Assignment Handouts

Students who are writing throughout the semester benefit from a combination of formal and informal writing assignments.  Through formal writing projects, students learn to enact the particular forms of writing integral to the discipline, while informal writing can intensify their engagement with the course material and prepare their thinking for the more formal assignments.

Instructors should provide a thorough written explanation of each assignment, either in the syllabus or in a separate handout, to help students understand how to complete it successfully. 

Faculty proposing a W-course must provide two complete writing assignments.  These documents should:

• Explain the purpose of the assignment, in relation to the trajectory of the course and/or the intellectual work of the discipline.
• Describe briefly a process for successfully completing the assignment.
• Make explicit the instructor’s expectations regarding form, style, and content.
• Identify the criteria by which the writing will be evaluated.