• ...is an important factor/concept/idea/ to consider because...
• … will be argued/outlined in this paper.
Once you have finished writing your first draft it is recommended that you spend time revising your work. Proofreading and editing are two different stages of the revision process.
As can be seen in the figure above there are four main areas that you should review during the editing phase of the revision process. The main things to consider when editing include content, structure, style, and sources. It is important to check that all the content relates to the assignment task, the structure is appropriate for the purposes of the assignment, the writing is academic in style, and that sources have been adequately acknowledged. Use the checklist below when editing your work.
Editing checklist
There are also several key things to look out for during the proofreading phase of the revision process. In this stage it is important to check your work for word choice, grammar and spelling, punctuation and referencing errors. It can be easy to mis-type words like ‘from’ and ‘form’ or mix up words like ‘trail’ and ‘trial’ when writing about research, apply American rather than Australian spelling, include unnecessary commas or incorrectly format your references list. The checklist below is a useful guide that you can use when proofreading your work.
Proofreading checklist
This chapter has examined the experience of writing assignments. It began by focusing on how to read and break down an assignment question, then highlighted the key components of essays. Next, it examined some techniques for paraphrasing and summarising, and how to build an argument. It concluded with a discussion on planning and structuring your assignment and giving it that essential polish with editing and proof-reading. Combining these skills and practising them, can greatly improve your success with this very common form of assessment.
Academic Skills Centre. (2013). Writing an introduction and conclusion . University of Canberra, accessed 13 August, 2013, http://www.canberra.edu.au/studyskills/writing/conclusions
Balkis, M., & Duru, E. (2016). Procrastination, self-regulation failure, academic life satisfaction, and affective well-being: underregulation or misregulation form. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 31 (3), 439-459.
Custer, N. (2018). Test anxiety and academic procrastination among prelicensure nursing students. Nursing education perspectives, 39 (3), 162-163.
Yerdelen, S., McCaffrey, A., & Klassen, R. M. (2016). Longitudinal examination of procrastination and anxiety, and their relation to self-efficacy for self-regulated learning: Latent growth curve modeling. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 16 (1).
Writing Assignments Copyright © 2021 by Kate Derrington; Cristy Bartlett; and Sarah Irvine is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.
Prepared by allison boye, ph.d. teaching, learning, and professional development center.
Assessment is a necessary part of the teaching and learning process, helping us measure whether our students have really learned what we want them to learn. While exams and quizzes are certainly favorite and useful methods of assessment, out of class assignments (written or otherwise) can offer similar insights into our students' learning. And just as creating a reliable test takes thoughtfulness and skill, so does creating meaningful and effective assignments. Undoubtedly, many instructors have been on the receiving end of disappointing student work, left wondering what went wrong… and often, those problems can be remedied in the future by some simple fine-tuning of the original assignment. This paper will take a look at some important elements to consider when developing assignments, and offer some easy approaches to creating a valuable assessment experience for all involved.
First Things First…
Before assigning any major tasks to students, it is imperative that you first define a few things for yourself as the instructor:
In his book Engaging Ideas (1996), John Bean provides a great list of questions to help instructors focus on their main teaching goals when creating an assignment (p.78):
1. What are the main units/modules in my course?
2. What are my main learning objectives for each module and for the course?
3. What thinking skills am I trying to develop within each unit and throughout the course?
4. What are the most difficult aspects of my course for students?
5. If I could change my students' study habits, what would I most like to change?
6. What difference do I want my course to make in my students' lives?
What your students need to know
Once you have determined your own goals for the assignment and the levels of your students, you can begin creating your assignment. However, when introducing your assignment to your students, there are several things you will need to clearly outline for them in order to ensure the most successful assignments possible.
A great way to get students engaged with an assignment and build buy-in is to encourage their collaboration on its design and/or on the grading criteria (Hudd, 2003). In his article “Conducting Writing Assignments,” Richard Leahy (2002) offers a few ideas for building in said collaboration:
• Ask the students to develop the grading scale themselves from scratch, starting with choosing the categories.
• Set the grading categories yourself, but ask the students to help write the descriptions.
• Draft the complete grading scale yourself, then give it to your students for review and suggestions.
A Few Do's and Don'ts…
Determining your goals for the assignment and its essential logistics is a good start to creating an effective assignment. However, there are a few more simple factors to consider in your final design. First, here are a few things you should do :
Next are a few elements to avoid in your assignments:
The assignments we give to students don't simply have to be research papers or reports. There are many options for effective yet creative ways to assess your students' learning! Here are just a few:
Journals, Posters, Portfolios, Letters, Brochures, Management plans, Editorials, Instruction Manuals, Imitations of a text, Case studies, Debates, News release, Dialogues, Videos, Collages, Plays, Power Point presentations
Ultimately, the success of student responses to an assignment often rests on the instructor's deliberate design of the assignment. By being purposeful and thoughtful from the beginning, you can ensure that your assignments will not only serve as effective assessment methods, but also engage and delight your students. If you would like further help in constructing or revising an assignment, the Teaching, Learning, and Professional Development Center is glad to offer individual consultations. In addition, look into some of the resources provided below.
Online Resources
“Creating Effective Assignments” http://www.unh.edu/teaching-excellence/resources/Assignments.htm This site, from the University of New Hampshire's Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, provides a brief overview of effective assignment design, with a focus on determining and communicating goals and expectations.
Gardner, T. (2005, June 12). Ten Tips for Designing Writing Assignments. Traci's Lists of Ten. http://www.tengrrl.com/tens/034.shtml This is a brief yet useful list of tips for assignment design, prepared by a writing teacher and curriculum developer for the National Council of Teachers of English . The website will also link you to several other lists of “ten tips” related to literacy pedagogy.
“How to Create Effective Assignments for College Students.” http:// tilt.colostate.edu/retreat/2011/zimmerman.pdf This PDF is a simplified bulleted list, prepared by Dr. Toni Zimmerman from Colorado State University, offering some helpful ideas for coming up with creative assignments.
“Learner-Centered Assessment” http://cte.uwaterloo.ca/teaching_resources/tips/learner_centered_assessment.html From the Centre for Teaching Excellence at the University of Waterloo, this is a short list of suggestions for the process of designing an assessment with your students' interests in mind. “Matching Learning Goals to Assignment Types.” http://teachingcommons.depaul.edu/How_to/design_assignments/assignments_learning_goals.html This is a great page from DePaul University's Teaching Commons, providing a chart that helps instructors match assignments with learning goals.
Additional References Bean, J.C. (1996). Engaging ideas: The professor's guide to integrating writing, critical thinking, and active learning in the classroom . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Fitzpatrick, R. (1989). Research and writing assignments that reduce fear lead to better papers and more confident students. Writing Across the Curriculum , 3.2, pp. 15 – 24.
Flaxman, R. (2005). Creating meaningful writing assignments. The Teaching Exchange . Retrieved Jan. 9, 2008 from http://www.brown.edu/Administration/Sheridan_Center/pubs/teachingExchange/jan2005/01_flaxman.pdf
Hass, M. & Osborn, J. (2007, August 13). An emic view of student writing and the writing process. Across the Disciplines, 4.
Hedengren, B.F. (2004). A TA's guide to teaching writing in all disciplines . Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.
Hudd, S. S. (2003, April). Syllabus under construction: Involving students in the creation of class assignments. Teaching Sociology , 31, pp. 195 – 202.
Leahy, R. (2002). Conducting writing assignments. College Teaching , 50.2, pp. 50 – 54.
Miller, H. (2007). Designing effective writing assignments. Teaching with writing . University of Minnesota Center for Writing. Retrieved Jan. 9, 2008, from http://writing.umn.edu/tww/assignments/designing.html
MIT Online Writing and Communication Center (1999). Creating Writing Assignments. Retrieved January 9, 2008 from http://web.mit.edu/writing/Faculty/createeffective.html .
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In order to help our students best engage with the writing tasks we assign them, we need as a program to scaffold the assignments with not only effectively designed activities, but equally effectively designed assignment sheets that clearly explain the learning objectives, purpose, and logistics for the assignment.
As a program, instructors should compose assignment sheets that contain the following elements.
A clear description of the assignment and its purpose . How does this assignment contribute to their development as writers in this class, and perhaps beyond? What is the genre of the assignment? (e.g., some students will be familiar with rhetorical analysis, some will not).
Learning objectives for the assignment . The learning objectives for each assignment are available on the TeachingWriting website. While you might include others objectives, or tweak the language of these a bit to fit with how you teach rhetoric, these objectives should appear in some form on the assignment sheet and should be echoed in your rubric.
Due dates or timeline, including dates for drafts . This should include specific times and procedures for turning in drafts. You should also indicate dates for process assignments and peer review if they are different from the main assignment due dates.
Details about format (including word count, documentation form) . This might also be a good place to remind them of any technical specifications (even if you noted them on the syllabus).
Discussion of steps of the process. These might be “suggested” to avoid the implication that there is one best way to achieve a rhetorical analysis.
Evaluation criteria / grading rubric that is in alignment with learning objectives . While the general PWR evaluation criteria is a good starting place, it is best to customize your rubric to the specific purposes of your assignment, ideally incorporating some of the language from the learning goals. In keeping with PWR’s elevation of rhetoric over rules, it’s generally best to avoid rubrics that assign specific numbers of points to specific features of the text since that suggests a fairly narrow range of good choices for students’ rhetorical goals. (This is not to say that points shouldn’t be used: it’s just more in the spirit of PWR’s rhetorical commitments to use them holistically.)
Canvas offers an "assignment" function you can use to share assignment sheet information with students. It provides you with the opportunity to upload a rubric in conjunction with assignment details; to create an upload space for student work (so they can upload assignments directly to Canvas); to link the assignment submissions to Speedgrader, Canvas's internal grading platform; and to sync your assigned grades with the gradebook. While these are very helpful features, don't hesitate to reach out to the Canvas Help team or our ATS for support when you set them up for the first time. In addition, you should always provide students with access to a separate PDF assignment sheet. Don't just embed the information in the Canvas assignment field; if students have trouble accessing Canvas for any reason (Canvas outage; tech issues), they won't be able to access that information.
In addition, you might creating video mini-overviews or "talk-throughs" of your assignments. These should serve as supplements to the assignment sheets, not as a replacement for them.
Check out some examples of Stanford instructors' assignment sheets via the links below. Note that these links will route you to our Canvas PWR Program Materials site, so you must have access to the Canvas page in order to view these files:
See examples of rhetorical analysis assignment sheets
See examples of texts in conversation assignment sheets
See examples of research-based argument assignment sheets
Further reading on assignment sheets
What is assignment in education? Assignment meaning is the tasks given to students by their teachers and tutors to complete in a defined time. They can also be referred to as the work given to someone as a part of learning. Assignments can be in the form of written, practical, art or fieldwork, or even online. Their purpose is to ensure that students understand the subject matter thoroughly.
Generally, students are assigned a task as a part of their homework. The allocation of assignments is not only restricted to a class or subject but this method can be applied at any stage of life. They are a great way to judge the ability and understanding of an individual towards a subject matter.
The culture of providing homework starts from kindergarten in various forms. Small children are asked to read and write what they learn in the class. Students in the higher class are given work as a part of their revision exercise and help them prepare for exams. Individuals doing honors write journals as a part of an assignment that determines their knowledge in that subject.
The structure of assignments depends upon the nature of the task and subject. They must be well-researched, including case studies or examples within a proper framework. These studies are useful for students to achieve the desired examination results. It also helps them to concentrate better on education. Knowing what is assignment in education helps teachers assess students better.
Importance of Assignments
Giving assignments to the students is a crucial part of student assessment. The importance of giving assignments to the students is discussed in detail below:
Since assignments are deadline-based, they help students take responsibility and manage time. The work assigned to students may be individual or group activities, or both, to develop teamwork in them.
The above-mentioned information gives us a context of assignment meaning and its importance to the students. Assignments provide a basis for the student assessment and should be given timely.
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IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
nment. Some people find it easiest to write the introduction first, whereas others leave it until. the end. Neither approach is right or wrong, so write the assignment in whichever order feels best. for you. The introduction might be up to around 10% of the word count (e.g. up to 200 words for a 2000 word ass.
1. Read the assignment carefully as soon as you receive it. Do not put this task off—reading the assignment at the beginning will save you time, stress, and problems later. An assignment can look pretty straightforward at first, particularly if the instructor has provided lots of information.
2.1 Plan Schedule your work on a particular assignment over a specific period, such a three weeks. Stick to the schedule. 2.2 Consult the prescribed study material- Tutorial letter 101, appropriate study guide and other relevant sources. 2.3 Study the instructions of the assignment and the guidelines- look at the type of an assignment.
hardest thinking, and feel the greatest sense of mastery and. growth, in their writing. Cour. es. and assignments should be planned with this in mi. d. Three principles are paramount:1. Name what you want and imagine students doing itHowever free students are to range and explore in a paper, the general kind of paper you're inviting has com.
Abstract. In all educational levels, teachers assign their students with different activities to practice and reinforce what they have learnt. Further, assignments are valuable educational tools ...
What this handout is about. The first step in any successful college writing venture is reading the assignment. While this sounds like a simple task, it can be a tough one. This handout will help you unravel your assignment and begin to craft an effective response. Much of the following advice will involve translating typical assignment terms ...
Introduction to 'Planning and preparing to write assignments'. This handbook on preparing to write assignments is designed to help you develop your strategies for planning. Hopefully, it will help you to get the most out of your experience of writing at University and provide encouragement for managing this type of assessment.
Assignments are part of the internal evaluation process, which would be of immense value as an additional learning instrument. Many types of assignments can be given to the students such as essays ...
Writing Assignments Kate Derrington; Cristy Bartlett; and Sarah Irvine. Figure 19.1 Assignments are a common method of assessment at university and require careful planning and good quality research. Image by Kampus Production used under CC0 licence. Introduction. Assignments are a common method of assessment at university and require careful planning and good quality research.
ha. you need to work on. 3. Start your research. Identify rele. ant information resources. Start researchi. g your assignment subject. Stay focused on what you need t. know for your assignment. Keep a list of s. ar. hes y. u have conducted.4. Read. When you have started your research, it is also time to start r.
Assignment Writing • The information in this guide outlines some important academic writing conventions. Information regarding a tutor's specific preference or expectation relating to presentation o f your work should be sought from the tutor. • Clarification of points in this guide can be sought from Academic Learning Advisors. To
Writing a syllabus A good start: Course logistics (e.g., meeting location and times) Prerequisites Textbook and other material requirements Topics the course will cover, with or without the schedule. Course assignments Exam dates Grading information Course policies, expectations, and guidelines Honor code and/or plagiarism information.
written assignment types, including research essays, reports, annotated bibliographies and reflective journals • Steps for writing assignments — breaks the assignment writing process into a series of manageable tasks • During semester Student Services offers workshops to help improve your study and assignment writing skills.
assignment instructions, model assignments, and interactions in class. It is also important to talk about key words that define the writing task and to demonstrate what those mean through modeling. Some of these words might be 'evidence,' 'organized,' 'analyze,' 'originality,' or 'voice.' ...
how the assignment relates to the goals of the class. You will also want to explicitly state the type of writing required in this assignment, indicated by a verb: describe, explain, reflect, analyze, evaluate, summarize, argue, narrate, etc. For example: Your assignment is to write a researched argument. The purpose of a researched
ting?Reflective writing is evidence of reflective thinking. n an academic context, reflective thinking usually involves:1 Looking back at something (often an event, i.e. some. hing that happened, but it could also be an idea or object).2 Analysing the event or idea (thinking in depth and from different perspectives, and trying to explain, ften ...
Indent the first line of every paragraph of text 0.5 in. using the tab key or the paragraph-formatting function of your word-processing program. Page numbers: Put a page number in the top right corner of every page, including the title page or cover page, which is page 1. Student papers do not require a running head on any page.
This PDF is a simplified bulleted list, prepared by Dr. Toni Zimmerman from Colorado State University, offering some helpful ideas for coming up with creative assignments. "Learner-Centered Assessment"
Canvas offers an "assignment" function you can use to share assignment sheet information with students. It provides you with the opportunity to upload a rubric in conjunction with assignment details; to create an upload space for student work (so they can upload assignments directly to Canvas); to link the assignment submissions to Speedgrader ...
A writing assignment encompasses any writing task a teacher asks of students that involves one or more of the following thought processes: analysis, evaluation, interpretation, narration, synthesis, reflection, clarification, summarization, creative expression, and application or demonstration of knowledge or learning.
Assignment meaning is the tasks given to students by their teachers and tutors to complete in a defined time. They can also be referred to as the work given to someone as a part of learning. Assignments can be in the form of written, practical, art or fieldwork, or even online. Their purpose is to ensure that students understand the subject ...
What is an assignment prompt?Your assignment prompt is a clear statement of what you expect a student. do to demonstrate learning. Prompts are used for assessments that require a created response, such as writing assignments, oral and visual presentations, digital essays and stories, and.
Rule 1. Name must be comprised of digits, upper case letters, lower case letters, and the underscore character "_". Rule 2. Must begin with a letter or underscore. A good name for a variable is short but suggestive of its role: Circle_Area.
Creating PeerMark assignments guidance: Class and assignment management: Creating and managing QuickMarks, rubrics and grading PeerMark assignments guidance: Grading and feedback: User profile guidance for administrators and instructors: User profile settings. Administrator account settings and migration help: Administrator hub: Release notes ...