Strategies for Designing Effective Writing Assignments

Designing Effective Writing Assignments Series: Topic Intro | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Designing Effective Writing Assignments Series
Part 1:
Strategies for Designing Effective Writing Assignments

Overview

Writing assignments can be important meaning-making activities in that they often help students engage with course content in more holistic ways while offering them an opportunity to make that content their own. However, designing effective writing assignments that can achieve these goals takes effort. No matter the writing situation, Bean (2011) argues that successful writing assignments “evoke a high level of critical thinking, help students wrestle productively with a course’s big questions, and teach disciplinary ways of seeing, knowing, and doing” (pp. 1-2). On the other hand, if a writing assignment is poorly designed, it can be difficult for the instructor to teach it, and more importantly, difficult for the students to write it (Wilhoit, 2008). 

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Common concerns about assigning writing 

Bean (2011) describes several concerns that teachers across the disciplines have with incorporating writing assignments into their courses and offers responses to allay each concern:   

One of the most important reasons to assign writing is that meaningful writing projects vastly increase student learning and engagement, and are applicable for any project, course, or discipline. In their study of 700 students and 160 faculty, Lerner et al. (2017) find that students who identify meaningful writing projects are more likely to develop agency in their own learning, more likely to be engaged and spend more time and effort in their courses, and more able to transfer their learning to other contexts. What’s more, the vast majority of student respondents (94%) say that they were first exposed to meaningful writing projects through required course assignments, and these assignments occurred in a variety of academic fields.     

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Best practices for designing effective writing assignments 

Effective writing assignments: 1) are specific and purposeful for the learning outcomes of a course; 2) provide opportunities for students to critically engage with instructors, peers, and course material; (3) allow for students to practice choice and agency; and (4) connect to students’ experiences, identities, passions, and/or aspirations (Bean, 2011; Glenn & Goldthwaite, 2014; Lerner et al. 2017; Wilhoit, 2008). 

Having a clear conceptualization what you are asking students to do, as well as how and why you would like them to do it, is key to designing an effective writing assignment. Mary-Ann Winkelmes (2014) notes that effective assignments are transparent and suggests that instructors discuss the “learning goals and design rationale” of an assignment before students begin writing. Additionally, she offers the following suggestions for designing transparent assignments: 

• Include a list of the skills students will practice on each assignment sheet. This provides students with the purpose of the assignment, which is a key aspect of transparency.  
• Make the “learning benefits” of each assignment clear to students from the beginning, including “skills practiced, content knowledge gained, the tasks to be completed, the criteria for success.” 
• Clearly articulate the steps students should take to thoughtfully complete the assignment 
• Provide a rubric or some other indication of criteria for a success on each assignment before students begin writing. 
• Provide students with examples of prior students’ successful work and discuss or otherwise indicate how the example meets assignment criteria. 

Similarly, Barbara Walvoord (2014) articulates the following fundamental questions for effective writing assignments:  

• Purpose of the assignment: What should students learn by engaging with the assignment? 
• What should students do during the process of completing the assignment? 
• Who are the intended audience for the writing assignment? 
• What are the grading criteria that will be used to evaluate student work? 
• Process: What suggestions do you have for students about the thinking, researching, writing, and revising processes they could use? 
• Due dates: When will (pieces of) the assignment be turned in and why? 

Preparing the assignment sheet 

In addition to thinking purposefully about the assignment yourself, you must also be able to clearly communicate the tasks and expectations of the project to your students. One of the most important aspects of an effective writing assignment is a clear, concise assignment sheet. Walvoord (2014) recommends giving writing assignment instructions in writing and orally and being mindful of adding any additional oral instructions or considerations to the writing assignment sheet. She cautions that 

“students will consult their assignment sheet as they work but may not find their notes on additional oral instructions you gave” (p. 66). 

Your assignment sheet should be able to articulate answers to all of the fundamental questions articulated above. In addition to these essential pieces of information, Wilhoit (2008) also offers addressing the following information on every writing assignment sheet: 

• Rhetorical situation: Who is the audience for this assignment? What role does the writer have in this project? What is the topic students are meant to cover, and what is their purpose in writing this project? 
• Desired length: Some teachers feel that if they specify how long a response should be, students will only write to that length. On the other hand, not specifying a page range or specific length can lead to a wide range of very short or very long responses.  Providing a suggested length as well as a rationale for why this length is appropriate can help both you and your students identify what “sufficient” writing will look like for this assignment. 
• Formatting and documentation guidelines: Make sure you specify any formatting or organizational requirements you have on the prompt. If you would like your students to use a particular citation style like APA, MLA, or Chicago, make sure you specify that on the assignment sheet. 
• Relation to prior course assignments: Explaining this can help you students understand how this assignment builds on prior work they have completed, and how it will help them achieve the learning goals of the course. 

When assigning a writing project, it can be helpful to go through the assignment with your students, giving them plenty of time to ask questions. Winkelmes et al. (2016) found that this transparency can be especially important for first-generation students, and in their study, led to increased retention and academic confidence. During this conversation, you might help your students get started by providing them with suggestions or options for how they might approach the writing assignment, as well as warnings of common mistakes or misinterpretations students have made with the assignment in the past. 

Providing students with rubrics and/or grading criteria 

Giving students a preview of the grading criteria for the assignment may seem counterintuitive, but it one of the best strategies for promoting student learning with writing. By providing students with a rubric, checklist, or other grading criteria in advance, you are helping students to see and recognize “higher order concerns” for writing in your discipline (Brookhart, 2010). Rubrics that are shared with students have been shown to increase their performance on writing tasks and also promote self-assessment and self-regulation as students check their work against your particular standards and criteria (Brookhart & Chen, 2014). 

 Walvoord (2014) addresses the concern of many instructors that sharing grading criteria in advance amounts to “spoon feeding” students, the idea that students are being given the answer rather than having to find their own way to the answer. Her response to this concern is to teach to the criteria, not to the answer. In other words, help students recognize what successful writing in this topic is able to accomplish for the reader, not just how it looks. You do not need show students what to write to get an A; rather, show them the qualities of writing that successful papers tend to share and why. 

Types of writing assignments 

There are a variety of different types of writing assignments to choose from when integrating writing into a course, ranging in length and formality depending on the purpose of the assignment. Bean (2011) and others offer a few examples of effective writing assignments that can be modified to fit a variety of disciplinary contexts. 

Examples of common writing assignments:  

Glenn & Goldthwaite (2014) note that it is important to carefully consider your purpose in assigning a writing project when choosing what type of writing you will be asking your students to engage in. The authors also note the importance of defining and explaining action terms like “analyze,” “define,” “compare,” “argue,” etc., as students may not have clear understandings of what those terms are asking them to do. 

• Acknowledgement
• This series was updated with contributions from Erica Bender (Assessment Specialist, UC Davis Center for Educational Effectiveness).
• Citation
• Center for Educational Effectiveness (CEE). (2024). Designing Effective Writing Assignments Series: Just-in-Time Teaching Resources. https://cee.ucdavis.edu/JITT
• References
• Bean, J. C. (2011). Engaging ideas: The professor’s guide to integrating writing, critical thinking, and active learning in the classroom (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass.
  
  Brookhart, S. M. (2010). How to assess higher order thinking skills in your classroom. ASCD.
  
  Brookhart, S. M., & Chen, F. (2014). The quality and effectiveness of descriptive rubrics. Educational Review, 67(3), 343–368.
  
  Glenn, C., & Goldthwaite, M. A. (2014). The St. Martin’s guide to teaching writing (7th ed.). Bedford/St. Martin’s.
  
  Lerner, N., Geller, A. E., & Eodice, M. (2017). The meaningful writing project: Learning, teaching and writing in higher education. Utah State University Press.
  
  Walvoord, B. (2014). Assessing and improving student writing in college: A guide for institutions, general education, departments, and classrooms. Jossey-Bass.
  
  Wilhoit, S. W. (2008). The Longman teaching assistant’s handbook: A guide for graduate instructors of writing and literature. Pearson/Longman.
  
  Winkelmes, M. (2014). Transparency in learning and teaching project. https://www.unlv.edu/provost/transparency
  
  Winkelmes, M. A., Bernacki, M., Butler, J., Zochowski, M., Golanics, J., & Weavil, K. H. (2016). A teaching intervention that increases underserved college students' success. Peer Review, 18(1/2), 31–36.