Planning for student writing:
Considering the Writing and
Research Portions of Your
Assignments
Laura Aull and Rosalind Tedford
Considering the Writing Portion of Your
Assignments
Laura Aull
aulll@wfu.edu
CONSIDERING YOUR COURSE GOALS
RELATED TO WRITING
OR: WHY DO STUDENTS WRITE IN
YOUR COURSE?
Why do students write in your course/s?
• To use the terminology of a particular field?
• Identification, Application [Report, Response]
• To map out the major ideas and figures of a topic,
body of literature, or field?
• Summary, Review [Literature Review]
• To apply a particular heuristic or methodological
approach?
• Application (+) [Analysis, Lab Report]
• To design an appropriate research question or
project?
• Invention, Evaluation [Proposal]
Why do students write in your course/s?
• To describe original research?
• Description (Review, Analysis) [Report,
Conference Paper]
• To develop and organize an argument (about a
topic)?
• Argumentation [Editorial]
• To engage a scholarly and/or public conversation
with their own perspective?
• Analysis, Summary, Argumentation
[Argumentative Essay]
• To gain practice with a variety of stages and/or
genres in the field?
Consider reading and writing exercises and
assignments that will especially achieve these
goals; e.g.,
• If you want students to write in a variety of stages of a research
and/or writing process:
• Few or one assignment with several steps (steps evaluated,
conventions evaluated)
• If you want students to use terminology and polished prose
• One to few genres (language evaluated)
• If you want students to engage with sources and
argumentation
• One to few genres (argumentation and source integration
evaluated)
• If you want students to apply a method or heuristic
• Imitative exercises, models, and non-models (application
evaluated)
Planning for individual
writing assignments
In the writing portion of an assignment, students should
have a sense of the following:
•
• Central goals for the assignment in terms of content
and skills.
• What not to do (what is not the central goal; how
students should not approach the assignment).
• Models or examples that offer some insight into what
they are being asked to do.
• Possible steps for how they might start the project
meaningfully.
Five considerations for
realizing these goals
1. Consider your primary goal/s
Consider your primary goal/s in terms of content (e.g.,
engagement with a particular concept or text) and skills (e.g.,
close analysis; synthesis of secondary sources).
b. Ensure this goal fits within the parameters of the single
assignment and speaks to the larger goals of the course and
the order in which they are being addressed.
c. Consider how to state and elucidate primary goal/s in the
assignment description, for example, via verbs and
nominalizations.
a.
1. Consider your primary goal/s
(c) Consider how to state and elucidate primary goal/s in the assignment
description, for example, via verbs and nominalizations.
Ex: Examine Ouchi’s view of the Japanese work ethic of collectivism.
Application of a concept or theory: Apply Ouchi’s view of the Japanese
work ethic of collectivism to a conflict you have experienced in a U.S.
context. Is Ouchi’s view a viable framework for this U.S. situation? Why or
why not?
VS.
Analysis of an argument: Analyze Ouchi’s view of the Japanese work
ethic of collectivism. Is this a valuable way of thinking about teamwork
versus individualism? Why or why not?
VS.
Review of scholarship: Review scholarly responses to Ouchi’s view of
the Japanese work ethic of collectivism, especially focusing on an aspect
or application of interest to you. What are the uses and limitations of
Ouchi’s view?
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2. Consider your primary goal/s
The Spanish Tragedy and Edward II were written during a time
in which there existed two distinct models of marriage: the
arranged marriage and the companionate marriage. […]
Write an essay in which you compare and contrast the way that
Bel-Imperia in The Spanish Tragedy and Isabella in Edward II
respectively uphold or undermine a particular moral order
relative to love (or marriage) and the interests of the individual
against those of the state. You as a reader will need to decide
how the play represents morality or immorality, the idea of
individual tragedy, revenge, reason of state, obedience, etc.
•
•
• Questions students might have: 1. how many of the final representations to
address; 2. whether the comparative analysis of the two characters, or the
representation of a larger theme in each of the plays, should figure more
prominently; 3. how the two distinct models of marriage should figure into
discussion of the larger themes mentioned at the end of the prompt.
The Spanish Tragedy and Edward II were written during a time
in which there existed two distinct models of marriage: the
arranged marriage and the companionate marriage. […]
Write an essay in which you compare and contrast the way that
Bel-Imperia in The Spanish Tragedy and Isabella in Edward II
respectively uphold or undermine a particular moral order
relative to love (or marriage) and the interests of the individual
against those of the state. Use evidence from your
comparative analysis to suggest how you think each play
represents an idea that is related to arranged versus
companionate marriage, such as morality or immorality, the
idea of individual tragedy, revenge, reason of state, or
obedience.
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•
2. Consider your secondary goals
• Consider 1-2 goals also important or necessary for this
assignment. Consider how to articulate these aims in
your assignment description in a way that shows they are
in service of the foregrounded, central goal.
• Apply Ouchi’s view of the Japanese work ethic of
collectivism to a conflict you have experienced in a U.S.
context. Is Ouchi’s view a viable framework for this
situation? Why or why not? To apply Ouchi’s framework,
you will first need to explain his view in detail for an
audience unfamiliar with it.
• Underscore foregrounding and back grounding in other
things you read in class:
• What is Sandell’s central argument? What is an ancillary claim she uses to make
that central argument? This is like your upcoming assignment, in which you will
create an argument about Isabella in Edward II to help you make a larger
argument about revenge in the play…
3. Offer non-examples
• Offer a non-example of a possible topic or question (e.g.,
one that is too unwieldy or too narrow in scope; one that
emphasizes personal opinion versus textual or scientific
evidence).
• This assignment asks you not only to discuss the representation of religion
in the play but to also specifically analyze the principal actors’ desires in
light of this representation.
• In the scope of a 4-page paper, you will not be able to substantiate a claim
about whether or not digitally-mediated communication has changed the
face of U.S. politics. You could discuss the implications for the use of text
and email messages in Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
• Whereas the first assignment asked you to offer a reading response or
think-piece on a single work, this assignment asks you to offer a more
nuanced and evidence-based argument based on a primary but also
secondary texts.
4. Provide models or guidance
• Consider offering a student model and/or drawing
attention to a reading from the course that showcases a
similar kind of work.
• Help students understand the source types and how to
refer to and depart from texts in their writing
• This practice highlights texts students can consult during
their writing process, but it also underscores metaawareness and synthesis skills.
• Close rhetorical analysis of a short passage versus
treatment of a theme across a complete work
• …Think of this assignment as similar in style and
organization to Nicholas Carr’s article we read, in that he
uses research as a lens to consider personal anecdote.
• Help students understand the source types and how to
refer to and depart from texts in their writing
• In their longitudinal study…x and y show…
• Vs
• In her synchronic analysis, z interrogates…
• Unlike d, who claims that…, I argue
• X exposes a key gap in contemporary research, but he fails
to consider a valuable alternative for how to respond to that
gap: …
-another to a current situation: the potential demise of (serious)
literature—and with it the very concept of a canon…
5. Offer possible first steps
• Offer possible first steps which foreground the process
and goals you most want to emphasize in this
assignment.
• For example, in a research project in which I want
students to conduct an original analysis of contemporary
language use, the following two “initial steps” cast the
assignment differently:
• A
1.
2.
Begin by considering a linguistic argument we have read
that interests you (e.g., Tagliamonte and Denis’ argument
that DMC is a hybrid register; N. Baron’s argument about
contemporary “linguistic whateverism”).
Then consider a genre or two in the Corpus of
Contemporary American English in which you can “test”
this argument. Begin to explore and hone your focus
using COCA.
5. Offer possible first steps
(cont)
• B.
1.
2.
Begin by considering a linguistic feature that interests
you within contemporary American English (e.g., charged
modifiers [how do the modifiers used to describe “war”
change before and after 9/11?]; or word collocations
[what words most often co-occur with Republican vs.
Democrat]?)
Then begin to consider more pointedly what we have
read in the course vis-à-vis your observations. Begin to
hone your focus according to what has or has not been
addressed by scholars previously.
5. Offer possible first steps (final)
• If an assignment is more straightforward in terms of its aim
(e.g., applying a method), offer possible steps that will help
direct students’ writing; E.g., (Conversation transcription and
analysis:
• On a second copy of the transcription, you should mark up the text
for cohesive ties and for discourse markers.
• Using colored pencils (or pens) and a color-coding system (where
each kind of tie gets a color), identify all the different kinds of
cohesive ties: reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction, lexical
cohesion (see pp. 279-284 in the textbook). Draw connecting lines
and/or arrows as appropriate. Also provide a key.
• Using a different color, circle or underline all the discourse markers
(e.g., you know, I mean, well, now, and, so, like). Remember,
these tend to occur on the periphery of the discourse/utterances
(but not always).
• Considering adding other marginal notes pointing to other features
in the discourse that you will not write about.
A Recap
Consider why students write in your courses
Consider how each assignment can achieve part (or all) of
this aim
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Consider and foreground primary goals
Consider and articulate secondary goals
Offer non-examples
Provide models or guidance
Offer possible first steps
A quick addendum
regarding evaluation
• Consider the message of primarily (or solely) edit-level
guidelines and evaluation.
• Consider what evaluation possibilities best emphasize
and reinforce your goals for the assignment.
Example evaluation
Rhetorical Awareness:
Choices vis-à-vis audience, approach, and medium/ia of the task,
including intellectual risks.
Stance:
Central position in terms of its of viability, unity, and uniqueness.
Support:
Selection and explanation of findings and evidence in support of central
position.
Organization:
Structure of ideas and findings, from introduction to conclusion, in terms of
rhetorical progression and clarity.
Conventions:
Usage standards and discourse conventions, including presentation of
findings and citation practices, in ways that not only do not undermine the
claims but also enhance and advance an argument.
Describing the Research Portion of
An Assignment
Rosalind Tedford
Director of Research and Instruction
ZSR Library
Where Students Struggle
• Where research fits into course goals or
larger assignment
• Definitions
• Developing topics that are 'researchable'
• Number of sources
• Types of acceptable sources
• Using sources and citations
• Focusing on the minor things at the
expense of the major ones
Research in the Larger Assignment
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Is research primary or ancillary to the
assignment?
In which parts of the paper do you expect
to see secondary sources referenced?
What is the purpose of the assignment?
Is this personal reflection? Analysis?
Historical? Literature Review?
How will the research be assessed?
Quantity? Quality? Incorporation?
(Rubrics can help here)
Definitions are your friends
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"Web Sources"
"Primary" and "Secondary" sources
"Literature Review"
"Peer Review"
"Scholarly"
"Credible"
Source types (e.g. longitudinal study,
polemic, meta-analysis, critique)
Developing Topics
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Free range is NOT a gift
Give them sample topics (or better yet
questions)
Give them a framework into which a
variety of topics might fit
Give them sample inappropriate topics or
questions
Model topics that are appropriate for the
course level AND the length of the paper
Some examples of prompts
• In the paper you may:
• Compare or contrast two speeches OR
• Take exception to a speaker’s argument
• For your paper you will select a country and:
• Analyze at least one major challenge it faces OR
• Discuss the major institutional features that characterize its democracy OR
• Discuss the major challenges it has faced in its democratic transition
• Select an immigrant group in the United States and examine:
• The ways they form identity OR
• The role of (family, religion, food) in their culture and assimilation (or lack
thereof) OR
• How their identities have changed over time
• Select a work of art we have studied in class and
• Discuss how it is typical or atypical of the artist who created it OR
• Compare it to a work on the same subject from a different artist OR
• Discuss what elements it owes to other artists
Number of Sources
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Range (rather than explicit number)
Rule of thumb:
# of pages = # of sources
If you feel compelled to require or to limit
the number of a particular type of source
give a reason for that and understand the
consequences – students tend to focus
on the ‘kind’ of source and not the
‘appropriateness’ of the source.
Types of Acceptable Sources
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"Web Sources" means nothing
Possible sources to mention:
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Background or Context sources
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Books (are eBooks ok?)
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Journals (peer reviewed or scholarly)
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Newspaper
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Magazines (differentiate between Cosmo and
Economist)
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Non-Profits, NGOs, IGOs, Gov't Documents,
Think Tanks, etc.
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Statistics or other data
Date restrictions??
Using and Citing Sources
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How do you expect them to use the
sources?
List specific acceptable citation
formats (free range is not helpful) OR
just pick one for them
There are 2 Chicago Styles
How picky will you be?
Do you expect URLs in bibliography?
Examples are very helpful
Final Thoughts on Research
• Students don’t always procrastinate because they are
lazy – they often put off beginning a paper because they
are overwhelmed and/or because there is no clear
starting point for them.
• Students often get bogged down in the details of number
of pages, types/number of sources at the expense of
focusing on the appropriateness of sources for their
paper. The more you focus on those details, the more
important they think they are to you.
• Having students work on the paper in stages can help
you get better papers in the end.
• Librarians are your partners in developing the research
project description as well as your students’ partners in
doing the research.
Questions?
Laura Aull
aulll@wfu.edu
Roz Tedford
tedforrl@wfu.edu