Writing Diagnostic for a First-year Art History Course
Assignment Context:
A “diagnostic” assignment—which you might call simply a “preliminary” assignment—provides
students with feedback early on in a course. The purpose is to give students a sense of what
skills and knowledge they already have and what they need to develop. It also gives you, as
course instructor, a preliminary sense of what your students are capable of achieving and how
you might tailor your teaching and learning activities to address specific needs or concerns you
identify.
Diagnostic assignments are usually not given a grade that counts towards the final grade
because they take place before learning in a course has begun. You may find a holistic rubric,
such as the one below, is a less intimidating way for you to provide substantive feedback.
However, if you do give students a nominal letter or numerical grade (that is, assign a grade but
don’t include it in the final grade weighting), they can evaluate their progress by comparing it
with grades received later in the term.
Below is a sample diagnostic essay for VISA 1B06 Critical Frameworks for Art History. The
diagnostic was delivered in class prior to a workshop led by the Writing & Learning Centre. The
writing was graded and returned to students and the needs of the students identified by the
diagnostic were used to inform the development of the subsequent workshop.
Assignment:
Name:
“Until one tries to write about it, the work of art remains a sort of aesthetic blur…. After seeing
the work, write about it. You cannot be satisfied for very long in simply putting down what you
felt. You have to go further” (Arthur Danto, Embodied Meanings, 1994). What does “going
further” mean when writing about art?
In the space below, write a brief essay that begins with a claim in answer to the question above.
Provide at least TWO reasons that support your claim and provide evidence to support your
reasons. Use concrete examples rather than abstract generalizations or impressions. You
might begin by thinking about or considering some of the theoretical approaches or
methodologies you’ve studied so far.
SAMPLE
Including writing in your course: a toolkit for faculty
Sample materials and templates may be adapted or developed without limitation. Samples are licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync/4.0/)
Grading Rubric
Quality of Argument
Clarity of Structure
Use of Supporting
Evidence
Quality of Writing
Overall Evaluation:
SAMPLE
Including writing in your course: a toolkit for faculty
Sample materials and templates may be adapted or developed without limitation. Samples are licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync/4.0/)