"What's the assignment you're working on?" is one of the first questions Writing Center tutors ask as they begin a writing conference. After the writer explains the writing task, the tutor may ask to see the assignment sheet to check whether the student's explanation fits the assignment. Assignment sheets help students who are visual learners, and all students benefit from having the sheet to refer to as they work on a paper. Although they vary depending on the discipline and the particular writing task, most assignment sheets include some of the following elements:
Topic: The instructor may ask a question or present a problem. Some give a thesis to support or refute. Others use specific words such as compare and contrast or explain to let students know what to write about. Too many subquestions may confuse students who try to answer each one ("Creating Effective Writing Assignments").
Purpose: What do you want the students to learn from this particular assignment? What course objectives does the assignment fulfill? Michael Nelson, history professor, lists the following objectives for his book reviews in American Military History: "to show me that you have comprehended the material, to provide the opportunity to discuss (synthesize, analyze, evaluate) the material, [and] to improve your writing and critical thinking skills."
Audience or readers: Consider asking students to write from "a position of power to audiences who know less about the topic than the writer or whose views on the topic differ from the writer's" (Bean 84). How much does the audience know about the subject? Is the audience likely to share the writer's views or not?
Process: What are the stages for drafting and review? Is a first draft due on a certain date for peer review in class, for a conference with the teacher or in the Writing Center, or for written comments to guide revision? When is the polished draft due? Give due dates and the penalties for late papers.
Are there techniques that the instructor would recommend in writing this paper? The finished format order, for instance, is not always the order in which the writing should be done. Informal writing may be done first and rearranged later for a reader. Assigning long papers as a sequence of shorter assignments that faculty can collect during the semester is an excellent way to prevent plagiarism and last minute papers, according to Barbara Walvoord in Helping Students Write Well (71-75).
Religion professor Robert Bryant's handout on writing a biblical exegesis includes suggestions for procedure from reading the text in several translations to analyzing the form, key concepts, and context.
Grace Yeuell also includes a recommended research process in her biblical exegesis assignment for New Testament Survey, followed by a description of the structure of the final paper. Peter Hobbie, another member of the Religion Department, includes a sample outline and urges his students to use outlines at some point in the writing process.
Format:
How should the paper look? Instructors include requirements such
as these:
*required minimum and/or maximum number of words
or pages;
*fonts and size, spacing, page numbers, stapling,
margins, and name placement;
*a cover page, the use of headings, or the structure
of the finished paper.
Documentation: Many professors specify the documentation style of their discipline for papers, such as MLA, APA, or Turabian. Hobbie provides a handout on when and how to cite, and sociology professor Robert Freymeyer gives footnoting and referencing guidelines with examples of the American Sociological Review style. Many offer advice on the use of quotations and paraphrasing and ways to avoid plagiarism.
Information about sources: Some professors require a specific number or type of sources. They may recommend particular library resources or Internet sites. Some ask for a printout or photocopy of an article or the first page of a Web site. Bryant includes a suggested bibliography for his exegesis assignment.
Criteria for Evaluation: Listing the criteria for evaluation on the assignment sheet shows students what to work for in writing and guides students in peer evaluation groups. Students should be aware of how much content will count and how much the professor will consider the quality of writing. Jane Ellis includes the Biology Department's rubric for evaluating the senior seminar papers in her syllabus.
Eric Johnson's assignments, given in his syllabi for Child
Psychology and Adolescent Psychology, include a grading rubric
which addresses specific features of each assignment: the quality
and number of research sources; the integration of the library
research and the interview; the presentation of multiple perspectives
as well as a particular conclusion; evidence of critical thinking;
well-organized, logical writing with good word choice; and strong
grammar and spelling.
Some professors list their particular concerns (or should we say
"pet peeves") with mechanics, grammar, and style. English
professor Dean Thompson, for instance, asks for "present tense throughout,
avoidance of I and you, no vague pronoun references
(watch for this), a brilliantly creative title, [and] tears
or drops of sweat scattered throughout the essay." Anita Gustafson suggests that her history students use simple
past tense of verbs and avoid the passive voice.
Mention of the Writing Center: On each assignment sheet many faculty members encourage writing conferences on and include our location in Neville 206 and phone number 7083. Gustafson, for instance, includes this statement: "Take advantage of this valuable resource. Make an appointment to talk through any part of the paper-writing process from discussing your general strategies to polishing your final draft."
Most professors introduce the assignment sheet orally, as English professor Terry Barr says, "to provide further explanation and clarification." His colleague Thompson adds, "Plus any instructor who doesn't allow time for all sorts of questions about the topics is asking for trouble later on."
Bean, John C. Engaging Ideas: The Professor's
Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking,
and Active Learning in the Classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass,
1996.
"Creating Effective Writing Assignments."
1999. MIT Online Writing and Communication Center.
6 Feb. 2002 <http://web.mit.edu/writing/Faculty/createeffective.html>.
Walvoord, Barbara E. Fassler. Helping
Students Write Well: A Guide for Teachers in All
Disciplines. 2nd ed. NY: MLA, 1986.
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