you’ve chosen (e.g., lab report, policy memo, problem set, or personal reflection) is the best way for you and your students to measure how well they’ve met the learning objectives associated with this segment of the course.
• Mission.  This explains the assignment in broad brush strokes, giving students a general sense of the project you are setting before them. It often gives students guidance on the evidence or data they should be working with, as well as helping them imagine the audience their work should be aimed at.  
• Tasks.  This outlines what students are supposed to do at a more granular level: for example, how to start, where to look, how to ask for help, etc. If written well, this part of the assignment prompt ought to function as a kind of "process" rubric for students, helping them to decide for themselves whether they are completing the assignment successfully.
• Submission format.  This tells students, in appropriate detail, which stylistic conventions they should observe and how to submit their work. For example, should the assignment be a five-page paper written in APA format and saved as a .docx file? Should it be uploaded to the course website? Is it due by Tuesday at 5:00pm?

For illustrations of these five components in action, visit our gallery of annotated assignment prompts .

For advice about creative assignments (e.g. podcasts, film projects, visual and performing art projects, etc.), visit our  Guidance on Non-Traditional Forms of Assessment .

For specific advice on different genres of assignment, click below:

Response Papers

Problem sets, source analyses, final exams, concept maps, research papers, oral presentations, poster presentations.

• Learner-Centered Design
• Putting Evidence at the Center
• What Should Students Learn?
• Start with the Capstone
• Gallery of Annotated Assignment Prompts
• Scaffolding: Using Frequency and Sequencing Intentionally
• Curating Content: The Virtue of Modules
• Syllabus Design
• Catalogue Materials
• Making a Course Presentation Video
• Teaching Teams
• In the Classroom
• Getting Feedback
• Equitable & Inclusive Teaching
• Advising and Mentoring
• Teaching and Your Career
• Teaching Remotely
• Tools and Platforms
• The Science of Learning
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Home / Blog / 15 foolproof tips for writing a great assignment

15 foolproof tips for writing a great assignment

15th Aug 2015

Student advice

If you’re the kind of person that only has to hear the word “assignment” and immediately has flashbacks to stuffy classrooms, ticking clocks and staring a blank page for hours….DON’T PANIC.

Our 15 foolproof tips for writing a great assignment will guide you to success.

Before you start…

1. do your reading.

Your course or module will have a reading list; make sure you actually use it! Your tutors choose texts to specifically help with your assignments and modules, and you’ll gain some valuable insights into the topic that are sure to make writing your assignment easier.

Expert tip:  If you have the time, do some reading from other sources not on your list to back up your argument.

2. Check the deadline

There’s nothing worse than scheduling time to sit down and write then glancing at the calendar and realising you’ve only got a few days left. Double-checking the deadline means you’ll have no nasty surprises.

Expert tip:  There are many apps out there that can add a ‘countdown’ to your phone or tablet. Use these to keep your assignment deadline front of mind.

3. Plan your time

Finding time to write is easier said than done, but if you break your time down into manageable chunks you’ll find it’s much easier to keep on top of your workload. Try scheduling mini-deadlines along the way (e.g. aim to have the first section done by a certain day) to keep your momentum going.

Expert tip:  Be realistic about the time you have spare, and the time you’re willing to give up. If you schedule a writing session at 9 p.m. on Friday evening when you’d rather be relaxing, chances are you won’t get anything done.

4. Ask for help (if you need it)

If there’s any doubt in your mind about the question or the requirements of the assignment, ask your tutor. It’s better to start right than have to re-write in the last few days.

Expert tip:  Remember, your tutor wants you to do well. He or she will not be annoyed if you need to ask a few questions.

5. Plan your assignment structure

Before you start, it can help to create a basic assignment structure. This can be as detailed as you like but the basic structure should contain your introduction points, your key arguments and points, and your planned conclusion.

Expert tip:  Try writing out your plan on sticky notes. These will allow you to rearrange your arguments and points easily as your plan develops.

As you’re writing…

6. introduction.

You wouldn’t start a conversation without introducing yourself; your assignment is the same. Your first paragraph should introduce your key argument, add a bit of context and the key issues of the question, and then go on to explain how you plan to answer it.

Expert tip:  Some people find it easier to write their introduction after they’ve finished the rest of their assignment. Give it a try!

7. Structure your argument

As you write the body of your assignment, make sure that each point you make has some supporting evidence. Use statistics or quotes you gathered during your reading to support your argument, or even as something to argue against.

Expert tip:  If you’re using a lot of different sources, it’s easy to forget to add them to your reference list. Make things easier for yourself by writing it as you go along.

8. Conclusion

Your conclusion is your final chance to summarise your argument and leave a lasting impression with your reader. Make sure you recap the key points and arguments you made in your assignment, including supporting evidence if needed.

Expert tip:  Make sure that you don’t introduce any new ideas in your conclusion; this section is purely for summarising your previous arguments.

9. Getting over writer’s block

Struggling to write? There’s nothing more frustrating than putting aside time to write and then just staring at a blank page. Luckily, there are lots of thing to try to get you inspired : a change of scenery, putting on some music, writing another section of the essay or just taking a short break.

Expert tip:  If you find yourself unable to write, try to use your time to read ahead or re-read what you’ve already written.

10. Make sure you use your ‘essay voice’

While each university, school or each college will probably have its own style guide, you should always use a neutral and professional tone when writing an assignment. Try to avoid slang, overly-familiar phrases and definitely don’t use text-speak!

Expert tip:  If you’re not sure about a phrase or word, search for it online to see what other publications use it. If it’s in a dictionary or used by a national newspaper it’s probably OK to use in your assignment.

After you finish…

11. get a little distance.

If you’ve got time (and you should have if you managed to stick to your schedule!), put your first draft aside for a day or two before re-reading it. This will give you time to step back and read your assignment objectively, making it easier to spot mistakes and issues.

Expert tip:  If you find it easier to review on paper, print out your assignment with double-line spacing to accommodate your notes and corrections.

12. Make sure you’ve answered the question

As you’re reading through your first draft of your assignment, check that all your points are relevant to the original question. It’s easy to drift off on a tangent when you’re in mid-flow.

Expert tip:  Read each paragraph and consider it on its own merit as to whether it answers the question, and also to check that it contributes to your overall argument.

13. Don’t be afraid to cut text out

Sometimes, when you’ve struggled to reach a word count it can be hard to remove text that you’ve slaved over. But if a piece of text isn’t supporting your argument then it doesn’t have a place in your assignment.

Expert tip:  With word processing software, the ‘Track Changes’ feature allows you to edit text without losing it forever. And if you realise later that you’ve made a mistake, just reject the change.

14. Check and double-check your spelling

Nothing can give a bad impression as quickly as a spelling mistake. Errors are distracting, look unprofessional and in the worst case they can undermine your argument. If you’re unsure about the correct use of a word, look it up online or use an alternative that you’re more comfortable with.

Expert tip:  While you’re running your spell-checker, check your word count too. You’re usually allowed to deviate by 10% above or below the assignment word count, but check with your institution’s guidelines.

15. Cite your sources

References and creating a bibliography are key skills that you unfortunately have to master when writing an assignment. Check your institution’s guidelines before you start to make sure you’re including all the information you need.

Expert tip:  Some eBooks have a citation feature that automatically collates all the information you need for your bibliography.

Wondering how you can apply these skills? Download a prospectus to choose your course today!

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How to write the best college assignments.

By Lois Weldon

When it comes to writing assignments, it is difficult to find a conceptualized guide with clear and simple tips that are easy to follow. That’s exactly what this guide will provide: few simple tips on how to write great assignments, right when you need them. Some of these points will probably be familiar to you, but there is no harm in being reminded of the most important things before you start writing the assignments, which are usually determining on your credits.

The most important aspects: Outline and Introduction

Preparation is the key to success, especially when it comes to academic assignments. It is recommended to always write an outline before you start writing the actual assignment. The outline should include the main points of discussion, which will keep you focused throughout the work and will make your key points clearly defined. Outlining the assignment will save you a lot of time because it will organize your thoughts and make your literature searches much easier. The outline will also help you to create different sections and divide up the word count between them, which will make the assignment more organized.

The introduction is the next important part you should focus on. This is the part that defines the quality of your assignment in the eyes of the reader. The introduction must include a brief background on the main points of discussion, the purpose of developing such work and clear indications on how the assignment is being organized. Keep this part brief, within one or two paragraphs.

This is an example of including the above mentioned points into the introduction of an assignment that elaborates the topic of obesity reaching proportions:

Background : The twenty first century is characterized by many public health challenges, among which obesity takes a major part. The increasing prevalence of obesity is creating an alarming situation in both developed and developing regions of the world.

Structure and aim : This assignment will elaborate and discuss the specific pattern of obesity epidemic development, as well as its epidemiology. Debt, trade and globalization will also be analyzed as factors that led to escalation of the problem. Moreover, the assignment will discuss the governmental interventions that make efforts to address this issue.

Practical tips on assignment writing

Here are some practical tips that will keep your work focused and effective:

–         Critical thinking – Academic writing has to be characterized by critical thinking, not only to provide the work with the needed level, but also because it takes part in the final mark.

–         Continuity of ideas – When you get to the middle of assignment, things can get confusing. You have to make sure that the ideas are flowing continuously within and between paragraphs, so the reader will be enabled to follow the argument easily. Dividing the work in different paragraphs is very important for this purpose.

–         Usage of ‘you’ and ‘I’ – According to the academic writing standards, the assignments should be written in an impersonal language, which means that the usage of ‘you’ and ‘I’ should be avoided. The only acceptable way of building your arguments is by using opinions and evidence from authoritative sources.

–         Referencing – this part of the assignment is extremely important and it takes a big part in the final mark. Make sure to use either Vancouver or Harvard referencing systems, and use the same system in the bibliography and while citing work of other sources within the text.  

–         Usage of examples – A clear understanding on your assignment’s topic should be provided by comparing different sources and identifying their strengths and weaknesses in an objective manner. This is the part where you should show how the knowledge can be applied into practice.

–         Numbering and bullets – Instead of using numbering and bullets, the academic writing style prefers the usage of paragraphs.

–         Including figures and tables – The figures and tables are an effective way of conveying information to the reader in a clear manner, without disturbing the word count. Each figure and table should have clear headings and you should make sure to mention their sources in the bibliography.

–         Word count – the word count of your assignment mustn’t be far above or far below the required word count. The outline will provide you with help in this aspect, so make sure to plan the work in order to keep it within the boundaries.

The importance of an effective conclusion

The conclusion of your assignment is your ultimate chance to provide powerful arguments that will impress the reader. The conclusion in academic writing is usually expressed through three main parts:

–         Stating the context and aim of the assignment

–         Summarizing the main points briefly

–         Providing final comments with consideration of the future (discussing clear examples of things that can be done in order to improve the situation concerning your topic of discussion).

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Lois Weldon is writer at  Uk.bestdissertation.com . Lives happily at London with her husband and lovely daughter. Adores writing tips for students. Passionate about Star Wars and yoga.

7 comments on “How To Write The Best College Assignments”

Extremely useful tip for students wanting to score well on their assignments. I concur with the writer that writing an outline before ACTUALLY starting to write assignments is extremely important. I have observed students who start off quite well but they tend to lose focus in between which causes them to lose marks. So an outline helps them to maintain the theme focused.

Hello Great information…. write assignments

Well elabrated

Thanks for the information. This site has amazing articles. Looking forward to continuing on this site.

This article is certainly going to help student . Well written.

Really good, thanks

Practical tips on assignment writing, the’re fantastic. Thank you!

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Writing Assignments

Kate Derrington; Cristy Bartlett; and Sarah Irvine

Introduction

Assignments are a common method of assessment at university and require careful planning and good quality research. Developing critical thinking and writing skills are also necessary to demonstrate your ability to understand and apply information about your topic.  It is not uncommon to be unsure about the processes of writing assignments at university.

• You may be returning to study after a break
• You may have come from an exam based assessment system and never written an assignment before
• Maybe you have written assignments but would like to improve your processes and strategies

This chapter has a collection of resources that will provide you with the skills and strategies to understand assignment requirements and effectively plan, research, write and edit your assignments.  It begins with an explanation of how to analyse an assignment task and start putting your ideas together.  It continues by breaking down the components of academic writing and exploring the elements you will need to master in your written assignments. This is followed by a discussion of paraphrasing and synthesis, and how you can use these strategies to create a strong, written argument. The chapter concludes with useful checklists for editing and proofreading to help you get the best possible mark for your work.

Task Analysis and Deconstructing an Assignment

It is important that before you begin researching and writing your assignments you spend sufficient time understanding all the requirements. This will help make your research process more efficient and effective. Check your subject information such as task sheets, criteria sheets and any additional information that may be in your subject portal online. Seek clarification from your lecturer or tutor if you are still unsure about how to begin your assignments.

The task sheet typically provides key information about an assessment including the assignment question. It can be helpful to scan this document for topic, task and limiting words to ensure that you fully understand the concepts you are required to research, how to approach the assignment, and the scope of the task you have been set. These words can typically be found in your assignment question and are outlined in more detail in the two tables below (see Table 19.1 and Table 19.2 ).

Table 19.1 Parts of an Assignment Question

Make sure you have a clear understanding of what the task word requires you to address.

Table 19.2 Task words

The criteria sheet , also known as the marking sheet or rubric, is another important document to look at before you begin your assignment. The criteria sheet outlines how your assignment will be marked and should be used as a checklist to make sure you have included all the information required.

The task or criteria sheet will also include the:

• Word limit (or word count)
• Referencing style and research expectations
• Formatting requirements

Task analysis and criteria sheets are also discussed in the chapter Managing Assessments for a more detailed discussion on task analysis, criteria sheets, and marking rubrics.

Preparing your ideas

Brainstorm or concept map:  List possible ideas to address each part of the assignment task based on what you already know about the topic from lectures and weekly readings.

Finding appropriate information: Learn how to find scholarly information for your assignments which is

See the chapter Working With Information for a more detailed explanation .

What is academic writing?

Academic writing tone and style.

Many of the assessment pieces you prepare will require an academic writing style.  This is sometimes called ‘academic tone’ or ‘academic voice’.  This section will help you to identify what is required when you are writing academically (see Table 19.3 ). The best way to understand what academic writing looks like, is to read broadly in your discipline area.  Look at how your course readings, or scholarly sources, are written. This will help you identify the language of your discipline field, as well as how other writers structure their work.

Table 19.3 Comparison of academic and non-academic writing

Thesis statements.

Essays are a common form of assessment that you will likely encounter during your university studies. You should apply an academic tone and style when writing an essay, just as you would in in your other assessment pieces. One of the most important steps in writing an essay is constructing your thesis statement.  A thesis statement tells the reader the purpose, argument or direction you will take to answer your assignment question. A thesis statement may not be relevant for some questions, if you are unsure check with your lecturer. The thesis statement:

• Directly  relates to the task .  Your thesis statement may even contain some of the key words or synonyms from the task description.
• Does more than restate the question.
• Is specific and uses precise language.
• Let’s your reader know your position or the main argument that you will support with evidence throughout your assignment.
• The subject is the key content area you will be covering.
• The contention is the position you are taking in relation to the chosen content.

Your thesis statement helps you to structure your essay.  It plays a part in each key section: introduction, body and conclusion.

Planning your assignment structure

When planning and drafting assignments, it is important to consider the structure of your writing. Academic writing should have clear and logical structure and incorporate academic research to support your ideas.  It can be hard to get started and at first you may feel nervous about the size of the task, this is normal. If you break your assignment into smaller pieces, it will seem more manageable as you can approach the task in sections. Refer to your brainstorm or plan. These ideas should guide your research and will also inform what you write in your draft. It is sometimes easier to draft your assignment using the 2-3-1 approach, that is, write the body paragraphs first followed by the conclusion and finally the introduction.

Writing introductions and conclusions

Clear and purposeful introductions and conclusions in assignments are fundamental to effective academic writing. Your introduction should tell the reader what is going to be covered and how you intend to approach this. Your conclusion should summarise your argument or discussion and signal to the reader that you have come to a conclusion with a final statement.  These tips below are based on the requirements usually needed for an essay assignment, however, they can be applied to other assignment types.

Writing introductions

Most writing at university will require a strong and logically structured introduction. An effective introduction should provide some background or context for your assignment, clearly state your thesis and include the key points you will cover in the body of the essay in order to prove your thesis.

Usually, your introduction is approximately 10% of your total assignment word count. It is much easier to write your introduction once you have drafted your body paragraphs and conclusion, as you know what your assignment is going to be about. An effective introduction needs to inform your reader by establishing what the paper is about and provide four basic things:

• A brief background or overview of your assignment topic
• A thesis statement (see section above)
• An outline of your essay structure
• An indication of any parameters or scope that will/ will not be covered, e.g. From an Australian perspective.

The below example demonstrates the four different elements of an introductory paragraph.

1) Information technology is having significant effects on the communication of individuals and organisations in different professions. 2) This essay will discuss the impact of information technology on the communication of health professionals.   3)  First, the provision of information technology for the educational needs of nurses will be discussed.  4)  This will be followed by an explanation of the significant effects that information technology can have on the role of general practitioner in the area of public health.  5)  Considerations will then be made regarding the lack of knowledge about the potential of computers among hospital administrators and nursing executives.  6)   The final section will explore how information technology assists health professionals in the delivery of services in rural areas .  7)  It will be argued that information technology has significant potential to improve health care and medical education, but health professionals are reluctant to use it.

1 Brief background/ overview | 2 Indicates the scope of what will be covered |   3-6 Outline of the main ideas (structure) | 7 The thesis statement

Note : The examples in this document are taken from the University of Canberra and used under a CC-BY-SA-3.0 licence.

Writing conclusions

You should aim to end your assignments with a strong conclusion. Your conclusion should restate your thesis and summarise the key points you have used to prove this thesis. Finish with a key point as a final impactful statement.  Similar to your introduction, your conclusion should be approximately 10% of the total assignment word length. If your assessment task asks you to make recommendations, you may need to allocate more words to the conclusion or add a separate recommendations section before the conclusion. Use the checklist below to check your conclusion is doing the right job.

Conclusion checklist 

• Have you referred to the assignment question and restated your argument (or thesis statement), as outlined in the introduction?
• Have you pulled together all the threads of your essay into a logical ending and given it a sense of unity?
• Have you presented implications or recommendations in your conclusion? (if required by your task).
• Have you added to the overall quality and impact of your essay? This is your final statement about this topic; thus, a key take-away point can make a great impact on the reader.
• Remember, do not add any new material or direct quotes in your conclusion.

This below example demonstrates the different elements of a concluding paragraph.

1) It is evident, therefore, that not only do employees need to be trained for working in the Australian multicultural workplace, but managers also need to be trained.  2)  Managers must ensure that effective in-house training programs are provided for migrant workers, so that they become more familiar with the English language, Australian communication norms and the Australian work culture.  3)  In addition, Australian native English speakers need to be made aware of the differing cultural values of their workmates; particularly the different forms of non-verbal communication used by other cultures.  4)  Furthermore, all employees must be provided with clear and detailed guidelines about company expectations.  5)  Above all, in order to minimise communication problems and to maintain an atmosphere of tolerance, understanding and cooperation in the multicultural workplace, managers need to have an effective knowledge about their employees. This will help employers understand how their employee’s social conditioning affects their beliefs about work. It will develop their communication skills to develop confidence and self-esteem among diverse work groups. 6) The culturally diverse Australian workplace may never be completely free of communication problems, however,   further studies to identify potential problems and solutions, as well as better training in cross cultural communication for managers and employees,   should result in a much more understanding and cooperative environment. 

1  Reference to thesis statement – In this essay the writer has taken the position that training is required for both employees and employers . | 2-5 Structure overview – Here the writer pulls together the main ideas in the essay. | 6  Final summary statement that is based on the evidence.

Note: The examples in this document are taken from the University of Canberra and used under a CC-BY-SA-3.0 licence.

Writing paragraphs

Paragraph writing is a key skill that enables you to incorporate your academic research into your written work.  Each paragraph should have its own clearly identified topic sentence or main idea which relates to the argument or point (thesis) you are developing.  This idea should then be explained by additional sentences which you have paraphrased from good quality sources and referenced according to the recommended guidelines of your subject (see the chapter Working with Information ). Paragraphs are characterised by increasing specificity; that is, they move from the general to the specific, increasingly refining the reader’s understanding. A common structure for paragraphs in academic writing is as follows.

Topic Sentence 

This is the main idea of the paragraph and should relate to the overall issue or purpose of your assignment is addressing. Often it will be expressed as an assertion or claim which supports the overall argument or purpose of your writing.

Explanation/ Elaboration

The main idea must have its meaning explained and elaborated upon. Think critically, do not just describe the idea.

These explanations must include evidence to support your main idea. This information should be paraphrased and referenced according to the appropriate referencing style of your course.

Concluding sentence (critical thinking)

This should explain why the topic of the paragraph is relevant to the assignment question and link to the following paragraph.

Use the checklist below to check your paragraphs are clear and well formed.

Paragraph checklist

• Does your paragraph have a clear main idea?
• Is everything in the paragraph related to this main idea?
• Is the main idea adequately developed and explained?
• Do your sentences run together smoothly?
• Have you included evidence to support your ideas?
• Have you concluded the paragraph by connecting it to your overall topic?

Writing sentences

Make sure all the sentences in your paragraphs make sense. Each sentence must contain a verb to be a complete sentence. Avoid sentence fragments . These are incomplete sentences or ideas that are unfinished and create confusion for your reader. Avoid also run on sentences . This happens when you join two ideas or clauses without using the appropriate punctuation. This also confuses your meaning (See the chapter English Language Foundations for examples and further explanation).

Use transitions (linking words and phrases) to connect your ideas between paragraphs and make your writing flow. The order that you structure the ideas in your assignment should reflect the structure you have outlined in your introduction. Refer to transition words table in the chapter English Language Foundations.

Paraphrasing and Synthesising

Paraphrasing and synthesising are powerful tools that you can use to support the main idea of a paragraph. It is likely that you will regularly use these skills at university to incorporate evidence into explanatory sentences and strengthen your essay. It is important to paraphrase and synthesise because:

• Paraphrasing is regarded more highly at university than direct quoting.
• Paraphrasing can also help you better understand the material.
• Paraphrasing and synthesising demonstrate you have understood what you have read through your ability to summarise and combine arguments from the literature using your own words.

What is paraphrasing?

Paraphrasing is changing the writing of another author into your words while retaining the original meaning. You must acknowledge the original author as the source of the information in your citation. Follow the steps in this table to help you build your skills in paraphrasing (see Table 19.4 ).

Table 19.4 Paraphrasing techniques

Example of paraphrasing.

Please note that these examples and in text citations are for instructional purposes only.

Original text

Health care professionals   assist people often when they are at their most  vulnerable . To provide the best care and understand their needs, workers must demonstrate good communication skills .  They must develop patient trust and provide empathy   to effectively work with patients who are experiencing a variety of situations including those who may be suffering from trauma or violence, physical or mental illness or substance abuse (French & Saunders, 2018).

Poor quality paraphrase example

This is a poor example of paraphrasing. Some synonyms have been used and the order of a few words changed within the sentences however the colours of the sentences indicate that the paragraph follows the same structure as the original text.

Health care sector workers are often responsible for vulnerable  patients.   To understand patients and deliver good service , they need to be excellent communicators .  They must establish patient rapport and show empathy if they are to successfully care for patients from a variety of backgrounds  and with different medical, psychological and social needs (French & Saunders, 2018).

A good quality paraphrase example

This example demonstrates a better quality paraphrase. The author has demonstrated more understanding of the overall concept in the text by using the keywords as the basis to reconstruct the paragraph. Note how the blocks of colour have been broken up to see how much the structure has changed from the original text.

Empathetic   communication is a vital skill for health care workers.   Professionals in these fields   are often responsible for patients with complex medical, psychological and social needs. Empathetic   communication assists in building rapport and gaining the necessary trust   to assist these vulnerable patients  by providing appropriate supportive care (French & Saunders, 2018).

The good quality paraphrase example demonstrates understanding of the overall concept in the text by using key words as the basis to reconstruct the paragraph.  Note how the blocks of colour have been broken up, which indicates how much the structure has changed from the original text.

What is synthesising?

Synthesising means to bring together more than one source of information to strengthen your argument. Once you have learnt how to paraphrase the ideas of one source at a time, you can consider adding additional sources to support your argument. Synthesis demonstrates your understanding and ability to show connections between multiple pieces of evidence to support your ideas and is a more advanced academic thinking and writing skill.

Follow the steps in this table to improve your synthesis techniques (see Table 19.5 ).

Table 19.5 Synthesising techniques

Example of synthesis

There is a relationship between academic procrastination and mental health outcomes.  Procrastination has been found to have a negative effect on students’ well-being (Balkis, & Duru, 2016). Yerdelen, McCaffrey, and Klassens’ (2016) research results suggested that there was a positive association between procrastination and anxiety. This was corroborated by Custer’s (2018) findings which indicated that students with higher levels of procrastination also reported greater levels of the anxiety. Therefore, it could be argued that procrastination is an ineffective learning strategy that leads to increased levels of distress.

Topic sentence | Statements using paraphrased evidence | Critical thinking (student voice) | Concluding statement – linking to topic sentence

This example demonstrates a simple synthesis. The author has developed a paragraph with one central theme and included explanatory sentences complete with in-text citations from multiple sources. Note how the blocks of colour have been used to illustrate the paragraph structure and synthesis (i.e., statements using paraphrased evidence from several sources). A more complex synthesis may include more than one citation per sentence.

Creating an argument

What does this mean.

Throughout your university studies, you may be asked to ‘argue’ a particular point or position in your writing. You may already be familiar with the idea of an argument, which in general terms means to have a disagreement with someone. Similarly, in academic writing, if you are asked to create an argument, this means you are asked to have a position on a particular topic, and then justify your position using evidence.

What skills do you need to create an argument?

In order to create a good and effective argument, you need to be able to:

• Read critically to find evidence
• Plan your argument
• Think and write critically throughout your paper to enhance your argument

For tips on how to read and write critically, refer to the chapter Thinking for more information. A formula for developing a strong argument is presented below.

A formula for a good argument

What does an argument look like?

As can be seen from the figure above, including evidence is a key element of a good argument. While this may seem like a straightforward task, it can be difficult to think of wording to express your argument. The table below provides examples of how you can illustrate your argument in academic writing (see Table 19.6 ).

Table 19.6 Argument

Editing and proofreading (reviewing).

Once you have finished writing your first draft it is recommended that you spend time revising your work.  Proofreading and editing are two different stages of the revision process.

• Editing considers the overall focus or bigger picture of the assignment
• Proofreading considers the finer details

As can be seen in the figure above there are four main areas that you should review during the editing phase of the revision process. The main things to consider when editing include content, structure, style, and sources. It is important to check that all the content relates to the assignment task, the structure is appropriate for the purposes of the assignment, the writing is academic in style, and that sources have been adequately acknowledged. Use the checklist below when editing your work.

Editing checklist

• Have I answered the question accurately?
• Do I have enough credible, scholarly supporting evidence?
• Is my writing tone objective and formal enough or have I used emotive and informal language?
• Have I written in the third person not the first person?
• Do I have appropriate in-text citations for all my information?
• Have I included the full details for all my in-text citations in my reference list?

There are also several key things to look out for during the proofreading phase of the revision process. In this stage it is important to check your work for word choice, grammar and spelling, punctuation and referencing errors. It can be easy to mis-type words like ‘from’ and ‘form’ or mix up words like ‘trail’ and ‘trial’ when writing about research, apply American rather than Australian spelling, include unnecessary commas or incorrectly format your references list. The checklist below is a useful guide that you can use when proofreading your work.

Proofreading checklist

• Is my spelling and grammar accurate?
•  Are they complete?
• Do they all make sense?
• Do they only contain only one idea?
• Do the different elements (subject, verb, nouns, pronouns) within my sentences agree?
• Are my sentences too long and complicated?
• Do they contain only one idea per sentence?
• Is my writing concise? Take out words that do not add meaning to your sentences.
• Have I used appropriate discipline specific language but avoided words I don’t know or understand that could possibly be out of context?
• Have I avoided discriminatory language and colloquial expressions (slang)?
• Is my referencing formatted correctly according to my assignment guidelines? (for more information on referencing refer to the Managing Assessment feedback section).

This chapter has examined the experience of writing assignments.  It began by focusing on how to read and break down an assignment question, then highlighted the key components of essays. Next, it examined some techniques for paraphrasing and summarising, and how to build an argument. It concluded with a discussion on planning and structuring your assignment and giving it that essential polish with editing and proof-reading. Combining these skills and practising them, can greatly improve your success with this very common form of assessment.

• Academic writing requires clear and logical structure, critical thinking and the use of credible scholarly sources.
• A thesis statement is important as it tells the reader the position or argument you have adopted in your assignment. Not all assignments will require a thesis statement.
• Spending time analysing your task and planning your structure before you start to write your assignment is time well spent.
• Information you use in your assignment should come from credible scholarly sources such as textbooks and peer reviewed journals. This information needs to be paraphrased and referenced appropriately.
• Paraphrasing means putting something into your own words and synthesising means to bring together several ideas from sources.
• Creating an argument is a four step process and can be applied to all types of academic writing.
• Editing and proofreading are two separate processes.

Academic Skills Centre. (2013). Writing an introduction and conclusion . University of Canberra, accessed 13 August, 2013, http://www.canberra.edu.au/studyskills/writing/conclusions

Balkis, M., & Duru, E. (2016). Procrastination, self-regulation failure, academic life satisfaction, and affective well-being: underregulation or misregulation form. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 31 (3), 439-459.

Custer, N. (2018). Test anxiety and academic procrastination among prelicensure nursing students. Nursing education perspectives, 39 (3), 162-163.

Yerdelen, S., McCaffrey, A., & Klassen, R. M. (2016). Longitudinal examination of procrastination and anxiety, and their relation to self-efficacy for self-regulated learning: Latent growth curve modeling. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 16 (1).

Writing Assignments Copyright © 2021 by Kate Derrington; Cristy Bartlett; and Sarah Irvine is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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• Knowledge Base

The Beginner's Guide to Writing an Essay | Steps & Examples

An academic essay is a focused piece of writing that develops an idea or argument using evidence, analysis, and interpretation.

There are many types of essays you might write as a student. The content and length of an essay depends on your level, subject of study, and course requirements. However, most essays at university level are argumentative — they aim to persuade the reader of a particular position or perspective on a topic.

The essay writing process consists of three main stages:

• Preparation: Decide on your topic, do your research, and create an essay outline.
• Writing : Set out your argument in the introduction, develop it with evidence in the main body, and wrap it up with a conclusion.
• Revision:  Check your essay on the content, organization, grammar, spelling, and formatting of your essay.

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Table of contents

Essay writing process, preparation for writing an essay, writing the introduction, writing the main body, writing the conclusion, essay checklist, lecture slides, frequently asked questions about writing an essay.

The writing process of preparation, writing, and revisions applies to every essay or paper, but the time and effort spent on each stage depends on the type of essay .

For example, if you’ve been assigned a five-paragraph expository essay for a high school class, you’ll probably spend the most time on the writing stage; for a college-level argumentative essay , on the other hand, you’ll need to spend more time researching your topic and developing an original argument before you start writing.

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Before you start writing, you should make sure you have a clear idea of what you want to say and how you’re going to say it. There are a few key steps you can follow to make sure you’re prepared:

• Understand your assignment: What is the goal of this essay? What is the length and deadline of the assignment? Is there anything you need to clarify with your teacher or professor?
• Define a topic: If you’re allowed to choose your own topic , try to pick something that you already know a bit about and that will hold your interest.
• Do your research: Read  primary and secondary sources and take notes to help you work out your position and angle on the topic. You’ll use these as evidence for your points.
• Come up with a thesis:  The thesis is the central point or argument that you want to make. A clear thesis is essential for a focused essay—you should keep referring back to it as you write.
• Create an outline: Map out the rough structure of your essay in an outline . This makes it easier to start writing and keeps you on track as you go.

Once you’ve got a clear idea of what you want to discuss, in what order, and what evidence you’ll use, you’re ready to start writing.

The introduction sets the tone for your essay. It should grab the reader’s interest and inform them of what to expect. The introduction generally comprises 10–20% of the text.

1. Hook your reader

The first sentence of the introduction should pique your reader’s interest and curiosity. This sentence is sometimes called the hook. It might be an intriguing question, a surprising fact, or a bold statement emphasizing the relevance of the topic.

Let’s say we’re writing an essay about the development of Braille (the raised-dot reading and writing system used by visually impaired people). Our hook can make a strong statement about the topic:

The invention of Braille was a major turning point in the history of disability.

2. Provide background on your topic

Next, it’s important to give context that will help your reader understand your argument. This might involve providing background information, giving an overview of important academic work or debates on the topic, and explaining difficult terms. Don’t provide too much detail in the introduction—you can elaborate in the body of your essay.

3. Present the thesis statement

Next, you should formulate your thesis statement— the central argument you’re going to make. The thesis statement provides focus and signals your position on the topic. It is usually one or two sentences long. The thesis statement for our essay on Braille could look like this:

As the first writing system designed for blind people’s needs, Braille was a groundbreaking new accessibility tool. It not only provided practical benefits, but also helped change the cultural status of blindness.

4. Map the structure

In longer essays, you can end the introduction by briefly describing what will be covered in each part of the essay. This guides the reader through your structure and gives a preview of how your argument will develop.

The invention of Braille marked a major turning point in the history of disability. The writing system of raised dots used by blind and visually impaired people was developed by Louis Braille in nineteenth-century France. In a society that did not value disabled people in general, blindness was particularly stigmatized, and lack of access to reading and writing was a significant barrier to social participation. The idea of tactile reading was not entirely new, but existing methods based on sighted systems were difficult to learn and use. As the first writing system designed for blind people’s needs, Braille was a groundbreaking new accessibility tool. It not only provided practical benefits, but also helped change the cultural status of blindness. This essay begins by discussing the situation of blind people in nineteenth-century Europe. It then describes the invention of Braille and the gradual process of its acceptance within blind education. Subsequently, it explores the wide-ranging effects of this invention on blind people’s social and cultural lives.

Write your essay introduction

The body of your essay is where you make arguments supporting your thesis, provide evidence, and develop your ideas. Its purpose is to present, interpret, and analyze the information and sources you have gathered to support your argument.

Length of the body text

The length of the body depends on the type of essay. On average, the body comprises 60–80% of your essay. For a high school essay, this could be just three paragraphs, but for a graduate school essay of 6,000 words, the body could take up 8–10 pages.

Paragraph structure

To give your essay a clear structure , it is important to organize it into paragraphs . Each paragraph should be centered around one main point or idea.

That idea is introduced in a  topic sentence . The topic sentence should generally lead on from the previous paragraph and introduce the point to be made in this paragraph. Transition words can be used to create clear connections between sentences.

After the topic sentence, present evidence such as data, examples, or quotes from relevant sources. Be sure to interpret and explain the evidence, and show how it helps develop your overall argument.

Lack of access to reading and writing put blind people at a serious disadvantage in nineteenth-century society. Text was one of the primary methods through which people engaged with culture, communicated with others, and accessed information; without a well-developed reading system that did not rely on sight, blind people were excluded from social participation (Weygand, 2009). While disabled people in general suffered from discrimination, blindness was widely viewed as the worst disability, and it was commonly believed that blind people were incapable of pursuing a profession or improving themselves through culture (Weygand, 2009). This demonstrates the importance of reading and writing to social status at the time: without access to text, it was considered impossible to fully participate in society. Blind people were excluded from the sighted world, but also entirely dependent on sighted people for information and education.

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The conclusion is the final paragraph of an essay. It should generally take up no more than 10–15% of the text . A strong essay conclusion :

• Returns to your thesis
• Ties together your main points
• Shows why your argument matters

A great conclusion should finish with a memorable or impactful sentence that leaves the reader with a strong final impression.

What not to include in a conclusion

To make your essay’s conclusion as strong as possible, there are a few things you should avoid. The most common mistakes are:

• Including new arguments or evidence
• Undermining your arguments (e.g. “This is just one approach of many”)
• Using concluding phrases like “To sum up…” or “In conclusion…”

Braille paved the way for dramatic cultural changes in the way blind people were treated and the opportunities available to them. Louis Braille’s innovation was to reimagine existing reading systems from a blind perspective, and the success of this invention required sighted teachers to adapt to their students’ reality instead of the other way around. In this sense, Braille helped drive broader social changes in the status of blindness. New accessibility tools provide practical advantages to those who need them, but they can also change the perspectives and attitudes of those who do not.

Write your essay conclusion

Checklist: Essay

My essay follows the requirements of the assignment (topic and length ).

My introduction sparks the reader’s interest and provides any necessary background information on the topic.

My introduction contains a thesis statement that states the focus and position of the essay.

I use paragraphs to structure the essay.

I use topic sentences to introduce each paragraph.

Each paragraph has a single focus and a clear connection to the thesis statement.

I make clear transitions between paragraphs and ideas.

My conclusion doesn’t just repeat my points, but draws connections between arguments.

I don’t introduce new arguments or evidence in the conclusion.

I have given an in-text citation for every quote or piece of information I got from another source.

I have included a reference page at the end of my essay, listing full details of all my sources.

My citations and references are correctly formatted according to the required citation style .

My essay has an interesting and informative title.

I have followed all formatting guidelines (e.g. font, page numbers, line spacing).

Your essay meets all the most important requirements. Our editors can give it a final check to help you submit with confidence.

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An essay is a focused piece of writing that explains, argues, describes, or narrates.

In high school, you may have to write many different types of essays to develop your writing skills.

Academic essays at college level are usually argumentative : you develop a clear thesis about your topic and make a case for your position using evidence, analysis and interpretation.

The structure of an essay is divided into an introduction that presents your topic and thesis statement , a body containing your in-depth analysis and arguments, and a conclusion wrapping up your ideas.

The structure of the body is flexible, but you should always spend some time thinking about how you can organize your essay to best serve your ideas.

Your essay introduction should include three main things, in this order:

• An opening hook to catch the reader’s attention.
• Relevant background information that the reader needs to know.
• A thesis statement that presents your main point or argument.

The length of each part depends on the length and complexity of your essay .

A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . Everything else you write should relate to this key idea.

The thesis statement is essential in any academic essay or research paper for two main reasons:

• It gives your writing direction and focus.
• It gives the reader a concise summary of your main point.

Without a clear thesis statement, an essay can end up rambling and unfocused, leaving your reader unsure of exactly what you want to say.

A topic sentence is a sentence that expresses the main point of a paragraph . Everything else in the paragraph should relate to the topic sentence.

At college level, you must properly cite your sources in all essays , research papers , and other academic texts (except exams and in-class exercises).

Add a citation whenever you quote , paraphrase , or summarize information or ideas from a source. You should also give full source details in a bibliography or reference list at the end of your text.

The exact format of your citations depends on which citation style you are instructed to use. The most common styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago .

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While some writing assignments are straightforward, others may need careful deciphering to make sure you are following the guidelines. Looking carefully at the instructions provided for any writing assignment to be certain that you understand the guidelines not only prevents missteps but can also help you develop strategies for conquering the task ahead.

General Considerations

Some terms found in assignments relate to genres used in different disciplines. Close Reading, Literature Review, Report, Study, Memorandum, and Proposal are some examples of terms that relate to specific formats. There are important distinctions between these genres. For example, a Close Reading of a piece of literature requires more analysis than a Literature Review , which asks for key points of summary that relate to an argument. If you are unfamiliar with these terms and they show up in an assignment, be sure to clarify the guidelines with your instructor.

In Practice

Ask questions.

One of the most important things to know about understanding assignments is that if an assignment or any part of an assignment confuses you, you can always ask your instructor for clarification. Asking questions might help your instructor to realize what other students might be struggling with as well. Before stopping by office hours or after class with questions, you might first consider the suggestions below so that you can identify exactly what parts of the assignment remain unclear.

Become Familiar with Common Assignment Goals

Assignments will often contain a variety of terms that can help you to identify the task or tasks you need to perform. The terms generally fall into one of the following categories:

• Summarize – A summary provides a condensed explanation of key features from a text or activity. Many assignments might require some summary even if summarizing isn’t the main goal of the assignment. A summary may be required if the assignment includes words such as describe, explain, depict, and illustrate .
• Analyze – If an assignment asks you to analyze something, it is asking for your own logical interpretation of the meaning behind the constituent parts of the subject. An analysis is different than a summary as it provides a new understanding about the subject in question, not just an overview. Other words that may be asking for analysis are elaborate, examine, discuss, explore, investigate, and determine .
• Argue – If an assignment asks you to make an argument, you need to take a stand on a topic and develop your claim to show why your position makes sense. There are many terms related to argument. For example, evaluate, critique, assess, and review may ask for an argument about the worth of a subject. Propose, recommend, and advise may ask for a solution to a problem. Define asks for an argument about what a word or concept means Compare/contrast, synthesize, and apply (as in apply one text to another ) may ask for an argument about key points of similarity and difference in your subjects, and an analysis about why those points matter.

Break Down the Tasks and Locate the Central Goal

Just like any other text, an assignment can be broken down and analyzed. By keeping in mind that any good essay will have one main goal and one central argument or thesis that incorporates the various subparts, you can begin to determine what shape your essay should take. (In some cases an instructor might not expect an argument or thesis; however, this is rare. If you suspect a thesis is not needed but don’t know for sure, check with your instructor.)

• What Should This Essay Really Contain? Highlight each separate task included in the instructions. Consider the terms above as you identify the tasks you need to perform. If the assignment is relatively simple, write out the tasks that will need to be performed. If there are terms that you aren’t familiar with, consider what kind of task they imply.
• What Should the Thesis/Argument Be About? Once you have identified the tasks and goals, determine which is the main goal. Every essay should have a well-stated, debatable, and complex thesis statement that guides the essay, but it might be up to you to figure out what the focus of the argument should be. Think about the most important issues discussed in class as they can be clues to what an instructor wants. What would your instructor want you to take a stand on?
• How Should This Essay Be Structured? Once you have determined the central goal, outline the essay according to how you think it should be completed, showing how each sub-goal will relate to the main goal or goals. Consider how the other tasks or sub-goals connect to the main argument. If you find you can’t outline with confidence or still aren’t sure how the assignment should be completed, make a note of which elements remain unclear and plan to meet with your instructor.

Analyzing a Sample Assignment

Imagine you have been given this essay prompt: Compare Denmark’s current environmental policies with those of the past. What difficulties have the policies faced over time and how have they been adapted to current environmental concerns? Incorporate the ideas presented in the article by Smith and discuss whether or not the new environmental standards helped or hurt the farmers in Denmark based on the timeline that we discussed in class? What needs to be changed?

Step One: What Should This Essay Really Contain? The essay asks for several tasks of various kinds. 1.) A comparison between past and present environmental policies in Denmark. 2.) A description or summary of the problems these policies have faced and how they have changed. 3.) An analysis of what Smith says about the success and failure of the policies. 4.) An evaluation of what the policies have meant for farmers. 5.) A proposal for changes that would need to be made.

Step Two: What Should The Thesis/Argument Be About? Though the essay asks for a comparison first, that task seems like more of a summary than an argument. The analysis of what Smith says also sounds like the potential central focus, but the analysis seems to be needed mostly to help strengthen the evaluation to come. Since the class is a policy class that focuses on understanding why policies in many governments succeed or fail, it is probably important to evaluate the policies. So task 4 is probably the central argument, combined with task 5.

Step Three: How Should This Essay Be Structured? With tasks 4 and 5 as the central focus, the introduction should include an evaluation in the thesis along with a sense of the proposal. After the thesis, it makes sense to first summarize the past and present policies, which will then lead to a summary of what has changed. Smith could be brought in during both summaries to provide commentary on what has occurred. Once these elements have been established, analyzing the successes and failures of the policies should enter. A proposal could come last and would be based on avoiding future policy failures.

Complete the tasks described above for the following essay assignment. Remember, there might be more than one right way to complete the task.

Sample Art History Assignment: Focusing on Courbet’s painting, Woman with a Parrot , and Cabanal’s painting, Birth of Venus , can you describe the similarities and differences in the way these two artists have depicted the female nude? (Think about the subjects of each of the works when you answer this question.) When it was shown at the Salon, Courbet's painting ignited quite a scandal; Cabanal's, on the other hand, was a favorite with the critics. Which painting had more impact and why? [Assignment taken from http://mysite.pratt.edu/~wtc/sample1.html ]

• What Tasks Does This Essay Contain?
• What Should The Thesis/Argument Be About?
• How Should This Essay Be Structured?

Possible Solution: 1. Describe, Compare/Contrast, Evaluate (which had more impact) and Argue why. 2. I would argue why the painting I chose had a greater impact. 3. I would begin by describing the scandal in my intro, then include a thesis of evaluation, then describe both paintings in depth (including details of subject matter), then analyze the worth of each, then argue the greater worth of one painting, then analyze why I made that choice.

Hjorthoj, Keith. Transitions to College Writing . 3rd Ed. Boston: Bedford St. Martin’s, 2001.

Last updated August 2013

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Communication Across the Disciplines

10 tips for writing assignments.

• Clarify the task. Don't let questions about the task encourage procrastination.
• Do the research early. Collecting and absorbing the material will help you meditate on what you will write, even if you don't get to work on the writing immediately.
• Leave a strong paper trail. Frequently, the lack of good note taking doesn't register until you are in the throes of the final preparation of your project, when deadlines loom, and materials are difficult to recover. This is because one often reads and discards materials as not being relevant during the research process, only to discover later, during the writing process, that they are.
• Brainstorm, make notes, jot down ideas as they occur, and begin by writing the stuff you do know. Most writing will be complex and you can't do all of the stages--brainstorming, drafting, revising, editing, proofreading--in one fell swoop. Breaking the process into smaller steps makes it more manageable, and lets you make progress even when you don't have large chunks of time to devote to writing.
• Get feedback. It's difficult to anticipate the gaps, confusion, and potential misinterpretations that complex writing can generate. You need to have at least one outside reader to help you.
• Allow time for revising and editing. Once the ideas are drafted, you'll usually find that you need to go back and re-read, re-search, re-organize, and re-think what you have said.
• Make the organization apparent. Use paragraphs, subheadings, and spatial divisions (layout) to indicate clearly changes in subject matter, focus, and depth. Sometimes this is a good time to prepare an outline, to make sure that your organization makes sense.
• Write the introduction last. A good introduction must point forward to what the writing contains. It is a promise to the reader, and should be accurate. The best introductions will be prepared after you know what you will say and how you will say it.
• Check for accuracy. Research-based writing is often complex and it is easy to overlook a mistake made while drafting. Check your sources, read carefully through your quotations, citations, and documentation.
• Proofread carefully. This is often a step left out in the crunch to finish by a deadline, and yet, it is often little mistakes (typos, errors of punctuation and grammar) which communicate to your reader a sense of carelessness or inability to write.
• Forgive yourself for what is not perfect. We never stop learning how to write. No draft is ever perfect, but the deadline requires that you do your best and then send it out into the world of the reader.

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What Makes a Good Writing Assignment?

Getting Started

Why include writing in my courses?

What is writing to learn?

WTL Activities

What is writing to engage?

What is writing in the disciplines?

WID Assignments

Useful Knowledge

What should I know about rhetorical situations?

Do I have to be an expert in grammar to assign writing?

What should I know about genre and design?

What should I know about second-language writing?

What teaching resources are available?

What should I know about WAC and graduate education?

Assigning Writing

What makes a good writing assignment?

How can I avoid getting lousy student writing?

What benefits might reflective writing have for my students?

Using Peer Review

Why consider collaborative writing assignments?

Do writing and peer review take up too much class time?

How can I get the most out of peer review?

Responding to Writing

How can I handle responding to student writing?

Sample Grading Sheets

How can writing centers support writing in my courses?

What writing resources are available for my students?

Using Technology

How can computer technologies support writing in my classes?

Designing and Assessing WAC Programs

What is a WAC program?

What designs are typical for WAC programs?

How can WAC programs be assessed?

More on WAC

Where can I learn more about WAC?

Surprisingly, teachers have been known to assign writing tasks without articulating to themselves what the task is supposed to do for students. Good writing assignments always start with a clear goal that the teacher can express, usually on the assignment sheet so that students understand the goal as well.

Good writing assignments also often take shape by thinking backwards. In effect, teachers ask themselves, "What do I want to read at the end of this assignment?" By working from what they anticipate the final product to look like, teachers can give students detailed guidelines about both the writing task and the final written product.

Five Principles

As you think about making up writing assignments, use these five principles:

• Tie the writing task to specific pedagogical goals, particularly those articulated in the overall course goals.
• Note rhetorical aspects of the task, i.e., audience, purpose, writing situation.
• Break down the task into manageable steps.
• Make all elements of the task clear.
• Include grading criteria on the assignment sheet.

Principle 1. Writing Should Meet Teaching Goals

Asking questions like these about your assignment will help guarantee that writing tasks tie directly to your teaching goals in the class:

• What specific course objectives will the writing assignment meet?
• Will informal or formal writing better meet teaching goals?
• Will students be writing to learn course material or writing conventions in the discipline or both?
• Does the assignment make sense?

Work Backward from Goals

Although it might seem awkward at first, working backwards from what you hope the final drafts will look like often produces the best assignment sheets. We recommend jotting down several points that will help you with this step in writing your assignments:

• Why should students write in your class? State your goals for the final product as clearly and concretely as possible.
• Determine what writing products will meet these goals and fit your teaching style/preferences.
• Note specific skills that will contribute to the final product.
• Sequence activities (reading, researching, writing) to build toward the final product.

Beyond the Basics

Writing tasks fill many different roles for students, so defining good writing assignments begins with the specific instructional context. For that reason, the first key to writing a good assignment is tying the task to the specific course goals. After taking your class and its goals into account, though, several other principles can improve the writing tasks you assign and the writing you get from students.

Principle 2. Consider the Rhetorical Situation

Perhaps most important, as noted in the five principles section, is to consider the rhetorical situation. By this, writing experts mean that you should think carefully about the audience you want students to write to as well as the particular genre or format for the final document and the larger context for the document.

Setting up your writing assignment so that the target reader is someone other than you, the teacher, might result in the most improvement in student writing. Students, after all, have had extensive experience writing to teachers, and students know that teachers are a "captive" audience. Your job mandates that you read carefully and respond to their texts. Chinn & Hilgers (2000) explain this role for the teachers as often limited to "corrector." However, instructors can move beyond the corrector role into a "collaborator" role by varying writing tasks, encouraging peer collaboration, and emphasizing professional contexts for writing. So for students, the teacher is not necessarily a reader or audience that will motivate the best possible work on a writing task. Indeed, Hilgers et al . (1999) report that their interview research with 33 upper-division students yielded an intriguing statistic: "56% of the interviewees also described one or more nonteacher audiences" (328) for their academic tasks. In many instances, the assignment called for a hypothetical audience other than the teacher, but even when the assignment didn't prompt students to write for readers other than the teacher, students directed their work toward "an individual they believed has specific content knowledge such as a CEO, coworker, or technician" (328).

Although some experts (Freedman et al ., 1994) argue that setting up a fictitious scenario with a specified audience does not motivate students any more highly than simply writing for the teacher, other practitioners across the disciplines have seen improvement in student writing when they use cases with embedded audiences for students' documents. (See, for instance, Brumberger, 2004; Cass & Fernandez, 2008; Stevens, 2005; Sulewski, 2003.)

A further extension of this move toward providing rich writing contexts beyond the teacher involves writing tasks that actually target real readers. Many senior design projects and management projects in engineering and natural resources involve pairing students with actual clients so that students must take into account the particular needs of their readers. Across many disciplines, teachers are investigating alternative methods to connect undergraduate writers with real audiences, including client-based partnerships (Kiefer & Leff, 2008; Kreth, 2005; Planken & Kreps, 2006;) and service-learning opportunities (Addams et al ., 2010; Bourelle, 2012), among other options.

But even if your particular class doesn't allow you to pair students with actual clients or other readers, consider ways in which you can create a meaningful context with readers beyond the teacher in the classroom (see, for example, Ward, 2009). Chamely-Wiik et al . (2012), for instance, describe in detail how, drawing on materials from The Council of Writing Program Administrators and The Foundation for Critical Thinking, they developed a case study writing context for first-year general chemistry students. As they explain,

Our initial case-study assignment, used for the first two years of the course, required students to explore the scientific principles involved in the Bhopal disaster where thousands of people died in an industrial chemical accident.... The second assignment, used in the third year, required students to formulate and defend an argument whether research in the field of cold fusion should continue to be supported. (504)

Students write with a local audience of classmates and a larger institutional context of the university community in mind. Students responded positively on affective surveys, a typical reaction to carefully designed writing tasks. More significantly, "students in this chemistry course outperformed the majority of students across all undergraduate levels at the university" (506). (For other examples of science students writing to lay audiences, see Martin, 2010; McDermott& Kuhn, 2011; Moni et al ., 2007; Sivey & Lee, 2008).

In addition to audience concerns, students also benefit from understanding how and why a particular format or genre helps them communicate with a target audience (especially when we think of genres as those recurring rhetorical reactions to typical communicative situations). From YouTube videos in organic chemistry (Franz, 2012) to position papers in public relations (Powell, 2012) to posters in physiology (Mulnix, 2003), teachers are helping students to write in genres that immediately connect them with the real readers of their future professional settings. (See also Blakeslee, 2001; Guilford, 2001; Jebb, 2005; LeBigot & Rouet, 2007; Mizrahi, 2003; Motavalli et al ., 2007; Schwartz et al ., 2004; Wald et al ., 2009.)

Why does this attention to audience and genre seem to matter so much to student writing? In recent years, several studies (Adam, 2000; Beaufort, 2004; Belfiore et al ., 2004; Freedman & Adam, 2000; Spinuzzi, 2010) have explored the reasons why writers attentive to specific contexts are more successful. In particular, workplace literacy and socio-cognitive apprenticeship theory (among related theoretical perspectives) both emphasize the role that knowledgeable mentors within a workplace play as they initiate newcomers to the communicative context. (See especially Beaufort, 2000, and Ding, 2008, for social apprenticeship studies and Paretti, 2008, on situated learning and activity theory.) As Dias et al . (1999) explain, writing is not a fixed set of skills that we learn once and then simply plug into as we need to communicate. Rather,

Written discourse... is regularized but not fixed; fluid, flexible, and dynamic; emerging and evolving in exigency and action; reflecting and incorporating social needs, demands, and structures, and responsive to social interpretations and reinterpretations of necessarily shifting, complex experiences. (23)

And, as a result of the fluidity of discourse in varied workplace settings, writers themselves should be prepared for major development of their communication skills when they enter new workplaces. MacKinnon's qualitative study (2000) of new analysts and economists at the Bank of Canada showed that

Overall, the writing-related changes were considerable, consequential, and a shock for some participants: "It's like going to China," said one. For most of the ten participants, the complex totality of the writing-related changes they experienced added up to a "sea change": a major shift in their understanding of what writing is an does in an organization, a revised understanding of the roles they saw for themselves as writing workers and as working writers, and often major changes in various aspects of the macro writing process. (50)

When students have opportunities as undergraduates or graduate/professional students to anticipate these major shifts, then the transitions to workplaces of all sorts become easier. For the most part, moreover, students recognize that apprenticeship learning in academic settings provides both more structured scaffolding of writing tasks and lower-stakes learning. They thus embrace the learning opportunities when offered to them in academic classes.

Principle 3. Break Down the Task into Manageable Steps

The fifth principle noted in the general section on "what makes a good writing assignment?" is to break down the task into manageable steps. Many teachers approach this element of good assignment design by thinking carefully about assignment sequence. One particularly thorough explanation of this process appears in Leydens & Santi (2006). This writing specialist and geoscientist take up the details of designing assignments with an eye to course goals. They also consider the importance of not overwhelming teachers and students (the Less is More approach) as they explain their specific process of questioning their assignments (pp. 493-497). (See also Lord, 2009, and Greasley & Cassidy, 2010.)

Scaffolded assignments, such as the agricultural economics assignment noted in the Additional Resources section, help students reach a larger goal by asking them to collect resources in stages. A final stage requires that students transform each of the earlier stages in a final document. Sequenced assignments, on the other hand, each stand independently, but each task builds on particular skills and challenges to enable students to meet a larger set of goals. Herrington (1997) describes a scaffolded assignment (71-72) with a preliminary plan for a major project followed by an annotated bibliography, early draft (with cover note focused on successes and challenges thus far) and final draft (with cover note). Mulnix & Mulnix (2010) also describe a similar argumentative assignment that uses sequenced tasks to repeat and reinforce critical thinking skills. See also Sin et al . (2007) for a sequence in accounting, Howell (2007) in materials science, Fencl (2010) on a sequence in physics, Zlatic et al . (2000) on pharmaceutical education, and Harding (2005) on freshman mechanical engineering. Coe (2011), on the other hand, describes a series of scaffolded writing tasks to help students build argument skills in philosophy, Alaimo et al . (2009) explain their project for sophomore organic chemistry students, and Lillig (2008) looks at upper-division chemistry.

Principles 4 and 5. Make the Assignment Clear to Students

A well-designed assignment will make the elements of the task clear to students. This includes identifying relevant intermediate assignments and activities, such as topic proposals or literature reviews for longer assignments, as well as providing information about relevant writing, research, and collaboration processes. In general, it is also advisable to list grading criteria on the assignment sheet. Making the assignment clear to students will help them better understand the scope and challenge of the assignment. It also is likely to produce better learning and performance.

Resource: Sample Assignment from an Advanced Undergraduate Agricultural Economics Seminar

Good analytical writing is a rigorous and difficult task. It involves a process of editing and rewriting, and it is common to do a half dozen or more drafts. Because of the difficulty of analytical writing and the need for drafting, we will be completing the assignment in four stages. A draft of each of the sections described below is due when we finish the class unit related to that topic (see due dates on syllabus). I will read the drafts of each section and provide comments; these drafts will not be graded but failure to pass in a complete version of a section will result in a deduction in your final assignment grade. Because of the time both you and I are investing in the project, it will constitute one-half of your semester grade.

Content, Concepts and Substance

Papers will focus on the peoples and policies related to population, food, and the environment of your chosen country. As well as exploring each of these subsets, papers need to highlight the interrelations among them. These interrelations should form part of your revision focus for the final draft. Important concepts relevant to the papers will be covered in class; therefore, your research should be focused on the collection of information on your chosen country or region to substantiate your themes. Specifically, the paper needs to address the following questions.

1. Population

Developing countries have undergone large changes in population. Explain the dynamic nature of this continuing change in your country or region and the forces underlying the changes. Better papers will go beyond description and analyze the situation at hand. That is, go behind the numbers to explain what is happening in your country with respect to the underlying population dynamics: structure of growth, population momentum, rural/urban migration, age structure of population, unanticipated populations shocks, etc. DUE: WEEK 4.

What is the nature of food consumption in your country or region? Is the average daily consumption below recommended levels? Is food consumption increasing with economic growth? What is the income elasticity of demand? Use Engel's law to discuss this behavior. Is production able to stay abreast with demand given these trends? What is the nature of agricultural production: traditional agriculture or green revolution technology? Is the trend in food production towards self-sufficiency? If not, can comparative advantage explain this? Does the country import or export food? Is the politico-economic regime supportive of a progressive agricultural sector? DUE: WEEK 8.

3. Environment

This is the third issue to be covered in class. It is crucial to show in your paper the environmental impact of agricultural production techniques as well as any direct impacts from population changes. This is especially true in countries that have evolved from traditional agriculture to green revolution techniques in the wake of population pressures. While there are private benefits to increased production, the use of petroleum-based inputs leads to environmental and human health related social costs which are exacerbated by poorly defined property rights. Use the concepts of technological externalities, assimilative capacity, property rights, etc., to explain the nature of this situation in your country or region. What other environmental problems are evident? Discuss the problems and methods for economically measuring environmental degradation. DUE: WEEK 12.

4. Final Draft

The final draft of the project should consider the economic situation of agriculture in your specified country or region from the three perspectives outlined above. Key to such an analysis are the interrelationships of the three perspectives. How does each factor contribute to an overall analysis of the successes and problems in agricultural policy and production of your chosen country or region? The paper may conclude with recommendations, but, at the very least, it should provide a clear summary statement about the challenges facing your country or region. DUE: WEEK15.

Adam, C. (2000). "What do we learn from the readers? Factors in determining successful transitions between academic and workplace writing." In P. Dias and A. Paré (Eds.), Transitions: Writing in Academic and Workplace Settings ; pp. 167-182. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

Addams, L.H., Woodbury, D., Allred, T., & Addams, J. (2010). Developing Student Communication Skills while Assisting Nonprofit Organizations. Business Communication Quarterly, 73 (3), 282-290.

Alaimo, P.J., Bean, J.C., Langenhan, J.M., & Nichols, L. (2009). Eliminating Lab Reports: A Rhetorical Approach for Teaching the Scientific Paper in Sophomore Organic Chemistry. The WAC Journal, 20 , 17-32.

Beaufort, A. (2004). Developmental gains of a history major: A case for building a theory of disciplinary writing expertise. Research in the Teaching of English, 39 (2), 136-185.

Beaufort, A. (2000). Learning the trade: A social apprenticeship model for gaining writing expertise. Written Communication, 17 (2), 185-224.

Belfiore, M.E., Defoe, T.A., Folinsbee, S., Hunter, J., & Jackson, N.S. (2004). Reading Work: Literacies in the New Workplace. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Blakeslee, A.M. (2001). Bridging the workplace and the academy: Teaching professional genres through classroom-workplace collaborations. Technical Communication Quarterly, 10 (2), 169-192.

Bourelle, T. (2012). Bridging the Gap between the Technical Communication Classroom and the Internship: Teaching Social Consciousness and Real-World Writing. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 42 (2), 183-197.

Brumberger, E.R. (2004). The "Corporate Correspondence Project": Fostering Audience Awareness and Extended Collaboration. Business Communication Quarterly, 67 (3), 349-58.

Cass, A.G., & Fernandes, C.S.T. (2008). Simulated conference submissions: A technique to improve student attitudes about writing. 2008 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, Vols. 1-3 ; pp. 1535-1540.   

Chamely,Wiik, D.M., Kaky, J.E., & Galin, J. (2012). From Bhopal to cold fusion: A case-study approach to writing assignments in honors general chemistry. Journal of Chemical Education, 89 (4), 502-508.

Chinn, P.W.U., & Hilgers. T.L. (2000). From corrector to collaborator: The range of instructor roles in writing-based natural and applied science classes. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 37 (1), 3-25.

Coe, C.D. (2011). Scaffolded writing as a tool for critical thinking: Teaching beginning students how to write arguments. Teaching Philosophy, 34 (1), 33-50.

Dias, P., Freedman, A., Medway, P., & Paré. (1999). "Introduction: Researching Writing at School and at Work." Worlds Apart: Acting and Writing in Academic and Workplace Contexts; pp. 3-13. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Dias, P., Freedman, A., Medway, P., & Paré. (1999). "Situating Writing." Worlds Apart: Acting and Writing in Academic and Workplace Contexts; pp. 17-41. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Ding, H. (2008). The use of cognitive and social apprenticeship to teach a disciplinary genre: Initiation of graduate students into NIH grant writing. Written Communication, 25 (1), 3-52.

Fencl, H.S. (2010). Development of Students' Critical-Reasoning Skills through Content-Focused Activities in a General Education Course. Journal of College Science Teaching, 39 (5), 56-62.

Franz, A.K. (2012). Organic chemistry YouTube writing assignment for large lecture classes. Journal of Chemical Education, 89 (4), 497-501.

Freedman, A., & Adam, C. (2000). "Write where you are: Situating learning to write in university and workplace settings." In P. Dias and A. Paré (Eds.), Transitions: Writing in Academic and Workplace Settings ; pp. 31-60. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

Freedman, A., Adam, C., & Smart, G. (1994). Wearing suits to class: Simulating genres and simulations as genre. Written Communication, 11 (2), 193-226.

Greasley, P., & Cassidy, A. (2010). When it comes round to marking assignments: how to impress and how to 'distress' lecturers. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 35 (2), 173-189.

Guildford, W.H. (2001). Teaching peer review and the process of scientific writing. Advances in Physiology Education, 25 (3), 167-175.

Harding, B.A. (2005). "A simple mechanism to teach a complex practitioner knowledge set." Innovations in Engineering Education 2005 ; pp. 479-486. ASME.

Herrington, A. (1997). "Developing and responding to major writing projects ." In M.D. Sorcinelli & P. Elbow (Eds.), Writing to learn: Strategies for assigning and responding to writing across the disciplines , pp. 67-75. New directions for teaching the learning, No. 69 . San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Hilgers, T.L., Hussey, E.L., & Stitt-Bergh, M. (1999). "As you're writing, you have these epiphanies": What college students say about writing and learning in their majors. Written Communication, 16 (3), 317-353.

Howell, P.R. (2007). "Writing to specification: An approach to teaching scientific literacy, and a prelude to writing 'The World of Materials' essays." In J.E.E. Baglin (Ed.), Proceedings of the Symposium and Forum Education in Materials Science, Engineering and Technology ; pp. 247-289.

Kiefer, K., & Leff, A. (2008). "Client-based writing about science: Immersing science students in real writing contexts." Across the Disciplines , vol. 5 .

Kreth, M.L. (2005). A Small-Scale Client Project for Business Writing Students: Developing a Guide for First-Time Home Buyers. Business Communication Quarterly, 68 (1), 52-59.

LeBigot, L., & Rouet, J.F. (2007). The impact of presentation format, task assignment, and prior knowledge on students' comprehension of multiple online documents. Journal of Literacy Research, 39 (4), 445-470.

Leydens, J., & Santi, P. (2006). Optimizing faculty use of writing as a learning tool in geoscience education. Journal of Geoscience Education , 54 (4), 491-502.

Lillig, J.W. (2008). Writing across the semester: A non-standard term paper that encourages critical data analysis in the upper-division chemistry classroom. Journal of Chemical Education, 85 (10), 1392-1394.

Lord, S.M. (2009). Integrating effective "writing to communicate" experiences in engineering courses: Guidelines and examples. International Journal of Engineering Education, 25 (1), 196-204.

MacKinnon, J. (1993). "Becoming a rhetor: Developing writing ability in a mature, writing-intensive organization." In R. Spilka (Ed.), Writing in the Workplace: New Research Perspectives ; pp. 41-55. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP.

Martin, A.M. (2010). "Astronomy and writing: A first-year cosmology course for nonmajors." In J. Barnes, D.A. Smith, M.G. Gibbs, and J.G. Manning (Eds.), Science Education and Outreach: Forging a Path to the Future . Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series, Vol. 431; pp. 368-371. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

McDermott, M., & Kuhn, M. (2011). Using writing for alternative audiences in a college integrated science course. Journal of College Science Teaching, 41 (1), 40-45.

Mizrahi, J. (2003). Teaching technical writing to university students using the medical report. STC's 50 th Annual Conference Proceedings ; 190-193.

Moni, R.W., Hryciw, D.H., Poronnik, P., & Moni, K.B. (2007). Using explicit teaching to improve how bioscience students write to the lay public. Advances in Physiology Education, 31 (2), 167-75.

Motavalli, P.P., Patton, M.D., & Miles, R.J. (2007). Use of web-based student extension publications to improve undergraduate student writing skills. Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education, 36 : 95-102.

Mulnix, A.B. (2003). Investigations of Protein Structure and Function Using the Scientific Literature: An Assignment for an Undergraduate Cell Physiology Course. Cell Biology Education, 2 (4), 248-255.

Mulnix, J.W., & Mulnix, M.J. (2010). Using a writing portfolio project to teach critical thinking skills. Teaching Philosophy, 33 (1), 27-54.

Paretti, M.C. (2008). Teaching communication in capstone design: The role of the instructor in situated learning. Journal of Engineering Education, 97 (4), 491-503.

Planken, B., & Kreps, A.J. Raising Students' Awareness of the Implications of Multimodality for Content Design and Usability: The Web Site Project. Business Communication Quarterly, 69 (4), 421-425.

Powell, V. (2012). Revival of the Position Paper: Aligning Curricula and Professional Competencies. Communication Teacher, 26 (2), 96-103.

Schwartz, R.S., Lederman, N.G., & Crawford, B.A. (2004). Developing view of nature of science in an authentic context: An explicit approach to bridging the gap between nature of science and scientific inquiry. Science Education, 88 (4), 610-645.

Sin, S., Jones, A., & Petocz, P. (2007). Evaluating a method of integrating generic skills with accounting content based on a functional theory of meaning. Accounting and Finance, 47 (1), 143-163.

Sivey, J.D., & Lee, C.M. (2008). Using popular magazine articles to teach the art of writing for nontechnical audiences. Journal of Chemical Education, 85 (1), 55-58.

Spinuzzi, C. (2010). Secret sauce and snake oil: Writing monthly reports in a highly contingent environment. Written Communication, 27 (4), 363-409.

Stevens, B. (2005). The Car Accident: An Exercise in Persuasive Writing. Communication Teacher, 19 (2), 62-67.

Sulewski, R. (2003). Integrating communication and technical material int eh first-year engineering curriculum: The role of the laboratory. STC's 50 th Annual Conference Proceedings ; 176-178.

Wald, H.S., Davis, S.W., Reis, S.P., Monroe, A.D., & Borkan, J.M. (2009). Reflecting on reflections: Enhancement of medical education curriculum with structured field notes and guided feedback. Academic Medicine, 84 (7), 830-837.

Ward, M., Sr. (2009). Squaring the learning circle: Cross-classroom collaborations and the impact of audience on student outcomes in professional writing. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 23 (1), 61-82.

Zlatic, T.D., Nowak, D.M., & Sylvester, D. (2000). Integrating general and professional education through a study of herbal products: An intercollegiate collaboration. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 64 (1), 83-94.

Related Web Sites

WAC@NIU ( http://www.engl.niu.edu/wac/ ) has two useful items in their archives under "Ccomputer-intensive assignments" in the first Key Web Sites section of links:

• "checklist, a series of questions to help plan writing assignments"

(If the questions under rhetorical situation confuse you, call our Writing Center for a quick explanation.)

• "setting up a writing assignment"

Writing@CSU includes a much more detailed explanation of how and why to design writing assignments at http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/teaching/fys/assignmentwriting.cfm .

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Resources for Teachers: Creating Writing Assignments

This page contains four specific areas:

Creating Effective Assignments

Checking the assignment, sequencing writing assignments, selecting an effective writing assignment format.

Research has shown that the more detailed a writing assignment is, the better the student papers are in response to that assignment. Instructors can often help students write more effective papers by giving students written instructions about that assignment. Explicit descriptions of assignments on the syllabus or on an “assignment sheet” tend to produce the best results. These instructions might make explicit the process or steps necessary to complete the assignment. Assignment sheets should detail:

• the kind of writing expected
• the scope of acceptable subject matter
• the length requirements
• formatting requirements
• documentation format
• the amount and type of research expected (if any)
• the writer’s role
• deadlines for the first draft and its revision

Providing questions or needed data in the assignment helps students get started. For instance, some questions can suggest a mode of organization to the students. Other questions might suggest a procedure to follow. The questions posed should require that students assert a thesis.

The following areas should help you create effective writing assignments.

Examining your goals for the assignment

• How exactly does this assignment fit with the objectives of your course?
• Should this assignment relate only to the class and the texts for the class, or should it also relate to the world beyond the classroom?
• What do you want the students to learn or experience from this writing assignment?
• Should this assignment be an individual or a collaborative effort?
• What do you want students to show you in this assignment? To demonstrate mastery of concepts or texts? To demonstrate logical and critical thinking? To develop an original idea? To learn and demonstrate the procedures, practices, and tools of your field of study?

Defining the writing task

• Is the assignment sequenced so that students: (1) write a draft, (2) receive feedback (from you, fellow students, or staff members at the Writing and Communication Center), and (3) then revise it? Such a procedure has been proven to accomplish at least two goals: it improves the student’s writing and it discourages plagiarism.
• Does the assignment include so many sub-questions that students will be confused about the major issue they should examine? Can you give more guidance about what the paper’s main focus should be? Can you reduce the number of sub-questions?
• What is the purpose of the assignment (e.g., review knowledge already learned, find additional information, synthesize research, examine a new hypothesis)? Making the purpose(s) of the assignment explicit helps students write the kind of paper you want.
• What is the required form (e.g., expository essay, lab report, memo, business report)?
• What mode is required for the assignment (e.g., description, narration, analysis, persuasion, a combination of two or more of these)?

Defining the audience for the paper

• Can you define a hypothetical audience to help students determine which concepts to define and explain? When students write only to the instructor, they may assume that little, if anything, requires explanation. Defining the whole class as the intended audience will clarify this issue for students.
• What is the probable attitude of the intended readers toward the topic itself? Toward the student writer’s thesis? Toward the student writer?
• What is the probable educational and economic background of the intended readers?

Defining the writer’s role

• Can you make explicit what persona you wish the students to assume? For example, a very effective role for student writers is that of a “professional in training” who uses the assumptions, the perspective, and the conceptual tools of the discipline.

Defining your evaluative criteria

1. If possible, explain the relative weight in grading assigned to the quality of writing and the assignment’s content:

• depth of coverage
• organization
• critical thinking
• original thinking
• use of research
• logical demonstration
• appropriate mode of structure and analysis (e.g., comparison, argument)
• correct use of sources
• grammar and mechanics
• professional tone
• correct use of course-specific concepts and terms.

Here’s a checklist for writing assignments:

• Have you used explicit command words in your instructions (e.g., “compare and contrast” and “explain” are more explicit than “explore” or “consider”)? The more explicit the command words, the better chance the students will write the type of paper you wish.
• Does the assignment suggest a topic, thesis, and format? Should it?
• Have you told students the kind of audience they are addressing — the level of knowledge they can assume the readers have and your particular preferences (e.g., “avoid slang, use the first-person sparingly”)?
• If the assignment has several stages of completion, have you made the various deadlines clear? Is your policy on due dates clear?
• Have you presented the assignment in a manageable form? For instance, a 5-page assignment sheet for a 1-page paper may overwhelm students. Similarly, a 1-sentence assignment for a 25-page paper may offer insufficient guidance.

There are several benefits of sequencing writing assignments:

• Sequencing provides a sense of coherence for the course.
• This approach helps students see progress and purpose in their work rather than seeing the writing assignments as separate exercises.
• It encourages complexity through sustained attention, revision, and consideration of multiple perspectives.
• If you have only one large paper due near the end of the course, you might create a sequence of smaller assignments leading up to and providing a foundation for that larger paper (e.g., proposal of the topic, an annotated bibliography, a progress report, a summary of the paper’s key argument, a first draft of the paper itself). This approach allows you to give students guidance and also discourages plagiarism.
• It mirrors the approach to written work in many professions.

The concept of sequencing writing assignments also allows for a wide range of options in creating the assignment. It is often beneficial to have students submit the components suggested below to your course’s STELLAR web site.

Use the writing process itself. In its simplest form, “sequencing an assignment” can mean establishing some sort of “official” check of the prewriting and drafting steps in the writing process. This step guarantees that students will not write the whole paper in one sitting and also gives students more time to let their ideas develop. This check might be something as informal as having students work on their prewriting or draft for a few minutes at the end of class. Or it might be something more formal such as collecting the prewriting and giving a few suggestions and comments.

Have students submit drafts. You might ask students to submit a first draft in order to receive your quick responses to its content, or have them submit written questions about the content and scope of their projects after they have completed their first draft.

Establish small groups. Set up small writing groups of three-five students from the class. Allow them to meet for a few minutes in class or have them arrange a meeting outside of class to comment constructively on each other’s drafts. The students do not need to be writing on the same topic.

Require consultations. Have students consult with someone in the Writing and Communication Center about their prewriting and/or drafts. The Center has yellow forms that we can give to students to inform you that such a visit was made.

Explore a subject in increasingly complex ways. A series of reading and writing assignments may be linked by the same subject matter or topic. Students encounter new perspectives and competing ideas with each new reading, and thus must evaluate and balance various views and adopt a position that considers the various points of view.

Change modes of discourse. In this approach, students’ assignments move from less complex to more complex modes of discourse (e.g., from expressive to analytic to argumentative; or from lab report to position paper to research article).

Change audiences. In this approach, students create drafts for different audiences, moving from personal to public (e.g., from self-reflection to an audience of peers to an audience of specialists). Each change would require different tasks and more extensive knowledge.

Change perspective through time. In this approach, students might write a statement of their understanding of a subject or issue at the beginning of a course and then return at the end of the semester to write an analysis of that original stance in the light of the experiences and knowledge gained in the course.

Use a natural sequence. A different approach to sequencing is to create a series of assignments culminating in a final writing project. In scientific and technical writing, for example, students could write a proposal requesting approval of a particular topic. The next assignment might be a progress report (or a series of progress reports), and the final assignment could be the report or document itself. For humanities and social science courses, students might write a proposal requesting approval of a particular topic, then hand in an annotated bibliography, and then a draft, and then the final version of the paper.

Have students submit sections. A variation of the previous approach is to have students submit various sections of their final document throughout the semester (e.g., their bibliography, review of the literature, methods section).

In addition to the standard essay and report formats, several other formats exist that might give students a different slant on the course material or allow them to use slightly different writing skills. Here are some suggestions:

Journals. Journals have become a popular format in recent years for courses that require some writing. In-class journal entries can spark discussions and reveal gaps in students’ understanding of the material. Having students write an in-class entry summarizing the material covered that day can aid the learning process and also reveal concepts that require more elaboration. Out-of-class entries involve short summaries or analyses of texts, or are a testing ground for ideas for student papers and reports. Although journals may seem to add a huge burden for instructors to correct, in fact many instructors either spot-check journals (looking at a few particular key entries) or grade them based on the number of entries completed. Journals are usually not graded for their prose style. STELLAR forums work well for out-of-class entries.

Letters. Students can define and defend a position on an issue in a letter written to someone in authority. They can also explain a concept or a process to someone in need of that particular information. They can write a letter to a friend explaining their concerns about an upcoming paper assignment or explaining their ideas for an upcoming paper assignment. If you wish to add a creative element to the writing assignment, you might have students adopt the persona of an important person discussed in your course (e.g., an historical figure) and write a letter explaining his/her actions, process, or theory to an interested person (e.g., “pretend that you are John Wilkes Booth and write a letter to the Congress justifying your assassination of Abraham Lincoln,” or “pretend you are Henry VIII writing to Thomas More explaining your break from the Catholic Church”).

Editorials . Students can define and defend a position on a controversial issue in the format of an editorial for the campus or local newspaper or for a national journal.

Cases . Students might create a case study particular to the course’s subject matter.

Position Papers . Students can define and defend a position, perhaps as a preliminary step in the creation of a formal research paper or essay.

Imitation of a Text . Students can create a new document “in the style of” a particular writer (e.g., “Create a government document the way Woody Allen might write it” or “Write your own ‘Modest Proposal’ about a modern issue”).

Instruction Manuals . Students write a step-by-step explanation of a process.

Dialogues . Students create a dialogue between two major figures studied in which they not only reveal those people’s theories or thoughts but also explore areas of possible disagreement (e.g., “Write a dialogue between Claude Monet and Jackson Pollock about the nature and uses of art”).

Collaborative projects . Students work together to create such works as reports, questions, and critiques.

NCI LIBRARY

Academic writing skills guide: structuring your assignment.

• Key Features of Academic Writing
• The Writing Process
• Understanding Assignments
• Brainstorming Techniques
• Planning Your Assignments
• Thesis Statements
• Writing Drafts
• Structuring Your Assignment
• How to Deal With Writer's Block
• Using Paragraphs
• Conclusions
• Introductions
• Revising & Editing
• Proofreading
• Grammar & Punctuation
• Reporting Verbs
• Signposting, Transitions & Linking Words/Phrases
• Using Lecturers' Feedback

Keep referring back to the question and assignment brief and make sure that your structure matches what you have been asked to do and check to see if you have appropriate and sufficient evidence to support all of your points. Plans can be structured/restructured at any time during the writing process.

Once you have decided on your key point(s), draw a line through any points that no longer seem to fit. This will mean you are eliminating some ideas and potentially letting go of one or two points that you wanted to make. However, this process is all about improving the relevance and coherence of your writing. Writing involves making choices, including the tough choice to sideline ideas that, however promising, do not fit into your main discussion.

Eventually, you will have a structure that is detailed enough for you to start writing. You will know which ideas go into each section and, ideally, each paragraph and in what order. You will also know which evidence for those ideas from your notes you will be using for each section and paragraph.

Once you have a map/framework of the proposed structure, this forms the skeleton of your assignment and if you have invested enough time and effort into researching and brainstorming your ideas beforehand, it should make it easier to flesh it out. Ultimately, you are aiming for a final draft where you can sum up each paragraph in a couple of words as each paragraph focuses on one main point or idea.

Communications from the Library:  Please note all communications from the library, concerning renewal of books, overdue books and reservations will be sent to your NCI student email account.

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Teaching, Learning, & Professional Development Center

• Teaching Resources
• TLPDC Teaching Resources

How Do I Create Meaningful and Effective Assignments?

Prepared by allison boye, ph.d. teaching, learning, and professional development center.

Assessment is a necessary part of the teaching and learning process, helping us measure whether our students have really learned what we want them to learn. While exams and quizzes are certainly favorite and useful methods of assessment, out of class assignments (written or otherwise) can offer similar insights into our students' learning.  And just as creating a reliable test takes thoughtfulness and skill, so does creating meaningful and effective assignments. Undoubtedly, many instructors have been on the receiving end of disappointing student work, left wondering what went wrong… and often, those problems can be remedied in the future by some simple fine-tuning of the original assignment.  This paper will take a look at some important elements to consider when developing assignments, and offer some easy approaches to creating a valuable assessment experience for all involved.

First Things First…

Before assigning any major tasks to students, it is imperative that you first define a few things for yourself as the instructor:

• Your goals for the assignment . Why are you assigning this project, and what do you hope your students will gain from completing it? What knowledge, skills, and abilities do you aim to measure with this assignment?  Creating assignments is a major part of overall course design, and every project you assign should clearly align with your goals for the course in general.  For instance, if you want your students to demonstrate critical thinking, perhaps asking them to simply summarize an article is not the best match for that goal; a more appropriate option might be to ask for an analysis of a controversial issue in the discipline. Ultimately, the connection between the assignment and its purpose should be clear to both you and your students to ensure that it is fulfilling the desired goals and doesn't seem like “busy work.” For some ideas about what kinds of assignments match certain learning goals, take a look at this page from DePaul University's Teaching Commons.
• Have they experienced “socialization” in the culture of your discipline (Flaxman, 2005)? Are they familiar with any conventions you might want them to know? In other words, do they know the “language” of your discipline, generally accepted style guidelines, or research protocols?
• Do they know how to conduct research?  Do they know the proper style format, documentation style, acceptable resources, etc.? Do they know how to use the library (Fitzpatrick, 1989) or evaluate resources?
• What kinds of writing or work have they previously engaged in?  For instance, have they completed long, formal writing assignments or research projects before? Have they ever engaged in analysis, reflection, or argumentation? Have they completed group assignments before?  Do they know how to write a literature review or scientific report?

In his book Engaging Ideas (1996), John Bean provides a great list of questions to help instructors focus on their main teaching goals when creating an assignment (p.78):

1. What are the main units/modules in my course?

2. What are my main learning objectives for each module and for the course?

3. What thinking skills am I trying to develop within each unit and throughout the course?

4. What are the most difficult aspects of my course for students?

5. If I could change my students' study habits, what would I most like to change?

6. What difference do I want my course to make in my students' lives?

What your students need to know

Once you have determined your own goals for the assignment and the levels of your students, you can begin creating your assignment.  However, when introducing your assignment to your students, there are several things you will need to clearly outline for them in order to ensure the most successful assignments possible.

• First, you will need to articulate the purpose of the assignment . Even though you know why the assignment is important and what it is meant to accomplish, you cannot assume that your students will intuit that purpose. Your students will appreciate an understanding of how the assignment fits into the larger goals of the course and what they will learn from the process (Hass & Osborn, 2007). Being transparent with your students and explaining why you are asking them to complete a given assignment can ultimately help motivate them to complete the assignment more thoughtfully.
• If you are asking your students to complete a writing assignment, you should define for them the “rhetorical or cognitive mode/s” you want them to employ in their writing (Flaxman, 2005). In other words, use precise verbs that communicate whether you are asking them to analyze, argue, describe, inform, etc.  (Verbs like “explore” or “comment on” can be too vague and cause confusion.) Provide them with a specific task to complete, such as a problem to solve, a question to answer, or an argument to support.  For those who want assignments to lead to top-down, thesis-driven writing, John Bean (1996) suggests presenting a proposition that students must defend or refute, or a problem that demands a thesis answer.
• It is also a good idea to define the audience you want your students to address with their assignment, if possible – especially with writing assignments.  Otherwise, students will address only the instructor, often assuming little requires explanation or development (Hedengren, 2004; MIT, 1999). Further, asking students to address the instructor, who typically knows more about the topic than the student, places the student in an unnatural rhetorical position.  Instead, you might consider asking your students to prepare their assignments for alternative audiences such as other students who missed last week's classes, a group that opposes their position, or people reading a popular magazine or newspaper.  In fact, a study by Bean (1996) indicated the students often appreciate and enjoy assignments that vary elements such as audience or rhetorical context, so don't be afraid to get creative!
• Obviously, you will also need to articulate clearly the logistics or “business aspects” of the assignment . In other words, be explicit with your students about required elements such as the format, length, documentation style, writing style (formal or informal?), and deadlines.  One caveat, however: do not allow the logistics of the paper take precedence over the content in your assignment description; if you spend all of your time describing these things, students might suspect that is all you care about in their execution of the assignment.
• Finally, you should clarify your evaluation criteria for the assignment. What elements of content are most important? Will you grade holistically or weight features separately? How much weight will be given to individual elements, etc?  Another precaution to take when defining requirements for your students is to take care that your instructions and rubric also do not overshadow the content; prescribing too rigidly each element of an assignment can limit students' freedom to explore and discover. According to Beth Finch Hedengren, “A good assignment provides the purpose and guidelines… without dictating exactly what to say” (2004, p. 27).  If you decide to utilize a grading rubric, be sure to provide that to the students along with the assignment description, prior to their completion of the assignment.

A great way to get students engaged with an assignment and build buy-in is to encourage their collaboration on its design and/or on the grading criteria (Hudd, 2003). In his article “Conducting Writing Assignments,” Richard Leahy (2002) offers a few ideas for building in said collaboration:

• Ask the students to develop the grading scale themselves from scratch, starting with choosing the categories.

• Set the grading categories yourself, but ask the students to help write the descriptions.

• Draft the complete grading scale yourself, then give it to your students for review and suggestions.

A Few Do's and Don'ts…

Determining your goals for the assignment and its essential logistics is a good start to creating an effective assignment. However, there are a few more simple factors to consider in your final design. First, here are a few things you should do :

• Do provide detail in your assignment description . Research has shown that students frequently prefer some guiding constraints when completing assignments (Bean, 1996), and that more detail (within reason) can lead to more successful student responses.  One idea is to provide students with physical assignment handouts , in addition to or instead of a simple description in a syllabus.  This can meet the needs of concrete learners and give them something tangible to refer to.  Likewise, it is often beneficial to make explicit for students the process or steps necessary to complete an assignment, given that students – especially younger ones – might need guidance in planning and time management (MIT, 1999).
• Do use open-ended questions.  The most effective and challenging assignments focus on questions that lead students to thinking and explaining, rather than simple yes or no answers, whether explicitly part of the assignment description or in the  brainstorming heuristics (Gardner, 2005).
• Do direct students to appropriate available resources . Giving students pointers about other venues for assistance can help them get started on the right track independently. These kinds of suggestions might include information about campus resources such as the University Writing Center or discipline-specific librarians, suggesting specific journals or books, or even sections of their textbook, or providing them with lists of research ideas or links to acceptable websites.
• Do consider providing models – both successful and unsuccessful models (Miller, 2007). These models could be provided by past students, or models you have created yourself.  You could even ask students to evaluate the models themselves using the determined evaluation criteria, helping them to visualize the final product, think critically about how to complete the assignment, and ideally, recognize success in their own work.
• Do consider including a way for students to make the assignment their own. In their study, Hass and Osborn (2007) confirmed the importance of personal engagement for students when completing an assignment.  Indeed, students will be more engaged in an assignment if it is personally meaningful, practical, or purposeful beyond the classroom.  You might think of ways to encourage students to tap into their own experiences or curiosities, to solve or explore a real problem, or connect to the larger community.  Offering variety in assignment selection can also help students feel more individualized, creative, and in control.
• If your assignment is substantial or long, do consider sequencing it. Far too often, assignments are given as one-shot final products that receive grades at the end of the semester, eternally abandoned by the student.  By sequencing a large assignment, or essentially breaking it down into a systematic approach consisting of interconnected smaller elements (such as a project proposal, an annotated bibliography, or a rough draft, or a series of mini-assignments related to the longer assignment), you can encourage thoughtfulness, complexity, and thoroughness in your students, as well as emphasize process over final product.

Next are a few elements to avoid in your assignments:

• Do not ask too many questions in your assignment.  In an effort to challenge students, instructors often err in the other direction, asking more questions than students can reasonably address in a single assignment without losing focus. Offering an overly specific “checklist” prompt often leads to externally organized papers, in which inexperienced students “slavishly follow the checklist instead of integrating their ideas into more organically-discovered structure” (Flaxman, 2005).
• Do not expect or suggest that there is an “ideal” response to the assignment. A common error for instructors is to dictate content of an assignment too rigidly, or to imply that there is a single correct response or a specific conclusion to reach, either explicitly or implicitly (Flaxman, 2005). Undoubtedly, students do not appreciate feeling as if they must read an instructor's mind to complete an assignment successfully, or that their own ideas have nowhere to go, and can lose motivation as a result. Similarly, avoid assignments that simply ask for regurgitation (Miller, 2007). Again, the best assignments invite students to engage in critical thinking, not just reproduce lectures or readings.
• Do not provide vague or confusing commands . Do students know what you mean when they are asked to “examine” or “discuss” a topic? Return to what you determined about your students' experiences and levels to help you decide what directions will make the most sense to them and what will require more explanation or guidance, and avoid verbiage that might confound them.
• Do not impose impossible time restraints or require the use of insufficient resources for completion of the assignment.  For instance, if you are asking all of your students to use the same resource, ensure that there are enough copies available for all students to access – or at least put one copy on reserve in the library. Likewise, make sure that you are providing your students with ample time to locate resources and effectively complete the assignment (Fitzpatrick, 1989).

The assignments we give to students don't simply have to be research papers or reports. There are many options for effective yet creative ways to assess your students' learning! Here are just a few:

Journals, Posters, Portfolios, Letters, Brochures, Management plans, Editorials, Instruction Manuals, Imitations of a text, Case studies, Debates, News release, Dialogues, Videos, Collages, Plays, Power Point presentations

Ultimately, the success of student responses to an assignment often rests on the instructor's deliberate design of the assignment. By being purposeful and thoughtful from the beginning, you can ensure that your assignments will not only serve as effective assessment methods, but also engage and delight your students. If you would like further help in constructing or revising an assignment, the Teaching, Learning, and Professional Development Center is glad to offer individual consultations. In addition, look into some of the resources provided below.

Online Resources

“Creating Effective Assignments” http://www.unh.edu/teaching-excellence/resources/Assignments.htm This site, from the University of New Hampshire's Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning,  provides a brief overview of effective assignment design, with a focus on determining and communicating goals and expectations.

Gardner, T.  (2005, June 12). Ten Tips for Designing Writing Assignments. Traci's Lists of Ten. http://www.tengrrl.com/tens/034.shtml This is a brief yet useful list of tips for assignment design, prepared by a writing teacher and curriculum developer for the National Council of Teachers of English .  The website will also link you to several other lists of “ten tips” related to literacy pedagogy.

“How to Create Effective Assignments for College Students.”  http:// tilt.colostate.edu/retreat/2011/zimmerman.pdf     This PDF is a simplified bulleted list, prepared by Dr. Toni Zimmerman from Colorado State University, offering some helpful ideas for coming up with creative assignments.

“Learner-Centered Assessment” http://cte.uwaterloo.ca/teaching_resources/tips/learner_centered_assessment.html From the Centre for Teaching Excellence at the University of Waterloo, this is a short list of suggestions for the process of designing an assessment with your students' interests in mind. “Matching Learning Goals to Assignment Types.” http://teachingcommons.depaul.edu/How_to/design_assignments/assignments_learning_goals.html This is a great page from DePaul University's Teaching Commons, providing a chart that helps instructors match assignments with learning goals.

Additional References Bean, J.C. (1996). Engaging ideas: The professor's guide to integrating writing, critical thinking, and active learning in the classroom . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Fitzpatrick, R. (1989). Research and writing assignments that reduce fear lead to better papers and more confident students. Writing Across the Curriculum , 3.2, pp. 15 – 24.

Flaxman, R. (2005). Creating meaningful writing assignments. The Teaching Exchange .  Retrieved Jan. 9, 2008 from http://www.brown.edu/Administration/Sheridan_Center/pubs/teachingExchange/jan2005/01_flaxman.pdf

Hass, M. & Osborn, J. (2007, August 13). An emic view of student writing and the writing process. Across the Disciplines, 4. 

Hedengren, B.F. (2004). A TA's guide to teaching writing in all disciplines . Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.

Hudd, S. S. (2003, April). Syllabus under construction: Involving students in the creation of class assignments.  Teaching Sociology , 31, pp. 195 – 202.

Leahy, R. (2002). Conducting writing assignments. College Teaching , 50.2, pp. 50 – 54.

Miller, H. (2007). Designing effective writing assignments.  Teaching with writing .  University of Minnesota Center for Writing. Retrieved Jan. 9, 2008, from http://writing.umn.edu/tww/assignments/designing.html

MIT Online Writing and Communication Center (1999). Creating Writing Assignments. Retrieved January 9, 2008 from http://web.mit.edu/writing/Faculty/createeffective.html .

Contact TTU

A Summary and Analysis of George Orwell’s ‘Why I Write’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Why I Write’ is an essay by George Orwell, published in 1946 after the publication of his novella Animal Farm and before he wrote his final novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four . The essay is an insightful piece of memoir about Orwell’s early years and how he developed as a writer, from harbouring ambitions to write self-consciously literary works to developing, in the 1930s, into the author of sharp political commentary in both fiction and non-fiction.

You can read ‘Why I Write’ here before proceeding to our summary and analysis of Orwell’s essay below.

‘Why I Write’: summary

Orwell begins by observing that he knew he should be a writer from a very young age. Although in early adulthood he tried to ‘abandon’ the idea, he knew it was his true calling and that he would eventually ‘settle down and write books’.

He tells us that he was a lonely child who would make up stories and hold conversations with imaginary people, and that his own desire to write is linked to this childhood loneliness. During the First World War, when Orwell was still a child, he had two poems published in the local newspaper, and that was the beginning of his publishing career.

In his youth, he continued to think like a writer, making up a ‘continuous “story” about myself’, but never writing it down. When he was in his twenties, he had ambitions of writing ‘enormous naturalistic novels with unhappy endings, full of detailed descriptions and arresting similes, and also full of purple passages in which words were used partly for the sake of their sound’. Orwell calls his first novel, Burmese Days (1934), this kind of book.

Orwell then outlines what he sees as four chief motives for anyone becoming a writer: 1) egoism; 2) aesthetic enthusiasm; 3) historical impulse; and 4) political purpose.

Egoism is the desire to be thought clever, be talked about when alive, and remembered after death. Aesthetic enthusiasm is the perception of beauty in the world around the writer, as well as the beauty of language. The historical impulse is a desire to see things as they are and present the facts to readers. Political purpose is the urge to change people’s views of the kind of society they want to live in.

This last one is a matter of degree, because Orwell argues that every writer adopts some kind of political position: ‘Once again, no book is genuinely free from political bias. The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.’

Perhaps surprisingly given he is principally known for ‘political’ writing, Orwell confides that by nature he is someone for whom the first three motives would usually outweigh the fourth. But when the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, Orwell knew where he stood. As he famously declares: ‘Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism, as I understand it.’

Orwell concludes ‘Why I Write’ by stating that in the decade since 1936 he has tried to turn political writing ‘into an art’. Although he acknowledges that his impulse has not been entirely public-spirited but just as egoistic and ‘vain’ as it is in most writers, he knows that ‘one can write nothing readable unless one constantly struggles to efface one’s own personality.’ The political scene has helped Orwell to sharpen his own writing.

‘Why I Write’: analysis

Orwell’s essay is of interest as a piece of autobiography, but Orwell extrapolates from his own personal background and literary trajectory to make more universal statements about good writing, and the reasons why all writers choose to write for a living (if they’re indeed lucky enough to do it for a living: in his ‘ Confessions of a Book Reviewer ’, also from 1946, he brilliantly outlines the absurd and stressful existence of struggling writers surviving on hackwork for newspapers and magazines, just to pay that month’s rent).

One of the key insights in ‘Why I Write’ is the link Orwell makes between his own efforts to become a successful writer and the broader political scene in Europe (and beyond) at the time. The Spanish Civil War, and the rise of Nazism, fascism, and Stalinism, all gave him a clear sense of what he should write about. As he puts it, all of his serious work written since has been ‘ against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism’.

We find this even in an essay like ‘ Politics vs. Literature: An Examination of Gulliver’s Travels ’ (which, along with his analysis of Dickens’s art, shows what a fine and sensitive literary critic Orwell was), another 1946 essay, in which Orwell argues that in Book IV of Gulliver’s Travels , Jonathan Swift depicts what we would now call a totalitarian society. But because Gulliver (and, presumably, by extension, Swift himself) approves of the Houyhnhnms’ society, Swift admires the idea of a totalitarian state in which dissident opinion is unacceptable.

The point is that when he lacked a clear motivation for writing fiction, he churned out ‘lifeless’ work (much of which, such as his novel A Clergyman’s Daughter , a kind of Joycean work in many ways, he later disowned, calling it ‘tripe’).

But once he realised what his subject-matter should be, this new-found ‘political purpose’ sharpened his prose. In a sense, the fourth of Orwell’s listed motives brought the other three into a new perspective. His clearest and most detailed account of what constitutes good political writing is his essay ‘ Politics and the English Language ’ (also from 1946), which we have analysed here .

In 1976, Joan Didion wrote her own essay called ‘ Why I Write ’, in which she acknowledged that she had taken her title from George Orwell. She also drew attention to the triple-assonance in Orwell’s title, the long I sounds of ‘Why I Write’.

Even Orwell’s title is itself an example of the clear-minded simplicity which he identifies as the chief feature of good writing at the end of ‘Why I Write’: ‘Good prose is like a window pane.’ But as so often with Orwell’s work, he is not just writing about himself, but drawing attention to far more widespread truths about what motivates an author to devote their lives to writing.

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Why Should You Use Writing Assignments in Your Teaching?

Brad hughes, director, writing across the curriculum, university of wisconsin-madison.

Why should you use writing assignments in your teaching? That’s an important question. Even though this is a Writing Across the Curriculum website, designed to encourage faculty to incorporate writing into their teaching, let’s be honest—there are many reasons why you might not want to assign writing in your courses. And many of those reasons have to do with limits on your time. Designing writing assignments and responding to student writing take valuable time—lots of time if you do them carefully. The larger the enrollment is in your classes, the more time responding to student papers takes. You have lots of important course content to cover, so you have limited time for building in a sequence of writing assignments and some instruction around those assignments. . . .

You also need to remember that writing assignments  take substantial time for your students to do well. And not all of your students are well prepared to succeed with the writing you assign. This list could go on; the challenges can be formidable.

Yet countless faculty—in every discipline across the university—make writing an integral part of their teaching and reap benefits from doing so. Why? Here are some of the many reasons writing is an especially effective means for students to learn.

• Writing deepens thinking and increases students’ engagement with course material.
• Well-designed writing assignments prompt students to think more deeply about what they’re learning. Writing a book review, for example, forces students to read more thoroughly and critically. As an old saying goes, “How do I know what I think until I hear what I say or see what I’ve written?”
• In fact, research done by Richard Light at Harvard confirms that “students relate writing to intensity of courses. The relationship between the amount of writing for a course and students’ level of engagement—whether engagement is measured by time spent on the course, or the intellectual challenge it presents, or students’ self-reported level of interest in it—is stronger than any relationship we found between student engagement and any other course characteristic” ( The Harvard Assessment Seminars , Second Report, 1992, 25).
• Research done by the Association of American Colleges and Universities demonstrates that writing-intensive courses are a high-impact practice in undergraduate education (George D. Kuh, High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter , 2008).
• Research done by Michele Eodice, Anne Ellen Geller, and Neal Lerner ( The Meaningful Writing Project , 2017) demonstrates that certain writing projects can be especially meaningful parts of undergraduate education.
• Writing can improve our relationship with our students. When students write papers, we get to know them and their thinking better; they’re more likely to talk with us after class, or come to our office hours to share a draft or seek advice.
• Writing gives us a window into our students’ thinking and learning. Through our students’ writing, we can take pleasure in discovering that students see things in course readings or discussion we didn’t see; students make connections we ourselves hadn’t made. And through our students’ writing, we also discover what confuses our students. Admittedly, we’re not always eager to discover the gaps in our students’ knowledge or understanding, but it’s our job to expand that knowledge and improve students’ thinking.
• Writing assignments can improve our classroom discussions. By helping students keep up with readings, regular writing assignments can prepare students to participate in discussion.
• Writing assignments provide us with an opportunity to teach students to organize ideas, develop points logically, make explicit connections, elaborate ideas, argue points, and situate an argument in the context of previous research-all skills valued in higher education.
• Students remember what they write about-because writing slows thinking down and requires careful, sustained analysis of a subject. No matter how many years it’s been, most of us can remember some paper we wrote as undergraduates, the writing of which deepened our knowledge of a particular subject.
• Students and professors remember what they’ve written, in part, because writing individualizes learning. When a student becomes really engaged with a writing assignment, she has to make countless choices particular to her paper: how to focus the topic, what to read, what to make the central argument, how to organize ideas, how to marshal evidence, which general points to make, how to develop and support general ideas with particulars, how to introduce the topic, what to include and what to omit, which style and tone to adopt. . . .
• Finally, though it’s much more than this, writing is a skill—a skill that atrophies when it isn’t practiced regularly. Because learning to write well is difficult and because it requires sustained and repeated practice, we need to ensure our undergraduates write regularly, throughout the curriculum, in all majors. It’s the responsibility of all of us to ensure that students learn to think and write clearly and deeply.

Teaching Writing in First-Year Seminars

As you anticipate teaching a first-year seminar—or any other course in which writing plays a significant role—how do you approach teaching writing? Do you remember your experience as a student writer, sweating over assignments, staying up all night wondering what your instructors wanted, and never quite determining "the point"? Perhaps you are fortunate enough to remember positive writing experiences, and you might even look forward to teaching writing in your own classes, but you wonder how to teach something that is apparently an inherent talent. If you've had an opportunity to assign writing in previous courses, you might be frustrated with the work you've received and you may have resigned yourself to more of the same.

This guide is designed to help you and your students enjoy the benefits of writing instruction and to feel more positive about the writing students produce. The guide promotes a definition of academic writing that involves both instructor and students in a process that begins with formulation of course goals and preparation of related assignments and continues far beyond the last day of class. Sections within this guide address the following frequently asked questions:

• How do I integrate writing into my course?
• How do I write an effective assignment?
• How will I evaluate students' completed writing?
• How do I assign research?
• What is peer review and how do I use it?
• How do I respond to student writing?
• Citation Information

How Do I Integrate Writing Into My Course?

Frustration with academic writing often stems from our understanding of what writing involves. Students tend to view academic writing as a grueling but necessary task performed for a grade and disconnected from the rest of their lives. As instructors we might lament the quality of student writing while approaching our own writing with the same distaste our students experience. This is generally because we share, at least to some degree, our students' definition of academic writing.

In contrast to a view of academic writing as an isolated task performed to satisfy the arbitrary demands of a single authority, this site promotes writing as an interactive and ongoing activity that engages a writer and an audience for a clear and significant purpose that helps determine the writer's focus. Purpose, audience, and focus are key elements of the rhetorical context for any piece of writing.

The following sections offer a discussion of rhetorical context as a foundation for making students' writing matter, connecting writing to course content, and reconciling academic and "real world" writing.

Rhetorical Context

Rhetorical context refers to the circumstances surrounding any writing situation and includes purpose , audience , and focus .

Think of a particularly troublesome writing assignment you've faced. You might have had trouble even knowing how to begin. Similarly, you may have heard students complain that they "don't know what to write." Such struggles frequently arise because the writer has not identified the assignment's rhetorical context. One of our jobs as instructors is to provide students with information that will help them identify an assignment's rhetorical context.

The following sections will give you a better understanding of rhetorical context and help you to incorporate that understanding into your writing instruction.

Purpose refers to why a piece of writing is being written. Paradoxically, if your students' sole purpose in completing a writing assignment is to receive a high grade by impressing you as an instructor, you will probably be disappointed in the work they turn in. More earnest students might accept the vague notion that engaging in writing will "be helpful later on," but general academic growth as a purpose does little to provide direction for a particular assignment. Students who write to gain a better grasp of class content, to further explore issues raised in class, to respond to class readings, or to add their voices to a debate surrounding a specific subject will find the writing process more satisfying and will likely produce writing that reflects their engagement. As instructors, we can structure classroom discussions and assignments to encourage such purposes for writing. It's important that we ask ourselves the purpose for any writing assignment and articulate that purpose to our students, both in class and in the assignment description.

Audience , the for whom of any piece of writing, is closely connected to purpose. Consciously or unconsciously, writers use their knowledge of audience in determining purpose. Much academic writing is tailored to an audience of one—the instructor. Do you remember justifying a low grade on a paper by claiming you "didn't know what the instructor was looking for?" The reality is that the instructor is an important member of the audience for student writing. But when we can expand the audience to include classmates, other members of the academic community, Internet readers, and other real or imagined members of the community at large, we add significance to our students' writing—a purpose that extends beyond the exchange of a paper for a grade. Investing our students with a meaningful purpose for an interested audience will help them, in turn, to establish focus .

Focus refers to what is being written about. It involves choosing and maintaining an appropriate topic and degree of detail for a particular purpose and audience. Lack of focus is a common complaint of instructors regarding student writing. If you have assigned writing in the past, you have probably encountered papers that stray from one idea to another without focusing on a single issue or claim. To help students establish focus, consider using an illustration from photography: In focusing a camera, the idea is to obtain a picture of something in particular, with sharp details and perhaps a little background or context. You might encourage students to imagine representing their writing in a photograph—or summarizing it in a single sentence. Remind them that since problems with focus often originate during the planning stage, they might begin the writing process by outlining or taking notes.

A caveat here is that many students entering college are quite familiar with the five-paragraph essay and will interpret focus as an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Emphasize to students that focus should be informed by purpose and audience and is not achieved through a formula. Remember that our purpose as instructors is to foster better writers, not to produce better papers or students who are proficient at reproducing only certain kinds of texts.

Even as students begin to consider purpose and audience, there's no guarantee they'll immediately achieve focused writing. In fact, they may initially lose focus as they depart from familiar blueprints. The suggestions in Making Rhetorical Context Work for You will help you help students through this process.

Making Rhetorical Context Work for You

See below for advice, activities, and writing samples designed to help you and your students understand and effectively navigate rhetorical context.

Introducing Students to Rhetorical Context

The following activities are designed to help students better understand purpose, audience, and focus and to prepare them to address rhetorical context in their writing.

• Introduction to Rhetorical Context
• Identifying Purpose and Audience
• Evaluating Focus

Identifying Your Rhetorical Context As an Assignment Writer

As instructors, we engage in the writing process each time we prepare an assignment sheet for our students. The more effectively we communicate a writing assignment's rhetorical context to our students, the more satisfied we and our students will be with the writing process and the texts produced. This begins with our understanding of the rhetorical context for the assignment sheets we prepare.

A more detailed discussion of assignment writing appears under How Do I Write an Effective Assignment? . In this section, we briefly consider purpose, audience, and focus for assignment writing.

Purpose in Assignment Writing

Perhaps the most important question we can ask ourselves as assignment writers is Why am I administering this assignment? We often overlook the fact that identifying our goals before preparing an assignment sheet will help us to create an assignment that is suited to those goals. Experienced composition instructors recommend starting with a list of goals—a detailed purpose statement—and working backward to design an assignment. For example, if my goal is to enhance students' understanding of a particular reading, I will specify that reading in my assignment sheet. I will probably discourage the use of outside sources and will indicate that students are to focus on the reading's content rather than the quality of writing and on summarizing rather than responding to ideas. It's important not only to determine an assignment's purpose as an instructor, but to communicate the purpose to students in the assignment sheet and in classroom discussion.

Audience in Assignment Writing

Since our students are the audience for any assignment sheet we create, it's important that we consider everything we know about them as we write the assignment. What is their collective exposure to the skills and ideas they will be practicing and exploring in this assignment? What information do they need in order to complete the assignment? What are their concerns as a class? What are their backgrounds and how might those backgrounds affect their understanding of and response to the assignment? Factors such as age, race, gender, religious belief, and economic background can have a significant impact on students' response to an assignment. Putting ourselves in the position of our students will help us to frame assignments more effectively.

Focus in Assignment Writing

Even if we've communicated an assignment's purpose to our students, they'll most likely assess the focus of our assignment sheets in determining what and how to write. If, for example, I explain that an assignment's purpose is to engage students in a debate about a subject but focus on citation formats in my assignment sheet, I am likely to receive more research papers than argument essays. Similarly, if I focus on format issues such as margins, font size, and word count, my students will probably focus as much attention on these issues as they do on the content of their writing. As with any kind of writing, the focus of an assignment sheet should reflect the purpose of the assignment.

Establishing Rhetorical Context Within Assignments

Having discussed rhetorical context in class, you may want to organize assignment sheets in terms of purpose, audience, and focus. This will reinforce rhetorical concepts discussed in class and will assist students in moving from those abstract concepts to concrete application. Students will be more likely to shape their writing according to purpose, audience, and focus than to start with a form (like the five-paragraph essay) and fill it with a set number of words or pages.

The following sample assignment demonstrates how an assignment sheet can be arranged in terms of purpose, audience, and focus.

• Sample Assignment: Establishing Rhetorical Context

Making Students' Writing Matter

Students are busy people. Many are trying to balance a full course load, extracurricular activities, an on- or off-campus job, and relationships with family and friends. Competing responsibilities require them to prioritize, and students are not likely to invest much time or energy in something for which they see little long-term significance. Our challenge as instructors is to make students' writing matter. When the rhetorical context of a writing assignment extends beyond the exchange of a paper for a grade, students see that their writing matters beyond an individual assignment or class. Consider the following suggestions for making students' writing matter:

Beginning with Course Objectives

Just as the best place to start designing an individual writing assignment is by identifying assignment goals, the best place to start making course writing matter is by identifying course objectives. Why does your course matter? Make writing matter for the same reasons. For example, if I am teaching a course called Science and Society, my objectives might be to encourage students to analyze what the media reports about science, rather than receiving all coverage at face value. I might want students to recognize science as something we have created and to which we have assigned meaning, rather than accepting science as a universal and unchanging truth. In my course, then, I am encouraging students to think critically, analyze arguments, and challenge their own assumptions. These same skills contribute to and are fostered by the writing process. By communicating course objectives to students and tying writing to course goals, we can help students see how writing supports lasting academic and intellectual growth.

Designing Rhetorical Contexts That Reflect the Real World

Tying writing to course goals will only motivate students if they accept the value of the course. Generally, this means seeing a connection between the course and the "real world." A well-designed writing assignment is one of the most effective tools instructors can use to connect course goals to the world at large. The rhetorical context of a writing assignment can demonstrate practical applications of course content and of skills developed through course activities, including writing. Our challenge is to design rhetorical contexts for writing assignments that reflect the outside world. Here are some examples of rhetorical contexts that connect various academic disciplines to the world at large:

• For an engineering course, have students write a proposal, a user's manual, or an advertisement for a new product, targeting an audience of general users or a funding committee with only a basic understanding of design principles.
• For a political science course, have students write a paper analyzing a political campaign for a particular group of voters—say, college-aged voters who will read this report in a nationally syndicated column published in campus newspapers.
• For a philosophy course, have students write an opinion paper that will be read in a court case regarding an issue stemming from philosophical differences—privacy rights or intellectual property, for example.
• For a physical science course, have students write an article explaining an area of current research to readers of a general interest magazine such as Newsweek or Life .
• For a literature course, have students write a report to academic and public librarians explaining the worldview and cultural aspects informing a particular book and suggesting displays and programs that might help librarians promote and lead discussions about the book.
• For a visual arts course, have students write a visitor's guide to a museum display of works by a particular artist, from a certain period, or representing a particular culture or movement.

Assigning Writing That Will Reach a Wide Audience

In addition to creating "real world" rhetorical contexts for writing assignments that will in reality be read by a classroom audience, we can give students' writing even greater immediate significance by submitting it to outside audiences. Depending on the nature of your course and assignment and on practical factors such as time and geography, you might assign specific audiences or allow students to select their own. Students might work individually or in groups to write letters to an editor or official, grant proposals for use by local organizations, articles for campus or community newspapers, reference guides for the Web, or public service announcements for television or radio broadcast. Cooperation with outside audiences will require advanced preparation on our part as instructors, but the benefit in advancing course and writing goals will generally far outweigh our investment.

Connecting Writing to Course Content

To make students' writing matter, an instructor must connect it to the content of a course and communicate to students why the course matters. Most instructors, particularly those with little experience teaching writing, have given more thought to why their courses matter than to connecting writing to course objectives. The distinctions we tend to draw between academic disciplines might make it difficult to see any connection between teaching writing and teaching a specific subject, and requirements to assign writing might be intimidating or frustrating. While it might be tempting to avoid teaching writing, remember that well-designed writing assignments are among the most effective means of advancing course goals and connecting those goals to the world at large. The following questions are provided, therefore, to offer guidance in connecting writing to course content.

Where Do I Encounter Writing as a Practitioner in My Field?

The writing we encounter relating to our fields can provide rhetorical context for writing assignments, particularly if we think beyond academic journals and other academic publications to sources students might encounter in everyday life. For example, consider writing that relates to your field in the news media, in advertising, on the Internet, and in brochures and pamphlets. Integrating these sources into the rhetorical context of writing assignments (having students write a letter to an editor, say, or a user's guide of some sort) not only shows students how writing matters outside the classroom, but it demonstrates how course content and overall course goals relate to students' everyday life.

Who in My Field Needs Writing?

In almost any field, there is a need for writing that is not easily funded by existing sources. For example, if I'm teaching a human development course I might know of a family services agency that needs someone to write a grant proposal or an informational booklet for clients. If I teach an environmental science course, I might know of an activist group that needs support in a letter-writing campaign. If an issue related to my course has been misrepresented in the media, I might see a need for editorial letters offering a more accurate representation. If I have noted the lack of a general reference site related to my subject on the Internet, I might recognize the need for a comprehensive Web site. Any of these real needs can translate into a real audience for student writing, while enhancing students' respect for the significance of course content.

Caveats in Assigning Writing for Real Audiences

Assigning writing for real audiences is extremely effective in making writing and overall course content matter to students. However, several caveats should be considered before administering such an assignment:

• Be sure to do your background work before introducing the assignment to students. Contact outside agencies, if applicable, look into editorial guidelines, establish Internet space for a classroom Web site, etc.
• Give students opportunities to write in support of their own point of view. For example, if assigning an editorial, allow students to express their own viewpoints relating to the subject under consideration. If assigning a grant proposal or letter for a letter writing campaign, allow students to choose from a list of previously contacted agencies representing a variety of perspectives.
• If you can't guarantee publication of students' writing, don't imply otherwise. Give students relevant information for checking the status of their submissions while reminding them to respect agencies' time and personnel constraints and discouraging them from damaging the agencies' relationship with the class.

What Am I Asking Students to Read?

The reading you assign in class might provide a model for the writing you ask students to complete. Additionally, it will give students a better understanding of the complexities and implications of course content and can itself provide the focus for a writing assignment—writing about reading. Probably the most common type of academic writing assignment, writing about reading can enhance students' understanding of course concepts, can promote critical reading skills, and can prepare students for assignments that will require them to select their own topics. When assigning writing about reading, however, be careful to communicate the purpose of the assignment. Are they to summarize the reading? Respond to its content by agreeing or disagreeing? Compare the author's perspective to other perspectives discussed in the course? Also, don't neglect to communicate the rhetorical context of even such a traditional assignment. Consider asking students to summarize the reading for a future group of students or a campus publication. If they are responding to a reading, have them write a letter to the author or to another reviewer who has commented on the reading. For further advice on assigning writing about reading, see the teaching guide about helping students summarize and respond to texts .

Challenging the Dichotomy Between Academic and Real World Writing

Much of this guide addresses connections between academic and "real world" writing. Students, like many of the rest of us, will often subscribe to a dichotomy between academia and the rest of the world that includes sharp distinctions between academic and real world writing. In addition to the suggestions offered in previous sections of this unit, the following ideas will help you challenge these distinctions.

Examining the Dichotomy

College undergraduates might not be consciously aware that a dichotomy exists between academia and the rest of the world. When asked to examine their assumptions about academia, they might be surprised to discover such a dichotomy in their thinking. Awareness of assumptions allows us to examine them, questioning their source and validity. Join students in asking where our distinctions come from and whether it's necessary or beneficial to conceive of academic and "real world" endeavors as separate. These questions might lead to conclusions that dispel invalid and unproductive distinctions.

Assigning Multiple Writing Forms

Many of the writing assignment ideas referred to in this guide offer students opportunities to write in multiple forms. While research papers and writing about reading remain among the most common forms assigned in college courses, forms such as Web writing, public service announcements, letters, brochures, and editorials can bridge the perceived gap between our course and real life, between academic and real world writing. Because these forms tend to involve rhetorical contexts that extend beyond the classroom, they invite students to consider that our courses are real life and academic writing is real world writing.

Integrating Journal Writing

Like other forms that provide alternatives to traditional academic papers, journal entries can help students see how their writing matters, connect writing to course content, and resist distinctions between academia and the rest of the world. The difference between journal writing and other forms is that students are more inclined to see themselves as a significant audience for journal writing, while the audience will generally not include persons outside the classroom. Without the expectation that journal entries will be polished and turned in for a grade, students are freer to reflect on course topics, departing from one train of thought to another as they develop a fuller understanding of issues and concepts. Often described as "personal" writing, journal writing invites students to make personal connections with course content and demonstrates how course content, writing, and personal concerns overlap.

If you choose to incorporate journal writing into your course, be sure to identify in advance how you will use this form. When will you as an instructor read entries and how will you keep students accountable for participating? Will other students read any or all of the entries? Will journal writing take place during class, as a take-home assignment, or a combination of both? How restrictive will you be in assigning journal topics? For additional advice on integrating journal writing, see the University of Hawaii at Manoa's Teaching with Journals guide. (This link will take you to another site.)

Introducing Opportunities for Ungraded Writing

Journal writing frees students to make personal connections to course content in part because it is ungraded. Consider introducing additional opportunities for ungraded writing to foster student reflection and to reconcile course writing and content with the world beyond the classroom. Here are some ideas:

• Collect preliminary drafts of assignments. Provide comments and points for completion, but don't grade the drafts. (For more detailed discussion on the importance of assigning drafts, see the following section on effective assignments.)
• Have students post to a discussion board or participate in chat sessions. Because they are likely familiar with these forms of writing, they will be less concerned with "getting it right" and more able to focus on course concepts. In practice, they will be crossing the perceived barrier between academic and other kinds of writing.
• Assign short in-class writing assignments, such as reading summaries, group discussion notes, observations, or questions for future classroom visitors. Students might complete these assignments in their classroom journals or turn them in separately.

How Do I Write an Effective Assignment?

Students' successful completion of a writing assignment begins with an assignment for the instructor: the creation of a detailed assignment description. It is not enough to announce in class that students should write "a paper about one aspect of the Roman Empire" or to list in the syllabus: "Turn in research paper on Renaissance artist of your choice." Students' response to such vague instructions will be varied at best. At worst, students and instructor will be frustrated over the time spent writing and reading scores of pages that contribute little to course goals.

An effective assignment description contains as much detail as is necessary to communicate to students the assignment's purpose and the steps students must take to achieve that purpose and to receive a favorable evaluation. The following sections detail the assignment writing process and direct instructors to additional assistance and resources.

Assignment Writing Process: Working Backward from Goals

To create an assignment that is likely to produce strong student writing, composition instructors recommend starting with the ideal response to the assignment and working backward from those model papers. Although the process may seem awkward at first, students will welcome the specificity of the resulting assignment description and instructors will welcome the papers students produce in response. The following questions will help facilitate the process of working backward from goals:

What do I want my students' papers to look like?

Before designing a writing assignment, it is essential to articulate goals for the assignment as clearly and concretely as possible. For example, will the assignment help students learn course material or writing conventions in the discipline—or both?

Assignment goals will guide every choice regarding assignment design. A preliminary list of goals allows us to address such questions as:

• What writing products (e.g., research papers, reading summaries, reports) will meet assignment goals and will suit my teaching style and preferences? Will formal or informal writing better meet these goals?
• What specific skills will contribute to the final product and how can I foster those skills through classroom instruction and the assignment itself?
• How can I sequence activities (e.g., reading, researching, writing) to build toward a final product that demonstrates progress toward particular goals?

You will notice that these questions suggest a broader understanding of writing assignments than we usually consider. A writing assignment can be understood as a series of stages that enhance larger course goals while moving students toward a final product that demonstrates progress toward some of those goals. This understanding is further explored in the following section on positioning an assignment within the class.

Where will this assignment fit among other parts of the class?

There are two major benefits to understanding a writing assignment as a series of stages that enhance larger course goals while moving students toward a final product that demonstrates progress toward some of those goals: 1) Greater appreciation of the relationship between course and assignment goals and 2) Closer attention to specific assignment details and their combined role in advancing goals.

The following steps will guide you in positioning assignments within your class.

• Reviewing assignment goals articulated in the previous step, note how assignment goals contribute to overall course goals. If the connection is unclear, assignment goals may need to be revised.
• Having identified the final product (e.g., research paper, reading summary, report) that best supports assignment goals, consider how the assignment might be broken into stages. For example, observation notes, reading outlines, proposals, and preliminary drafts might all represent stages on the way toward the final product.
• Supplement the assignment with resources and activities that will contribute to students' progress toward assignment goals. For example, provide format models and samples of strong, average, and weak papers. Schedule peer review sessions, when students can exchange drafts and assist one another in the writing process.
• Recognizing that writing is a process rather than a product, allow opportunities for revision. These opportunities are best scheduled before a final draft is due. However, thoughtfully assigned revision of graded papers supports an understanding of writing as a process and might ease students' frustration over sincere but unsuccessful attempts to master that process.
• Consult the course syllabus to schedule due dates of all notes, outlines, proposals, and drafts, as well as the final product. Make sure due dates are preceded by necessary skills instruction and classroom discussions.

How can I translate goals into an effective assignment?

A key step in translating goals into an effective assignment is to communicate goals to students. The assignment description should include a statement of assignment goals and should indicate how those goals relate to overall course goals. In addition to instructions for assignment stages (notes, drafts, etc.) and clear statements of due dates, the description should explain how all stages work together to support assignment and course goals.

Having articulated goals to students, you can further develop an effective assignment by identifying a rhetorical context for students' writing. Imagine a real setting and a real audience for writing that achieves assignment goals. For example, if my goal is to deepen students' understanding of a controversial issue and to foster analytical and persuasive writing skills, I might ask students to write a hypothetical editorial column for a national magazine. If available, I might even provide a real audience for student writing—perhaps readers of a local or campus newspaper that publishes editorials.

To read more about rhetorical context for writing assignments, see the Rhetorical Context section of this guide.

What choices in style and format will contribute to the purpose of the assignment?

As instructors we are familiar with conventions of academic writing and writing in our fields. It's easy to assume that students will observe the conventions we take for granted, but such assumptions generally leave students floundering with style and format concerns that compromise their attention to larger assignment goals. The following questions will help you create an assignment description that details every element of the writing task.

• What background reading, interviews, experience, or other preparation will expose students to style and format conventions, as well as preparing them to meet larger goals?
• What do students need to know about citing outside sources? When they understand the purpose and importance of citation, what citation format are they to use?
• What documents should accompany students' final written product? For example, should they turn in notes, outlines, drafts, or peer review comments (whether or not they've been submitted previously)?
• How can I best support assignment and course goals through specifications about word and page count, margins, and font size? Does my assignment description clearly communicate these specifications (or my flexibility regarding these format decisions)?

Though it's important to inform students of style and format requirements, we want to avoid emphasizing the cosmetic over the substantive. Working backwards from assignment and course goals will naturally shift our focus from cosmetic concerns. The assignments we design should maintain a global focus by highlighting the process that will advance overall goals and downplaying style and format requirements. If the specifications we've indicated don't advance assignment or course goals, we might consider revising our specifications.

How Will I Evaluate Students' Completed Writing?

The section of this guide devoted to responding to student writing addresses this question in greater detail. For the purposes of this section, remember that our evaluations should assess students' progress toward the goals we've established for the assignment. In addition to communicating goals, our assignment description should tell students how their work will be evaluated and how this particular assignment will contribute to their overall course evaluation.

Support from the Writing Center

In addition to hosting workshops and online tutorials, writing centers typically offer services tailored to individual instructors' needs:

• Consultation on writing assignment design
• Consultation on curriculum design
• Visits to individual classrooms to present workshops suited to class needs

Instructor Resources

The checklists and models that folllow are offered as additional guidance in designing effective writing assignments.

Assignment Writing Checklists

Select from the following list to view assignment writing checklists designed by CSU composition faculty and other writing professionals.

• CSU Writing Center Checklist #1
• CSU Writing Center Checklist #2
• University of Wisconsin Writing Center Common Errors Checklist (This link will take you to another site.)
• MIT Writing Center Style Checklist (This link will take you to another site.)

Sample Assignments

The following list provides access to sample assignments from a variety of disciplines.

• Agricultural Economics
• Landscape Architecture
• Comparative Animal Nutrition
• Human Development

How Do I Assign Research?

College-level instructors of all disciplines often choose—and, in the case of many first-year seminars, might be required—to assign research papers. Students and instructors alike are tempted to regard the research paper as a species entirely different from other writing assignments. While the research paper introduces additional skills such as library navigation and source documentation, designing a research assignment still requires instructors to work backwards from goals and to establish a rhetorical context that addresses goals and connects the assignment to the class as a whole.

That being said, an awareness of the particular challenges students might encounter in conducting and communicating research will help us address those challenges and enhance students' research writing experience.

The following sections contain suggestions on guiding students through the research writing process.

Framing the Assignment

In addition to establishing rhetorical context and positioning the assignment within the course as a whole, consider the following suggestions for framing a research assignment.

Outlining Objectives

Creating any assignment requires us as instructors to outline our objectives. In a research assignment, it is important that we communicate to students our research objectives, as well as objectives for more general writing and academic skills. For example, would we like students to learn to frame a research question? Would we like them to acquire library research skills, using online databases and other Internet sources? When research objectives are communicated among other assignment goals, students are less likely to approach research as the summarizing of collected information.

Establishing Research Questions

Most students entering college will understand research as collecting information on a topic and reporting their findings to an instructor. We can encourage students to engage in their research by prompting them to think in terms of a research question. Rather than starting with a topic and then conducting a search for any relevant information, ask students to start with a question that will guide the entire research process. For example, rather than researching the topic of inclusive education, a student might start with the question: Does inclusive education best serve students with disabilities? Even a research assignment that is primarily informative in purpose can start with a research question. Rather than starting with the topic of Elizabethan drama, for example, a student might ask: How was Elizabethan drama shaped by culture?

Helping Students Focus Their Research

Because the vastness of available information often intimidates students, it is particularly challenging for college writers to narrow their focus for research assignments. The research questions suggested in the assignments, for example, are a step away from the topical approach, but they are too broad for most college writing assignments.

How do we move students from Does inclusive education best serve students with disabilities? and How was Elizabethan drama shaped by culture? to, say, Does inclusive education in high school prepare developmentally disabled students for future vocational pursuits? and How did Elizabethan religious thought shape the tragedies of William Shakespeare? First, a clear communication of the assignment's rhetorical context will help students define a focus. In addition, we can emphasize the importance of such factors as accessibility of research sources, time allowed for research, and suitability of available sources to rhetorical context. Consideration of these factors will steer students away from preliminary research questions that are too narrow as well as those that are too broad.

As instructors, we can help students focus their research by not limiting their choices more than is necessary. For example, if we've limited the kinds of sources students can use, we should be certain that there are plenty of allowable sources available that are appropriate to the rhetorical context. If the rhetorical context asks students to engage in a current debate, we are unfair to require that students use only books as their research sources. With instruction on assessing source reliability, students can find information in an online database or on the World Wide Web that is more appropriate to some rhetorical contexts than what they can find in books.

Introducing Library Research

The following sections discuss suggestions on introducing your students to library research.

Bringing Students to the Library

The size of an academic library can inhibit students from even entering the building. Students are far more likely to access the library on their own if they have first visited and learned to navigate it as part of a class. As instructors, we can facilitate student library use by conducting tours and planning class sessions—research days, for example—that take place in the library.

Many libraries offer tours and orientation sessions tailored specifically to individual courses.

Recognizing the Library As More Than Just Books

Though the physical space of most libraries might still consist primarily of books and other print sources, these sources represent an ever decreasing portion of the information available to library users. In addition to physical book and periodical collections, academic libraries offer users access to the following sources of information that are essential to many research projects.

Electronic Databases

Thanks to electronic sources, researchers can quickly locate and evaluate articles relevant to their areas of inquiry and can often download the full text of articles not contained in their library's physical periodicals collection. CSU Libraries subscribes to a wide variety of databases indexing academic journals from multiple disciplines. These electronic collections provide timely access to current information that cannot be matched by physical collections.

Electronic Books

Through netLibrary, users of member academic libraries can check out electronic versions of books not contained in their institutions' physical collections. CSU Libraries participates in the netLibrary program, providing users electronic access to thousands of scholarly, reference, and professional books from major commercial publishers and university presses.

Interlibrary Loan

An early introduction to interlibrary loan programs will allow students to take advantage of these programs in the preliminary stages of research, when they can experience the greatest benefit. Students who wait until a few days before a draft is due to gather information, however, will seldom benefit from interlibrary loan.

Assigning Web Research

Awareness of the lack of controls and resulting unreliability of much of what is published on the World Wide Web might incline us toward prohibiting Web research altogether. However, some types of information are more readily found on the Web than anywhere else. Rather than precluding Web research, we can set parameters that will promote the use of reliable sources. For example, we might require that all Web sites consulted be connected to a reliable print source (such as Time or Newsweek ), organization (like the Alzheimer's Association or PETA), government agency (such as the USDA or National Park Service), or institution (a school or medical research facility, for example). We might assign students to submit a source list for our approval before paper drafts are due, allowing us to review the appropriateness of sources and to redirect students if necessary.

In addition to the above suggestions, we can provide instruction to build students' Web research skills. The following links contain suggestions for providing Web instruction.

Conducting a Web Tutorial

If possible, arrange to a conduct a class session in a computer lab or bring a laptop and projector into class. Before class, prepare a list of links to good, average, and poor Web sources. Ask students to evaluate pre-selected Web sites in class, focusing on their appropriateness as research sources. When students have completed their evaluations individually or in groups, lead a discussion highlighting various indicators of a Web source's reliability, such as: connection to a reputable print source or affiliation, the site's citation of other sources, links to other reliable sites, and endorsements by professional organizations or Web monitoring groups.

As an alternative to designing your own tutorial, consider scheduling a Web evaluation session through your library.

Administering Source Evaluation Assignments

To provide additional practice in evaluating Web sources, prepare a list of sources and design an assignment requiring students to evaluate them. The assignment might ask students to rank the sources, evaluate them in terms of certain criteria, or answer true or false, fill-in-the-blank, or short-answer questions regarding the sources' reliability. Whether or not the assignment receives a grade, provide feedback regarding each students' responses. Those responses might be used to facilitate further classroom discussion on evaluating sources.

Introducing Documentation

Before we ask students to observe the conventions of any documentation style, it is important that they understand why documentation is necessary and how to determine what to document. Without this background, many students will approach documentation either as a pointless activity designed to increase grading opportunities or as an entirely new language indecipherable to unpublished writers. With sufficient background, on the other hand, students will more readily grasp the mechanics of source documentation. View the following for suggestions on increasing your students' fluency in documentation.

Teaching Students Why to Document

Perhaps the best way to familiarize students with the importance of documentation is to call their attention to the use of documentation in course readings. As they read, ask students to note reasons the author might have had for documenting his or her sources. Possible reasons might be to give proper credit, to create a context for his or her ideas, to demonstrate the quality and quantity of his or her research, to build credibility with readers, to distinguish his or her original ideas from the ideas of others, and to avoid plagiarism. Allow students to complete their own lists and then ask them to share their observations as a class. Supplement the class list with suggestions from above or with ideas from your own list.

Teaching Students What to Document

Just as reading the writing of others can help students appreciate the importance of documentation, engaging in such reading also familiarizes students with general documentation protocol. In addition to noting authors' reasons for documenting, ask students to list the kinds of information documented—information such as quotations, paraphrased or summarized ideas, debatable or little known facts, statistics and other quantifiable data, unique phrasing or terminology, and others' opinions or assertions. Again, lead a classroom conversation on students' findings.

Point out to students that the reasons for documenting and decisions regarding what to document are closely related. As students better appreciate this relationship through exposure to and practice with documentation, they will more easily avoid common mistakes such as dropping quotes into their papers without context. They will also move more readily toward mastery of a particular documentation style.

Teaching Students How to Document

Once students have a general understanding of the need for documentation, the criteria used in determining what to document, and the way the relationship between these two factors guides the incorporation of documentation into their writing, they are ready to practice their understanding through the use of a particular documentation style. See below for suggestions on teaching specific documentation styles.

Documentation Styles

Just as our overall course goals guide our designing of assignments and other course materials, our goals for students as they relate to documentation will guide our decisions regarding particular documentation styles. If all or most of our students have chosen similar majors, one of our goals might be to acquaint them with the documentation style most commonly used in their discipline. In that case, we might require all students to use MLA, APA, Chicago, or another specific style. This approach has the additional benefit of allowing us to evaluate a style with which we are familiar and to utilize one set of standards in evaluating students' use of documentation.

If, on the other hand, our students represent a variety of academic backgrounds and potential majors, our goal might be to provide further practice with a documentation style to which they've already been introduced and/or to equip them for their individual academic and professional writing goals. In this case, students will benefit from our willingness to allow them to choose the documentation style with which they are most comfortable and that they are most likely to encounter in future writing situations.

Whatever our decision regarding documentation style, it's important that we make our students aware of the various styles available and of the importance of audience in selecting a style. Encourage them to ascertain the style required by whatever situation they're writing for and show them how to find guidelines for each style. The writing guides referred to later in this guide are a good place to start.

In-Text Documentation

In general, documentation consists of two parts: in-text documentation and end documentation.

In-text documentation alerts readers to the referencing of borrowed information. Common methods of in-text documentation are parenthetical references, footnotes, and endnotes. Students should know which method is appropriate to their chosen documentation style.

Classroom assignments can help students practice the use of in-text documentation. Giving students a paragraph or two of text and a list of research gathered from various sources, ask them to incorporate documentation into the prepared text. This same assignment can help students practice end documentation (discussed in the next section) by completing a works cited or references page corresponding to the sources they've documented in the text.

End Documentation

End documentation usually appears in the form of a works cited, literature cited, or references list page. Again, students will need to know which method is required for the documentation style they've selected. We should also help students to see the correspondence between in-text and end documentation. An assignment like the one described in the previous section will help students see this connection and practice the conventions of their style.

Students are likely to be particularly concerned about documenting Internet sources, information retrieved from online databases, and other alternatives to traditional print sources. As instructors, we should be sure to include these kinds of sources in practice activities and to familiarize ourselves with corresponding documentation conventions. A print or online guide (such as those listed in the next section) can help us and our students properly document alternative sources.

Documentation Guides

The following documentation guides are available online to help us and our students apply and evaluate documentation conventions:

• WAC Clearinghouse Guides to Documentation Styles
• CSU Libraries' Style Manuals' Index (This link will take you to another CSU site.)
• APA's Guide to Citing Sources (This link will take you to another site.)
• Duke University Libraries' Guides to Citing Sources (This link will take you to another site.)

Discouraging Plagiarism

Discussion of documentation creates an opportunity for us as instructors to discourage plagiarism in our students' work. Students often plagiarize because they are unaware that what they are doing qualifies as academic dishonesty, and our introduction to documentation—emphasizing why and what to document—can increase their appreciation of intellectual integrity.

Plagiarism might also occur when students are intimidated by an assignment. The suggestions contained throughout this guide will help you to create an environment in which students feel confident in their ability to respond to a writing situation. In addition, the following ideas will further discourage plagiarism:

• Acquaint students with a comprehensive definition of plagiarism. Students have often received the idea that plagiarizing means quoting verbatim without giving credit. A broader understanding acknowledges that extensive paraphrasing or claiming someone else's ideas can also qualify as plagiarism.
• Teach students about rhetorical context to discourage them from lifting someone else's ideas or even turning in an entirely plagiarized paper. Students are less likely to resort to these measures if they realize that someone else's writing is less suited to the current assignment than to the rhetorical context in which it originally appeared.
• More importantly, teach students about rhetorical context to equip them to address a writing assignment that might otherwise seem daunting. We want students to view writing assignments not as traps, but as part of a process in which they are equipped to engage.
• Require documentation of the research process and assess students' progress. This creates opportunities to head off intentional and unintentional instances of plagiarism before they occur.
• Refer students to any of the online guides listed below for further discussion of plagiarism and how to avoid it:

All links listed on this page will take you to other sites.

• Purdue University's Guide to Avoiding Plagiarism: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/01/
• Hamilton College's Guide to Avoiding Plagiarism: https://www.hamilton.edu/academics/centers/writing/style/avoiding-plagiarism
• University of Minnesota at St. Cloud's "The Puzzling Paraphrase": http://web.stcloudstate.edu/scogdill/339/paraphra.html
• Duke University's Guide to Citing Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism: https://library.duke.edu/research/citing
• Northwestern University's Guide to Avoiding Plagiarism: http://www.northwestern.edu/provost/docs/Academic%20Integrity%20Guide%202017.pdf

For additional advice to instructors, visit Penn State University's guide to detecting plagiarism .

What is Peer Review and How Do I Use It?

One way for instructors to move beyond assigning writing to teaching writing is to allow students to read and discuss each other's writing in peer-review workshops. As you create writing assignments, plan for peer review. As suggested in the discussion on assignment writing , preparing peer review guides along with the assignment sheet itself will allow both to work together to promote the same goals.

Peer Review Why

Peer-review workshops serve many useful functions for student writers, most notably:

• They provide writers with real readers who must make sense of the writing.
• They help writers improve their reading/critical analysis skills.
• They, most obviously, help writers improve their writing skills and final products.

Peer Review How

Use the strategies and sample worksheets provided through the following links to help your students get the most out of peer review.

Specifying Peer-Review Tasks

Open review sessions, in which students imagine themselves as members of the target audience and give "reader response" reactions, are not recommended. It's most effective to have students review particular features of a paper. As instructors, we need to make sure those tasks are clear and precise. Although tasks can be listed on an overhead or board, students often prefer a worksheet that notes specific objectives. If students can compose their commentary on a word processor, they are likely to write more extensive comments. Take advantage of computer supports whenever possible.

The following sample handouts can help specify peer-review tasks.

• Peer-Review Worksheet
• Backwards Outline
• Posted Guidelines

Sequencing Peer-Review Tasks

When asked to examine particular features of a paper, students often feel most comfortable moving through a sequence from simply identifying a feature to evaluating it to suggesting revisions. Especially if you give students multiple peer-review opportunities, consider using progressive workshop sheets, building on tasks required in previous workshop sheets. Label the level of each task clearly so that students know if they are to identify features or suggest revisions.

The following items appear in sequence on a peer-review worksheet distributed to a freshman composition class . Notice how the instructions move students from identifying a thesis to evaluating it to suggesting revisions:

• Mark and label the writer's thesis in the draft. In the space below, "unpack" the thesis.
• Is the thesis clearly debatable? Suggest one way the thesis might be narrowed or focused, if necessary.

Modeling How to Use Workshop Criteria

Although most students will have had experience with peer review in writing classes in high school and freshman composition, students can still benefit from understanding each teacher's expectations of the peer-review session. One of the most effective techniques is to provide a sample student paper (either as a handout or on overhead transparencies) and to elicit class comments on each point on your workshop sheet. Instructors can then elaborate on points students bring up or clarify the writing skills the points on the workshop sheet are designed to help students review.

Modeling Effective Commenting

The least helpful comment to receive from a peer reviewer is "It looks OK to me." We want students to find strengths or positive features in a draft, but we need to encourage them to be as specific as possible, about both strengths and weaknesses.

Other points of which you should remind students as you model giving effective commentary in peer review:

• Always point out strengths as well as elements that need more work.
• Try to attend to larger issues first (audience, purpose, organization, detail, etc.). Talk about sentences, word choices, and punctuation only later in the peer-review process.
• Be specific. Point to particular places in the paper where revision will be helpful.
• I got confused here.
• I saw your point clearly here.
• I was convinced by your example or analogy or argument.
• If you disagree with the comments of another peer reviewer, say so. Not all readers react the same ways, and divergent points of view can help writers see options for revising.
• Make comments in a spirit of helpfulness. Take comments in a spirit of helpfulness.

Modeling How to Handle Divergent Advice

Remind students that they are responsible for the final drafts they submit to you, but that they should carefully weigh each comment they receive from a peer reviewer. Comments that suggest radically different revisions of the same part of a paper generally help writers see various ways to revise but may confuse students about what to do. Students need not choose one of the suggested revisions, but they should note that multiple suggestions pointed at the same part of a paper typically highlight a place where some revision is necessary.

Thinking About Logistics

The logistics of peer review are generally simple, but they do require some forethought. If you want students to read papers in a round-robin exercise or to exchange papers with one other student, you don't need to require any photocopying. But if you want each student to read three other papers, make sure you remind students to bring three copies of their papers to class on the day of the exchange.

You can let students pick their own peer-review partners or group members, but you might also consider assigning peer reviewers based on your knowledge of students' writing and editing skills.

If you hold in-class peer-review sessions, circulate during the session to make sure students are on track and to intervene as necessary. Also, save a few minutes at the end of the session to discuss common problems facing the class as a whole.

The instructions below are part of a worksheet distributed during a freshman composition peer-review workshop. Note how the instructions on this sample worksheet address logistics:

Providing Adequate Time

The longer the paper or the more complex the criteria, the longer students will take to complete a thorough peer review. If you assign shorter papers, you can easily devote a part of a class to peer review or ask students to complete the peer review outside of class. But if you assign long, complex papers, consider breaking the peer review into several short sections. For instance, students might complete one peer reading looking just for problems with focus, another for weaknesses in organization and development, and still another on assignment-specific elements such as use of data or graphics. Finally, students might have an additional peer-review session devoted exclusively to mechanics.

Also, think about the big picture of your syllabus. Students need enough time to complete the peer review and revise before the paper is due, so work backwards from your intended due date to schedule the peer workshops.

Visit the following links to view how peer-review instructions might vary according to the time you have allowed for the peer-review process:

• Workshop Checklist
• Arguing Essay Worksheet 1
• Arguing Essay Worksheet 2
• Arguing Essay Worksheet3

Building in Incentives for Helpful Comments

If students don't see the value of peer review, they are unlikely to spend much time reviewing others' papers or to take peer advice seriously. The most effective way to encourage students to take peer review seriously, both as the reviewer and as the writer, is to include effective peer review as part of the overall grade for the paper. As an instructor, skimming peer review comments will take just a few minutes (even for multiple reviews of complex papers), and you'll quickly see which students provided the most helpful commentary. Alternatively, you can ask students to rank their peer reviewers and base the peer review part of grade on peer ratings.

If you're uncomfortable weighing the quality of peer reviewing in the paper grade, consider dividing the course grade to include a separate class participation or peer-reviewing grade.

Handout for Effective Peer Review

Consider distributing or adapting the following handout to share with students to encourage effective peer-review strategies:

All writers, even professional writers, need others to read and comment on their writing. As writers, we're often too close to our work to spot problems a helpful reader can point out. In order to benefit from the insight of such a reader, follow these strategies:

• Come to the workshop with your best possible draft.
• Alert your reader to any concerns you have before they begin to read.
• Ask questions and take notes as you're discussing your writing.
• Try not to get defensive. Be grateful for your reader's time and attention.
• At the same time, don't feel obligated to take all of your reader's advice. Remember that readers' opinions may differ and that you're ultimately responsible for your paper.

Remember that your role as a writer is only part of your workshop contribution. The above strategies are most effective when your paper is reviewed by a helpful reader. You have an opportunity to be that kind of reader for others by observing the following guidelines as you review their writing:

• Ask the writer what you can be looking for as you read their essay.
• Read the writer's essay carefully.
• Respond as a reader, pointing out where things don't make sense, read smoothly, etc.
• Be positive. Point out strengths as well as weaknesses, and be sensitive in how you phrase your criticism ("Could you clarify this section?" rather than "Your organization is a mess.")
• Be honest. Don't say something works when it doesn't. You're not helping the writer if you avoid mentioning a problem.
• Be specific. Rather than simply saying a paragraph is "confusing," for example, try to point to a specific phrase that confuses you and, if possible, explain why that phrase is problematic.
• Focus on one or two major areas for revision.

How Do I Respond to Student Writing?

The prospect of responding to student writing might overwhelm us as instructors because we feel obligated to correct every conceivable error in every paper. This approach overwhelms our students as well and often denies us an opportunity to continue teaching writing through the evaluation process. The following sections will help you make the most of the time you spend commenting on student writing, benefiting you by increasing your efficiency and benefiting your students by directing them toward areas in which they can experience the greatest growth as writers.

Emphasizing the Drafting Process

Students and instructors alike tend to view a piece of writing as the final version, particularly if it will receive a grade. When commenting on an early draft it might be natural to emphasize changes that will produce more effective future drafts. But even when evaluating a so-called final draft, we can direct our comments toward future writing situations. Explain how the writing strategies that would have improved a particular paper will apply to other assignments and non-academic projects. It might also be beneficial to allow students to revise one or more papers for a potentially higher grade. While we don't want to stress the grade over the process, the prospect of a higher grade might be an incentive to engage in revision when students might otherwise abandon a piece of writing as soon as it's been evaluated.

Becoming a Coach

Many students are intimidated by having their writing evaluated because they've so often encountered evaluators who assume the role of a judge. Students will be encouraged to take risks in their writing, such as breaking free from the five-paragraph model and trying new approaches, if they come to trust their writing instructor as a coach. A coach recognizes that there are more and less effective ways to accomplish a task, but instead of simply docking a student who chooses a less effective approach, a coach will guide that student toward a better alternative.

At the other end of the spectrum is the writing instructor who functions like an indulgent parent. While a parent might applaud from the stands, providing encouragement without direction, a good coach challenges students to improve on their strengths and to grow beyond their weaknesses.

Focusing Instructor Comments

With the previously discussed perspectives in mind, see below for practical suggestions on using comments as teaching opportunities.

Using Two Types of Comments

In general, there are two main comment types that we can use in combination to direct our students toward more effective writing. The links below provide discussion of each comment type.

Marginal Comments

As the label implies, marginal comments are those that are written in the margins and between the lines throughout the paper. Their primary purpose is to point out specific examples of effective and ineffective writing decisions emphasized in general by our overall evaluation. For this reason, it's a good idea to insert marginal comments after we've composed the end comments described in the following sections. Rather than marking up a paper on the first read, we can better formulate focused comments by reading it at least once with our pens laid aside.

Marginal comments might also mark errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation. When this becomes their primary use, however, students will be confused about where to direct their energy toward growth as writers. For further discussion of addressing mechanical issues, see the section on avoiding the editor role .

End Comments

End comments are written in paragraph form and are used to direct students toward effective writing by highlighting one or two major areas on which they should focus their attention in future writing situations. The following components are suggested for end comments that will both encourage and direct students:

Descriptive Statement

A descriptive statement is a non-evaluative observation that reinforces students' awareness of what they've done in a particular piece of writing. Young writers seldom look back over a piece of writing with a clear sense of what they've produced. Opening with a descriptive statement like "You've written a detailed summary of Steele's essay" reacquaints students with the writing they've accomplished and prepares them for an evaluation of that writing.

Positive Statement

Our evaluation of students' writing is best received when we call attention to strengths as well as weaknesses. A simple way to incorporate both praise and criticism is through the sandwich approach, in which criticism—the meat of our evaluation—is served between two positive statements.

The opening positive statement is a comment on the paper's greatest strength. Even the most floundering paper will exhibit at least one strong point on which we can comment. For example, we might open by noting that the writer demonstrates a clear understanding of course content, is passionate about his or her subject, or has a good sense of audience. We might applaud an area of improvement from previous writing. We, like our students, are so accustomed to targeting weaknesses in academic work that we tend to overlook the strengths. Helping students identify their strengths not only builds their confidence as writers, but it gives them valuable information for continued growth. Knowing their strengths motivates students to apply those strengths to other writing assignments and often suggests an approach for addressing weaknesses.

Suggestions for Improvement

The bulk of our end comments, the constructive criticism portion helps students identify areas in which they can improve their writing. Remember that while we're assessing a particular piece of writing, our main goal is to create better writers. Our suggestions should contribute to students' improvement as writers and not primarily focus on ways to improve a particular piece of writing.

Criticism should direct writers toward one or two areas on which to work. Generally, we'll want to accomplish this in one or two paragraphs, depending on the length of the paper. A concise discussion gives students a sharper sense of areas for concern.

Closing Comment

In closing, offer students a comment on the strengths demonstrated in this particular piece of writing that will prepare them for future writing situations. For example, "Your ability to articulate a claim will serve you well as you continue to work on developing an argument in future writing situations." This allows you to continue encouraging growth in areas identified in previous comment sections while building students' confidence in their readiness to work toward such growth.

Avoiding the Editor Role

One way to send the message that we're more concerned with improving papers than writers is to become editors as we evaluate our students' work. Many of us remember receiving graded assignments that were completely covered in red ink. These marks were as often corrections as they were constructive comments, and they might have left us with little sense of how to grow as writers. We do want our students to have a command of mechanics, but we need to ask if this is should be the primary concern for each writer. A student who struggles to focus on a main topic, wandering from one idea to another without any apparent logic, should be encouraged to address broader issues before attending to word and sentence level concerns.

So how do we deal with mechanics? First, keep in mind that they're more appropriately addressed in the later drafts of a paper. If a student ends up omitting an entire paragraph in the restructuring of a paper, we've wasted much of the energy we spent editing that paragraph. Furthermore, mechanical errors generally decrease as students grasp the larger issues of academic writing. Finally, when we do comment on mechanics, it should be with the same goal that informs any other comment: to build stronger writers. Rather than simply correcting errors, we can look for the underlying problem these errors demonstrate. For example, if a student repeatedly shifts between past and present tense, we might indicate in the margin that there is inconsistency in tense throughout the paper. Emphasizing that such errors compromise a writer's effectiveness with almost any audience, we can assign reading from a grammar text (or provide photocopied pages) and require that the student correct the problem before receiving a grade. This will allow us to focus on larger issues in comments corresponding to the final grade.

Focusing on Goals

Our students are best served in the long run when we move from global to local in our evaluation of their writing. This means that the majority of our commenting time and energy is best spent addressing not mechanics, but larger goals for students' growth as writers. To identify the major writing skills to emphasize in our comments, it helps to read each paper at least twice. After the first read, we are less distracted by isolated errors and can better identify both a student's intent and the issues that are most significantly compromising that intent.

Consider some of the most common global issues student writers need to address. While this list is by no means comprehensive, the examples included illustrate an appropriate scope for our comments:

• The ability to make a claim and to maintain focus on that claim
• The ability to develop a claim logically and thoroughly
• The use of evidence to support disputable statements
• The ability to communicate a distinction between their own ideas and the summary of others' ideas

Recognizing Stages in the Writing Process

Our expectations and resulting comments should be informed by the stage of writing we're evaluating. If we're reading an early draft, we probably won't expect polished prose and generally won't comment at all on mechanical issues. Instead, our comments will emphasize one or two goals that will contribute to the student's growth as a writer while enhancing this paper in particular. In contrast, our comments on a final draft will use observations of the current work to direct the student toward future writing tasks. We will also have higher expectations regarding format and other conventions than we have of an early draft. We can address these in terms of how successfully the writer has assessed and addressed audience expectations, a concern that is present in any writing situation.

Acknowledging Revisions

Effective writing is a process of revision, yet as writers many of us are reluctant to engage in the revision process. In order to encourage students to revise their writing, it's important first of all to collect preliminary as well as final drafts of major assignments. Beyond simply collecting drafts, however, we should acknowledge the improvement we see from one draft to the next. After commenting on a particular area in a draft, we should always follow up on that area in later versions of the assignment. It's also appropriate to note areas not previously addressed in which the paper has improved since an earlier draft. This requires that we keep notes as we comment on drafts and/or ask students to turn in early drafts and attached comments along with the final version of their papers. The encouragement we can offer students more than makes up for the organization this demands on our part. Acknowledging revisions highlights improvement, reminding both students and instructors that even if problems still exist, the evidence of growth indicates a success.

Starting and Staying Positive

In the role of coach, not judge, we have tremendous potential to encourage students to invest themselves in the writing process in our classes and beyond. Students' investment depends largely upon our approach. If we are condemning, students will have little desire to pursue growth as writers. If, on the other hand, we are positive—emphasizing what can be improved rather than where students have failed in completed drafts—our students will more likely be motivated toward the attainable goals we've helped them identify. Remember that most students have at some point been labeled as either good or bad writers, and they likely have accepted that label as a lifetime sentence. Our encouragement can help students understand writing as a process in which they are equipped to engage. No matter how skilled they are when they enter our classrooms, we can help them identify and build skills that will support their growth as writers.

Determining Grades

Even when we manage to focus our marginal and end comments on overall goals promoting students' growth as writers, our students' most immediate concern will often be their grades. We might become hung up on this letter or number as well, as we attempt to translate our carefully constructed comments into a grade.

It will help us to start with an idea of what an A paper, a B paper, a C paper, and so on will look like. We might create our own evaluation sheets or rubrics, or use one of those available in the sample materials section. However, we should observe a caveat in using these resources: Evaluation sheets and rubrics are not meant to replace marginal and end comments, and they are not foolproof. They should be general enough to accommodate all the variations we might encounter in students' writing.

However we choose to determine grades, it's important to communicate with students how their writing will be evaluated. Whether or not we are using a criteria sheet, students should know the general criteria upon which we will base our evaluations. On the other hand, it might be best to avoid distributing detailed rubrics as these can involve students in a numbers game when we want them to concentrate on writing. If we choose to use a rubric, we might decide to keep the numbers to ourselves and simply to inform students of the major writing skills we intend to evaluate.

The skills we evaluate should correspond to the goals communicated in the original assignment description. If the goal of an assignment is to practice writing a convincing argument, our evaluation will assess students' claims, their development of those claims, and the quality of the evidence they've used as support. Likewise, classroom instruction surrounding the assignment will emphasize these skills and provide additional opportunities to practice them.

Note: Letter grades are generally preferable to number grades in evaluating writing assignments, as it is difficult and often inappropriate to quantify writing skills. Because an A, a B, a C, and so on will represent a range of proficiency levels, we will have greater incentive as instructors to articulate in our comments our specific concerns for each writer.

Working With the Writing Center

Writing center staff tutors and faculty are often available not only to assist your students with their individual writing concerns, but also to work one-on-one with instructors to help them integrate writing instruction into their classrooms. Their services often include assistance in focusing evaluative comments. While writing center staff typically offer general strategies such as those presented in this tutorial and in seminars and workshops, we recognize that general remarks might not prepare instructors for every question they will encounter as they comment on student papers. Particularly when applying these general concepts to early batches of papers, it can be helpful for instructors to work with someone as they walk through the process.

Sample Materials

The following materials are provided to illustrate the evaluation processes described in this guide. Instructors who choose to use criteria sheets or rubrics are strongly encouraged to develop versions tailored to their own course content and goals.

Sample Marginal Comments

The following marginal comments might be written on a student's paper after composition of the end comments listed in the next section:

Student's Observation: "Assignments in the well-funded school were more challenging than assignments in the poorly funded school I attended my final two years in elementary school." Instructor's Marginal Comment: "Here is a spot where a concrete example would strengthen your overall claim." (Corresponding section in student's paper is underlined or circled.)

Student's Observation: "To further illustrate the accuracy of Anyon's observations, consider two actual instructors currently teaching in public schools. We'll call them Instructor A and Instructor B." Instructor's Marginal Comment: "Here, it might be better to identify these instructors as your parents, as you did in earlier drafts. This is appropriate given your audience and would further distinguish your summary from your agreement with the author, supported by personal observations."

Student Observation: "For example, Instructor A reported that teachers at the well-funded school were given days off to attend professional development seminars. Instructor B was the only instructor from the poorly funded school to attend any outside seminar, and he had to use one of his two yearly personal days to do so." Instructor's Marginal Comment: "Here is a good example of successfully using concrete evidence."

Sample End Comments

The following sample end comments correspond to the marginal comments listed in the previous section:

You've done an excellent job combining all of what we've discussed in Unit 1 into a strong ARE. Your revisions, in particular, demonstrate your awareness of academic writing conventions and ability to apply them to your own writing. The final draft of your ARE is well-structured and clearly connected to Anyon's text. Focusing your essay on Anyon's progression from observations to ideas, you state clear responses to those ideas and support your responses with relevant evidence.

In regard to that evidence, keep one suggestion in mind as you continue to write for academic contexts. Wherever possible, provide specific details and examples, leaving your reader with an image that supports your claims. This specificity would strengthen your second paragraph in particular. Your background as a student in two different schools is clearly relevant and gives you authority to comment on class-based differences in teaching styles. Rather than general statements about these differences, however, consider how a specific illustration or two would lend stronger support to your claim. You might, for example, recall a specific assignment in one school compared to a same-subject assignment in the other school.

You provide more concrete evidence in your third and fourth paragraphs by identifying experienced educators as sources. Your parents' comments work well in supporting your response to Anyon's essay. Considering your writing situation (your fellow student audience) you might want to identify them as your parents, as you did in your first draft. Doing so would help you more clearly define your unique position regarding the subject of Anyon's essay. You might explain to your audience that as a student of public schools and the son of two parents involved in public school education, you have strong reasons to agree with Anyon's ideas and implications.

Again, your efforts in revision and throughout this unit have culminated in a superb ARE. Consider the suggestions above as you approach future writing assignments, and keep up the good work.

Sample Criteria Sheet

Sample rubric: evaluation of written report.

Note: This guide is based in part on instructional resources developed by Kate Kiefer and other members of the faculty at Colorado State University

• How it works

Why Students Struggle With Essay Writing

Published by Alaxendra Bets at August 19th, 2021 , Revised On August 23, 2023

Writing comes naturally for some of us. Students with good essay writing skills have words flow into  sentences , sentences,  paragraphs , and paragraphs into an essay  or  dissertation . However, for many students, writing is tedious work they want to avoid.

If you are struggling with  essay  or  dissertation writing , rest assured you are not the only student facing this problem. But it’s important to understand the reasons for your essay, coursework, exams, or dissertation writing failures to put your academic life back on track.

Here, we discuss and attempt to figure out the causes as to why are so many students struggling with essay writing.

In the unfortunate event that you have already failed coursework, dissertation, essay, or exam, we have compiled comprehensive guidelines  on what you could do to improve your situation.

Reasons Why Students Struggle with Essay Writing

Before we shed light on the obscure causes of students finding it hard to deal with essay and  coursework writing , let us look into the more apparent causes. Research studies have confirmed that writing and reading are reciprocal processes. Apart from providing professional writing guidelines to students, we also provide professional writing services , i.e. essay services , coursework writing services and dissertation writing services .

If you read regularly enough, your writing will improve by leaps and bounds. Likewise, your writing improves your reading significantly. Many students apprehend the importance of this relationship as they read complicated transcripts and texts to improve their writing abilities.

But not all students can comprehend this relationship between reading and writing, and eventually, writing becomes a continuous struggle for them. Debbie Lee, in her article published on Educator Community (2017), states that;

“To write, we use many parts of our brain at the same time as well as the kinesthetic process of writing. For many students, especially those with language or fine motor skill delays, the task of writing is challenging.”

Poor Mechanical & Content Skills

In the same article, Debbie argued that students with poor processing and poor content and mechanical skills often struggle with essay writing. The most notable processing skills that many students would often lack include fluent development of ideas, language formulation and ideation, and active working memory.

Content and mechanical skills that are essential for any student to be good at writing are as follows;

• Expressing ideas
• Organising ideas
• Punctuation
• Capitalisation
• Basic Spelling & Vocabulary
• Automatic Letter Formation
• Clarity of Expression
• Use of appropriate grammar in essay
• Different styles of essay writing
• Flexibility in the writing process
• Understanding the viewpoint from the text in books
• Lack of enthusiasm and passion

Want to know what essay structure and style will work best for your assignment?

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When you consider all of the above underlying skills that students should master to become proficient writers, you can understand how frustrating it can be. Perhaps, it also explains why most students prefer not to write their papers and  get experienced writers to write .

No Right Answers When You Are Inexperienced

Unable to find what the right answer to a particular  problem question is? Many students end up scratching their heads around the basic question they must answer as part of their essay  or  dissertation  assignment.

While every other skill student learns the right way to do it, it can be hard to figure out the correct way to write an essay  because most of us approach writing naturally and emotionally.

But let it be clearly stated here that the right or correct way of writing an essay does exist if your supervisor or tutor is not teaching the  essay writing structures for different types of essays , dissertations, and research papers, you are not getting the help you deserve, and the confidence needed to jump into an assignment writing task.

To produce a high-quality essay paper, you need to learn to be good at brainstorming, writing the essay outline, and developing the rough draft and the final copy because that is how you will improve your writing skills.

ResearchProspect provides the tools, and they help students need to have their essays written to the highest possible academic standard.

Fear of Failure

Have so many questions in mind before writing even a word of your assignment? What is the  question I need to address ? What is the objective of this assignment? Which academic sources should I use as reference material? What should be the structure of the essay ? What abilities and skills will I be graded on? What writing style must I follow?

These questions and many more could swarm around in your mind. Don’t worry, Don’t Panic. Don’t Be Overwhelmed! It’s normal to have so many questions. It’s completely normal to fear failure, especially if you haven’t had much writing experience in your previous academic years.

If you haven’t been taught about the writing and structuring processes (yes, a range of writing structures and styles exist), it can be pretty hard to get going. The fear of failure will stay with students if they do not provide help on creative writing rules and the  different types of essay writing structures .

For example, this is an article on how you structure a dissertation paper.

Also read: Sociology Essay Writing Service .

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Helping Students Who Struggle with Essay Writing

The world we are living in is changing rapidly. With texts, tweets, posts, snaps, and Insta around us, it’s no wonder students don’t want to get in struggle with writing. This is particularly frustrating for teachers and students alike, as students scrap to express their thoughts and views clearly in the traditional fashion their schools expect them to.

But the world of academia has remained pretty much unchanged over centuries, with universities expecting students to become good researchers and capable writers . We will never replace essays , assignments, research , dissertation , and analysis with tweets, Instagram posts, and Facebook stories in universities.

Your teachers will not be delighted with you if you eagerly indulge in social media postings but struggle with basic essay writing tasks. A study conducted by ResearchProspect concluded that as many as 3 of every 5 students lack proficiency in writing – a number that cannot be ignored.

Our Essay Writers

ResearchProspect writers  know the writing rules and are proficient in all types of writing structures and styles.

Our essay writers understand that essays aren’t going anywhere, and so they have mastered the art of presenting their expression, arguments, and analysis through their writing. They love sentence diagrams and grammar drills because it is their job to do so.

Contact us via telecom, email, or mail to discuss anything regarding your essay. Our staff is always there to help!

Have a last-minute essay to finish? Don’t panic! Please fill out  our online order form  and get your essay paper delivered to your email address promptly. Any subject, any deadline, any complexity – we promise 100% plagiarism free and 100% confidential service.

The essay writing tips in this blog post aim to help readers establish why they struggle to write a first-class essay or dissertation paper that meets academic expectations. The post directly aims to help students experiencing writing difficulties in achieving the grade they desire despite their writing limitations.

View some  essay writing samples  here!

Learn  how to write an essay with a bang!

Helping Students Succeed Since 2011!

ResearchProspect is the UK registered essay writing website helping students across the globe since 2011. Our writers hold master’s to Ph.D. degrees from reputed educational institutes. No matter how urgent or complex your requirements are, our services have helped thousands of students over the years at a time when they needed them the most. So stop struggling with essay writing and get essay writing help from our professional essay writers . View our essay services here  or view our  full range of services here.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many students struggle with essay writing.

Many students face challenges with essay writing due to various factors such as lack of effective strategies, time management issues, language barriers, and unfamiliarity with academic conventions. Support and guidance can help mitigate these struggles.

You May Also Like

In an argumentative essay, the author takes a clear stand on the topic and justify their position with the help of supporting evidence material.

No sure what are the types of persuasive essay? This article presents the similarities and differences between the most common types of persuasive essays.

An expository essay requires the writer to take a balanced approach to the subject matter rather than justifying a particular point of view.

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• How It Works

Why I Write

From a very early age, perhaps the age of five or six, I knew that when I grew up I should be a writer. Between the ages of about seventeen and twenty-four, I tried to abandon this idea, but I did so with the consciousness that I was outraging my true nature and that sooner or later I should have to settle down and write books.

I was the middle child of three, but there was a gap of five years on either side, and I barely saw my father before I was eight. For this and other reasons I was somewhat lonely, and I soon developed disagreeable mannerisms which made me unpopular throughout my schooldays. I had the lonely child’s habit of making up stories and holding conversations with imaginary persons, and I think from the very start my literary ambitions were mixed up with the feeling of being isolated and undervalued. I knew that I had a facility with words and a power of facing unpleasant facts, and I felt that this created a sort of private world in which I could get my own back for my failure in everyday life. Nevertheless the volume of serious i.e. seriously intended writing which I produced all through my childhood and boyhood would not amount to half a dozen pages. I wrote my first poem at the age of four or five, my mother taking it down to dictation. I cannot remember anything about it except that it was about a tiger and the tiger had ‘chair-like teeth’ a good enough phrase, but I fancy the poem was a plagiarism of Blake’s ‘Tiger, Tiger.’ At eleven, when the war or 1914-18 broke out, I wrote a patriotic poem which was printed in the local newspaper, as was another, two years later, on the death of Kitchener. From time to time, when I was a bit older, I wrote bad and usually unfinished ‘nature poems’ in the Georgian style. I also attempted a short story which was a ghastly failure. That was the total of the would-be serious work that I actually set down on paper during all those years.

However, throughout this time I did in a sense engage in literary activities. To begin with there was the made-to-order stuff which I produced quickly, easily and without much pleasure to myself. Apart from school work, I wrote vers d’occasion, semi-comic poems which I could turn out at what now seems to me astonishing speed at fourteen I wrote a whole rhyming play, in imitation of Aristophanes, in about a week and helped to edit a school magazines, both printed and in manuscript. These magazines were the most pitiful burlesque stuff that you could imagine, and I took far less trouble with them than I now would with the cheapest journalism. But side by side with all this, for fifteen years or more, I was carrying out a literary exercise of a quite different kind: this was the making up of a continuous ‘story’ about myself, a sort of diary existing only in the mind. I believe this is a common habit of children and adolescents. As a very small child I used to imagine that I was, say, Robin Hood, and picture myself as the hero of thrilling adventures, but quite soon my ‘story’ ceased to be narcissistic in a crude way and became more and more a mere description of what I was doing and the things I saw. For minutes at a time this kind of thing would be running through my head: ‘He pushed the door open and entered the room. A yellow beam of sunlight, filtering through the muslin curtains, slanted on to the table, where a match-box, half-open, lay beside the inkpot. With his right hand in his pocket he moved across to the window. Down in the street a tortoiseshell cat was chasing a dead leaf,’ etc. etc. This habit continued until I was about twenty-five, right through my non-literary years. Although I had to search, and did search, for the right words, I seemed to be making this descriptive effort almost against my will, under a kind of compulsion from outside. The ‘story’ must, I suppose, have reflected the styles of the various writers I admired at different ages, but so far as I remember it always had the same meticulous descriptive quality.

When I was about sixteen I suddenly discovered the joy of mere words, i.e. the sounds and associations of words. The lines from Paradise Lost…

So hee with difficulty and labour hard Moved on: with difficulty and labour hee. which do not now seem to me so very wonderful, sent shivers down my backbone; and the spelling ‘hee’ for ‘he’ was an added pleasure. As for the need to describe things, I knew all about it already. So it is clear what kind of books I wanted to write, in so far as I could be said to want to write books at that time. I wanted to write enormous naturalistic novels with unhappy endings, full of detailed descriptions and arresting similes, and also full of purple passages in which words were used partly for the sake of their own sound. And in fact my first completed novel, Burmese Days, which I wrote when I was thirty but projected much earlier, is rather that kind of book.

I give all this background information because I do not think one can assess a writer’s motives without knowing something of his early development. His subject matter will be determined by the age he lives in at least this is true in tumultuous, revolutionary ages like our own but before he ever begins to write he will have acquired an emotional attitude from which he will never completely escape. It is his job, no doubt, to discipline his temperament and avoid getting stuck at some immature stage, in some perverse mood; but if he escapes from his early influences altogether, he will have killed his impulse to write. Putting aside the need to earn a living, I think there are four great motives for writing, at any rate for writing prose. They exist in different degrees in every writer, and in any one writer the proportions will vary from time to time, according to the atmosphere in which he is living. They are:

• Sheer egoism. Desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered after death, to get your own back on the grown-ups who snubbed you in childhood, etc., etc. It is humbug to pretend this is not a motive, and a strong one. Writers share this characteristic with scientists, artists, politicians, lawyers, soldiers, successful businessmen in short, with the whole top crust of humanity. The great mass of human beings are not acutely selfish. After the age of about thirty they almost abandon the sense of being individuals at all and live chiefly for others, or are simply smothered under drudgery. But there is also the minority of gifted, willful people who are determined to live their own lives to the end, and writers belong in this class. Serious writers, I should say, are on the whole more vain and self-centered than journalists, though less interested in money.
• Aesthetic enthusiasm. Perception of beauty in the external world, or, on the other hand, in words and their right arrangement. Pleasure in the impact of one sound on another, in the firmness of good prose or the rhythm of a good story. Desire to share an experience which one feels is valuable and ought not to be missed. The aesthetic motive is very feeble in a lot of writers, but even a pamphleteer or writer of textbooks will have pet words and phrases which appeal to him for non-utilitarian reasons; or he may feel strongly about typography, width of margins, etc. Above the level of a railway guide, no book is quite free from aesthetic considerations.
• Historical impulse. Desire to see things as they are, to find out true facts and store them up for the use of posterity.
• Political purpose. Using the word ‘political’ in the widest possible sense. Desire to push the world in a certain direction, to alter other peoples’ idea of the kind of society that they should strive after. Once again, no book is genuinely free from political bias. The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.

It can be seen how these various impulses must war against one another, and how they must fluctuate from person to person and from time to time. By nature taking your ‘nature’ to be the state you have attained when you are first adult I am a person in whom the first three motives would outweigh the fourth. In a peaceful age I might have written ornate or merely descriptive books, and might have remained almost unaware of my political loyalties. As it is I have been forced into becoming a sort of pamphleteer. First I spent five years in an unsuitable profession (the Indian Imperial Police, in Burma), and then I underwent poverty and the sense of failure. This increased my natural hatred of authority and made me for the first time fully aware of the existence of the working classes, and the job in Burma had given me some understanding of the nature of imperialism: but these experiences were not enough to give me an accurate political orientation. Then came Hitler, the Spanish Civil War, etc. By the end of 1935 I had still failed to reach a firm decision. I remember a little poem that I wrote at that date, expressing my dilemma:

A happy vicar I might have been

Two hundred years ago

To preach upon eternal doom

And watch my walnuts grow;

But born, alas, in an evil time,

I missed that pleasant haven,

For the hair has grown on my upper lip

And the clergy are all clean-shaven.

And later still the times were good,

We were so easy to please,

We rocked our troubled thoughts to sleep

On the bosoms of the trees.

All ignorant we dared to own

The joys we now dissemble;

The greenfinch on the apple bough

Could make my enemies tremble.

But girl’s bellies and apricots,

Roach in a shaded stream,

Horses, ducks in flight at dawn,

All these are a dream.

It is forbidden to dream again;

We maim our joys or hide them:

Horses are made of chromium steel

And little fat men shall ride them.

I am the worm who never turned,

The eunuch without a harem;

Between the priest and the commissar

I walk like Eugene Aram;

And the commissar is telling my fortune

While the radio plays,

But the priest has promised an Austin Seven,

For Duggie always pays.

I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls,

And woke to find it true;

I wasn’t born for an age like this;

Was Smith? Was Jones? Were you?

The Spanish War and other events in 1936-37 turned the scale and thereafter I knew where I stood. Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism, as I understand it. It seems to me nonsense, in a period like our own, to think that one can avoid writing of such subjects. Everyone writes of them in one guise or another. It is simply a question of which side one takes and what approach one follows. And the more one is conscious of one’s political bias, the more chance one has of acting politically without sacrificing one’s aesthetic and intellectual integrity.

What I have most wanted to do throughout the past ten years is to make political writing into an art. My starting point is always a feeling of partisanship, a sense of injustice. When I sit down to write a book, I do not say to myself, ‘I am going to produce a work of art.’ I write it because there is some lie that I want to expose, some fact to which I want to draw attention, and my initial concern is to get a hearing. But I could not do the work of writing a book, or even a long magazine article, if it were not also an aesthetic experience. Anyone who cares to examine my work will see that even when it is downright propaganda it contains much that a full-time politician would consider irrelevant. I am not able, and do not want, completely to abandon the world view that I acquired in childhood. So long as I remain alive and well I shall continue to feel strongly about prose style, to love the surface of the earth, and to take a pleasure in solid objects and scraps of useless information. It is no use trying to suppress that side of myself. The job is to reconcile my ingrained likes and dislikes with the essentially public, non-individual activities that this age forces on all of us.

It is not easy. It raises problems of construction and of language, and it raises in a new way the problem of truthfulness. Let me give just one example of the cruder kind of difficulty that arises. My book about the Spanish civil war, Homage to Catalonia, is of course a frankly political book, but in the main it is written with a certain detachment and regard for form. I did try very hard in it to tell the whole truth without violating my literary instincts. But among other things it contains a long chapter, full of newspaper quotations and the like, defending the Trotskyists who were accused of plotting with Franco. Clearly such a chapter, which after a year or two would lose its interest for any ordinary reader, must ruin the book. A critic whom I respect read me a lecture about it. ‘Why did you put in all that stuff?’ he said. ‘You’ve turned what might have been a good book into journalism.’ What he said was true, but I could not have done otherwise. I happened to know, what very few people in England had been allowed to know, that innocent men were being falsely accused. If I had not been angry about that I should never have written the book.

In one form or another this problem comes up again. The problem of language is subtler and would take too long to discuss. I will only say that of late years I have tried to write less picturesquely and more exactly. In any case I find that by the time you have perfected any style of writing, you have always outgrown it. Animal Farm was the first book in which I tried, with full consciousness of what I was doing, to fuse political purpose and artistic purpose into one whole. I have not written a novel for seven years, but I hope to write another fairly soon. It is bound to be a failure, every book is a failure, but I do know with some clarity what kind of book I want to write. Looking back through the last page or two, I see that I have made it appear as though my motives in writing were wholly public-spirited. I don’t want to leave that as the final impression. All writers are vain, selfish, and lazy, and at the very bottom of their motives there lies a mystery. Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand. For all one knows that demon is simply the same instinct that makes a baby squall for attention. And yet it is also true that one can write nothing readable unless one constantly struggles to efface one’s own personality. Good prose is like a windowpane. I cannot say with certainty which of my motives are the strongest, but I know which of them deserve to be followed. And looking back through my work, I see that it is invariably where I lacked a political purpose that I wrote lifeless books and was betrayed into purple passages, sentences without meaning, decorative adjectives and humbug generally.

Written by George Orwell

The Probable Diffusion Of Great Cities

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Leprosy cases are rising in the US – what is the ancient disease and why is it spreading now?

Professor and Head of Dermatology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers University

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Prof. Robert A. Schwartz is associated with the Order of Saint Lazarus, an international non-governmental organization committed to the fight against leprosy.

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The word “leprosy” conjures images of biblical plagues, but the disease is still with us today. Caused by infectious bacteria, some 200,000 new cases are reported each year , according to the World Health Organization. In the United States, leprosy has been entrenched for more than a century in parts of the South where people came into contact with armadillos, the principle proven linkage from animal to humans. However, the more recent outbreaks in the Southeast, especially Florida , have not been associated with animal exposure.

The Conversation talked with Robert A. Schwartz , professor and head of dermatology at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, to explain what researchers know about the disease.

What is leprosy and why is it resurfacing in the US?

Leprosy is caused by two different but similar bacteria — Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis — the latter having just been identified in 2008 . Leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease , is avoidable. Transmission among the most vulnerable in society, including migrant and impoverished populations, remains a pressing issue.

This age-old neglected tropical disease , which is still present in more than 120 countries , is now a growing challenge in parts of North America.

Leprosy is beginning to occur regularly within parts of the southeastern United States. Most recently, Florida has seen a heightened incidence of leprosy, accounting for many of the newly diagnosed cases in the U.S.

The surge in new cases in central Florida highlights the urgent need for health care providers to report them immediately. Contact tracing is critical to identifying sources and reducing transmission .

Traditional risk factors include zoonotic exposure and having recently lived in leprosy-endemic countries. Brazil, India and Indonesia have each noted more than 10,000 new cases since 2019, according to the World Health Organization data, and more than a dozen countries have reported between 1,000 to 10,000 new cases over the same time period.

Why was leprosy stigmatized in biblical times?

Evidence suggests that leprosy has plagued civilization since at least the second millennium B.C.

From that time until the mid-20th century, limited treatments were available , so the bacteria could infiltrate the body and cause prominent physical deformities such as disfigured hands and feet. Advanced cases of leprosy cause facial features resembling that of a lion in humans.

Many mutilating and distressing skin disorders such as skin cancers and deep fungal infections were also confused with leprosy by the general public.

Fear of contagion has led to tremendous stigmatization and social exclusion . It was such a serious concern that the Kingdom of Jerusalem had a specialized hospital to care for those suffering from leprosy.

How infectious is leprosy?

Research shows that prolonged in-person contact via respiratory droplets is the primary mode of transmission , rather than through normal, everyday contact such as embracing, shaking hands or sitting near a person with leprosy. People with leprosy generally do not transmit the disease once they begin treatment.

Armadillos represent the only known zoonotic reservoir of leprosy-causing bacteria that threaten humans. These small mammals are common in Central and South America and in parts of Texas, Louisiana, Missouri and other states, where they are sometimes kept as pets or farmed as meat. Eating armadillo meat is not a clear cause of leprosy, but capturing and raising armadillos, along with preparing its meat, are risk factors.

The transmission mechanism between zoonotic reservoirs and susceptible individuals is unknown, but it is strongly suspected that direct contact with an infected armadillo poses a significant risk of developing leprosy. However, many cases reported in the U.S. have demonstrated an absence of either zoonotic exposure or person-to-person transmission outside of North America, suggesting that transmission may be happening where the infected person lives. But in many cases, the source remains an enigma.

Some people’s genetics might make them more susceptible to leprosy infections , or their immune systems are less capable of resisting the disease.

Stigma and discrimination have prevented people from seeking treatment , and as a result, “concealed” cases contribute to transmission.

How do you recognize it?

Leprosy primarily affects the skin and peripheral nervous system, causing physical deformity and desensitizing one’s ability to feel pain on affected skin.

It may begin with loss of sensation on whitish patches of skin or reddened skin. As the bacteria spread in the skin, they can cause the skin to thicken with or without nodules. If this occurs on a person’s face, it may rarely produce a smooth, attractive-appearing facial contour known as lepra bonita, or “pretty leprosy.” The disease can progress to causing eyebrow loss, enlarged nerves in the neck, nasal deformities and nerve damage.

The onset of symptoms can sometimes take as long as 20 years because the infectious bacteria have a lengthy incubation period and proliferate slowly in the human body. So presumably many people are infected long before they know that they are.

Fortunately, worldwide efforts to screen for leprosy are being enhanced thanks to organizations like the Order of Saint Lazarus , which was originally founded in the 11th century to combat leprosy, and the Armauer Hansen Research Institute , which conducts immunologic, epidemiological and translational research in Ethiopia. The nongovernmental organization Bombay Leprosy Project in India does the same.

How treatable is it?

Leprosy is not only preventable but treatable. Defying stigma and advancing early diagnosis via proactive measures are critical to the mission of controlling and eradicating it worldwide.

Notably, the World Health Organization and other agencies provide multi-drug therapy at no cost to patients.

In addition, vaccine technology to combat leprosy is in the clinical trials stage and could become available in coming years. In studies involving nine-banded armadillos, this protein-based vaccine delayed or diminished leprous nerve damage and kept bacteria at bay . Researchers believe that the vaccine can be produced in a low-cost, highly efficient manner, with the long-term prospect of eradicating leprosy.

If health care professionals, biomedical researchers and lawmakers do not markedly enhance their efforts to eliminate leprosy worldwide, the disease will continue to spread and could become a far more serious problem in areas that have been largely free of leprosy for decades.

The World Health Organization launched a plan in 2021 for achieving zero leprosy .

• Zoonotic diseases
• Tropical diseases
• Neglected Tropical Diseases
• World Health Organization (WHO)
• Neglected tropical disease
• Skin disorders
• Hansen's disease

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When You Can't Write Your Assignment: What to Do

Key Challenges That Hinder Your assignment Writing

Overcoming writer's block: regain your writing flow, regaining motivation, feeling stuck and unsure how to begin your assignment.

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Feeling stuck? If you're a college student struggling with a research paper assignment, unable to write a single line in your own words, you're not alone. The question of "why I can't write this assignment?" can be daunting and increase your anxiety about the writing process. The good news is that there are solutions available, including exploring the best essay writing service reviews for helpful guidance. (Spoiler alert: reading essay writing service reviews might just be the answer!

To effectively address the issue of "I can't write my essay," it's crucial to understand its underlying cause. Without this insight, you'll stumble in the dark, struggling to find a solution.Here are six common reasons why college students face difficulties in academic writing: Writer's block: When you feel unable to start and utter thoughts like "I can't get myself to write my assignment." Uninspiring or intimidating topics. Lack of motivation and discipline. Persistent distractions. ‍ Overthinking writing assignments. Writing in a foreign language. Let's delve deeper into the three most prevalent factors: writer's block, challenging topics, and distractions. By addressing these issues, you can overcome obstacles and regain your writing confidence.

To overcome writer's block and address the "I can't write my college assignment" challenge, it's crucial to identify its root cause. Imagine yourself as a doctor analyzing symptoms in the writing process to determine the underlying issue. ‍ If a lack of ideas is the culprit, try employing various brainstorming techniques or take a refreshing break through a walk or workout session. If perfectionism is hindering your progress, take a leap and start writing your first draft, disregarding any doubts about the quality of your work.

Overcoming Assignment Topic Challenges

One of the reasons you may find yourself convinced that "I can't write assignment" is the research paper topic itself. Let's be honest: sometimes it's an assigned topic or one that you have to settle for, rather than being a perfect match for your interests.Take a moment to reflect on your feelings about the topic. ‍ Are you genuinely interested in exploring it through academic papers? Or do you find yourself saying, "I can't be bothered to write my essay" because of it? Maybe it seems overly complex, leaving you unsure where to even begin. By understanding your perspective on the topic, you can find strategies to navigate these challenges and regain your writing motivation.

Once you identify the underlying issue, you can discover the solution to your plea of "help, I can't write my assignment."If the topic feels intimidating or overwhelming, conducting thorough research and crafting a detailed outline can provide guidance and clarity. In the case of a plain boring topic, self-discipline becomes crucial—pushing yourself to engage with the task even if it's not initially appealing will ultimately save you. ‍ By employing these strategies, you can overcome the challenges and find your path to successfully completing your assignment.

Overcoming Distractions When You Can't Write Your Assignment

College life is rife with distractions, and it's unrealistic to eliminate them all. However, these distractions shouldn't lead you to believe, "I can't write my assignment." The key is learning to concentrate on demand, even amidst the chaos. ‍ By developing effective strategies for managing distractions, you can reclaim your focus and tackle your assignments with confidence. Don't let external factors deter you any longer—empower yourself to stay centered and conquer the challenge of writing your assignments.

When you find yourself trapped in the mindset of "I can't be bothered to write my assignment," it's time to take action and regain your motivation. While the previous tips may not be effective in this specific scenario, there are alternative strategies you can try.Firstly, create a clear separation between leisure and work by designating a dedicated study space. ‍ This environment will help you shift your mindset towards productivity. Additionally, seek a quiet setting or use music with headphones to drown out distractions. To combat the feeling of apathy, consider the use of productivity tools like Cold Turkey, Forest, or RescueTime, which can help you stay focused and accountable.

If you resonated with the previous paragraphs, consider yourself fortunate as you're already equipped with some answers to your question. However, even if you're currently stuck with the thought, "I can't be bothered to write my essay, and I'm still unsure why," don't despair. There are solutions available that cater to specific problems and others that are universally effective, benefiting most students regardless of the underlying cause.So, what are these universal solutions? ‍ There are numerous options, but let's concentrate on four simple yet highly impactful strategies. Implementing at least one of these tips should reignite your motivation and put you back on the path to success.

Taking the First Step: Overcoming the "I Can't Write My College Assignment" Barrier

Indeed, it may sound like a simple suggestion, but the most effective solution boils down to pushing yourself to get started on your assignment. Yes, even if you believe that writing your college essay is an impossible task. Remember, taking that initial step is often the hardest part, but once you begin, you'll gain momentum and find it easier to progress.

Overcoming Procrastination: Strategies to Get Started on Your Assignment

If you find it challenging to simply start writing, make a promise to yourself to dedicate just five minutes to work on your assignment. You'll likely get so engrossed in the process that those initial five minutes will effortlessly extend to fifteen minutes, an hour, or even more, without you even realizing it.If concerns about the quality of your writing hold you back, try the technique of free-writing. ‍ This involves jotting down everything that comes to your mind without any filter or judgment. Once you're finished, you can select the best passages and refine them further. To avoid further procrastination, create a writing schedule. Commit to a specific amount of time at a designated hour, and be sure to show up and begin writing when the scheduled time arrives. Having a set schedule helps you prioritize your writing and reduces the temptation to delay or put it off.

Harnessing the Power of Outlining: Your Solution to Writer's Block

When the thought of "I can't be bothered to write my assignment" arises due to a lack of direction, an outline becomes your most valuable tool. Think of an outline as the blueprint for your paper. It doesn't need to be eloquently worded; its primary purpose is to structure your ideas and outline the key points you want to convey in your text. By creating an outline, you provide yourself with a clear roadmap, making the writing process more manageable and ensuring a cohesive and well-organized essay.

‍ Your Key to Overcoming Writing Challenges

When you find yourself exclaiming, "Help, I can't write my assignment," implementing these four steps can guide you towards creating a stellar outline:Brainstorm ideas: Embrace the freedom to jot down every idea that comes to mind without filtering. Remember, even seemingly bad ideas can lead to valuable insights.Allocate ample research time: Engage in thorough research to gather evidence supporting or challenging your perspective. Let the research ignite new ideas and perspectives within you.Select your strongest points: Organize your notes and identify the central theme of your essay. ‍ Then, carefully choose the statements and arguments that align most effectively with your main point. Be willing to let go of ideas that may not fit well.Craft the outline: Visualize your outline as a multi-level numbered list, incorporating clear body headings and subheadings to structure your content effectively.Tip: Avoid approaching writing as a linear process. Don't become fixated on creating a remarkable opening sentence; it can be the final piece you refine. By following these steps, you'll empower yourself to conquer the challenges associated with writing, paving the way for a well-structured and compelling assignment.

Breaking Free from the Wheel

If you find yourself feeling like a hamster endlessly running on a wheel, it could be the root cause of your "I can't write an essay" dilemma. It's possible that you're experiencing high levels of stress, fatigue, or burnout, which hinders your ability to generate ideas for your paper.

Embracing Breaks for Enhanced Productivity

If you find yourself unable to produce substantial work while sitting in front of your laptop or experiencing a lack of focus and brain fog, it's essential not to force yourself. Instead, give yourself permission to take a break and engage in activities that rejuvenate your mind and body. ‍ Consider going for a walk or engaging in a workout to get your blood flowing and clear your mind. By stepping away from the task and returning with a refreshed perspective and newfound energy, you can improve your overall productivity.It's important to remember that writing an entire essay in one sitting rarely leads to desirable results. Allow yourself breaks between the key steps of outlining, writing, and editing. These intervals will provide you with a fresh perspective, enabling you to spot any mistakes or areas for improvement.Starting early is crucial to allow sufficient time for these breaks and to complete your assignment without unnecessary pressure. By incorporating strategic breaks into your writing process, you can enhance your productivity and produce higher-quality work.

Embracing the Solution: Outsource Your Essay to Professional Writer

Let's be honest and straightforward: despite trying all the strategies mentioned earlier, there are instances where you may still find yourself stuck in the "Help, I can't write my essay!" mindset. It happens, and it's a part of life. If you resonate with this situation, there's a final solution that can put an end to your struggles once and for all: outsourcing your essay to professionals.By entrusting your assignment to skilled experts, you can alleviate the burden and stress associated with writing. ‍ Professional writers have the knowledge, expertise, and experience to deliver high-quality essays tailored to your requirements. Outsourcing your essay allows you to focus on other important aspects of your academic journey while ensuring that your assignment is in capable hands. It provides you with the opportunity to receive well-crafted and well-researched work that meets academic standards.

‍ How to Find Assignment Writer

No need to fret – you don't have to search through social media platforms to find a writer who can assist you. There are dedicated services specifically designed for this purpose. These services thoroughly evaluate their writers and ensure the quality of your paper.EssayPro is an example of a reliable paper writing service. ‍ By turning to AssignmentGuru, you can expect the following benefits: Unique and original paper tailored to your requirements.The flexibility to request revisions until you're satisfied with the final result.24/7 customer support available to assist you with any inquiries or concerns.Guaranteed anonymity throughout the entire process.If you require more information to make an informed decision, consider checking out AssignmentGuru reviews. ‍ It's also worthwhile to compare their services with other platforms, such as AssignmentGuru. This way, you can assess which option aligns best with your needs and preferences.

How to Choose a Good Essay Writing Service

When selecting a essay writing service, it's important to consider these six questions: Are the writers qualified to write about your specific topic?Do they have positive reviews from previous customers? ‍ Can they accommodate specific or unusual requirements you may have?Do they provide a report to ensure the uniqueness of the essay?Is there a money-back guarantee in case you're unsatisfied with the result?How many revisions or edits can you request to ensure the essay meets your expectations? By taking these questions into account, you can make a more informed decision when choosing a essay writing service that best fits your needs.

While there is no foolproof method to select the absolute best assignment writing service and completely avoid the risk of disappointment or multiple revisions, consulting a list of reliable essay writing service reviews and exploring college assignment help online can certainly help you in times of doubt. It's important to make a thoughtful choice without overthinking, considering the information and insights provided by the reviews. Ultimately, trust your judgment and choose wisely based on the available feedback.

What is random assignment in psychology?

Take a deep dive into the essence of random assignment in psychology. Learn how it levels the playing field for effective and reliable research.

Reflective Essay Examples: A Comprehensive Guide to Writing With Examples and Tips

Examining examples of reflective essays can provide valuable guidance on completing a reflective essay writing task. Take a look at various samples of reflective essays to enhance your understanding.

Essay On Bullying

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Watching a solar eclipse without the right filters can cause eye damage. Here's why

Nell Greenfieldboyce

A woman watches an annular solar eclipse on October 14, 2023 using special solar filter glasses at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Carlos Tischler/ Eyepix Group/Future Publishing via Getty Images hide caption

A woman watches an annular solar eclipse on October 14, 2023 using special solar filter glasses at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

On April 8, as millions of people try to watch a solar eclipse sweep over North America, eye doctors across the United States will be on high alert.

That's because, while a solar eclipse is a stunning celestial event, it can also be dangerous. Looking at any part of the exposed sun without the right kind of protection can permanently injure the eye's light-sensitive retina.

And if past eclipses are prologue, it's likely that some eclipse-gazers will show up at doctors' offices with significant eye damage.

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In 2017, during the solar eclipse seen across the United States, that happened to multiple people despite abundant media coverage about the danger of looking at the sun when it is anything less than fully and completely covered by the moon.

In New York City, for example, one young woman came to the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai, complaining of blurred and distorted vision.

She had peeked up at the crescent sun without eyewear at first, then looked at it longer while wearing what she thought were appropriate eclipse glasses.

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"But the problem was she was handed glasses from someone else," says ophthalmologist Avnish Deobhakta , so she didn't know if the eyewear really met safety standards .

Doctors found a permanent, crescent-shaped wound on her retina; there's no treatment for that kind of injury, which is similar to the kind of light-induced damage caused by pointing a laser into the eye.

Other eclipse-related eye injuries were reported in California and Utah .

Given that more than 150 million people directly viewed either a partial eclipse or a total solar eclipse, however, the number who suffered eye problems may seem relatively small.

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"We've got less than 100 cases across Canada and the U.S.," says Ralph Chou , an eclipse eye safety expert with the University of Waterloo in Canada.

But no one knows for sure how many people damaged their eyes in 2017, he says, because not every case gets written up for a medical journal, and people may not seek help for less severe vision troubles.

"A lot of them, if they actually happened, were probably relatively minor and, you know, they resolved on their own within weeks or months," says Chou, who says that about half of those who experience significant blurring on the day after an eclipse will recover almost completely.

Some of that recovery may just be the brain learning to compensate and "fill in" the blanks, says Deobhakta, who notes that "there's two eyes, and often there's asymmetric injury. Your brain kind of gets used to it."

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He notes that there are ways to enjoy the eclipse without looking up at all; everyday household objects like colanders allow you to create pinhole projectors that let you watch an image of the sun becoming more and more crescent-shaped.

"My advice is to not look at the sun, because you may not realize that it is affecting your retina. It does not hurt. It doesn't burn at the time. It's not as if you feel it," says Deobhakta.

If you do choose to look up at the sun when it is partially eclipsed, says Deobhakta, "make sure you really are sure that you have the standard glasses that have the right filters."

The American Astronomical Society has a list of vetted suppliers .

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If you still have reliable eclipse viewers from 2017 that are in good condition, those should still work fine, says Chou.

He notes that eclipse viewers usually have a "best by" date on them, but that is to satisfy European regulations related to personal protective equipment.

"It's essentially meaningless because the filters do not age," says Chou. "If you've taken good care of the viewers from 2017, they haven't been crushed or folded or whatever to damage the mountings, then they're perfectly safe to use for this eclipse."

Despite the warnings, some people try to glimpse the partially-eclipsed sun without eye protection, thinking that a quick look won't cause any harm. While an initial glance at the sun may not cause lasting damage, says Chou, repeated peeks do add up.

"At some point, you may tip yourself over the critical threshold," says Chou. "Unfortunately, you don't realize that until far too late."

The eye damage only becomes apparent hours after it occurs. Typically, people wake up the morning after observing an eclipse and see a spot of extreme fuzziness in the center of their field of vision.

There is one time when it's safe to look up at the sun with the naked eye, experts say, and that's when the sun is totally covered by the moon.

This eclipse phase is only visible from the so-called " path of totality ," a stretch of land from Texas to Maine. And the experience of totality doesn't last long — up to four and a half minutes or so, depending on your location.

When the sun is 100% obscured, the sky abruptly darkens and the once-bright sun becomes a dark circle surrounded by a ghostly white ring called the corona.

If people wear super-dark eclipse eyewear during these dramatic moments, they'll miss the whole show.

"People get so concerned to not hurt their eyes, which of course is super important, that they don't take their glasses off when the moon completely covers the sun," says Laura Peticolas , a space physicist at Sonoma State University. "And then they're like, 'I never saw the corona.'"

So knowing when to take the glasses off, and when to put them on, is key.

Chou says that in the last moments before the sun gets totally covered, the thin crescent of the bright sun breaks into discrete points of bright light. These are called " Baily's beads ," and they are the last bits of light from the disk of the sun shining through the valleys on the edge of the moon.

"And as they go out, their disappearance is a signal that it is now safe to remove the filters and look at the sun without a protective filter," he explains.

As soon as the sun starts to re-emerge, the glasses need to immediately go back on.

"It is possible to observe the eclipse in perfect safety," says Chou, who has seen 19 total solar eclipses.

He encourages people to go out and enjoy an event that won't happen again in the United States until 2044, even as he realizes that some people will be too fearful of eye damage.

"I recognize that there are going to be people who just don't trust the science and just don't trust the public service announcements and are just going to ignore the eclipse as much as they can," says Chou. "It's an unfortunate thing."

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