Example Assignments and Tips for Teaching Writing
In a liberal arts environment, writing instruction does not reside in a single department; it is the work of the entire faculty. Yet, crafting effective writing assignments that simultaneously accomplish writing and disciplinary goals can be very difficult. And so many successful assignments achieve this success only after many revisions and years of testing in the classroom. Improvements in writing across the curriculum are much faster when professors are able to learn from each others' successes and failures. This page is created with this collective effort in mind. The links below lead to assignments, evaluation forms, and teaching tips that have been created by Carleton professors. Each item is connected to a web discussion with thoughts and feedback from the Carleton community. You are encouraged to post new items, borrow from existing postings, and engage in the discussion!
A note on access: The materials posted through the links below are the intellectual property of their creators. By posting an item, the author implies consent for use by other members in the Carleton community. Access to the postings and the discussion is limited to this community.
The links below will take you to a Caucus discussion devoted to the particular topic you select. Assignments can be added to the discussion as new "threads" or comments can be added to an existing discussion of a posted assignments. But what if I have never used Caucus before?!
Writing Assignments and Evaluation Forms
The links below direct you to sample assignments and evaluation forms. Since assignments are best created with evaluation in mind, evaluation forms and assignments are included side by side, by type of paper in the links that follow.
- Research paper assignments
- Personal reflection pieces
- Technical writing
- Term papers
- Persuasive papers
- Ungraded assignments
- Descriptive assignments based on observation
- Analytical and interpretive assignments
- Narrative assignments
- Critical responses to reading or discussion
- Other
Writing Tips
From grading more quickly to teaching students for whom English is a second language, a whole host of practical suggestions to make the teaching of writing simultaneously more effective and more efficient.
