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Page 1: KeystoDesigningEffective WritingandResearch Assignments€¦ · Keys to Designing Effective Writing and Research Assignments • FROMPAGE5 Idofind,though,thatIget throughthefour-pagepapers

Keys to Designing EffectiveWriting and Research

Assignments

Featuring content from

A MAGNA PUBLICATION

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2 Keys to Designing Effective Writing and Research Assignments • www.FacultyFocus.com

Keys to Designing Effective Writingand Research Assignments

Writing assignments, particularly for first- and second-year college students, are probablyone of those items in the syllabus that some professors dread almost as much as theirstudents do. Yet despite the fact that essays, research papers, and other types of writingassignments are time consuming and, at times, frustrating to grade, they also are vital tofurthering student learning.

Of course part of the frustration comes when professors believe that students shouldarrive on campus knowing how to write research papers. Many do not. With as muchcontent as professors have to cover, many feel they simply can’t take time to teach theresearch skills required to write a quality, college-level term paper.

But as teaching professors who support the writing across the curriculum movementwould tell you, improving students’ writing skills is everyone’s business, and carries withit many short- and long-term benefits for teachers and students alike. Further, many in-structors are finding ways to add relevance to writing assignments by aligning them withthe type of writing required in a specific profession as an alternative to the traditional,semester-long research paper.

This special report was created to provide instructors with fresh perspectives and provenstrategies for designing more effective writing assignments. It features 11 articles from TheTeaching Professor, including:

• Revising the Freshman Research Assignment• Writing an Analytical Paper in Chunks• Designing Assignments to Minimize Cyber-Cheating• Chapter Essays as a Teaching Tool• Writing (Even a Little Bit) Facilitates Learning• How to Conduct a ‘Paper Slam’

While not every approach discussed in this special report will work for every course, everytime, I invite you to identify a few that look appropriate for your courses, and implementthem next semester. You just might be surprised by the results.

Maryellen WeimerEditor

The Teaching Professor

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3Keys to Designing Effective Writing and Research Assignments • www.FacultyFocus.com

Table of Contents

20 Questions about Writing Assignments ....................................................................................................................4

Revising the Freshman Research Assignment............................................................................................................5

Chapter Essays as a Teaching Tool ............................................................................................................................7

A ‘Write’ That Can’t Go Wrong ..................................................................................................................................8

Writing an Analytical Paper in Chunks ....................................................................................................................9

Designing Assignments to Minimize Cyber-Cheating ............................................................................................10

Making a Case for Writing Research Papers ............................................................................................................12

Writing (Even a Little Bit) Facilitates Learning ......................................................................................................13

Empowering Students through Choice ....................................................................................................................14

How to Conduct a ‘Paper Slam’ ................................................................................................................................15

A Global Perspective on Responding to Student Writing..........................................................................................16

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4 Keys to Designing Effective Writing and Research Assignments • www.FacultyFocus.com

Atthe end of English composi-tion, I ask students how whatthey’ve just learned in my class

might be useful in their other classes.They’re often bemused and surprisedto learn that professors in othercourses care about their writing. Toencourage them to take responsibilityfor succeeding in their future writingassignments, I hand out a list of 20questions that they might ask to betterunderstand “what the professorwants,” and thus continue to applywhat we’ve been practicing.I’m sharing this list in the hopes that

it will help you help students transfergood writing skills from English com-position to your class. By answeringthese questions about your ownwriting assignments, you may cuestudents to write better by building onsome learning principles common tofirst-year composition classes.

Questions students could ask aprofessor about getting started witha writing assignment:1.If I have my own idea for a topic

or angle that’s interesting to me,can I use it, or do I need tocomplete the assignment exactlythe way it is described?

2.Is there an assignment model, asample essay, or a kind ofpublished writing that I could lookat to help me better see how to dothis assignment?

3.If I write an essay draft early, canI come see you to talk about it oremail you to ask a few questions?

Questions about the assignment’smain purpose:4.Why do people in this field writeor read a text like this? What’s themain goal for this kind of writing?

5.Should I mostly review the simi-larities, differences, events,theories, or key features? Orshould I make arguments, drawconclusions, or give my interpreta-tions about these ideas? Do I needto answer the question “So what?”

6.Should I broadly survey the fieldor issue, or should I narrow myfocus and “go deep” with myanalysis?

Questions about the assignment’starget audience:7.Should I write for a knowledge-

able audience that has read what Ihave read or do I need to give ad-ditional background or summary?

8.Should I try to write for aresistant audience that will needa lot of evidence or should I writefor an audience that generallyagrees with my point? Should Iaddress and refute counterargu-ments?

9.What kind of evidence will bemost convincing in this field (or tothis audience): numbers, descrip-tions, direct quotations, logicalreasoning, examples, case studies,expert testimony?

10. Will I need to consult outsidesources, and if I do, what kinds ofsources are appropriate for thisfield, audience, or genre?

Questions about style and formatthat differ among disciplines:11. Is it preferred that I use the

scholarly language or format ofthis discipline or genre or should Iuse standard paragraphs andplain, direct language accessible toa range of readers?

12. Are lively, graceful introductionsand extended paragraphsexpected by readers in this field(or for this assignment) or willshort, informative paragraphs besufficient?

13. Is it important to readers in thisfield that I write smooth, stylisticsentences or is a straightforward“just the facts, ma’am” styleenough?

14. What citation format should Iuse for outside sources?

Questions about style and formatthat differ based on the assignment,context, or professorial preference:15. Is it okay to use first person(“I”) or second person (“you”)? Isit okay to use specific, relevantexamples from my own life or ex-periences?

16. Should I try to avoid passivevoice? Does it matter whether Iuse present tense or past tenseverbs?

17. Is the page-length specificationan absolute requirement or is itmore of a guide to how much in-formation I should plan to includein order to satisfy the audience’sneeds?

18. Can I include relevant visual orother nontext information orshould I include only text?

Questions to gauge individual pro-fessors’ goals and concerns:19. What is the most difficult part ofthis assignment? What are themost common mistakes studentsmake with this assignment?

20 Questions about WritingAssignments

By E. Shelley Reid, PhD.

PAGE 5�

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Two years ago, I said goodbye tothe traditional 10-page researchpaper in my freshman compo-

sition classes. My students knew toowell that Googling along with cut andpaste could produce 10 pages of fluffin no time, with a bibliography of 15sources. (Who cares how reliable?) Itwas time for a change.The new assignment consists of

five short (about four-page),somewhat diachronic papers. Thestudent sticks with the same topicthrough all five papers. Typically,each student has a different topic.The topics are very narrow andreflect the mission of my college; forexample, why was stoning thebiblical method of execution, or howis “yeast” used in Scripture? I providea list of suggestions, but students cancome up with their own topics. Oneof these papers is due every twoweeks (but we’re flexible), and muchof our class time is spent in thelibrary, with me finding out about

new sources right along with theclass as I attempt to answer their

questions. As can be seen in thefollowing brief description of thepapers, despite the specificity of thesetopics, the way I’ve reformulated thetraditional research paper is applica-ble to many other topics and contentareas.

Paper One—Students begin with areader-response essay researchedusing only a primary source. The goalis for the student to find out whatthis source seems to be saying andshowing about the topic. In my case,the primary source is the Bible.Students are limited to versions of theBible and to complete concordances,and they are expected to study asmany passages as possible thatpertain to their topics. Similar assign-ments in other fields could involvewhatever the primary literature is,whether creative writing, historicaldocuments, or scientific papers.

Paper Two—Students are limited todictionaries, encyclopedias,handbooks, or other reference works.I do allow Wikipedia on this one, butwith the stipulation that anythingthey find in it must be checkedagainst their other sources and thatinaccuracies then be submitted toWikipedia. The goals of this paper

20. What is the most importantaspect of this assignment? Whatshould I spend most of my timeand energy on as I write and edit?

One final, crucial thing you can dothat will help students draw on whatthey’ve learned in classes like mine isto get them working on the assign-ment before it’s due. Require them towrite something—a proposal, a thesis

statement, an introductory paragraph,a rant, an outline, a bibliography—atleast a week or two before the duedate. Even if you provide no in-depthfeedback at that point, you’veindicated that you know the funda-mental principle of good writing inEnglish courses and beyond: itrequires good revising, and thus takesmore time and attention than weinitially think.If you’d like to duplicate this set of

questions and share them with your

students, you’re welcome to do so.This way we work together to send themessage that the good writing skillslearned in English apply in everycourse.

Dr. E. Shelley Reid, is an assistantprofessor and director of compositionin the English department at GeorgeMason University.

Keys to Designing Effective Writing and Research Assignments • www.FacultyFocus.com

Revising the Freshman Research Assignment

By Cara Snyder, PhD.

FROM PAGE 4

PAGE 6�

My students knew too well

that Googling along with cut

and paste could produce 10

pages of fluff in no time, with

a bibliography of 15 sources.

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are (1) to get an overview of the dis-cussion; (2) to see how many sourcessay the same things; (2) to find theearliest source saying it; and (3) tocheck for differences or added detailsover the years. In this one, they areencouraged to come up with as manycitations as possible (I’m hoping forbetween six and 12).

Paper Three—This paper requiresthat students use only sourceswritten before 1899. Whether theyfind these sources online or in hardcopy doesn’t matter—the sources justhave to be old. In our case, the onlinelibrary www.ccel.org/ (ChristianClassics Ethereal Library, CalvinCollege) has made this researcheasily accessible. Students are usuallyquite surprised to find that the oldguys already have said so muchabout their topics. Given the diffi-culty of the material, I grade them onhow much they managed to find andhow well they organized andpresented it rather than how muchthey may have understood it. I’mhoping for approximately six sourcesin the works cited. (Originally, thiswas the second assignment because Iwanted to tackle the oldest materialfirst; however, it turned out to be abit too difficult at this stage.)

Paper Four—In the fourth paper,students turn to the most establishedworks in our field, which are com-mentaries and books on Scripturesince 1900. Again, students may useeither print copies or onlineversions—preferably both—but thebulk of this research should be fromprint copies on the shelves at thelibrary. Students are generallysurprised at this point to discoverhow much excellent material can befound in books, of all things. For thisone, I’m hoping for 12 to 15 sourcescited, but I am happy if I get eight orten good ones.

Paper Five—Finally, students do anannotated bibliography of journal

articles and Internet sources. Use ofrelevant electronic indexes for thefield (ATLA in our case) is required,but so is as much Googling as theywant to do. By this point, thestudents have become pretty goodauthorities on their own topics andare better able to judge Internetmaterials. Annotations merely haveto point the way to good sources and

weed out the less reliable; I expectsome scanning rather than seriousreading here.This collection of papers precludes

having students integrate all theirresearch into one long paper. I simplydo not have the time at that point inthe semester to read 20-page papersbecause I’ve already graded a lot ofpapers. I do find, though, that I getthrough the four-page papers muchmore efficiently and enthusiasticallythan I do 10-page papers where I’mrepeatedly marking the samemistakes. Using this approach givesstudents more feedback morequickly, and that improves subse-quent papers.

The greatest advantages I’m findingare that the students really do seemto begin to understand the researchprocess, their topics, and specifickinds of bibliography forms. There ismuch less mindless Googling andmuch less plagiarism. So far I’mfinding this system preferable to thetraditional approach.

Dr. Cara Snyder is a professor ofEnglish and Literature at DallasChristian College, TX

Keys to Designing Effective Writing and Research Assignments • www.FacultyFocus.com

FROM PAGE 5

I do find, though, that I get

through the four-page papers

much more efficiently and

enthusiastically than I do

10-page papers where I’m

repeatedly marking the same

mistakes. Using this approach

gives students more feedback

more quickly, and that

improves subsequent papers.

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Afew years ago I added a simpleassignment to my introductorysociology classes, and it has

paid off in more ways than I everexpected. Each student writes a two-page essay for each chapter we coverin class. Each essay is worth enoughpoints to influence their semestergrade. In the essay, which is preparedoutside of class, the student identifieswhat he or she considers the singlemost important concept from thechapter unit (anything in the textbookor class lecture and discussion). Theythen explain why they think it isimportant. They must give an examplefrom their own life experiences that il-lustrates the idea, establish the impor-tance of their example, and then relateit to the topic.My idea behind creating the essays

assignment was to encourage studentsto think about the concepts as wediscuss them and to apply them totheir world outside of the classroom.Preparing these essays forces studentsto actually sit down and reflect on theinformation, its ramifications, andmeaning. One of the unexpectedpayoffs has been how this processmakes course content more interestingfor the students and for me. They takeit seriously, and frequently make con-nections that I would not have consid-ered. Doing the assignment wellrequires students to not only know andunderstand the material but to apply,analyze, and (in a really good essay)synthesize and evaluate the material.This approach may not work for

every kind of class, but I can imagineadapting a similar approach for any of

the social sciences and several otherkinds of courses as well. Some profes-sors may be inclined to ask students tobe broad rather than specific with thetopic of the essays. I wouldrecommend against broad topics. Myexperience has shown that asking thestudents to focus the essay on one veryspecific concept makes for betteressays, and does not leave the biggerpicture out. A student who writesabout a specific term or concept almostalways places that idea into a largercontext, but those who try to writeabout too broad a topic invariably skimacross generalities.Too often we expect our students to

immediately and intuitively understandwhy the subject we teach is importantto them. We expect them to automati-cally see how it applies to their ownlives and to the world around them.However, I have observed that studentsconsistently do just the opposite: theycompartmentalize, treating each unitas an isolated piece of information tobe memorized for the next exam andthen forgotten or filed away. I havealso found that telling students thecourse material is important doesn’tseem to make much of a difference tomost of them. Writing these essays,and engaging in the thinking requiredto write them well, helps students turnotherwise abstract ideas into concretereality. No one walks out of theclassroom at the end of the semesterthinking they didn’t learn anything“real” or important.Sometimes completing this assign-

ment does more than just demonstratethat they have learned the material and

can apply it to their own lives.Sometimes writing these essays givesstudents an entirely new perspectiveon themselves or their world, to thepoint where they actually take on anew level of determination andambition for themselves. Everysemester I receive a few essays thatclearly stand out from all the rest.They tend to be longer than average,and reveal a great deal of thought andattention. Often they begin with aphrase like “I never understood whyI…,” and usually end with a phrasesimilar to “now I know how to…” Iwon’t reveal any personal information,but one of my students last semesterapplied the concept of cultural capitalto her own family and upbringing. Shewrote several pages, connecting theconcept to specific aspects of her ownpast and her relationship with herfamily, and concluded by explainingthat she now understood them better,understood herself better, and under-stood what it would really mean to“pull herself up” by being the firstmember of her family to ever get a uni-versity education.These breakthrough essays are the

most interesting to read, of course, buteven more exciting is how theydocument the process of a studentfully realizing the connections betweentheir own world and the world ofhigher learning. They discover whatsociology has to offer, and how to usetheir new knowledge to understandand perhaps better their own lives.Through experiences like thesestudents discover that college is notjust something that you do in order toget a job, but can be a place where reallearning takes place. They sometimesrealize that learning about the worldmeans learning about themselves, andthat means gaining a better under-standing of both.

Dr. David A. Locher is a sociologyprofessor at Missouri Southern StateUniversity.

Keys to Designing Effective Writing and Research Assignments • www.FacultyFocus.com

Chapter Essays asa Teaching Tool

By David A. Locher, PhD.

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In 1999 some colleges sounded analarm against a phenomenonreferred to as “mallspeak” that

seemed to pervade student discourse.Student speech riddled with “likes,”“you knows,” and “whatevers.” Thiskind of speech was not limited bycontext: it was used when studentshung out in the cafeteria, when theywere making presentations in theclassroom, and when they foundthemselves in the “real world.”According to the Boston Globe, SmithCollege’s “alumni began reportingback their horror at the waygraduates spoke in job interviews, orremarking how unprepared they feltto express themselves in the workingworld.”Eight years later, this kind of casual

discourse is still pervasive. Couplethe filler phrases associated with“mallspeak” with themad/sad/bad/glad problem (speechchoices restricted to simple sentenceswith nondescript adjectives) and weend up with student contributions inclassroom discussions that gosomething like this: “I liked Russo’sbook. It was really good. Like, thecharacters are so real and interesting.That one part, you know, was prettybad, I mean, the description gotkinda bloody. I’m glad it turned outin the end though.” Perhapscomments like these can be toleratedwhen students are young and firstlearning to discuss, but hearing themin a college classroom makes mostfaculty cringe.I use a very simple and short

writing/performance assignment thatcreates an awareness of the power

and eloquence of well-craftedlanguage. Students write two para-graphs. In the first one, I ask them to

write a bland, incompetent descrip-tion about some topic such as afavorite food, a particular song, alandscape or place that holds specialmeaning, a favorite holiday orseason, a historical event of signifi-cance, or something of that nature. Inthe second paragraph, they reworkthat description using effective andevocative language.Students bring these paragraphs to

class to share with their classmates. Ihave volunteers read their pairs ofparagraphs. Students are often em-barrassed to read the first paragraph;they and their classmates frequentlychortle throughout the reading. WhenI ask them why the snickers, they saythat the writing seems juvenile andsimplistic. Even the writers admitthat the first paragraph was painful towrite. And yet, further probingreveals that each student has heardcollege-level presentations that soundlike this paragraph.The second paragraph provides a

marked contrast. The writing is moredetailed, more evocative of feelingsand attitudes, and consequentlydraws the audience in more thor-oughly. While the “text” of thesecond paragraphs is noticeablyimproved, sometimes the presenta-tion is not. Some students are embar-rassed to own their words; theymumble, rush, or speak softly. In thediscussion that follows, I try to helpstudents understand what it mightmean to “perform” their words, totranslate what is on the page into aspoken description. Sometimes I havestudents work in small groups tocoach each other on how this kind ofpresentation sounds. If studentsbristle at the notion of “performing”the text, I remind them of awards cer-emonies where presenters merelyread or mumbled or misread animportant quotation. Usually thisjolts them into realizing that effectivewriting can be compromised by inef-fective presentation. What you sayand how you say it both matter.After this 30- to 45-minute exercise,

I ask students to write a journal entryin which they select any text—fromliterature, essays, speeches—that theybelieve is eloquent and then justifythat choice. This ungraded assign-ment allows us to play around withimproving the level and effectivenessof written and spoken discourse.Students internalize this activity inways that lecturing about soundlanguage use (or even viewing greatspeeches) misses. In fact, often whena discussion becomes peppered with“mallspeak” and simplistic discourse,it is the students who remind eachother, with a chuckle, that it is time,as Chef Emeril Lagasse says, to “kickit up a notch.”

Contact Susan R. Wilson is aprofessor in the Communication andTheatre Department at DePauwUniversity.

Keys to Designing Effective Writing and Research Assignments • www.FacultyFocus.com

A ‘Write’ That Can’t Go Wrong

By Susan R. Wilson

The writing is more detailed,

more evocative of feelings

and attitudes, and

consequently draws the

audience in more thoroughly.

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For faculty who have notreceived formal training inteaching writing, coaching

students in the art of writing analyti-cal papers is a challenge. Becausestudents habitually disconnectcontent from one course to another,they generally do not carry over theirgood writing habits from the tradi-tional first-year writing programs toother courses. And then there is theheavy burden of elevating the papercontent from the secondary-education-level of reliance on de-scription to the college-levelexpectation of critical analysis.Despite these and other challenges,writing teachers insist that the way togood writing is to do it, and to do it,over and over with substantialfeedback and coaching.The following system breaks up the

writing of an analytical paper intofour steps I refer to as “chunks.” Ihave used this system with lower-level and upper-level courses. I haveused it with group writing projectsand individual writing projects. Thestudents are given one week perchunk. Chunks are submitted to meelectronically before midnight onFriday. After the third chunk, the fourchunks must be submitted appendedto each other as a draft of the entirepaper. Chunks may be submittedmultiple times. In fact I encouragesubmitting the chunk due this weekwith a revised version of the chunkthat was submitted last week.Feedback is rendered electronicallywithin 48 hours for each submission.

Yes, this system requires a substan-tial amount of feedback and thatmeans instructor time. It rests on thepremise that good writing is aproduct of feedback and editing. Thestudents keep editing their chunks as

the process continues. I point outwhere there is a problem. I do notuse the WORD editor; I simply embedmy references in red. Here’s thehandout I give students thatdescribes the chunks and offersadvice on writing them.

Directions for Writing anAnalytical Paper in ChunksAssume that the audience is

someone who knows nothing aboutthe subject matter. This is animportant assumption that preventsyou from glossing over important ex-planations.

Chunk One: What is the topic?This should be articulated in one ortwo words or a short phrase. It is theanswer to this question: What is thesubject of the paper? Example:Communication and Gender (Notethat the phrase may become the titleof the paper)This section of the paper frequently

describes the topic. The descriptionshould contain a definition of thetopic usually with historical/culturalreferences, including how it wasdefined in the past or by othercultures or value systems.

Chunk Two: What is the concep-tual framework? Explaining the con-ceptual framework is often the mostdifficult part of writing a paper. Itinvolves understanding two issues:What ideas are connected to thetopic? How are the ideas connectedto the topic?Example: Idea that gender affects

the act of communication. Idea thatmen and women (two forms ofgender) communicate differently,through, for example, a feministframework.

Chunk Three: What do expertsthink about this topic andframework? What do you as authorthink about it (based on the work ofexperts, compared to the evidencethat you have gathered)? It is ab-solutely necessary to discover whatexperts think about your topic andframework. Otherwise you have onlyan opinion (yours) that does notmeet research standards. In research,one deals with facts (empirically“provable” statements).Discover what experts think by

doing a search of the literatureregarding the topic and framework.This is accomplished by using thelibrary. Select those articles/books

Keys to Designing Effective Writing and Research Assignments • www.FacultyFocus.com

Writing an Analytical Paperin Chunks

By Rita Duarte Marinho, PhD.

PAGE 10�

Despite these and other

challenges, writing teachers

insist that the way to good

writing is to do it, and to do it,

over and over with substantial

feedback and coaching.

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which seem most relevant to thequestion posed or to the ideas whichrequire connecting.Note: The bibliography which is

attached to your paper shouldcontain about 10 references, onlythree of which are to be Internet ref-erences. Wikipedia is NOT an accept-able reference.Read the findings of the experts

and take into account how much they1) agree with your assumptions; 2)differ from your assumptions; 3)differ or agree with each other. Theimportant issue is understanding

WHY they agree—with each otherand/or your assumptions andevidence.Then write up the body of your

analysis based on what has beenlearned. One usually describes whatthe experts think.Chunk Four: What difference does

your finding make to the world, toour culture, to our country, toourselves, to something/one? Why isit important that anyone understandswhy men and women differ in com-munication? Is this important? How isit important? If someone reads thepaper, what two or three things doyou want them to remember fifty

years from now about this paper?Convince the reader that the topic isimportant and why s/he shouldremember the analysis.

Dr. Rita Duarte Marinho is aprofessor of Women’s Studies andformer Dean of the College of LiberalArts, Towson University.

Keys to Designing Effective Writing and Research Assignments • www.FacultyFocus.com

Take the plethora of informationavailable online, add the cut-and-paste feature, throw in lots

of pressure to get good grades, andplagiarism becomes an appealingoption to almost any student. ArthurSterngold (citation below) holdsstudents accountable, but he doesn’tplace all the blame there. Some of theblame, he contends, belongs to usand the way we design assignments— take the traditional term paper, forexample. It requires strong researchskills, critical thinking, and clear dis-cursive prose. “Yet most undergradu-ates have weak research and writingskills. . . . Most college students donot know how to formulate workablehypotheses or research questions,evaluate the quality and appropriate-ness of source materials, or integratedata and ideas from multiplesources.” (p. 19)

Some professors believe thatstudents should come to collegeknowing how to write researchpapers. With as much content as pro-fessors have to cover, they can’t taketime to teach research skills,

assuming they have the interest andskills necessary to teach those skills.In these classes, the term papers getassigned at the beginning of thecourse, they’re worth a lot of credit,completed outside of class, and duein final form at the end of the course.And it is in those classes students

are often the most motivated to pla-giarize material. Sterngold maintainsthat the term-paper assignment canbe designed so that it is almost im-possible to plagiarize. Here’s asample of the design features he rec-ommends:• Break up major research papersinto smaller assignments —“Dividing a research assignmentinto a series of more manageablecomponents forces students towork on the project over time

FROM PAGE 9

Designing Assignments to Minimize Cyber-Cheating

By Maryellen Weimer, PhD.

PAGE 11�

Most college students do

not know how to formulate

workable hypotheses or

research questions,

evaluate the quality and

appropriateness of source

materials, or integrate data

and ideas from multiple

sources.

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instead of trying to write theentire paper at the last minutewhen they may be most temptedto plagiarize.” (p. 18)

• Require students to write aboutcourse-specific topics — Theadvice here is to tie topics closelyto course objectives and content.“I often require students to writeresearch papers relating coursetopics to campus speakers orcurrent news events.” (pp. 18-19)The more course-specific thepaper topic, the more difficult itis to find material that can bedirectly pasted into the paper.

• Choose some required sourcematerial for your students —Select major reference works inyour field and sources you knowwell. Students are less likely toplagiarize if you have demon-strated your knowledge of thesources.

• Incorporate assignments intoclass discussions and tests — “Ifrequently call on students duringclass discussions to giveexamples from their. . .researchthat relate to the day’s topics.”(p. 19) This practice encouragesstudents to work more persist-ently on their papers at the sametime it makes clear who is notworking on their paper.

• Meet with students to discusstheir research — This reinforcesthe importance of the assignmentand helps students develop thekind of comfort and familiaritywith their topic and sources thatends up making them confidentenough to rely on their own ideasand opinions.

• Require students to submitprintouts of source materials —This all but ensures that studentswon’t plagiarize from thesesources. If it sounds cumbersomeand daunting, Sterngold reports,

“Reading over the students’article-packets is less tedious andtime-consuming than you mightfear if you assign research topicsthat interest you.” (p. 20)

If a student is determined to plagia-rize, no set of strategies is failsafe.But careful assignment design candecrease the motivation and makethe plagiarism process a much moredifficult one.

Reference: Sterngold, A. (2004).Confronting plagiarism: How conven-tional teaching invites cyber-cheating. Change, May/June, 2004,16-21.

Dr. Maryellen Weimer is the editorThe Teaching Professor, and aprofessor emerita, teaching andlearning, Penn State-Berks.

Keys to Designing Effective Writing and Research Assignments • www.FacultyFocus.com

FROM PAGE 10

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When asked to prepare aresearch paper, many first-year college students tend

to submit a position paper filled withopinion and unsubstantiated claimsrather than a research paper.Recently, I have tried a new approachthat seems to be helping students un-derstand the task more thoroughlybefore they begin. Through a seriesof three PowerPoint presentationsthat I prepared, I present to mystudents the analogy that writing aresearch paper is like being a lawyerdefending a court case. Students canrelate to this analogy because thereseems to never be a shortage of high-visibility court cases in the news towhich I can refer. I draw out theanalogy in terms of how lawyersframe their case (define their topic),search out evidence (search forsources), present the evidence (writethe paper), and make the closingargument (draw a conclusion). I amfinding that, if I frame their thinkingin this way, the students write betterpapers.First, I begin with the topic. I find

that students typically submit a topicthat is too broad and lacks focus. Forexample, I typically get topics like“Distance Learning” or “AssistiveTechnology.” Before a lawyer beginsa case, he/she has to frame the caseproperly. Similarly, a writer has toframe the topic so that it is definableand defendable. While the topic of“Distance Learning” is too general,“Is Distance Learning Effective inTeaching/Learning?” can be

defended. Many students havewanted to research assistive technol-ogy, but did not know what toresearch or how to approach the task.If the topic is framed as “Benefits of

Using Assistive Technology in theClassroom,” this is a case that can bedefended. Defining topics in thismanner guides students through thenext steps in the process.The second phase is searching out

evidence to support the case.Referring to a current, highly visiblecourt case, I indicate to students thatalthough a lawyer might feel orbelieve certain “facts” about theclient, these so-called facts are merelyconjecture unless they are substanti-ated by evidence. Then I draw theanalogy that the evidence researchersuse is information from professional

literature. This leads to several otherdiscussions:• What constitutes believableevidence? The sources must berespected, scholarly material.After all, not all witnesses are be-lievable. A witness may not addto the strength of the case, whichmay lead the jury to discount thetestimony of that witness.

• Is there sufficient evidence tosupport your case? I promptstudents to do a preliminarysearch of the professional litera-ture to ensure there is sufficientresearch to support their topic. Ifnot, I instruct them to eitheradjust the focus of their topicaccording to the material they arefinding, or select another topic.

• Selecting more sources ratherthan fewer is better becauseyou have more on which toreport. I point out that it isdifficult to write a multi-pagepaper using limited sources.

The third phase is presenting theevidence in court, which is analogousto writing the paper. At this point, Ishow students how to present theirevidence in the context of the paper.Just like a lawyer would do, thestudents should introduce evidenceto argue key points that will helpthem make their case. When viewedfrom this frame of reference, studentscan realize the importance of usingan authoritative tone and of writingin the active voice. After all, evidenceis presented live by witnesses whoare on the stand.The fourth phase is making the

closing argument, which is the mostcritical time in a court case. A lawyerbegins by reminding the jury of theargument he/she was attempting tomake. Then, using a persuasive tone,the lawyer briefly reviews the entirecase, highlighting the key points. The

Keys to Designing Effective Writing and Research Assignments • www.FacultyFocus.com

Making a Case for WritingResearch Papers

By Stephen L. Broskoske, PhD.

PAGE 13�

Through a series of three

PowerPoint presentations that

I prepared, I present to my

students the analogy that

writing a research paper is

like being a lawyer defending

a court case. I am finding

that, if I frame their thinking

in this way, the students write

better papers.

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13

lawyer then draws a conclusion, andrests the case. From this part of theanalogy, students realize the importantrole of the conclusion section of thepaper.Finally, before actually going to

court, a lawyer would review the

entire case to make sure there are no“holes” in the case, areas that couldbe discredited due to lack of evidence.This is analogous to looking over thepaper to ensure that sufficient sourceswere cited to support the claimspresented, and to ensure that thestudent made no unsubstantiatedclaims.

To view my PowerPoint files andother teaching materials, visit my Webpage: www.misericordia.edu/academics/education/drsteve.

Dr. Stephen L. Broskoske is anassociate professor in the teachereducation department at MisericordiaUniversity.

The message of the WritingAcross the Curriculummovement seems to have

gotten through. Developing studentwriting skills is a responsibility we allshare. We cannot expect our col-leagues in English to do it alone.What is less well known is that thepower of writing to positively impactlearning outcomes has been proved.And the very best news of all is thatthe kind of writing linked to moreand better learning is not just theformal paper with numerous instruc-tor comments and/or rewrite options.Here’s the case in point, and it is a

compelling one: 978 undergraduatesin 32 sections of an introductory psy-chology course attended two lecturesand one TA-led recitation per week.In the 16 experimental sections,students wrote on a topic for fiveminutes and then discussed it in classfor 10 additional minutes. “Writingtopics centered on expressingopinions about current controversiesin the field, applying course contentto everyday experiences, andchoosing and supporting a positionafter presentation of competing view-points.” (p. 173) Students completed

nine of these writing assignments, forone point each. The writing was notgraded.

In the 16 control sections, studentswere presented the same topics intheir recitation sections. Only in thiscase, students were told to thinkabout the topic for five minutes, andthat period was then followed withsame 10-minute discussion.All students took three multiple-

choice exams that included six targetquestions, two for each topicstudents had written/thought about.Researchers used a variety of statisti-cal methods to demonstrate thatstudents in the experimental andcontrol groups were not different.The students who wrote and

discussed did better on both factual

and conceptual multiple-choicequestions. Researchers do cautionthat effect sizes for group differenceswere small, but those could not beexplained by any other factors.“Just 5 minutes of writing on a

topic per week (45 minutes persemester) produced significantlyhigher scores on test items than didthe same amount of time spentthinking.” (p. 174) The approachthey used could be implemented inclasses of almost any size. For the in-structor, this is not a labor-intensiveapproach to implementing a writingexercise; and for the students, here’san easy, in-class exercise that trans-lates into improved understanding ofcourse content.

Reference: Drabick, D. A. G.,Weisberg, R., Paul, L., and Bubier, J.L. (2007). Keeping it short and sweet:Brief, ungraded writing assignmentsfacilitate learning. Teaching ofPsychology, 34 (3), 172-176.

Dr. Maryellen Weimer is the editorThe Teaching Professor, and aprofessor emerita, teaching andlearning, Penn State-Berks.

Keys to Designing Effective Writing and Research Assignments • www.FacultyFocus.com

FROM PAGE 12

Writing (Even a Little Bit) Facilitates Learning

By Maryellen Weimer, PhD.

Developing student writing

skills is a responsibility we all

share. We cannot expect our

colleagues in English to do it

alone.

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14 Keys to Designing Effective Writing and Research Assignments • www.FacultyFocus.com

College teachers who supportwriting across the curriculumsometimes wonder how to craft

assignments that intellectuallychallenge students while at the sametime investing students in the writingprocess. So often, students viewwriting as a chore rather than an op-portunity. That perception can bechanged by giving students somechoice about how to fulfill their writingrequirements. Rather than simplyimposing our preferences on students,this approach enables them to assesstheir own strengths and interests, tomake decisions accordingly, and to beaccountable for the choices they make.Faculty benefit because they are nolonger required to devise specificwriting topics each semester. That re-sponsibility now belongs to thestudents.Offering students a choice can work

in virtually any discipline that requireswriting, and the options can be devisedfor traditional essays as well those thatare less conventional. In a class thatrequires 15 pages of writing, forexample, students may be given theoption of submitting three five-pagepapers, two seven- to eight-pagepapers, or one 15-page paper. Becauseindividual writing abilities tend to varysignificantly, even this small choiceenables students to build on theirstrengths as writers.Another easy way to empower

students is to have them design theirown paper topics, rather than limitingthem to specific subjects chosen by theinstructor. This way students get to

work on a project that they findexciting, rather than one that theteacher prefers. Initially, students maybe intimated by the prospect ofdevising their own paper topics, butthe benefits are considerable. For onething, students often produce moreimaginative topics than do we. In somecases, their ideas may need to berefined and their topics narrowed, buthaving students “own” their topics isan important step in the writingprocess. To ensure that proposedessays are sufficiently focused, the in-structor can have students submit thetopic and tentative thesis for approvalbefore they start writing. Taking thisstep reduces the likelihood thatstudents will end up writing poorlyconceived essays.For faculty members who aren’t

comfortable with shifting responsibilityentirely to students, some methodsblend the two by offering a “two out ofthree” assignment (or a “one out oftwo” or “three out of four,” dependingon the amount of writing the courserequires.) For example, in myAmerican literature survey course, Ihave students choose to write twodifferent papers from a menu compris-ing three options: 1) a line-by-line ex-plication of a sonnet by an Americanpoet, 2) a creative/research assign-ment, and 3) a traditional literaryanalysis. The results have been over-whelmingly positive.Built into each option are still more

choices. When students choose toexplicate a sonnet, for example, theyhave a starting point around which to

construct their essays. I provide threesonnets from which students selectone, and I ask that they first identifypoetic elements (speaker, imagery,tone, metaphors, personification, etc.)and then prepare an informative andoriginal explication of the poem.The second option, an exercise that

combines a creative component withdocumented research, appeals to non-English majors who aren’t alwaysskilled in literary interpretation.Students who choose this assignmentselect a work from the course readingsand design an illustration that depicts acharacter, scene, symbol, or theme re-flecting the cultural norms of the his-torical period in which the literarywork is set. In addition to creating anillustration, students provide both awritten analysis of their design (i.e.,what it is intended to depict and how itilluminates an aspect of the work) anda research-based overview of thecritical reception that the workgarnered when it was first published.The third option, a straightforward

literary analysis, requires students toanalyze one of the formal elements ina literary work, without reliance onexternal sources. I provide studentswith several examples of criticalanalyses, but they are ultimately re-sponsible for selecting a work, fordesigning their topic, and for generat-ing a viable thesis.Giving student writers choice

benefits instructors too. Rather thancontinually reading different versionsof the same writing assignment, weend up evaluating a much wider rangeof essays. Not only does this practiceencourage students to showcase theirstrengths, whether they be researchskills or analytical abilities, but it alsoenables instructors to learn somethingmore about their students. Offeringwriting options across the curriculumis a win-win situation for faculty andstudents alike.

Dr. Denise D. Knight is an Englishprofessor at SUNY Cortland.

Empowering Studentsthrough Choice

By Denise D. Knight, PhD.

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Last year, I attended a digital hu-manities conference where thehighlight of the program was

undoubtedly the “Poster Slam.” Theposter what? I’d wondered when I’dfirst read about it. I’d never heard ofa ‘poster slam’ and had no idea whatto expect, but my interest waspiqued. I hadn’t attended the confer-ence before, but I assumed thatbecause the program was as rooted intechnology as it was in the humani-ties, I shouldn’t be too surprised tofind myself in uncharted territory.As more information about the con-

ference program and the mysteriousposter slam was disseminated, Ilearned that the poster slam, whichturned out to be one of the mostwell-received and informative aspectsof the program, was simply a confer-ence session devoted to sharing infor-mation about the various posters thatwould be on display during theposter session.Poster session participants had

been invited to create one slide (inPowerPoint or a similar format)depicting the principal content oftheir posters, and each would beallotted one minute to entice confer-ence participants to visit their posterduring the poster session. During theslam, poster session presenters linedup and took turns at the podium infront of the room, speaking abouttheir research while their slides weredisplayed. If a presenter spokebeyond the allotted minute, thesession organizer rang a bell, and –in good humor – the presenter wasstopped and the next ushered forth.Loosely modeled on a poetry slam,

this new version of ‘slamming’ mostlikely originated in the technologycommunity. When programmerssought new ways to make the most oftheir time during conferences andmeetings, they broke from more con-

ventional formats by offering partici-pants one to three minutes topreview their current research, an in-progress project, or a useful program-ming shortcut. Because doing soprovided a succinct and efficient wayto cover a lot of ground in a veryshort time, the slam concept caughton and eventually found its way backinto the humanities community viathe digital humanities.Shortly after attending the confer-

ence, I introduced another version ofslamming in my college classes, the

‘paper’ slam: an in-class activity heldon paper due dates. College students,like academics and programmers, Ireasoned, regularly write interestingpapers about intriguing and diverseconcepts, and they regularly unearthand apply research that deserves amuch broader audience than theirprofessor. Students often have muchto gain from one another’s researchas well. Yet, the traditional paper sub-mission process, wherein studentssubmit a text document that hasvirtually no circulation beyond theirprofessor’s office, fails to recognizethis. While asking students to discusstheir papers on their due dates is aworthwhile venture, extending theslam concept to the classroomimproves upon this format and for-malizes the submission process in aninnovative and pedagogically astuteway.Toward the end of each semester as

paper due dates draw closer, I explainthe slam requirements to mystudents. I ask them to develop oneslide that highlights the key ideasexplored in their papers, and I requirethem to prepare a sixty to ninetysecond oral narrative that explainstheir work to their peers.Since they are free to use images

and color and to explore variousmodes of composition, the slidepreparation invokes their creativeenergy. It also links an otherwisestatic document to another mode oftechnology. And being asked toprepare a slide and oral synopsis toeffectively distill the significance oftheir work encourages studentauthors to think carefully about thecontent, organization, and delivery oftheir message – in their slammaterials, and, as I learned from mystudents, in their papers as well.Students email their slides to me in

the days before the slam, and Iorganize them alphabetically by last

Keys to Designing Effective Writing and Research Assignments • www.FacultyFocus.com

How to Conduct a ‘Paper Slam’

By Stephanie Schlitz, PhD.

PAGE 16�

While asking students to

discuss their papers on their

due dates is a worthwhile

venture, extending the slam

concept to the classroom

improves upon this format

and formalizes the

submission process in an

innovative and pedagogically

astute way.

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16 Keys to Designing Effective Writing and Research Assignments • www.FacultyFocus.com

name since I use this criterion todetermine the presentation order. Ithen compile the slides into a singleslideshow. Finally, I create a textdocument that lists the students’names and their topics in order anddistribute copies to the class so thateveryone can follow along and takenotes during the slam.On the day of the slam, I seat

students in alphabetical order andappoint a timer to keep track of timeand to hold up a “stop” sign when a

presenter exceeds his or her allottedtime. The slam advances as I scrollthrough slides and students move tothe front of the room to present whentheir slides are displayed. Somestudents prepare and read note cardswhile others extemporize in responseto prompts built into their slides, butimportantly, all of my students conveytheir ideas to their peers, and theprocess is as fun as it is illuminating.Students often have much to learn

from one another’s research, but toooften the opportunity to exchange

ideas is missed. A paper slam canrectify this by inviting students topresent their research in a way that ac-knowledges the importance of theirwork and continues the academictradition of sharing it with their peers.

Dr. Stephanie Schlitz is an assistantprofessor of Linguistics and English atBloomsburg University.

A Global Perspective on Respondingto Student Writing

By Kathy Gehr, PhD.

FROM PAGE 15

Faculty who assign writing intheir courses know that itenhances student learning, yet

many do not require written assign-ments because they have learned thatevaluating student work takes a lot oftime. Even the most seasoned writingteachers often spend five minutes perpage responding to student texts. With20 students in a class and a three-pagepaper, that comes to five intense hoursof grading per assignment. Forteachers who have less experience re-sponding to student writing, gradingconsumes even more time.Too often conversations about

efficient grading focus exclusively onthe process of marking final drafts.Approaches such as minimal markingor grading sheets can reduce theamount of time involved in markingthose drafts; however, they are notalways effective. To make studentwriting a rich and enriching

component of a course, it must beembedded in the course’s design andclassroom activities. We must think ofdesigning assignments, working withdrafts, and grading final drafts as aninterconnected process. The followingstrategies make grading shortcuts onfinal drafts more likely to work foreveryone:

Designing Assignments• Sequence written assignmentsfrom less to more complex intel-

lectual work. Think of your as-signments as guides to the kindsof thinking and writing that yourdiscipline requires. If, for example,you want students in a psychologyclass to write a literature review offive recent studies on the effects ofantidepressants on children, startwith a short assignment that asksstudents to write a one-paragraphsummary of one study and a one-paragraph analysis of that samestudy. When the student is askedto synthesize five studies, she willknow how to begin. In fact, shewill have already started.

• Discuss sample responses to majorwritten assignments. Samplepapers should offer a clear fit withthe assignment at hand, butshould not be so successful thatthey intimidate students. Usually a

PAGE 17�

To make student writing a rich

and enriching component of a

course, it must be embedded in

the course’s design and

classroom activities.

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17

solid “B” paper makes aneffective sample draft. As for thecontent of sample papers, topicsbased on previous coursematerial or on engaging examplesfrom popular culture are muchmore effective than a direct hiton the assignment’s topic.

• Use grading criteria or rubrics toset a tone of encouragementrather than punishment. Definethe terms that you use in theserubrics. If you ask for a “reason-ably complex” thesis statement,provide an example of what onelooks like. If you requiresecondary sources, list a fewsources so that your students candistinguish them from primarysources. Format with hollowboxes instead of bullets, askquestions rather than givingcommands, emphasize what aneffective paper does rather thanwhat a lousy paper does not do,and arrange criteria from most toleast important.

Working with Drafts• Personalize your responses tostudent work. Instead of auto-matically responding to everystudents’ work, a process thatoften reinforces a tell-me-what-you-want mentality, require thatstudents ask you two questionsabout their drafts. The more timeand effort that they put into theirquestions, the more useful yourfeedback is likely to be. Thissends the message that yourespect the student’s ownershipof her ideas and want to providefeedback that makes her draft abetter paper rather than a closerversion of some perfect paperthat exists in your own mind.

• Emphasize your role as a readerrather than an evaluator. Rather

than saying, “This essay lackseffective transitions.” Say: “Sally,I was interested in the point thatyou make about Hamlet’sinsanity in paragraph two, but asa reader, I was confused abouthow this point is related to thequote from Claudius that youdiscuss in paragraph three. Howdoes Claudius’s language affectour reaction to Hamlet’sbehavior? This is the question

that you need to answer at thebeginning of paragraph three.”This example offers a questionthat guides the student to thenext step in the revision process.

• Make writing a communalproblem that everyone in theclass is working together to solve.Encourage students to presentrevisions of paragraphs orsentences to the class as a whole.Schedule group writing confer-ences. Mention the conversa-tions that you have had withstudents outside of class duringclass time: “That’s a goodquestion, Mark. This is the sameproblem that John was strugglingwith in his essay. He decided to

integrate a different kind ofsource to define his terms. Wouldyou mind telling us about that,John? How did you decidewhich definition would workbest?”

• Use familiar examples and story-telling to create a shorthand wayof talking about common writingissues. In class I might say:“Good conclusions are more likebuffets than plated dinners. Aneffective conclusion offers a clearfocus—Chinese, Indian, orItalian—but doesn’t force you toeat your moo-shu in a pancake.”Later, when a student offers aconclusion with no clear control-ling idea, I might say, “I feel likeI’m being served beer at abreakfast buffet. You offer a lot ofgood ideas, but I don’t under-stand the logic of how they arerelated to one another.”Examples like this not only takethe edge off the criticism, theyalso help students understandshorthand comments on finaldrafts—“Conclusion lacks focusand is too repetitive.”

Dr. Kathy Gehr is an Englishprofessor at the College of Charleston,SC.

Keys to Designing Effective Writing and Research Assignments • www.FacultyFocus.com

FROM PAGE 16

This sends the message

that you respect the

student’s ownership of her

ideas and want to provide

feedback that makes her

draft a better paper rather

than a closer version of

some perfect paper that

exists in your own mind.

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