Designing Effective
Writing Assignments
Karla Saari Kitalong, English
New Faculty Orientation
August 15, 2007
The point
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Assignment design influences students’
thinking and writing processes.
When planning assignments, consider
not only the course learning goals but
also the thinking, learning, and writing
processes you want to invoke.
15 Aug 2007
New Faculty Orientation -Kitalong
Resources
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Writing Across the Curriculum Clearinghouse
http://wac.colostate.edu/index.cfm
Bedford/St. Martins Professional Resources
(http://bedfordstmartins.com)
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Hedengren, B. A TA’s Guide to Teaching Writing in All Disciplines.
2004.
Gottschalk, K. and K. Hjortshoj. The Elements of Teaching Writing:
A Resource for Instructors in All Disciplines. 2004.
University Writing Center www.uwc.ucf.edu
Bean, John C. Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to Integrating
Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom.
Jossey-Bass, 2001 (www.josseybass.com).
Karla Saari Kitalong, Director of Writing Programs
kitalong@mail.ucf.edu
15 Aug 2007
New Faculty Orientation -Kitalong
One Minute Paper:
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If time and resources were unlimited,
what kinds of writing would you assign
your students to do?
Why are these writing assignments
important to your students’ learning?
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New Faculty Orientation -Kitalong
Writing is…
a complex activity or practice
 a process as well as a product
 a learning activity
 a communications activity
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New Faculty Orientation -Kitalong
Challenges of Teaching Writing
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Writing problems are numerous and varied.
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Much of what an accomplished writer knows
about writing remains tacit.
• Solutions may be discipline specific.
• Tacit knowledge is (arguably) best communicated
through apprenticeship.
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New Faculty Orientation -Kitalong
Writing to Perform/Communicate
(Transactional Writing)
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Formal papers prepared over weeks or
months.
Model format and style of professional
papers in the discipline.
Graded primarily on content.
Expect standard format, logical
organization, mechanical correctness.
Can involve interim drafts, peer review.
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New Faculty Orientation -Kitalong
Writing to Learn
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Informal (short, impromptu) writing tasks
Help students understand concepts or
ideas.
Often limited to five minutes of class time or
assigned as out-of-class assignments.
Active learning, sometimes collaborative.
One minute paper; think-pair-share; online
discussion or blog entry.
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New Faculty Orientation -Kitalong
Effective Writing Assignments:
Getting Started
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Start with a clear goal that YOU can
express. “What does this writing task
accomplish for students?”
Visualize the final product and think
backwards. "What do I want to read at
the end of this assignment? How can we
get there?”
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New Faculty Orientation -Kitalong
Written Assignment Sheet
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Tie the writing to specific course goals.
Note rhetorical aspects of the task
(audience, purpose, situation).
Make all elements of the task clear.
Include grading criteria.
Break the task into manageable steps
and allow for multiple drafts.
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New Faculty Orientation -Kitalong
Unnecessary Challenges
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Incomplete assignments (not written down;
deadlines, format, grading rubric not specified).
Complex assignments (too many questions to
consider; hard to find “the” question; overly
detailed structure).
Vague assignments (provide general
imperatives such as discuss, analyze instead
of focused questions).
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New Faculty Orientation -Kitalong
Focus the Question
CONFUSING: In the graveyard scene of Hamlet, Shakespeare
alters his sources by adding the clownish gravediggers. How
does the presence of the gravediggers influence your
interpretation of the scene? Do you think they are funny?
Absurd? Blasphemous? How does Hamlet’s attitude toward
the gravediggers affect the scene? Do you think it is
appropriate to sing while digging a grave? What about the jokes
they tell? Do you think that Yorick was more like the
gravediggers or more like Hamlet? Do you think it is
appropriate to have a lighthearted moment like this in the
middle of a tragedy? Is the scene really lighthearted?
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New Faculty Orientation -Kitalong
Focus the Question
BETTER: In the graveyard scene of Hamlet,
Shakespeare alters his sources by adding the clownish
gravediggers. How does the presence of the
gravediggers influence your interpretation of the
scene?
15 Aug 2007
New Faculty Orientation -Kitalong
Suggest a Proposition
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This proposed bridge design does / does not meet the criteria set forth
by the city in its request for proposal. [civil engineering]
“The path to holiness lies through questioning everything.” Agree or
disagree. [religious studies]
Based on the attached case, the nurse supervisor should/should not
honor the husband’s request that his wife (a stroke victim) be assigned
a new nurse. [nursing]
Global warming is / is not a significant environmental threat at this
time. [environmental biology]
When the tablecloth was pulled from underneath the dishes, the
dishes stayed on the table. Why? [physics exam]
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New Faculty Orientation -Kitalong
Guide Them to a Proposition
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Write an essay of no more than two double-spaced pages answering the
following question: Is a skilled trout fisher on a variable interval or a variable
ratio schedule or reinforcement? Imagine that you are writing to a classmate
who has missed the last week of lectures and finds the textbook explanations of
“variable interval” and “variable ratio” confusing. [Psychology]
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Gauss’s law relates the field at the surface to the charge inside the surface.
But surely the field at the surface is affected by the charges outside the surface.
How do you resolve this difficulty? [Physics]
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Choose a question that Plato answers in one way and Aristotle answers in a
different way (for example, “How do things change?”) Then, in the first part of
your paper, explain to your reader the differences in these two theories. In the
second part of your paper, evaluate the two positions, arguing that one position
is stronger than the other. In this section, specifically answer the following
question: What situation or thing does one theory explain well that the other
cannot explain adequately? [Philosophy]
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New Faculty Orientation -Kitalong
They Choose a Proposition
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Write an essay of X pages on any topic related to this course.
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Use the introduction of your essay to engage your reader’s interest in
a problem or question that you would like to address in your essay.
Show your reader what makes the question both significant and
problematic.
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The body of your essay should be your own response to this question
made as persuasive as possible through appropriate analysis and
argumentation, including effective use of evidence.
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Midway through the course, you will submit to the instructor a
prospectus that describes the problem or question that you plan to
address and shows why the question is (1) problematic and (2)
significant.
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New Faculty Orientation -Kitalong
Focus the Question:
Discuss the use of pesticides in controlling mosquitoes.
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New Faculty Orientation -Kitalong
Focus the Question
LESS EFFECTIVE: Discuss the use of pesticides in
controlling mosquitoes.
MORE EFFECTIVE: What are the pros and cons of using
pesticides to control mosquitoes?
Or
Which pesticides (if any) would you recommend using to
control pesticides in the attached case, and why?
15 Aug 2007
New Faculty Orientation -Kitalong
What we know about writing in the disciplines
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Writing
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promotes learning
is the responsibility of the entire academic community
must be integrated across departmental boundaries
The best writing instruction
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is continuous throughout undergraduate education
Effective writing within a discipline
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requires practicing the conventions of that discipline.
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New Faculty Orientation -Kitalong
Finishing Up
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Jot down some notes for a formal or
informal writing assignment you could try
in one of your classes.
What learning goals does the
assignment fulfill?
How will you assess the assignment?
15 Aug 2007
New Faculty Orientation -Kitalong