Since good writing results from sound process, effective assignments must give students opportunity to draft and revise their work. Ideally, the structure of a significant research essay or term paper should include a topic deadline several weeks in advance of the assignment due date, a prospectus or working bibliography due a couple of weeks after the topic, a working draft due a couple of weeks before the final draft on which the instructor will provide feedback, and the final due date. It may be most effective to make the final due date a couple of weeks before the end of the term so that the students and the instructor can prepare for final exams. The following assignment sheet is an example of an assignment I have used in upper division English classes.
In this course, you will write a substantial research essay (6+ pages in MLA Style) on a topic of your own choice that relates to some aspect of the course material. In order to combat the procrastination (I-work-better-under-pressure) syndrome, this assignment has several steps all of which you must complete to achieve the best possible result.
We will discuss/review research strategies in class during the week preceding the prospectus deadline. While I am not requiring you to do so, you may find it useful to get feedback on your essay from your peers. This assignment requires students not only to interpret course content, but also to synthesize and evaluate the interpretations of experts.
I adapt the following evaluative criteria, which are organized from most to least important, to all writing assignments:
For 19th-20th century art history, Survey I, and Survey II, all students must write a 5 page paper that covers something within the time period. This can be either art theory/aesthetics or research. They cannot do a biography of an artist. The work must be research (comparative), such as the Black Death and its influence on Italian Renaissance art.
An example of a writing assignment that fostered good writing in my students is "Discuss the role of hospitality in Homer's The Odyssey and explain its thematic significance in the epic (provide examples).
Critical thinking skills required for this assignment include comprehension, analysis, synthesis, evaluation.
In order of importance, the evaluative criteria that I use to grade the above assignment include: accuracy, development, support of ideas-explanation.
My favorite writing assignment-one that continues to allow students to "knock my proverbial socks off"-is the multi-genre research paper. This paper asks students to creatively present research on topics using a multitude of writing styles. This semester in my English 1102 class, I received a notebook of medical files entitled the "Sanitarium of Mental Research." The number of authors whose works were read for our class who went on to commit suicide at what seemed to be the height of their writing careers intrigued the student writer. He wanted to know why. The original assignment called for five genres, five sources, five pages-the student provided much more, more than double what was required in each category. Why? Because he was interested in what he was learning, and he had the freedom to teach me using both sides of his brain.
An assignment like this one gives students the opportunity to look beyond superficial, teacher-imposed assignments. As they read and research their topic, they begin to consider how they will present what they are learning-another student in the same class wanted to learn more about Edgar Allan Poe, and the student loved mysteries, knew Poe was the father of the American detective story, so he decided to write his final paper as a detective story. When he submitted the project, he apologized that it was not as good as Poe's had been, but he tried. "I read as many of his detective stories as I could to try to see how he developed the genre of who-dun-it." Only one story had been assigned for class, but the student had been in charge of the work he did, and he cared about the quality of the final product, not because of the grade he would receive, but because he had a vested interest in sharing what he learned.
By the end of this assignment, students have always read more than they had to, but they do not complain. They own their work and their presentation. They have analyzed and synthesized information and evaluated what and how their discoveries will be presented.
So how do I evaluate the multi-genre? First, I look for ways the students has fostered my knowing. If the writer has engaged my thinking about the topic in a new and different way and if the writer keeps me thinking about the topic and the writing after I have put the assignment down, the student has done his job well.
I examine how effectively the writer has been able to weave different genres, which must all stand on their own, into one cohesive piece of writing. I look for evidence of outside research, in depth learning, that is well integrated, that does not appear to overwhelm the students' ideas nor be stuck inside a paper simply to meet a requirement.
And I look at stylistic issues. No matter how good the ideas are, if a student makes a significant number of needless errors in the final product, I will never get to the ideas. The errors will stop me.
Students complete a term paper in GEOL 4711 (Igneous & Metamorphic Petrology). After collecting data from a particular geologic area (Yellowstone, San Juan Mtns, etc.), each student generates interpretations, constructs supporting figures and data tables, and produces a final report.
Student must generate and analyze a complex data set, evaluate the quality of this data, construct reasonable scientific models to explain the data, and present the data and interpretations in the form of a technical report.
A detailed grade sheet is provided to each student. This sheet describes the point value of nine specific sections. Overall, these sections evaluate the following- quality of data consistency of interpretations quality and relevance of supporting figures and tables grammar and writing style-I require submission of multiple drafts, and I heavily edit/correct these early, ungraded drafts. Although this is at the bottom of the "grade" list, final reports are returned ungraded if writing quality is inadequate. Consequently, a poorly written final report receives the ultimate low grade (zero).
It seems natural to assume that students in upper level courses will know the difference between a good term paper and a poor one. I've learned the hard way that this is an unwarranted assumption! My first attempts to use term paper assignments in my psychology courses were disappointing. The failure was partly my fault because I was not very specific in stating my expectations and the characteristics of good writing. Term paper assignments should be used as an opportunity to clearly demonstrate the differences between good and poor writing by communicating practices to avoid in the course assignment.
The following is a term paper assignment that I use in my Biopsychology course. The trend that you will notice in this assignment is that the expectations are very clear. For example, acceptable topics and information that should be covered within a topic are stated. In addition, classic space wasters such as huge direct quotes, long bulleted lists, large margins, and oversized fonts are illustrated as practices to avoid. As for the sources, the assignment clearly states that academic or peer reviewed sources are preferred whereas information from encyclopedias is considered unacceptable. These specific expectations help to clearly delineate the differences between good and poor writing practices.
Overview: Write a short term paper on a specific neuropsychological disorder. Your paper should go beyond the textbook and class lectures to explore a specific area in depth. This paper should include the research findings, background/history/pervasiveness of the phenomena, symptoms, treatment, prognosis, and any other information that is relevant to the disorder.
Topic: The topic must cover a neuropsychological disorder such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, traumatic brain injury, Huntingdon's disease, ADD/ADHD, Creutzfeld-Jakob disease (the human form of mad cow disease), Korsakoff's disease, phantom limbs, William's syndrome, stroke, Down's syndrome, Tourette's syndrome, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, autism, recovery from brain damage, and frontal lobotomy. If you are interested in another topic, you must get approval from the instructor before pursuing the topic.
Formatting
Grading: The paper is worth 75 points. The papers will be graded on the following criteria:
Plagiarism and academic dishonesty: Plagiarism is copying the works of others, then presenting them as your own. This is strictly forbidden. All direct quotes must have quotation marks and a citation. You must put information from other sources in your own words. Academic dishonesty will result in a final grade of "F".
To turn in: Turn in both the printed paper and an electronic copy of the word processing file (MS Word, WordPerfect, etc.) or text file containing the paper.
Most of our students have been trained in the use of MLA formatting, so learning to write in APA style can be a difficult transition. I have created a handout on APA formatting the covers the main features of APA style. This helps to get students started in the right direction. I also discuss the major features of APA style in a lecture about a month before the paper is due.
Note that the last part of the above assignment is that students are required to turn in both a printed and an electronic copy of the paper. The electronic copy is saved as text, then processed for plagiarism using Eve2 software. This software compares the student paper to information from many different web sites and notes sentences that could possibly be plagiarized.
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