wp home > junior year writing > sourcebook for instructors > informal assignments
Informal Assignments
There are many kinds of informal writing assignments, from something as informal as a journal that is merely checked off “complete” to shorter, assigned writings that are graded. One of the best ways to consider how informal or shorter assignments might help you meet your course goals is to consider what you hope students will learn or practice in such assignments. The descriptions below are organized by four possible goals with ideas about how informal assignments might help you reach each goal. Any of these assignments could provide the basis for a longer, more formal assignment or could be used only to promote class discussion and/or thinking about course material.
Assignments that help students integrate and analyze course content.
Summaries: Have students summarize the class reading for the day in a single paragraph. Use the summaries as a way to begin class, or as a record of readings to be incorporated into exams or a more formal writing assignment. Or, have students summarize a group of articles, and then write a more formal synthesis and critique of a group of articles at various points in the semester (perhaps at the end of specific units or topics).
“Jargon” Journals: Have students keep a journal of key terms that come up in the readings and/or class lecture. Have them paraphrase a definition in their own language as a way of ensuring that the student has “understood” the term and has acquired something to paraphrase. Such journals would be useful both in checking on student's understanding of material, preparation for exams, or incorporation into other types of writing.
Response to Readings: There are several ways to encourage a critical response to a reading or class topic. One is to use a “double-entry” log in which students separate their approach to the reading in two columns. In the first column, they list summaries, paraphrases, or quotes about what seem to be significant issues; in the second column, they respond to these issues with questions, challenges, definitions, etc. Another way to help students actively engage with the course material is to require “response papers.” Response papers might ask for an open response that takes the reading one step further, or be written directly in response to a question or prompt given by the instructor. Any of these types of responses can be incorporated into another assignment (e.g., a position statement) or serve as a research-base for student papers.
Problem-Statements: When a student asks for an appointment to discuss a problem, or has a question for class discussion, ask her to write out as precisely as she can the question(s) that she would like you to respond to. The technique not only saves conference time but encourages the student to work through the often fuzzy sense of puzzlement of what is bothering her. Another version of this exercise is to have students write a problem statement that is passed on to another student whose job it is to answer it. Such peer answers are especially useful in large classes.
Exam Questions: Have students prepare examination questions which may be used on quizzes, midterms and finals. Here, the instructor will gain some insight as to whether the students have grasped the main concepts for a topic. Also, students will more carefully evaluate their notes since it is their own exam they are composing.
Freewriting: Freewriting–writing down quickly what thoughts come to mind without censure–can be used in a variety of ways to focus the class. Have students freewrite about questions or important topics in the reading at the beginning of class, to summarize the major points of the lecture at the end of class, or to clarify a difficult concept mid-way into the class.
Assignments that ask students to apply knowledge to a context beyond the course
Annotations: Have students annotate sources consulted in a project whereby they define the purpose and scope of the work and offer an evaluative statement about the value of the work in relation to the class project. Another way to use annotations would be to assign a certain number of articles for each student to annotate on a topic not covered in the course. Compile all the annotations into a handout for the class. The handout could serve as a resource for future paper assignments.
Problem-Creation: While students frequently get practice at problem-solving, they are less adept at framing a problem. Have students search outside sources in the community that could be addressed by the course content and write up a frame for the problem that could be addressed by the class.
Case Studies: Assign case studies of typical problems to be analyzed, with written analysis and recommendations brought to the class by each student. These cases are then discussed in groups to refine the analysis and agree on a consensus recommendation. You may even give the groups roles to play that would model the type of negotiation of recommendations that take place professionally.
Assignments that investigate the norms and skills of disciplinary writing
Content Analysis: In class, have students, in groups of three or four, analyze an article from a professional journal. The instructor then critiques and discusses the article in class. Students critique a second article chosen by a fellow student. The critiques are shared in class. This assignment helps students get involved with what is happening in the discipline right now and gives them an appreciation for the real-world significance of the content they are studying.
Multiple Perspectives: As a way of encouraging critical thinking skills, have students write an analysis that takes different perspectives on a body of material: cause-effect, comparison/contrast, etc. For example, a cause-effect exercise might ask a student to look at the results of a project or at a problem and arrange the causes in order of the most prominent to the least.
Analyze an Expert’s Revisions: As a class or individually, analyze the revisions of a piece of writing from an expert in the field (perhaps your own). Have students look at drafts to see how the final product came to be. Looking at the entire paper may not be necessary; you might concentrate on how one section of a paper is synthesized from raw data and notes and transformed into a finished presentation. This helps students better understand the specific methods and techniques for writing in that discipline and may help them see the value of revision as well.
Rhetorical Analysis: Have students examine two or three pieces of writing commonly used in the profession (either scholarly articles or professional materials) for the way they are written. Have them closely examine how the texts are ordered, what type of language is used, what counts as a “fact” or proof, and if there are sub-headings, what information is appropriate for each section. This assignment not only helps students become more familiar with the writing conventions of their field, it can also lead to an analysis of how these conventions relate to the discipline itself (i.e., what counts as knowledge, how context affects what should and can be said, etc.). For an example, see below:
An Exercise in Rhetorical Analysis. The following questions, provided by English Prof. Donna LeCourt, are meant to help students invent and structure material for a rhetorical analysis of a text.
Purpose/Context
1. What is the text about? What content does it attempt to cover and/or explain?
2. What overall purpose does the text serve? For example, is it meant to answer a question, pose a problem, add to research on a given topic, introduce a new idea, summarize someone else's ideas...? How can you tell?
3. Who is the author(s) of the text? Are they named? Is any biographical information given about them? What qualifies them to write on this subject?
4. Are the authors “present” in the text through the use of personal pronouns or self-reference or are they never referred to?
5. Can you tell what the author(s) thinks about a topic from reading the text?
6. What gains the most emphasis in the text: the author's ideas, the content (i.e. the data or research), previous research, etc.? For example, is the novel a person is writing about given more emphasis than their ideas about the novel or vice versa?
7. Why might one aspect of the rhetorical context (the analysis, the author's ideas, the subject matter, etc) be given more emphasis than another? What does this emphasis say about what's really important to consider about a topic within this discipline or profession?
Audience
1. Where does this text appear? What, from the journal or magazine or the article itself, can you tell about its anticipated readers? For example, are they well versed in the topic? How can you tell (i.e., what leads you to your conclusion)?
2. Is the audience ever addressed explicitly in the text? implicitly? List two examples of such explicit or implicit addresses. (Look for hidden references such as "of course, we all know ...." or "we accept that X is true.." as well as more explicit examples).
3. Are there references cited directly in the text or in a works cited/bibliography?
4. When references are used, which ones receive a lot of information? the least?
5. Are authors or studies referred to without references or explanation? Where?
6. From your answers to 1-5 above, what can you conclude about the article's audience? How much do they already know about the topic? What does the author presume they care to know more about? In sum, why does the author presume they want to read this text? What's in it for them?
Organization
1. Is your text broken up by sub-headings? What are they? If not, can you designate certain sections of the text in a backwards outline (e.g., "first the author critiques other people's readings of the novel, then she explains that her reading is more accurate because it accounts for the details the others leave out, etc.).
2. Why would these headings or sections be ordered in the way they are? Why must one precede the other? (Consider the needs of the audience when answering this question.)
3. Within each section, is there an order to the information presented? Do a backwards outline for each section.
4. What can you conclude about why the text is organized as it is? Is the organization driven more by the content (the information that needs to be presented), by the author's argument, if any, by the needs of the audience, or some combination of the three? Explain your answer.
Argument
1. What type of proof, if any, is used to defend a conclusion or idea in the text (e.g. references to other work, original data, personal experience)?
2. Is one type of proof used more often than another or to the exclusion of all others? Which one(s)?
3. What type of analysis is the proof subjected to, if any? In other words, does the author simply present something as a fact, does he argue for a conclusion's validity, does he analyze a piece of information in a certain way, etc.?
4. What parts of the discussion receive more space than others? Why would the author devote more time to these topics (or topic) than others?
5. From your answers to 1-4 above, how would you rank the authoritativeness of certain types of proof? (Hint: Usually those that need the least explanation or analysis are considered the most authoritative or those used the most often.)
Style
1. Look at the pronouns in the text. Does the author(s) ever refer to herself (themselves) as "I"? Why would she chose to refer to herself (or not) in the text?
2. Does the author ever refer to other readers or include them by using "we"? Why would he chose (or not chose) to do this?
3. Look at a "chunk" of approximately 10 sentences. What usually occupies the subject position in the sentence (e.g., another author's name, an object, a piece of data, etc.)?
4. If there is any consistency to what receives a subject position in the sentence, why might this aspect be emphasized in this way?
5. What portion of your "chunk" could be considered technical terminology or jargon? How pervasive is technical terminology in the entire article?
6. Are these technical terms ever explained? Which ones receive an explanation and which do not? Why would the author chose to explain the ones she did?
Putting it all together
Look over your answers to all the questions above. What patterns emerge? How are the answers to the questions in one section related to those in another section?
Assignments that give students practice in professional communication
Memos to the Instructor: Rather than stopping after class or in the office to ask a question about an assignment or ask for an extension, students must write a memo to the instructor. This not only provides practice in the types of internal communication in most businesses and industries, it also forces the student to present her question in a fully thought-out manner and become accustomed to writing such communiqués in a short space of time.
Letters of Request: Have students write business letters geared for the purpose of introduction and research gathering, introducing their project and plans for approval. Another version of an introductory letter could have students try to persuade an interested party (e.g. a foundation, the NSA, etc.) to provide funding or approval for their research. Or have them write a letter after completing a project which tries to persuade someone interested in the project to accept their recommendations.
Updated September 3, 2008
