Writing Assignments

Writing Assignments

What follows is a non-exhaustive set of writing assignment types organized by audience and general use (writing-to-communicate, writing-to-think, etc.).

Writing to Communicate to Professor (writing to show what has been learned)
One theory that has a great deal of support in the writing pedagogy community is that, when possible, for the purpose of motivation, writing in this category should actually be assigned as writing in the next category (writing to communicate to others). That is, writing simply to show professor what has been learned should be avoided. Instead, an external audience (ex: general public, a specific group, other professionals, et al.) should be indicated, and the audience-appropriate conventions for style should apply. Yes, there are situations where this advice cannot or should not apply. 

  1. Research Paper – typically 10-15 pages of synthesized research in response to an appropriately-scoped research question or hypothesis.  
  2. Question/Response – informal responses of any length to questions posed by the instructor. If it needs to be called an exam, then call it an exam. 
  3. Case Study – an analysis of a single, highly-detailed situation, real world or hypothetical.  
  4. Research Proposal – a proposal for a research project. Formal proposals include introduction (justification, background, literature review), research goals (research question/statement and/or hypotheses), and proposed methods. Informal proposals may be as simple as fill-in-the-form. 
  5. Summary/Review – 
  6. How It Works
  7. Literature Review
  8. What We Need to Know
  9. Response/Rebuttal
  10. Lesson Plan
  11. Ethical Analysis (formal)
  12. Conversation

Writing to Communicate to Others (writing toward a specified audience that is not the instructor)

  1. Research Paper/Report
  2. Exploratory Essay
  3. Argumentative Essay (persuasive, synthesis, hybrid)
  4. Expository Essay
  5. Personal Essay
  6. Creative Writing (poetry, creative non-fiction, short story, novel, script, etc.)
  7. Project Reports (e.g. Progress, Feasibility) 
  8. Letter (esp. with specific stakeholder audience)
  9. Instructions
  10. Report-to-Speech

Writing to Learn/Think: Writing to Prepare

  1. Creative
  2. Where I Stand
  3. Ethical Analysis (informal)
  4. Question/Response
  5. Who’s Your Reader?
  6. Reading Response/Notes
  7. How It Works (informal)
  8. Justification of Structure/Organization

Writing to Learn/Think: Writing toward Self-Awareness

  1. Letter to Future (self, children, generations)
  2. Journaling
  3. Bias Exploration (perhaps based on informal position survey)
  4. Heuristic Exploration 
  5. Reflection
  6. Creative Writing
  7. Private Rebuttal
  8. This I Know/Don’t Know/Not Sure About

Writing to Learn/Think: Writing to Understand

  1. Summary of Reading (informal)
  2. Reading Notes
  3. Reading Response
  4. Big Question Explication (e.g. “What is Capitalism in one paragraph?” – more as preparation and motivation toward the course material than prep for an assignment)
  5. Big Situation Explication – same thing, but more about situation (e.g. “Why did Putin invade Ukraine?” – on the spot writing, no sources)

 

Help

  1. The Writing Center
  2. An Effective Peer Review
  3. A Step-by-Step Guide for Revision
  4. A Teaching Rubric (different from a scoring rubric)
  5. Workshop Groups