Designing Effective Writing Assignments

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In the selections that follow, you will find a wealth of good advice about designing writing assignments creatively and effectively. You will find out about ways to tailor assignments to the goals of your course and to communicate your expectations effectively. There are many different alternatives to the traditional research paper, and this section will introduce you to them, in addition to suggesting some ways to create successful research assignments. In short, the goal of this section is to help you design assignments that are most likely to get what you want from your students: mastery of course content and effective, insightful writing.

Matching Writing Assignments to Instructional Goals
Examining Writing in Your Discipline
Informal Writing Assignments
Checklist for Designing Writing Assignments
Suggestions for Designing Effective Formal Writing Assignments