benefits of college writing assignments

Unlocking Academic Success: The Top 12 Benefits of Assignments

Rebekah Marshall

June 5, 2024

Read Time: 8 min

Is it possible that you would reach the end of your degree but didn’t attempt any assignment in your academic career? Not really. Well, the importance of assignments is not hidden from us. We all are aware of its significance. Completing assignments is a daunting task, but do you have any idea about their benefits? If not, then keep reading this article. We’ll explain the benefits of assignments in detail and how to finish them fast. Before moving forward, let’s have a brief overview of what an assignment is and its purpose.

What is an assignment? 

Assignments play an important part in the learning process of students. It is a well known assessment method for teachers as well. Additionally, it is not only for students but also for professors. With the help of assignments, professors can evaluate the skills, expertise, and knowledge of students. It also helps teachers assess whether or not pupils have met the learning objectives. Moreover, it allows them to gauge how much students have learned from their lessons. 

In education, an “assignment” means a piece of schoolwork that teachers give to students. It provides a range of opportunities to practice, learn, and show what you’ve learned. When teachers assign assignments, they provide their students with a summary of the knowledge they have learned. Additionally, they assess whether students have understood the acquired knowledge. If not, what concerns do they may have?  

Purpose of Giving Assignments to Students

Teachers give homework to help students in their learning. Doing homework shows they are good at it, responsible, and can manage their time wisely. College professors also give homework to check how well students understand what they learned. Clarity is required when planning an assignment on a number of issues. As a result, the following factors are taken into account by your teacher when creating the structure for your assignment.

• Will it be an individual or group assignment?
• How can it be made more effective for students?
• Should I combine two approaches for this project?
• Do I need to observe how students are working on the assignment? Or should I check it once they’ve finished it?
• What standards must I follow when evaluating this assignment?

What are the aspects of assignment evaluation?

Instructors usually follow these three aspects when evaluating an assignment.

Aspects of Assignment Evaluation

The assignment and the method used to evaluate the results are in line with the learning objectives.

Reliability

Teachers draw distinctions and assign grades based on the outcomes. The score is consistently calculated based on the predefined parameters. It guarantees that the grades are evaluated in a meaningful way.

Objectivity

An assignment’s goal should be obvious. The primary goal of this assignment is to teach students what they will learn. Also, how to finish that assignment. Teachers need to specify what they expect from the assignment and how they are going to evaluate it. 

Types of Writing Assignments

There are different types of writings that teachers assign to students at the college or university level. Some of writing assignment types are:

Types of Assignment Writing

It presents the author’s viewpoint on a subject with supporting data and may also argue its case. The essay structure consists of three main components: introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Essays are of different types, such as analytical essays, compare and contrast essays, and persuasive essays. You can also  buy essays  from an online writing service. 

A report offers information about an issue in a clear and organized manner. You may have learned this information through reading, research, experiments, and measurements in the field or lab. You might also have gained it from your personal experiences. Additionally, reports have different structures depending on the subject or discipline. The basic  structure of the report  consists of an abstract, introduction, methodology, findings, discussion, conclusion, and appendices. 

Literature reviews

A literature review may be assigned as a standalone assignment. In the literature review, the goal is to summarize the key research relating to your topic. Alternatively, it might be a section of a lengthy project, like a research report or thesis. The goal would be to justify the need for more research on the topic you have selected.

Annotated bibliographies

A literature review or essay synthesizes various sources and incorporates them into a single discussion about a topic. In contrast, an annotated bibliography evaluates and summarizes each reading independently. Each reading is typically presented alphabetically based on the first letter of the lead author’s surname. It is difficult to generate an annotated bibliography. But you can get expert help by hiring an online  annotated bibliography writing service . 

Case studies

In general, a case study requires the integration of theory and practice. This helps you connect theoretical ideas to real professional or practical situations. A case may be a person, any event, idea, etc. You are analyzing the case by mapping it against a theoretical explanation to understand and see the big picture – What has happened? It may take the form of a report or an essay. Consult your lecturer or tutor and review the assignment question.

Research paper

The research paper starts with a topic and your research question. Add data from trustworthy sites and properly cite those sources. Moreover, add a claim or argument as your thesis statement. If you don’t know  how to write a research paper , you can check our latest guide.

Response paper

In the response paper, discuss what you’ve read or learned about a particular problem or subject. Evaluate concepts about other readings, talks, or debates. Write in a combination of formal and informal styles. (make sure to consult your professor’s guidelines)

Top 12 Benefits of Assignments

For hard working students, assignments can offer many benefits once they get used to them. They help you get the grades you want and show what you have learned in your classes. You’ll see the benefits of assignments more clearly when you learn about their different types and what your teacher expects. Assignments are an absolute way to do well in your classes.

We have already talked about what an assignment is and its purpose. Let’s explore the impact of homework assignment on students’ learning.

1. Enhance the student’s knowledge

Teachers assign assignments on a variety of subjects and topics. This will help the students to gain knowledge when they work on different kinds of topics. It is one of the best benefits that students receive from assignments. They are also introduced to significant ideas and insightful information.

Suppose your assignment topic is too complex. You have to spend extra time and effort to conduct detailed research to understand the topic. This way, you will not only be able to complete your assignment. But also gain a lot of new information.

There can be a lot of pressure to memorize information exactly. This pressure may lead to simply repeating it when studying for an exam. Students find it challenging to truly grasp the concepts covered in their courses. This results in a lack of deep understanding. On the other hand, when you undertake a challenging assignment, you’ll be applying knowledge to real world issues. These issues often have multiple possible solutions. You’ll find that developing this kind of thinking and improving your assignment writing skills will help you throughout the course and the rest of your academic career.

2. Improve student’s problem solving skills

Another benefit of assignments is when students work on complex projects; their analytical and critical thinking skills are also enhanced. This is an extremely useful skill for students to possess. Since it will help them in their academic and professional journey. We continue to learn from this process regardless of our age.

A great technique to master your course material is to challenge yourself. Give yourself a complex problem to solve and strive to find a solution. Similar to the  benefits of homework , you can only improve at something by putting it into practice and giving it a lot of thought. We are always working on these analytical and problem solving skills, and going back to school will force you to develop them even more. 

3. Boost your writing caliber

We frequently find ourselves with a lot on our minds but unable to properly and clearly explain it in front of the audience. Assignments help us in improving our writing skills. When you have a habit of writing, then you can communicate easily. Your writing skills will improve because your academic task requires you to write. Another benefit of assignments is that they assist you in writing concisely and clearly.

4. Help to think under pressure

Sometimes, you might be assigned a very difficult assignment that requires a lot of knowledge, and you are not familiar with it. Handling these complex tasks assists you in persevering when you don’t have enough information. It also helps you to grow confidence in your skills to find the right solution.

Additionally, all students and professionals need to learn how to think under pressure. The assignment gives you the opportunity to do so. Since you probably only have a few days to finish the assignment. You’ll need to not only manage your busy schedule to finish it. But also squeeze in a lot of learning and application of what you’ve learned. Possessing this ability will be beneficial because it will enable you to think clearly under pressure, which will help you succeed in school and in your career.

5. Help in boosting grades

There is more pressure to perform well on exams when a course has few exams that make up for an important part of your final grade. Smaller assignments that account for a smaller portion of your final grade mean that even if you don’t perform well on one of them, you will still have more chances to improve your grade.

You can feel more at ease knowing that your grades are divided in this manner. This provides you with multiple chances to work towards a higher grade. Many students prefer smaller assessments. These relieve them of worrying about a single test significantly impacting their final grade.

6. Build time management skills

A  study  conducted among students revealed that students who completed more assignments performed better in their overall academics. They also achieved higher scores in specific subjects.

Due to these tasks, students gain more time management skills, which further empowers them. They learn the ability to allocate their time between assigned tasks and prioritized activities. They are aware of what needs to be done first. How to solve problems faster, and how to turn in their work ahead of schedule. Furthermore, this practice teaches them to use their time wisely.   

7. Enhance organizing and planning skills

Completing an assignment requires thoughtful planning. Students’ organizational skills are improved through the information search, sorting, and use of relevant data. Following that, students will be able to plan out when and how to complete their assigned work. Attempting assignments allows them to effectively handle their learning habits. They also help them to apply their knowledge wisely to improve their academic performance.  

8. Understand how to apply in real life scenarios

Applying theoretical concepts to real world situations also gets easier when one learns how to write theoretical assignments. This enables them to be prepared to deal with any problems that arise in the future.

9. Boosts your knowledge of technical subjects and ideas

When a subject is taught in a classroom environment, it’s normal for students to not understand it. They are forced to spend more time comprehending and finishing their work when they are assigned assignments on those subjects, though.

This enables them to respond to those questions with ease and proficiency. Regardless of a concept’s technicality, you’ll gain a strong command over it. This happens when you write multiple articles on the same topic or idea.

10. Improve research skills

Doing homework and assignments also helps students get better at researching. When a professor assigns any assignment, students perform thorough research on different topics. This allows them to learn the ability to find useful information and sort it accordingly. Their professional life is positively impacted, and their academic performance is improved by this habit.

11. Learn the art of tasks prioritizing

When handling a lot of assignments, you will learn to prioritize the task based on its importance. It is a crucial skill that is needed in professional life. Prioritizing your work will help you to complete all your tasks on time. You will be able to meet the deadlines.

12. Making a personal study space

You can get help from your colleagues and online resources. But the task of implementing that knowledge is your own. This is exactly what you need to understand concepts.

As you work on your assignments, you can create a relaxing study space that increases productivity. You’ll be able to create a unique working style by doing this. In addition, you can focus on creativity, productivity, learning, and pursuing interests.

Of course, everything has a negative aspect, even though there are definite advantages. Sometimes, students may question the true value of assignments. They wonder if there are any restrictions on this particular grading scheme. Students usually wonder this when they are having difficulty with their coursework or with specific concepts. These carry significant burdens. They can be stressful for students struggling with course material.

However, this belief has a reason. Even experts can’t agree on the best way to evaluate a student’s performance in a course. This sparks a lot of discussion.

How to finish assignments fast?

Firstly, make a plan of what steps you will cover in your assignment. It includes how much time is required to complete the assignment. Then, list out all the tasks that you will do in your assignment. Identify what you need to complete this assignment, like a calculator, books, paper, and pen. Find a relaxing and quiet place to work without any distractions. Switch off your phone. Have some light snacks and water. Take quick breaks between assignment tasks. When you’re done with the assignment, reward yourself.

Concluding Remarks

Now, you have a clear understanding of what the assignment means and its importance. And how it is beneficial for the student’s academic career. Would you like additional information? Or do you simply not have the time to complete it? Stop worrying! You can find the solution at Nerdpapers, all under one roof. Our professionals have years of experience. So, if a student gets stuck on a project or assignment, they can take a variety of actions to help them finish it on time. Not only can our native experts produce high quality assignments. But they can also help you achieve good grades at reasonable costs. Therefore, hire subject related experts for appropriate guidance and assistance rather than compromising your grades. Whether you are a college, university, or high school student, there are several benefits of assignment writing.

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• Designing Effective Writing Assignments

One of the best ways for students to determine what they know, think, and believe about a given subject is to write about it. To support students in their writing, it is important to provide them with a meaningful writing task, one that has an authentic purpose, clear guidelines, and engages students in their learning. In this section, you can read about key principles of assignment design, review examples of effective writing assignments, and use a checklist to guide your own designs. You can also consult with a Writing Across the Curriculum Program team member . We’re happy to think with you about your writing assignment, whether it is in the inkling stage or undergoing a few minor tweaks.

What makes an assignment effective?

A good deal of educational research points to the benefits of writing assignments that exhibit the following features:

Meaningful tasks. A task is given meaning by its relevance to and alignment with the learning aims in the course. What counts as meaningful in one course context might not be meaningful in another. As Eodice, Geller, and Lerner (2016) have shown, meaningful writing assignments do occur across all disciplines and they are typically ones that “offer students opportunities to engage with instructors, peers, and texts and are relevant to past experiences and passions as well as to future aspirations and identities.”

Maximized learning time. As Linda Suskie argues, effectiveness is determined by the “learning payoff,” not by size of the assignment. Will students learn four times as much on an assignment that takes 20 hours outside of class than one that takes 5? Longer research-based assignments and elaborate class activities (mock conferences, debates, poster sessions, etc.) can greatly maximize learning, but there must be an appropriate level of writing and learning time built into the task. Term papers are much more effective when students have time to draft and revise stages of the assignment, rather than turning in one final product at the end.

Logical sequencing. A writing task that includes discrete stages (research, drafting, review, revising, etc.) is more likely to be an effective learning experience than one that only specifies the final product. Furthermore, these stages are more effective when they are scaffolded so simpler tasks precede more complex tasks. For example, a well-sequenced 10-12 page essay assignment might involve discrete segments where students generate a central inquiry question, draft and workshop a thesis statement, produce a first draft of the essay, give and receive feedback on drafts, and submit a revision. Read more about sequencing assignments . 

Clear criteria will help students connect an assignment’s relevance to larger scale course outcomes. The literature on assignment design strongly encourages instructors to make the grading criteria explicit to students before the assignment is collected and assessed. A grading scheme or rubric that is handed out along with the assignment can provide students with a clear understanding of the weighted expectations and, thus help them decide what to focus on in the assignment. It becomes a teaching tool, not just an assessment tool.

Forward-thinking activities more than backward-thinking activities. Forward-thinking activities and assignments ask students to apply their learning rather than simply repeat it. The orientation of many writing prompts is often backward, asking students to show they learned X, Y, and Z. As L. Dee Fink (2013) points out, forward-thinking assignments and activities look ahead to what students will be able to do in the future having learned about X, Y, and Z. Such assignments often utilize real-world and scenario-based problems, requiring students to apply their learning to a new situation. For Grant Wiggins (1998) , questions, problems, tests, and assignments that are forward-thinking often:

• Require judgment and innovation. Students have to use knowledge and skills to solve unstructured problems, not just plug in a routine.
• Ask students to do the subject. Beyond recitation and replication, these tasks require students to carry out explorations, inquiry, and work within specific disciplines.
• Replicate workplace and civic contexts. These tasks provide specific constraints, purposes, and audiences that students will face in work and societal contexts.
• Involve a repertoire of skills and abilities rather than the isolation of individual skills. 

Feel free to use this assignment checklist , which draws on the principles and research described on this page.

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Why Students Should Write in All Subjects

Writing improves learning by consolidating information in long-term memory, researchers explain. Plus, five engaging writing activities to use in all subjects.

For Kyle Pahigian, a 10th-grade math teacher at University Park Campus School in Massachusetts, a lesson on congruent triangles doesn’t start with calculators and protractors. Instead, she hands her students a treasure map and asks them to write detailed directions—using landmarks as a guide—to the buried treasure.

“I won’t tell the kids right away, ‘Today we’re going to learn about triangle congruence theorems,’” said Pahigian. “I want them to instead view it as them experimenting with something and doing something that they feel like they’re really good at.” Students often feel intimidated by math, and transforming the activity into a writing exercise eases some of the anxiety of introducing difficult concepts, she said.

In Pahigian’s math class, writing is regularly used as a learning strategy, one that gives her a window into her students’ thinking. “I like to do low-stakes writing when we’re coming up with definitions,” said Pahigian. Instead of telling her students what a polygon is, for example, she’ll show them a set of polygons and a set of non-polygons, and ask them, “What do you notice? What differences do you see?” Students spend a few minutes writing down their answers, and then join groups to compare responses.

“It’s really interesting and fun for me to read what they’ve written, because I can see all the questions. I can see the process,” said Pahigian.

A recent study sheds light on why writing is such a beneficial activity—not just in subjects typically associated with writing, like history and English, but across all subjects. Professor Steve Graham and his colleagues at Arizona State University’s Teachers College analyzed 56 studies looking at the benefits of writing in science, social studies, and math and found that writing “reliably enhanced learning” across all grade levels. While teachers commonly ask students to write about a topic in order to assess how well they understand the material, the process of writing also improves a student’s ability to recall information, make connections between different concepts, and synthesize information in new ways. In effect, writing isn’t just a tool to assess learning, it also promotes it.

Strengthening Memories

Why is writing effective? “Writing about content material facilitates learning by consolidating information in long-term memory,” explain Graham and his colleagues, describing a process known as the retrieval effect . As previous research has shown , information is quickly forgotten if it’s not reinforced, and writing helps to strengthen a student’s memories of the material they’re learning.

It’s the same cognitive mechanism that explains why practice tests are effective : In a 2014 study, students who took low-stakes practice tests in science and history classes scored 16 percentage points higher on their final exams than students who simply studied the material. “Practicing retrieval of recently studied information enhances the likelihood of the learner retrieving that information in the future,” the researchers of the 2014 study said.

Writing about a topic also encourages students to process information at a deeper level. Answering multiple-choice or short-answer questions may help with factual recall, but putting thoughts on paper encourages students to evaluate different ideas, weighing the importance of each one and considering the order they should be presented in, Graham and his colleagues write. By doing so, students may make new connections between ideas, ones they may not have made when initially learning the information.

A Metacognitive Tool

Students often believe that they understand a topic, but if they’re asked to write it down—and explain it—gaps in their understanding may be revealed. One of the most effective writing strategies that Graham and his colleagues found was metacognitive prompting, in which students are asked not only to recall information but also to apply what they’ve learned to different contexts by thinking about multiple sides of a position or making predictions based on what they currently know. For example, instead of simply reading about ecosystems in a textbook, students can write about their own impact by examining how much trash their household produces or the environmental impact of producing the food they eat.

5 Writing Strategies to Use in Any Subject

Here are a variety of ideas teachers have shared with Edutopia in recent years on incorporating writing into a variety of subjects.

“I wonder” journals: At Crellin Elementary School in Oakland, Maryland, teachers encouraged students to ask “I wonder” questions to push their learning beyond the classroom. After visiting a local barn and garden, for example, Dave Miller realized his fifth-grade students had more questions about animals and plants than he had time to answer, so he had them write down anything they were confused or curious about, which helped him plan future lessons and experiments.

“If they don’t wonder, ‘How would we ever survive on the moon?’ then that’s never going to be explored,” said Dana McCauley, Crellin’s principal. “But that doesn’t mean they should stop wondering, because wonderings lead to thinking outside the box, which makes them critical thinkers. As they try to figure it out, and reflect on what they’re doing, that’s where it all ties together for them. That’s where all that learning occurs—where all the connections start being made.”

Travel journals: Every student at Normal Park Museum Magnet, a K–8 school in Chattanooga, Tennessee, created a travel journal to chart their learning. These journals included not only charts, drawings, and graphic organizers, but also writing and reflection pieces that capture students’ learning about a topic.

When fifth-grade teacher Denver Huffstutler began a unit on earth science, he asked his students to imagine they were explorers looking for a new world that could sustain life. In their travel journal, they kept track of everything they were learning, from the impact of man-made disasters to their designs and calculations for a manned rocket that could reach distant planets.

Low-stakes writing: Writing can be daunting, so teachers at University Park Campus School used daily low-stakes writing activities to foster student voice, self-confidence, and critical thinking skills—a school-wide strategy used in every subject.

“The most important thing about it for me is that it’s not censored, and it’s not too highly structured,” said seventh-grade science teacher James Kobialka. “It’s about them getting their own ideas down, and then being able to interact with those ideas, change them, and revise them if they’re not correct.”

For example, when Kobialka’s students were learning about the conservation of mass, he didn’t start by defining it—he showed them a picture and asked, “What do you notice about the atoms on both sides? How can you explain that?” Students wrote down their observations, and the entire class came up with a definition. “From there,” he said, “once that consensus is formed, I’ll ask somebody to write it on the board, and we’ll talk about the key concepts.”

Student-created magazines: In Alessandra King’s algebra class, students created a magazine with dozens of articles about real world applications of math. For each article, they selected a primary source—an article from Scientific American , for example—read it closely, and then wrote a summary. Students wrote about a range of topics, from gerrymandering to fractals in Jackson Pollock’s paintings to invisibility cloaks.

“Effective writing clarifies and organizes a student’s thoughts, and the slow pace of writing is conducive to student learning because it allows them to reason carefully to make sure they’re correct before they state their thoughts,” King wrote. “Studies have shown that writing is valuable specifically for the math classroom—for example, it seems that a student’s ability to explain concepts in writing is related to the ability to comprehend and apply them.”

Creative writing: Former teachers Ed Kang and Amy Schwartzbach-Kang incorporated storytelling and creative writing into their after-school program’s science lessons. For example, they asked students to imagine a creature that could survive in a local habitat —the Chicago River, in their case. What color would it be? What features would help it to survive and defend itself? How would it hunt its prey? Students then wrote a story about their creature that combined science concepts with creative storytelling.

“There’s brain science to support using stories to help kids engage with content and create personal meaning,” explained Kang, who has a Ph.D. in neuroscience. “Listening to facts mainly stimulates the two language-processing areas of the brain. However, when we listen to a story, additional parts of the brain are also activated—regions involved with our senses and motor movements help listeners actually ‘feel’ the descriptions.”

Understanding Assignments

What this handout is about.

The first step in any successful college writing venture is reading the assignment. While this sounds like a simple task, it can be a tough one. This handout will help you unravel your assignment and begin to craft an effective response. Much of the following advice will involve translating typical assignment terms and practices into meaningful clues to the type of writing your instructor expects. See our short video for more tips.

Basic beginnings

Regardless of the assignment, department, or instructor, adopting these two habits will serve you well :

• Read the assignment carefully as soon as you receive it. Do not put this task off—reading the assignment at the beginning will save you time, stress, and problems later. An assignment can look pretty straightforward at first, particularly if the instructor has provided lots of information. That does not mean it will not take time and effort to complete; you may even have to learn a new skill to complete the assignment.
• Ask the instructor about anything you do not understand. Do not hesitate to approach your instructor. Instructors would prefer to set you straight before you hand the paper in. That’s also when you will find their feedback most useful.

Assignment formats

Many assignments follow a basic format. Assignments often begin with an overview of the topic, include a central verb or verbs that describe the task, and offer some additional suggestions, questions, or prompts to get you started.

An Overview of Some Kind

The instructor might set the stage with some general discussion of the subject of the assignment, introduce the topic, or remind you of something pertinent that you have discussed in class. For example:

“Throughout history, gerbils have played a key role in politics,” or “In the last few weeks of class, we have focused on the evening wear of the housefly …”

The Task of the Assignment

Pay attention; this part tells you what to do when you write the paper. Look for the key verb or verbs in the sentence. Words like analyze, summarize, or compare direct you to think about your topic in a certain way. Also pay attention to words such as how, what, when, where, and why; these words guide your attention toward specific information. (See the section in this handout titled “Key Terms” for more information.)

“Analyze the effect that gerbils had on the Russian Revolution”, or “Suggest an interpretation of housefly undergarments that differs from Darwin’s.”

Additional Material to Think about

Here you will find some questions to use as springboards as you begin to think about the topic. Instructors usually include these questions as suggestions rather than requirements. Do not feel compelled to answer every question unless the instructor asks you to do so. Pay attention to the order of the questions. Sometimes they suggest the thinking process your instructor imagines you will need to follow to begin thinking about the topic.

“You may wish to consider the differing views held by Communist gerbils vs. Monarchist gerbils, or Can there be such a thing as ‘the housefly garment industry’ or is it just a home-based craft?”

These are the instructor’s comments about writing expectations:

“Be concise”, “Write effectively”, or “Argue furiously.”

Technical Details

These instructions usually indicate format rules or guidelines.

“Your paper must be typed in Palatino font on gray paper and must not exceed 600 pages. It is due on the anniversary of Mao Tse-tung’s death.”

The assignment’s parts may not appear in exactly this order, and each part may be very long or really short. Nonetheless, being aware of this standard pattern can help you understand what your instructor wants you to do.

Interpreting the assignment

Ask yourself a few basic questions as you read and jot down the answers on the assignment sheet:

Why did your instructor ask you to do this particular task?

Who is your audience.

• What kind of evidence do you need to support your ideas?

What kind of writing style is acceptable?

• What are the absolute rules of the paper?

Try to look at the question from the point of view of the instructor. Recognize that your instructor has a reason for giving you this assignment and for giving it to you at a particular point in the semester. In every assignment, the instructor has a challenge for you. This challenge could be anything from demonstrating an ability to think clearly to demonstrating an ability to use the library. See the assignment not as a vague suggestion of what to do but as an opportunity to show that you can handle the course material as directed. Paper assignments give you more than a topic to discuss—they ask you to do something with the topic. Keep reminding yourself of that. Be careful to avoid the other extreme as well: do not read more into the assignment than what is there.

Of course, your instructor has given you an assignment so that they will be able to assess your understanding of the course material and give you an appropriate grade. But there is more to it than that. Your instructor has tried to design a learning experience of some kind. Your instructor wants you to think about something in a particular way for a particular reason. If you read the course description at the beginning of your syllabus, review the assigned readings, and consider the assignment itself, you may begin to see the plan, purpose, or approach to the subject matter that your instructor has created for you. If you still aren’t sure of the assignment’s goals, try asking the instructor. For help with this, see our handout on getting feedback .

Given your instructor’s efforts, it helps to answer the question: What is my purpose in completing this assignment? Is it to gather research from a variety of outside sources and present a coherent picture? Is it to take material I have been learning in class and apply it to a new situation? Is it to prove a point one way or another? Key words from the assignment can help you figure this out. Look for key terms in the form of active verbs that tell you what to do.

Key Terms: Finding Those Active Verbs

Here are some common key words and definitions to help you think about assignment terms:

Information words Ask you to demonstrate what you know about the subject, such as who, what, when, where, how, and why.

• define —give the subject’s meaning (according to someone or something). Sometimes you have to give more than one view on the subject’s meaning
• describe —provide details about the subject by answering question words (such as who, what, when, where, how, and why); you might also give details related to the five senses (what you see, hear, feel, taste, and smell)
• explain —give reasons why or examples of how something happened
• illustrate —give descriptive examples of the subject and show how each is connected with the subject
• summarize —briefly list the important ideas you learned about the subject
• trace —outline how something has changed or developed from an earlier time to its current form
• research —gather material from outside sources about the subject, often with the implication or requirement that you will analyze what you have found

Relation words Ask you to demonstrate how things are connected.

• compare —show how two or more things are similar (and, sometimes, different)
• contrast —show how two or more things are dissimilar
• apply —use details that you’ve been given to demonstrate how an idea, theory, or concept works in a particular situation
• cause —show how one event or series of events made something else happen
• relate —show or describe the connections between things

Interpretation words Ask you to defend ideas of your own about the subject. Do not see these words as requesting opinion alone (unless the assignment specifically says so), but as requiring opinion that is supported by concrete evidence. Remember examples, principles, definitions, or concepts from class or research and use them in your interpretation.

• assess —summarize your opinion of the subject and measure it against something
• prove, justify —give reasons or examples to demonstrate how or why something is the truth
• evaluate, respond —state your opinion of the subject as good, bad, or some combination of the two, with examples and reasons
• support —give reasons or evidence for something you believe (be sure to state clearly what it is that you believe)
• synthesize —put two or more things together that have not been put together in class or in your readings before; do not just summarize one and then the other and say that they are similar or different—you must provide a reason for putting them together that runs all the way through the paper
• analyze —determine how individual parts create or relate to the whole, figure out how something works, what it might mean, or why it is important
• argue —take a side and defend it with evidence against the other side

More Clues to Your Purpose As you read the assignment, think about what the teacher does in class:

• What kinds of textbooks or coursepack did your instructor choose for the course—ones that provide background information, explain theories or perspectives, or argue a point of view?
• In lecture, does your instructor ask your opinion, try to prove their point of view, or use keywords that show up again in the assignment?
• What kinds of assignments are typical in this discipline? Social science classes often expect more research. Humanities classes thrive on interpretation and analysis.
• How do the assignments, readings, and lectures work together in the course? Instructors spend time designing courses, sometimes even arguing with their peers about the most effective course materials. Figuring out the overall design to the course will help you understand what each assignment is meant to achieve.

Now, what about your reader? Most undergraduates think of their audience as the instructor. True, your instructor is a good person to keep in mind as you write. But for the purposes of a good paper, think of your audience as someone like your roommate: smart enough to understand a clear, logical argument, but not someone who already knows exactly what is going on in your particular paper. Remember, even if the instructor knows everything there is to know about your paper topic, they still have to read your paper and assess your understanding. In other words, teach the material to your reader.

Aiming a paper at your audience happens in two ways: you make decisions about the tone and the level of information you want to convey.

• Tone means the “voice” of your paper. Should you be chatty, formal, or objective? Usually you will find some happy medium—you do not want to alienate your reader by sounding condescending or superior, but you do not want to, um, like, totally wig on the man, you know? Eschew ostentatious erudition: some students think the way to sound academic is to use big words. Be careful—you can sound ridiculous, especially if you use the wrong big words.
• The level of information you use depends on who you think your audience is. If you imagine your audience as your instructor and they already know everything you have to say, you may find yourself leaving out key information that can cause your argument to be unconvincing and illogical. But you do not have to explain every single word or issue. If you are telling your roommate what happened on your favorite science fiction TV show last night, you do not say, “First a dark-haired white man of average height, wearing a suit and carrying a flashlight, walked into the room. Then a purple alien with fifteen arms and at least three eyes turned around. Then the man smiled slightly. In the background, you could hear a clock ticking. The room was fairly dark and had at least two windows that I saw.” You also do not say, “This guy found some aliens. The end.” Find some balance of useful details that support your main point.

You’ll find a much more detailed discussion of these concepts in our handout on audience .

The Grim Truth

With a few exceptions (including some lab and ethnography reports), you are probably being asked to make an argument. You must convince your audience. It is easy to forget this aim when you are researching and writing; as you become involved in your subject matter, you may become enmeshed in the details and focus on learning or simply telling the information you have found. You need to do more than just repeat what you have read. Your writing should have a point, and you should be able to say it in a sentence. Sometimes instructors call this sentence a “thesis” or a “claim.”

So, if your instructor tells you to write about some aspect of oral hygiene, you do not want to just list: “First, you brush your teeth with a soft brush and some peanut butter. Then, you floss with unwaxed, bologna-flavored string. Finally, gargle with bourbon.” Instead, you could say, “Of all the oral cleaning methods, sandblasting removes the most plaque. Therefore it should be recommended by the American Dental Association.” Or, “From an aesthetic perspective, moldy teeth can be quite charming. However, their joys are short-lived.”

Convincing the reader of your argument is the goal of academic writing. It doesn’t have to say “argument” anywhere in the assignment for you to need one. Look at the assignment and think about what kind of argument you could make about it instead of just seeing it as a checklist of information you have to present. For help with understanding the role of argument in academic writing, see our handout on argument .

What kind of evidence do you need?

There are many kinds of evidence, and what type of evidence will work for your assignment can depend on several factors–the discipline, the parameters of the assignment, and your instructor’s preference. Should you use statistics? Historical examples? Do you need to conduct your own experiment? Can you rely on personal experience? See our handout on evidence for suggestions on how to use evidence appropriately.

Make sure you are clear about this part of the assignment, because your use of evidence will be crucial in writing a successful paper. You are not just learning how to argue; you are learning how to argue with specific types of materials and ideas. Ask your instructor what counts as acceptable evidence. You can also ask a librarian for help. No matter what kind of evidence you use, be sure to cite it correctly—see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial .

You cannot always tell from the assignment just what sort of writing style your instructor expects. The instructor may be really laid back in class but still expect you to sound formal in writing. Or the instructor may be fairly formal in class and ask you to write a reflection paper where you need to use “I” and speak from your own experience.

Try to avoid false associations of a particular field with a style (“art historians like wacky creativity,” or “political scientists are boring and just give facts”) and look instead to the types of readings you have been given in class. No one expects you to write like Plato—just use the readings as a guide for what is standard or preferable to your instructor. When in doubt, ask your instructor about the level of formality they expect.

No matter what field you are writing for or what facts you are including, if you do not write so that your reader can understand your main idea, you have wasted your time. So make clarity your main goal. For specific help with style, see our handout on style .

Technical details about the assignment

The technical information you are given in an assignment always seems like the easy part. This section can actually give you lots of little hints about approaching the task. Find out if elements such as page length and citation format (see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial ) are negotiable. Some professors do not have strong preferences as long as you are consistent and fully answer the assignment. Some professors are very specific and will deduct big points for deviations.

Usually, the page length tells you something important: The instructor thinks the size of the paper is appropriate to the assignment’s parameters. In plain English, your instructor is telling you how many pages it should take for you to answer the question as fully as you are expected to. So if an assignment is two pages long, you cannot pad your paper with examples or reword your main idea several times. Hit your one point early, defend it with the clearest example, and finish quickly. If an assignment is ten pages long, you can be more complex in your main points and examples—and if you can only produce five pages for that assignment, you need to see someone for help—as soon as possible.

Tricks that don’t work

Your instructors are not fooled when you:

• spend more time on the cover page than the essay —graphics, cool binders, and cute titles are no replacement for a well-written paper.
• use huge fonts, wide margins, or extra spacing to pad the page length —these tricks are immediately obvious to the eye. Most instructors use the same word processor you do. They know what’s possible. Such tactics are especially damning when the instructor has a stack of 60 papers to grade and yours is the only one that low-flying airplane pilots could read.
• use a paper from another class that covered “sort of similar” material . Again, the instructor has a particular task for you to fulfill in the assignment that usually relates to course material and lectures. Your other paper may not cover this material, and turning in the same paper for more than one course may constitute an Honor Code violation . Ask the instructor—it can’t hurt.
• get all wacky and “creative” before you answer the question . Showing that you are able to think beyond the boundaries of a simple assignment can be good, but you must do what the assignment calls for first. Again, check with your instructor. A humorous tone can be refreshing for someone grading a stack of papers, but it will not get you a good grade if you have not fulfilled the task.

Critical reading of assignments leads to skills in other types of reading and writing. If you get good at figuring out what the real goals of assignments are, you are going to be better at understanding the goals of all of your classes and fields of study.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Dec. 5, 2019

Better writing assignments start with critical reading praxis.

Laying the Foundation: Graduate Student Projects in Teaching & Learning

In this blog feature, we present the work of Rice graduate students completing coursework in our Certificate in Teaching and Learning .

Today, we’re featuring the project of Mallory Pladus, a PhD Candidate in English at Rice. As part of her coursework in UNIV 501 “Research on Teaching and Learning,” Mallory pursued the research question “What types of reading and writing assignments promote critical literacy?” Based on her findings she compiled an annotated bibliography, wrote a synthesis of the research, and developed a research poster. We asked Mallory to share her findings and analysis through this blog post.

In the spring I conducted a research project with the CTE that began as an effort to learn more about writing assignments in undergraduate courses, specifically for English and writing-focused courses, but with an interest in assignments across disciplines as well. I approached the project from the vantage point of an instructor at a loss, remembering having puzzled over the question of what kind of writing work to assign when I had the chance to experiment with curriculum design as a first-time grad student instructor.

In that teaching experience, I wanted to take seriously the question of how my course could be evidence of a pedagogical cornerstone: to help student writers feel more confident in how their thinking comes through on the page. I thought a lot about the standard essay form, its strengths and weaknesses: it combines lessons on argumentation, literary evidence, and form; it’s (rotely?) institutionalized across disciplines. In the research I did last term, I was still less interested in deposing the essay, and more interested in researching answers to these two questions: What types of assignments help students arrive at a point where they can claim, with a feeling of authenticity, in this paper, I argue that… ? And what are the major principles in composition pedagogy that might help me and other instructors create more interesting and more effective assignments for students?

The findings were elucidating toward those ends. The field of composition pedagogy shows the positive influence of genre studies, which encourages instructors to make explicit the social function , the rhetorical situation , and the discourse community of the genres they’ve assigned.[1] Instructors who opt to not buck the traditional essay assignment, for example, should unpack with students who the essay is for, what conventions readers expect from it, and why the genre exists at all. I especially like the call to encourage students to write to a real or imagined community beyond the instructor. I remember valuing a version of this advice I received as an undergrad writer - to keep front and center the questions of who (is this for?) and why (write this at all?).

Above all, though, the standout lesson from the field - discussed as repetitiously as the content of the advice itself - is that student writers benefit most from writing early and often, through assignments that are sequenced, frequent, and recursive. I think most instructors know this, but could stand to be reminded. Effective assignments encompass opportunities for reflection, metacognition, and revision. They might call for post-script writing, for example; they might sequence an essay in staged parts; they might compel students to submit revisions after dialoguing with peers. In an article from The Chronicle of Higher Education by Doug Hesse, he summarily states the logic subtending all of these principles: “Students learn to write by writing.”[2]

For me, these conventional precepts - though helpful - omit one key term. Don’t students also learn to write by reading? One of my favorite things about teaching English is that part of the disciplinary groundwork is to attend carefully to language - to interpret texts as a series of decisions to a set of ends. For writing instruction, this helps. We impart to students the significance of these decisions, and we get to establish close engagement with language as a course norm. Hesse does acknowledge this aspect of successful writing classrooms too, as he notes that student writing benefits when students feel equipped to read texts as deep examples - not just of how to turn a phrase (though that too), but of carefully plotted rhetorical moves.

From experience, as a graduate fellow at Rice’s CAPC, I’m often reminded that my job to help a student improve a piece of writing comes down to making sure the student has really understood the assigned reading. When I think of common areas for improvement - an essay repeats key claims, doesn’t engage thoughtfully or confidently with source materials, lacks overall heft - they all tend to signal that a student’s first act in revision should be to return to the text. Through this work consulting on student essays, I’ve also learned that students frequently collapse the terms “critical” and “criticize”; when asked to “critique” an author’s argument, for example, students proceed to expose its flaws. These two observations suggest a need for and one potential barrier to implementing critical reading as part of our writing instruction. The pedagogy scholars, Robert Diyanni and Anton Borst, whose work I describe more below, define critical reading well: it is the capacity to “analyze a text, understand its logic, evaluate its evidence, interpret it creatively, and ask searching questions of it” (3).

Toward my first research question, about how to help students write with a greater feeling of authenticity, critical reading offers one answer. Before students can fill in the blanks that follow the template “ In this paper, I argue that …” they need to form a considered response to a source text, and this work begins with meaningful comprehension. Further, the language that Diyanni and Borst use to define critical reading resonates with this goal of authentic argumentation. As they highlight the abilities to “interpret [a text] creatively” and to “ask searching questions of it,” they describe the act of reading from a specific subject position. Course writing assignments (“ I will argue”) then allow students to develop ideas that began with reading.

My second research question pertained to the field of composition studies. In the research I conducted on writing assignments, I was surprised to not find more content on the relationship between critical reading and critical writing. There are, however, two notable exceptions to this point - one old, one new. In a study from 1990, Reading-to-Write: Exploring a Cognitive and Social Process , Linda Flower, et. al. explain that according to research in cognitive learning, the mind distinguishes between reading to do something and reading to learn something (6). When a person reads a set of instructions, for instance, they scan for usable content to extract. Conversely, the act of reading with a bent toward writing, “is guided by the need to produce a text of one’s own” (7).

In Critical Reading Across the Curriculum , DiYanni and Borst make a case for the significance of critical reading, with greater implications for pedagogy. They explain that CR entails two primary parts: to read responsibly (to accurately attend to a text) and to read responsively (to talk back to a text via marginalia and annotation). The contributor Pat C. Hoy argues that “We would do well to clarify for our students this entwining relationship, reminding them...that the most persuasive writing is predicated on acts of clear-headed critical reading” (25). Hoy offers the practical example of one such reading assignment as a precursor to writing: guide students to distill an essay; have them write one cogent sentence in the margin to capture the meaning of each paragraph.

Both Reading to Write and Critical Reading Across the Curriculum stress the importance of meeting a text on its own terms - of understanding its major moves and claims (as opposed to quickly mining it, and before beginning the work of critiquing it). Both provoke the need for instructors to prompt students to read better, with an eye toward writing. In addition to the example Hoy provides of the distillation assignment, instructors could experiment with reading journals, dialectical notebooks (that stage a conversation between the reader and the source text), and descriptive outlining (in which students unpack both what a text says and how it says it).[3] These examples attest to the overlaps between reading and writing assignments. Similarly, as we emphasize the importance of drafting, editing, and revising in the writing classroom, we can also emphasize active reading and active reading assignments as the first stage of the writing work we already know to teach as a process.

[1] From Dan Melzer’s Assignments Across the Curriculum: A National Study of College Writing (2014). For more on genre theory, see Mary Soliday’s Everyday Genres: Writing Assignments Across the Disciplines (2011).

[2] “We Know What Works in Teaching Composition” (2017).

[3] See Susan M. Leist, Writing to Teach; Writing to Learn in Higher Education (University Press of America, 2006), for a more detailed description of these and other assignments.

Posted on December 5, 2019 by Ania Kowalik

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Online Guide to Writing and Research

College writing, explore more of umgc.

• Online Guide to Writing

What Is College Writing?

College writing, also called academic writing, teaches critical thinking and writing skills useful both in class and in other areas of life. College courses demand many different kinds of writing using a variety of strategies for different audiences. Sometimes your instructor will assign a topic and define the audience; sometimes you will have to define the topic and audience yourself. 

Types of Assignments

You will write many different types of assignments throughout your college career. Each type of assignment has specific requirements for content and format. The process of completing these assignments teaches you about the series of decisions you must make as you forge the link between your information and your audience. Click on the arrows below for some assignment types typically assigned in college.

written arguments

Short answers (such as discussion posts or essay questions on tests), lab reports, documentation of the research process, design documents (brochures, newsletters, powerpoints), business reports or plans, research essays, literature reviews, case studies, educating yourself through research.

Most college writing emphasizes the knowledge you gain in class and through research. This makes such writing different from your previous writing and perhaps more challenging. Instructors may expect your essays to contain more research and to show that you are capable of effectively evaluating those sources. You might be expected to incorporate sophisticated expository techniques, such as argument and persuasion, and to avoid flawed thinking, such as false assumptions and leaps in logic. You will often use the skills you learn in college writing throughout your life.

Key Takeaways

College writing

• teaches critical thinking skills.
• allows you to demonstrate your knowledge.
• takes many forms, depending on the discipline, the audience, the knowledge involved, and the goal of the assignment.

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Table of Contents: Online Guide to Writing

Chapter 1: College Writing

How Does College Writing Differ from Workplace Writing?

Why So Much Emphasis on Writing?

Chapter 2: The Writing Process

Doing Exploratory Research

Getting from Notes to Your Draft

Introduction

Prewriting - Techniques to Get Started - Mining Your Intuition

Prewriting: Targeting Your Audience

Prewriting: Techniques to Get Started

Prewriting: Understanding Your Assignment

Rewriting: Being Your Own Critic

Rewriting: Creating a Revision Strategy

Rewriting: Getting Feedback

Rewriting: The Final Draft

Techniques to Get Started - Outlining

Techniques to Get Started - Using Systematic Techniques

Thesis Statement and Controlling Idea

Writing: Getting from Notes to Your Draft - Freewriting

Writing: Getting from Notes to Your Draft - Summarizing Your Ideas

Writing: Outlining What You Will Write

Chapter 3: Thinking Strategies

A Word About Style, Voice, and Tone

A Word About Style, Voice, and Tone: Style Through Vocabulary and Diction

Critical Strategies and Writing

Critical Strategies and Writing: Analysis

Critical Strategies and Writing: Evaluation

Critical Strategies and Writing: Persuasion

Critical Strategies and Writing: Synthesis

Developing a Paper Using Strategies

Kinds of Assignments You Will Write

Patterns for Presenting Information

Patterns for Presenting Information: Critiques

Patterns for Presenting Information: Discussing Raw Data

Patterns for Presenting Information: General-to-Specific Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Problem-Cause-Solution Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Specific-to-General Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Summaries and Abstracts

Supporting with Research and Examples

Writing Essay Examinations

Writing Essay Examinations: Make Your Answer Relevant and Complete

Writing Essay Examinations: Organize Thinking Before Writing

Writing Essay Examinations: Read and Understand the Question

Chapter 4: The Research Process

Planning and Writing a Research Paper

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Ask a Research Question

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Cite Sources

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Collect Evidence

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Decide Your Point of View, or Role, for Your Research

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Draw Conclusions

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Find a Topic and Get an Overview

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Manage Your Resources

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Outline

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Survey the Literature

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Work Your Sources into Your Research Writing

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Human Resources

Research Resources: What Are Research Resources?

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found?

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Electronic Resources

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Print Resources

Structuring the Research Paper: Formal Research Structure

Structuring the Research Paper: Informal Research Structure

The Nature of Research

The Research Assignment: How Should Research Sources Be Evaluated?

The Research Assignment: When Is Research Needed?

The Research Assignment: Why Perform Research?

Chapter 5: Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity

Giving Credit to Sources

Giving Credit to Sources: Copyright Laws

Giving Credit to Sources: Documentation

Giving Credit to Sources: Style Guides

Integrating Sources

Practicing Academic Integrity

Practicing Academic Integrity: Keeping Accurate Records

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Paraphrasing Your Source

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Quoting Your Source

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Summarizing Your Sources

Types of Documentation

Types of Documentation: Bibliographies and Source Lists

Types of Documentation: Citing World Wide Web Sources

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - APA Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - CSE/CBE Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - Chicago Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - MLA Style

Types of Documentation: Note Citations

Chapter 6: Using Library Resources

Finding Library Resources

Chapter 7: Assessing Your Writing

How Is Writing Graded?

How Is Writing Graded?: A General Assessment Tool

The Draft Stage

The Draft Stage: The First Draft

The Draft Stage: The Revision Process and the Final Draft

The Draft Stage: Using Feedback

The Research Stage

Using Assessment to Improve Your Writing

Chapter 8: Other Frequently Assigned Papers

Reviews and Reaction Papers: Article and Book Reviews

Reviews and Reaction Papers: Reaction Papers

Writing Arguments

Writing Arguments: Adapting the Argument Structure

Writing Arguments: Purposes of Argument

Writing Arguments: References to Consult for Writing Arguments

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Anticipate Active Opposition

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Determine Your Organization

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Develop Your Argument

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Introduce Your Argument

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - State Your Thesis or Proposition

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Write Your Conclusion

Writing Arguments: Types of Argument

Appendix A: Books to Help Improve Your Writing

Dictionaries

General Style Manuals

Researching on the Internet

Special Style Manuals

Writing Handbooks

Appendix B: Collaborative Writing and Peer Reviewing

Collaborative Writing: Assignments to Accompany the Group Project

Collaborative Writing: Informal Progress Report

Collaborative Writing: Issues to Resolve

Collaborative Writing: Methodology

Collaborative Writing: Peer Evaluation

Collaborative Writing: Tasks of Collaborative Writing Group Members

Collaborative Writing: Writing Plan

General Introduction

Peer Reviewing

Appendix C: Developing an Improvement Plan

Working with Your Instructor’s Comments and Grades

Appendix D: Writing Plan and Project Schedule

Devising a Writing Project Plan and Schedule

Reviewing Your Plan with Others

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How to write the best college assignments.

By Lois Weldon

When it comes to writing assignments, it is difficult to find a conceptualized guide with clear and simple tips that are easy to follow. That’s exactly what this guide will provide: few simple tips on how to write great assignments, right when you need them. Some of these points will probably be familiar to you, but there is no harm in being reminded of the most important things before you start writing the assignments, which are usually determining on your credits.

The most important aspects: Outline and Introduction

Preparation is the key to success, especially when it comes to academic assignments. It is recommended to always write an outline before you start writing the actual assignment. The outline should include the main points of discussion, which will keep you focused throughout the work and will make your key points clearly defined. Outlining the assignment will save you a lot of time because it will organize your thoughts and make your literature searches much easier. The outline will also help you to create different sections and divide up the word count between them, which will make the assignment more organized.

The introduction is the next important part you should focus on. This is the part that defines the quality of your assignment in the eyes of the reader. The introduction must include a brief background on the main points of discussion, the purpose of developing such work and clear indications on how the assignment is being organized. Keep this part brief, within one or two paragraphs.

This is an example of including the above mentioned points into the introduction of an assignment that elaborates the topic of obesity reaching proportions:

Background : The twenty first century is characterized by many public health challenges, among which obesity takes a major part. The increasing prevalence of obesity is creating an alarming situation in both developed and developing regions of the world.

Structure and aim : This assignment will elaborate and discuss the specific pattern of obesity epidemic development, as well as its epidemiology. Debt, trade and globalization will also be analyzed as factors that led to escalation of the problem. Moreover, the assignment will discuss the governmental interventions that make efforts to address this issue.

Practical tips on assignment writing

Here are some practical tips that will keep your work focused and effective:

–         Critical thinking – Academic writing has to be characterized by critical thinking, not only to provide the work with the needed level, but also because it takes part in the final mark.

–         Continuity of ideas – When you get to the middle of assignment, things can get confusing. You have to make sure that the ideas are flowing continuously within and between paragraphs, so the reader will be enabled to follow the argument easily. Dividing the work in different paragraphs is very important for this purpose.

–         Usage of ‘you’ and ‘I’ – According to the academic writing standards, the assignments should be written in an impersonal language, which means that the usage of ‘you’ and ‘I’ should be avoided. The only acceptable way of building your arguments is by using opinions and evidence from authoritative sources.

–         Referencing – this part of the assignment is extremely important and it takes a big part in the final mark. Make sure to use either Vancouver or Harvard referencing systems, and use the same system in the bibliography and while citing work of other sources within the text.  

–         Usage of examples – A clear understanding on your assignment’s topic should be provided by comparing different sources and identifying their strengths and weaknesses in an objective manner. This is the part where you should show how the knowledge can be applied into practice.

–         Numbering and bullets – Instead of using numbering and bullets, the academic writing style prefers the usage of paragraphs.

–         Including figures and tables – The figures and tables are an effective way of conveying information to the reader in a clear manner, without disturbing the word count. Each figure and table should have clear headings and you should make sure to mention their sources in the bibliography.

–         Word count – the word count of your assignment mustn’t be far above or far below the required word count. The outline will provide you with help in this aspect, so make sure to plan the work in order to keep it within the boundaries.

The importance of an effective conclusion

The conclusion of your assignment is your ultimate chance to provide powerful arguments that will impress the reader. The conclusion in academic writing is usually expressed through three main parts:

–         Stating the context and aim of the assignment

–         Summarizing the main points briefly

–         Providing final comments with consideration of the future (discussing clear examples of things that can be done in order to improve the situation concerning your topic of discussion).

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Lois Weldon is writer at  Uk.bestdissertation.com . Lives happily at London with her husband and lovely daughter. Adores writing tips for students. Passionate about Star Wars and yoga.

7 comments on “How To Write The Best College Assignments”

Extremely useful tip for students wanting to score well on their assignments. I concur with the writer that writing an outline before ACTUALLY starting to write assignments is extremely important. I have observed students who start off quite well but they tend to lose focus in between which causes them to lose marks. So an outline helps them to maintain the theme focused.

Hello Great information…. write assignments

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This article is certainly going to help student . Well written.

Really good, thanks

Practical tips on assignment writing, the’re fantastic. Thank you!

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1.3 Becoming a Successful College Writer

Learning objectives.

• Identify strategies for successful writing.
• Demonstrate comprehensive writing skills.
• Identify writing strategies for use in future classes.

In the preceding sections, you learned what you can expect from college and identified strategies you can use to manage your work. These strategies will help you succeed in any college course. This section covers more about how to handle the demands college places upon you as a writer. The general techniques you will learn will help ensure your success on any writing task, whether you complete a bluebook exam in an hour or an in-depth research project over several weeks.

Putting It All Together: Strategies for Success

Writing well is difficult. Even people who write for a living sometimes struggle to get their thoughts on the page. Even people who generally enjoy writing have days when they would rather do anything else. For people who do not like writing or do not think of themselves as good writers, writing assignments can be stressful or even intimidating. And of course, you cannot get through college without having to write—sometimes a lot, and often at a higher level than you are used to.

No magic formula will make writing quick and easy. However, you can use strategies and resources to manage writing assignments more easily. This section presents a broad overview of these strategies and resources. The remaining chapters of this book provide more detailed, comprehensive instruction to help you succeed at a variety of assignments. College will challenge you as a writer, but it is also a unique opportunity to grow.

Using the Writing Process

To complete a writing project successfully, good writers use some variation of the following process.

The Writing Process

• Prewriting. In this step, the writer generates ideas to write about and begins developing these ideas.
• Outlining a structure of ideas. In this step, the writer determines the overall organizational structure of the writing and creates an outline to organize ideas. Usually this step involves some additional fleshing out of the ideas generated in the first step.
• Writing a rough draft. In this step, the writer uses the work completed in prewriting to develop a first draft. The draft covers the ideas the writer brainstormed and follows the organizational plan that was laid out in the first step.
• Revising. In this step, the writer revisits the draft to review and, if necessary, reshape its content. This stage involves moderate and sometimes major changes: adding or deleting a paragraph, phrasing the main point differently, expanding on an important idea, reorganizing content, and so forth.
• Editing. In this step, the writer reviews the draft to make additional changes. Editing involves making changes to improve style and adherence to standard writing conventions—for instance, replacing a vague word with a more precise one or fixing errors in grammar and spelling. Once this stage is complete, the work is a finished piece and ready to share with others.

Chances are, you have already used this process as a writer. You may also have used it for other types of creative projects, such as developing a sketch into a finished painting or composing a song. The steps listed above apply broadly to any project that involves creative thinking. You come up with ideas (often vague at first), you work to give them some structure, you make a first attempt, you figure out what needs improving, and then you refine it until you are satisfied.

Most people have used this creative process in one way or another, but many people have misconceptions about how to use it to write. Here are a few of the most common misconceptions students have about the writing process:

• “I do not have to waste time on prewriting if I understand the assignment.” Even if the task is straightforward and you feel ready to start writing, take some time to develop ideas before you plunge into your draft. Freewriting —writing about the topic without stopping for a set period of time—is one prewriting technique you might try in that situation.
• “It is important to complete a formal, numbered outline for every writing assignment.” For some assignments, such as lengthy research papers, proceeding without a formal outline can be very difficult. However, for other assignments, a structured set of notes or a detailed graphic organizer may suffice. The important thing is that you have a solid plan for organizing ideas and details.
• “My draft will be better if I write it when I am feeling inspired.” By all means, take advantage of those moments of inspiration. However, understand that sometimes you will have to write when you are not in the mood. Sit down and start your draft even if you do not feel like it. If necessary, force yourself to write for just one hour. By the end of the hour, you may be far more engaged and motivated to continue. If not, at least you will have accomplished part of the task.
• “My instructor will tell me everything I need to revise.” If your instructor chooses to review drafts, the feedback can help you improve. However, it is still your job, not your instructor’s, to transform the draft to a final, polished piece. That task will be much easier if you give your best effort to the draft before submitting it. During revision, do not just go through and implement your instructor’s corrections. Take time to determine what you can change to make the work the best it can be.
• “I am a good writer, so I do not need to revise or edit.” Even talented writers still need to revise and edit their work. At the very least, doing so will help you catch an embarrassing typo or two. Revising and editing are the steps that make good writers into great writers.

For a more thorough explanation of the steps of the writing process as well as for specific techniques you can use for each step, see Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” .

The writing process also applies to timed writing tasks, such as essay exams. Before you begin writing, read the question thoroughly and think about the main points to include in your response. Use scrap paper to sketch out a very brief outline. Keep an eye on the clock as you write your response so you will have time to review it and make any needed changes before turning in your exam.

Managing Your Time

In Section 1.2 “Developing Study Skills” , you learned general time-management skills. By combining those skills with what you have learned about the writing process, you can make any writing assignment easier to manage.

When your instructor gives you a writing assignment, write the due date on your calendar. Then work backward from the due date to set aside blocks of time when you will work on the assignment. Always plan at least two sessions of writing time per assignment, so that you are not trying to move from step 1 to step 5 in one evening. Trying to work that fast is stressful, and it does not yield great results. You will plan better, think better, and write better if you space out the steps.

Ideally, you should set aside at least three separate blocks of time to work on a writing assignment: one for prewriting and outlining, one for drafting, and one for revising and editing. Sometimes those steps may be compressed into just a few days. If you have a couple of weeks to work on a paper, space out the five steps over multiple sessions. Long-term projects, such as research papers, require more time for each step.

In certain situations you may not be able to allow time between the different steps of the writing process. For instance, you may be asked to write in class or complete a brief response paper overnight. If the time available is very limited, apply a modified version of the writing process (as you would do for an essay exam). It is still important to give the assignment thought and effort. However, these types of assignments are less formal, and instructors may not expect them to be as polished as formal papers. When in doubt, ask the instructor about expectations, resources that will be available during the writing exam, and if they have any tips to prepare you to effectively demonstrate your writing skills.

Each Monday in Crystal’s Foundations of Education class, the instructor distributed copies of a current news article on education and assigned students to write a one-and-one-half- to two-page response that was due the following Monday. Together, these weekly assignments counted for 20 percent of the course grade. Although each response took just a few hours to complete, Crystal found that she learned more from the reading and got better grades on her writing if she spread the work out in the following way:

For more detailed guidelines on how to plan for a long-term writing project, see Chapter 11 “Writing from Research: What Will I Learn?” .

Setting Goals

One key to succeeding as a student and as a writer is setting both short- and long-term goals for yourself. You have already glimpsed the kind of short-term goals a student might set. Crystal wanted to do well in her Foundations of Education course, and she realized that she could control how she handled her weekly writing assignments. At 20 percent of her course grade, she reasoned, those assignments might mean the difference between a C and a B or between a B and an A.

By planning carefully and following through on her daily and weekly goals, Crystal was able to fulfill one of her goals for the semester. Although her exam scores were not as high as she had hoped, her consistently strong performance on writing assignments tipped her grade from a B+ to an A−. She was pleased to have earned a high grade in one of the required courses for her major. She was also glad to have gotten the most out of an introductory course that would help her become an effective teacher.

How does Crystal’s experience relate to your own college experience?

To do well in college, it is important to stay focused on how your day-to-day actions determine your long-term success. You may not have defined your career goals or chosen a major yet. Even so, you surely have some overarching goals for what you want out of college: to expand your career options, to increase your earning power, or just to learn something new. In time, you will define your long-term goals more explicitly. Doing solid, steady work, day by day and week by week, will help you meet those goals.

In this exercise, make connections between short- and long-term goals.

• For this step, identify one long-term goal you would like to have achieved by the time you complete your degree. For instance, you might want a particular job in your field or hope to graduate with honors.
• Next, identify one semester goal that will help you fulfill the goal you set in step one. For instance, you may want to do well in a particular course or establish a connection with a professional in your field.
• Review the goal you determined in step two. Brainstorm a list of stepping stones that will help you meet that goal, such as “doing well on my midterm and final exams” or “talking to Professor Gibson about doing an internship.” Write down everything you can think of that would help you meet that semester goal.
• Review your list. Choose two to three items, and for each item identify at least one concrete action you can take to accomplish it. These actions may be recurring (meeting with a study group each week) or one time only (calling the professor in charge of internships).
• Identify one action from step four that you can do today. Then do it.

Using College Resources

One reason students sometimes find college overwhelming is that they do not know about, or are reluctant to use, the resources available to them. Some aspects of college will be challenging. However, if you try to handle every challenge alone, you may become frustrated and overwhelmed.

Universities have resources in place to help students cope with challenges. Your student fees help pay for resources such as a health center or tutoring, so use these resources if you need them. The following are some of the resources you might use if you find you need help:

• Your instructor. If you are making an honest effort but still struggling with a particular course, set up a time to meet with your instructor and discuss what you can do to improve. He or she may be able to shed light on a confusing concept or give you strategies to catch up.
• Your academic counselor. Many universities assign students an academic counselor who can help you choose courses and ensure that you fulfill degree and major requirements.
• The academic resource center. These centers offer a variety of services, which may range from general coaching in study skills to tutoring for specific courses. Find out what is offered at your school and use the services that you need.
• The writing center. These centers employ tutors to help you manage college-level writing assignments. They will not write or edit your paper for you, but they can help you through the stages of the writing process. (In some schools, the writing center is part of the academic resource center.)
• The career resource center. Visit the career resource center for guidance in choosing a career path, developing a résumé, and finding and applying for jobs.
• Counseling services. Many universities offer psychological counseling for free or for a low fee. Use these services if you need help coping with a difficult personal situation or managing depression, anxiety, or other problems.

Students sometimes neglect to use available resources due to limited time, unwillingness to admit there is a problem, or embarrassment about needing to ask for help. Unfortunately, ignoring a problem usually makes it harder to cope with later on. Waiting until the end of the semester may also mean fewer resources are available, since many other students are also seeking last-minute help.

Identify at least one college resource that you think could be helpful to you and you would like to investigate further. Schedule a time to visit this resource within the next week or two so you can use it throughout the semester.

Overview: College Writing Skills

You now have a solid foundation of skills and strategies you can use to succeed in college. The remainder of this book will provide you with guidance on specific aspects of writing, ranging from grammar and style conventions to how to write a research paper.

For any college writing assignment, use these strategies:

• Plan ahead. Divide the work into smaller, manageable tasks, and set aside time to accomplish each task in turn.
• Make sure you understand the assignment requirements, and if necessary, clarify them with your instructor. Think carefully about the purpose of the writing, the intended audience, the topics you will need to address, and any specific requirements of the writing form.
• Complete each step of the writing process. With practice, using this process will come automatically to you.
• Use the resources available to you. Remember that most colleges have specific services to help students with their writing.

For help with specific writing assignments and guidance on different aspects of writing, you may refer to the other chapters in this book. The table of contents lists topics in detail. As a general overview, the following paragraphs discuss what you will learn in the upcoming chapters.

Chapter 2 “Writing Basics: What Makes a Good Sentence?” through Chapter 7 “Refining Your Writing: How Do I Improve My Writing Technique?” will ground you in writing basics: the “nuts and bolts” of grammar, sentence structure, and paragraph development that you need to master to produce competent college-level writing. Chapter 2 “Writing Basics: What Makes a Good Sentence?” reviews the parts of speech and the components of a sentence. Chapter 3 “Punctuation” explains how to use punctuation correctly. Chapter 4 “Working with Words: Which Word Is Right?” reviews concepts that will help you use words correctly, including everything from commonly confused words to using context clues.

Chapter 5 “Help for English Language Learners” provides guidance for students who have learned English as a second language. Then, Chapter 6 “Writing Paragraphs: Separating Ideas and Shaping Content” guides you through the process of developing a paragraph while Chapter 7 “Refining Your Writing: How Do I Improve My Writing Technique?” has tips to help you refine and improve your sentences.

Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” through Chapter 10 “Rhetorical Modes” are geared to help you apply those basics to college-level writing assignments. Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” shows the writing process in action with explanations and examples of techniques you can use during each step of the process. Chapter 9 “Writing Essays: From Start to Finish” provides further discussion of the components of college essays—how to create and support a thesis and how to organize an essay effectively. Chapter 10 “Rhetorical Modes” discusses specific modes of writing you will encounter as a college student and explains how to approach these different assignments.

Chapter 11 “Writing from Research: What Will I Learn?” through Chapter 14 “Creating Presentations: Sharing Your Ideas” focus on how to write a research paper. Chapter 11 “Writing from Research: What Will I Learn?” guides students through the process of conducting research, while Chapter 12 “Writing a Research Paper” explains how to transform that research into a finished paper. Chapter 13 “APA and MLA Documentation and Formatting” explains how to format your paper and use a standard system for documenting sources. Finally, Chapter 14 “Creating Presentations: Sharing Your Ideas” discusses how to transform your paper into an effective presentation.

Many of the chapters in this book include sample student writing—not just the finished essays but also the preliminary steps that went into developing those essays. Chapter 15 “Readings: Examples of Essays” of this book provides additional examples of different essay types.

Key Takeaways

• Following the steps of the writing process helps students complete any writing assignment more successfully.
• To manage writing assignments, it is best to work backward from the due date, allotting appropriate time to complete each step of the writing process.
• Setting concrete long- and short-term goals helps students stay focused and motivated.
• A variety of university resources are available to help students with writing and with other aspects of college life.

Writing for Success Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

3.9 Writing

Where Are You Now?

Assess your present knowledge and attitudes.

Where Do You Want to Go?

Think about how you answered the questions above. Be honest with yourself. On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your level of confidence and your attitude about writing?

In the following list, circle the three areas you see as most important to your improvement as a writer:

• Using time effectively
• Using sources effectively and appropriately
• Understanding instructors’ expectations
• Citing sources in the proper form
• Being productive with brainstorming and other prewriting activities
• Sharing my work in drafts and accepting feedback
• Organizing ideas clearly and transitioning between ideas
• Understanding the difference between proofreading and revision
• Developing ideas fully
• Drafting and redrafting in response to criticism
• Using correct sentence mechanics (grammar, punctuation, etc.)
• Using Web sites, reference books, and campus resources
• Developing an academic “voice”

Think about the three things you chose: Why did you choose them? Have you had certain kinds of writing difficulties in the past? Consider what you hope to learn here.

__________________________________________________________________

How to Get There

Here’s what we’ll work on in this chapter:

• Understanding why writing is vital to your success in college
• Learning how writing in college differs from writing in high school
• Understanding how a writing class differs (and doesn’t differ) from other classes with assigned writing
• Knowing what instructors in college expect of you as a writer
• Knowing what different types of assignments are most common in college
• Using the writing process to achieve your best work
• Identifying common errors and become a better editor of your own work
• Responding to an instructor’s feedback on your work in progress and on your final paper
• Using sources appropriately and avoiding plagiarism
• Writing an in-class essay, for an online course, and in group writing projects

The Importance of Writing

Writing is one of the key skills all successful students must acquire. You might think your main job in a history class is to learn facts about events. So you read your textbook and take notes on important dates, names, causes, and so on. But however important these details are to your instructor, they don’t mean much if you can’t explain them in writing. Even if you remember the facts well and believe you understand their meaning completely, if you can’t express your understanding by communicating it—in college that almost always means in writing—then as far as others may know, you don’t have an understanding at all. In a way, then, learning history is learning to write about history. Think about it. Great historians don’t just know facts and ideas. Great historians use their writing skills to share their facts and ideas effectively with others.

History is just one example. Consider a lab course—a class that’s as much hands-on as any in college. At some point, you’ll be asked to write a step-by-step report on an experiment you have run. The quality of your lab work will not show if you cannot describe that work and state your findings well in writing. Even though many instructors in courses other than English classes may not comment directly on your writing, their judgment of your understanding will still be mostly based on what you write. This means that in all your courses, not just your English courses, instructors expect good writing.

In college courses, writing is how ideas are exchanged, from scholars to students and from students back to scholars. While the grade in some courses may be based mostly on class participation, oral reports, or multiple-choice exams, writing is by far the single most important form of instruction and assessment. Instructors expect you to learn by writing, and they will grade you on the basis of your writing.

If you find that a scary thought, take heart! By paying attention to your writing and learning and practicing basic skills, even those who never thought of themselves as good writers can succeed in college writing. As with other college skills, getting off to a good start is mostly a matter of being motivated and developing a confident attitude that you can do it.

As a form of communication, writing is different from oral communication in several ways. Instructors expect writing to be well thought out and organized and to explain ideas fully. In oral communication, the listener can ask for clarification, but in written work, everything must be clear within the writing itself. Guidelines for oral presentations are provided in Chapter 7 “Interacting with Instructors and Classes” .

Note: Most college students take a writing course their first year, often in the first term. Even if you are not required to take such a class, it’s a good idea for all students to learn more about college writing. This short chapter cannot cover even a small amount of what you will learn in a full writing course. Our goal here is to introduce some important writing principles, if you’re not yet familiar with them, or to remind you of things you may have already learned in a writing course. As with all advice, always pay the most attention to what your instructor says—the terms of a specific assignment may overrule a tip given here!

Learning Objectives

• Define “academic writing.”
• Identify key differences between writing in college and writing in high school or on the job.
• Identify different types of papers that are commonly assigned.
• Describe what instructors expect from student writing.

Academic writing refers to writing produced in a college environment. Often this is writing that responds to other writing—to the ideas or controversies that you’ll read about. While this definition sounds simple, academic writing may be very different from other types of writing you have done in the past. Often college students begin to understand what academic writing really means only after they receive negative feedback on their work. To become a strong writer in college, you need to achieve a clear sense of two things:

• The academic environment
• The kinds of writing you’ll be doing in that environment

Differences between High School and College Writing

Students who struggle with writing in college often conclude that their high school teachers were too easy or that their college instructors are too hard. In most cases, neither explanation is fully accurate or fair. A student having difficulty with college writing usually just hasn’t yet made the transition from high school writing to college writing. That shouldn’t be surprising, for many beginning college students do not even know that there is a transition to be made.

In high school, most students think of writing as the subject of English classes. Few teachers in other courses give much feedback on student writing; many do not even assign writing. This says more about high school than about the quality of teachers or about writing itself. High school teachers typically teach five courses a day and often more than 150 students. Those students often have a very wide range of backgrounds and skill levels.

Thus many high school English instructors focus on specific, limited goals. For example, they may teach the “five paragraph essay” as the right way to organize a paper because they want to give every student some idea of an essay’s basic structure. They may give assignments on stories and poems because their own college background involved literature and literary analysis. In classes other than English, many high school teachers must focus on an established body of information and may judge students using tests that measure only how much of this information they acquire. Often writing itself is not directly addressed in such classes.

This does not mean that students don’t learn a great deal in high school, but it’s easy to see why some students think that writing is important only in English classes. Many students also believe an academic essay must be five paragraphs long or that “school writing” is usually literary analysis.

Think about how college differs from high school. In many colleges, the instructors teach fewer classes and have fewer students. In addition, while college students have highly diverse backgrounds, the skills of college students are less variable than in an average high school class. In addition, college instructors are specialists in the fields they teach, as you recall from Chapter 7 “Interacting with Instructors and Classes” . College instructors may design their courses in unique ways, and they may teach about specialized subjects. For all of these reasons, college instructors are much more likely than high school teachers to

• assign writing,
• respond in detail to student writing,
• ask questions that cannot be dealt with easily in a fixed form like a five-paragraph essay.

Your transition to college writing could be even more dramatic. The kind of writing you have done in the past may not translate at all into the kind of writing required in college. For example, you may at first struggle with having to write about very different kinds of topics, using different approaches. You may have learned only one kind of writing genre (a kind of approach or organization) and now find you need to master other types of writing as well.

What Kinds of Papers Are Commonly Assigned in College Classes?

Think about the topic “gender roles”—referring to expectations about differences in how men and women act. You might study gender roles in an anthropology class, a film class, or a psychology class. The topic itself may overlap from one class to another, but you would not write about this subject in the same way in these different classes. For example, in an anthropology class, you might be asked to describe how men and women of a particular culture divide important duties. In a film class, you may be asked to analyze how a scene portrays gender roles enacted by the film’s characters. In a psychology course, you might be asked to summarize the results of an experiment involving gender roles or compare and contrast the findings of two related research projects.

It would be simplistic to say that there are three, or four, or ten, or any number of types of academic writing that have unique characteristics, shapes, and styles. Every assignment in every course is unique in some ways, so don’t think of writing as a fixed form you need to learn. On the other hand, there are certain writing approaches that do involve different kinds of writing. An approach is the way you go about meeting the writing goals for the assignment. The approach is usually signaled by the words instructors use in their assignments.

When you first get a writing assignment, pay attention first to keywords for how to approach the writing. These will also suggest how you may structure and develop your paper. Look for terms like these in the assignment:

• Summarize. To restate in your own words the main point or points of another’s work.
• Define. To describe, explore, or characterize a keyword, idea, or phenomenon.
• Classify. To group individual items by their shared characteristics, separate from other groups of items.
• Compare/contrast. To explore significant likenesses and differences between two or more subjects.
• Analyze. To break something, a phenomenon, or an idea into its parts and explain how those parts fit or work together.
• Argue. To state a claim and support it with reasons and evidence.
• Synthesize. To pull together varied pieces or ideas from two or more sources.

Note how this list is similar to the words used in examination questions that involve writing. (See Table 6.1 “Words to Watch for in Essay Questions” in Chapter 6 “Preparing for and Taking Tests” , Section 6.4 “The Secrets of the Q and A’s” .) This overlap is not a coincidence—essay exams are an abbreviated form of academic writing such as a class paper.

Sometimes the keywords listed don’t actually appear in the written assignment, but they are usually implied by the questions given in the assignment. “What,” “why,” and “how” are common question words that require a certain kind of response. Look back at the keywords listed and think about which approaches relate to “what,” “why,” and “how” questions.

• “What” questions usually prompt the writing of summaries, definitions, classifications, and sometimes compare-and-contrast essays. For example, “ What does Jones see as the main elements of Huey Long’s populist appeal?” or “ What happened when you heated the chemical solution?”
• “Why” and “how” questions typically prompt analysis, argument, and synthesis essays. For example, “ Why did Huey Long’s brand of populism gain force so quickly?” or “ Why did the solution respond the way it did to heat?”

Successful academic writing starts with recognizing what the instructor is requesting, or what you are required to do. So pay close attention to the assignment. Sometimes the essential information about an assignment is conveyed through class discussions, however, so be sure to listen for the keywords that will help you understand what the instructor expects. If you feel the assignment does not give you a sense of direction, seek clarification. Ask questions that will lead to helpful answers. For example, here’s a short and very vague assignment:

Discuss the perspectives on religion of Rousseau, Bentham, and Marx. Papers should be four to five pages in length.

Faced with an assignment like this, you could ask about the scope (or focus) of the assignment:

• Which of the assigned readings should I concentrate on?
• Should I read other works by these authors that haven’t been assigned in class?
• Should I do research to see what scholars think about the way these philosophers view religion?
• Do you want me to pay equal attention to each of the three philosophers?

You can also ask about the approach the instructor would like you to take. You can use the keywords the instructor may not have used in the assignment:

• Should I just summarize the positions of these three thinkers, or should I compare and contrast their views?
• Do you want me to argue a specific point about the way these philosophers approach religion?
• Would it be OK if I classified the ways these philosophers think about religion?

Never just complain about a vague assignment. It is fine to ask questions like these. Such questions will likely engage your instructor in a productive discussion with you.

Key Takeaways

• Writing is crucial to college success because it is the single most important means of evaluation.
• Writing in college is not limited to the kinds of assignments commonly required in high school English classes.
• Writers in college must pay close attention to the terms of an assignment.
• If an assignment is not clear, seek clarification from the instructor.

Checkpoint Exercises

What kind(s) of writing have you practiced most in your recent past?

____________________________________________________________________

Name two things that make academic writing in college different from writing in high school.

Explain how the word “what” asks for a different kind of paper than the word “why.”

• Describe how a writing class can help you succeed in other courses.
• Define what instructors expect of a college student’s writing.
• Explain why learning to write is an ongoing task.
• Understand writing as a process.
• Develop productive prewriting and revision strategies.
• Distinguish between revision and editing.
• Access and use available resources.
• Understand how to integrate research in your writing.
• Define plagiarism.

Students are usually required to take at least one writing course in their first year of college. That course is often crucial for your success in college. But a writing course can help you only if you recognize how it connects to your other work in college. If you approach your writing course merely as another hoop you need to jump through, you may miss out on the main message: writing is vital to your academic success at every step toward your degree.

What Do Instructors Really Want?

Some instructors may say they have no particular expectations for student papers. This is partly true. College instructors do not usually have one right answer in mind or one right approach to take when they assign a paper topic. They expect you to engage in critical thinking and decide for yourself what you are saying and how to say it. But in other ways college instructors do have expectations, and it is important to understand them. Some expectations involve mastering the material or demonstrating critical thinking. Other expectations involve specific writing skills. Most college instructors expect certain characteristics in student writing. Here are general principles you should follow when writing essays or student “papers.” (Some may not be appropriate for specific formats such as lab reports.)

Title the paper to identify your topic. This may sound obvious, but it needs to be said. Some students think of a paper as an exercise and write something like “Assignment 2: History 101” on the title page. Such a title gives no idea about how you are approaching the assignment or your topic. Your title should prepare your reader for what your paper is about or what you will argue. (With essays, always consider your reader as an educated adult interested in your topic. An essay is not a letter written to your instructor.) Compare the following:

Incorrect: Assignment 2: History 101

Correct: Why the New World Was Not “New”

It is obvious which of these two titles begins to prepare your reader for the paper itself. Similarly, don’t make your title the same as the title of a work you are writing about. Instead, be sure your title signals an aspect of the work you are focusing on:

Incorrect: Catcher in the Rye

Correct: Family Relationships in Catcher in the Rye

Address the terms of the assignment. Again, pay particular attention to words in the assignment that signal a preferred approach. If the instructor asks you to “argue” a point, be sure to make a statement that actually expresses your idea about the topic. Then follow that statement with your reasons and evidence in support of the statement. Look for any signals that will help you focus or limit your approach. Since no paper can cover everything about a complex topic, what is it that your instructor wants you to cover?

Finally, pay attention to the little things. For example, if the assignment specifies “5 to 6 pages in length,” write a five- to six-page paper. Don’t try to stretch a short paper longer by enlarging the font (12 points is standard) or making your margins bigger than the normal one inch (or as specified by the instructor). If the assignment is due at the beginning of class on Monday, have it ready then or before. Do not assume you can negotiate a revised due date.

In your introduction, define your topic and establish your approach or sense of purpose. Think of your introduction as an extension of your title. Instructors (like all readers) appreciate feeling oriented by a clear opening. They appreciate knowing that you have a purpose for your topic—that you have a reason for writing the paper. If they feel they’ve just been dropped into the middle of a paper, they may miss important ideas. They may not make connections you want them to make.

Build from a thesis or a clearly stated sense of purpose. Many college assignments require you to make some form of an argument. To do that, you generally start with a statement that needs to be supported and build from there. Your thesis is that statement; it is a guiding assertion for the paper. Be clear in your own mind of the difference between your topic and your thesis. The topic is what your paper is about; the thesis is what you argue about the topic. Some assignments do not require an explicit argument and thesis, but even then you should make clear at the beginning your main emphasis, your purpose, or your most important idea.

Develop ideas patiently. You might, like many students, worry about boring your reader with too much detail or information. But college instructors will not be bored by carefully explained ideas, well-selected examples, and relevant details. College instructors, after all, are professionally devoted to their subjects. If your sociology instructor asks you to write about youth crime in rural areas, you can be sure he or she is interested in that subject.

In some respects, how you develop your paper is the most crucial part of the assignment. You’ll win the day with detailed explanations and well-presented evidence—not big generalizations. For example, anyone can write something broad (and bland) like “The constitutional separation of church and state is a good thing for America”—but what do you really mean by that? Specifically? Are you talking about banning “Christmas trees” from government property—or calling them “holiday trees” instead? Are you arguing for eliminating the tax-free status of religious organizations? Are you saying that American laws should never be based on moral values? The more you really dig into your topic—the more time you spend thinking about the specifics of what you really want to argue and developing specific examples and reasons for your argument—the more developed your paper will be. It will also be much more interesting to your instructor as the reader. Remember, those grand generalizations we all like to make (“America is the land of the free”) actually don’t mean much at all until we develop the idea in specifics. (Free to do what? No laws? No restrictions like speed limits? Freedom not to pay any taxes? Free food for all? What do you really mean when you say American is the land of the “free”?)

Integrate—do not just “plug in”—quotations, graphs, and illustrations . As you outline or sketch out your material, you will think things like “this quotation can go here” or “I can put that graph there.” Remember that a quotation, graph, or illustration does not make a point for you. You make the point first and then use such material to help back it up. Using a quotation, a graph, or an illustration involves more than simply sticking it into the paper. Always lead into such material. Make sure the reader understands why you are using it and how it fits in at that place in your presentation.

Build clear transitions at the beginning of every paragraph to link from one idea to another. A good paper is more than a list of good ideas. It should also show how the ideas fit together. As you write the first sentence of any paragraph, have a clear sense of what the prior paragraph was about. Think of the first sentence in any paragraph as a kind of bridge for the reader from what came before.

Document your sources appropriately. If your paper involves research of any kind, indicate clearly the use you make of outside sources. If you have used those sources well, there is no reason to hide them. Careful research and the thoughtful application of the ideas and evidence of others is part of what college instructors value. (We address specifics about documentation later on.)

Carefully edit your paper. College instructors assume you will take the time to edit and proofread your essay. A misspelled word or an incomplete sentence may signal a lack of concern on your part. It may not seem fair to make a harsh judgment about your seriousness based on little errors, but in all writing, impressions count. Since it is often hard to find small errors in our own writing, always print out a draft well before you need to turn it in. Ask a classmate or a friend to review it and mark any word or sentence that seems “off” in any way. Although you should certainly use a spell-checker, don’t assume it can catch everything. A spell-checker cannot tell if you have the right word. For example, these words are commonly misused or mixed up:

• there, their, they’re
• effect, affect
• complement, compliment

Your spell-checker can’t help with these. You also can’t trust what a “grammar checker” (like the one built into the Microsoft Word spell-checker) tells you—computers are still a long way from being able to fix your writing for you!

Turn in a clean hard copy. Some instructors accept or even prefer digital papers, but do not assume this. Most instructors want a paper copy and most definitely do not want to do the printing themselves. Present your paper in a professional (and unfussy) way, using a staple or paper clip on the left top to hold the pages together (unless the instructor specifies otherwise). Never bring your paper to class and ask the instructor, “Do you have a stapler?” Similarly, do not put your paper in a plastic binder unless the instructor asks you to.

The Writing Process

Writing instructors distinguish between process and product . The expectations described here all involve the “product” you turn in on the due date. Although you should keep in mind what your product will look like, writing is more involved with how you get to that goal. “Process” concerns how you work to actually write a paper. What do you actually do to get started? How do you organize your ideas? Why do you make changes along the way as you write? Thinking of writing as a process is important because writing is actually a complex activity. Even professional writers rarely sit down at a keyboard and write out an article beginning to end without stopping along the way to revise portions they have drafted, to move ideas around, or to revise their opening and thesis. Professionals and students alike often say they only realized what they wanted to say after they started to write. This is why many instructors see writing as a way to learn. Many writing instructors ask you to submit a draft for review before submitting a final paper. To roughly paraphrase a famous poem, you learn by doing what you have to do.

How Can I Make the Process Work for Me?

No single set of steps automatically works best for everyone when writing a paper, but writers have found a number of steps helpful. Your job is to try out ways that your instructor suggests and discover what works for you. As you’ll see in the following list, the process starts before you write a word. Generally there are three stages in the writing process:

• Preparing before drafting (thinking, brainstorming, planning, reading, researching, outlining, sketching, etc.)—sometimes called “prewriting” (although you are usually still writing something at this stage, even if only jotting notes)
• Writing the draft
• Revising and editing

Involved in these three stages are a number of separate tasks—and that’s where you need to figure out what works best for you.

Because writing is hard, procrastination is easy. Don’t let yourself put off the task. Use the time management strategies described in Chapter 2 “Staying Motivated, Organized, and On Track” . One good approach is to schedule shorter time periods over a series of days—rather than trying to sit down for one long period to accomplish a lot. (Even professional writers can write only so much at a time.) Try the following strategies to get started:

• Discuss what you read, see, and hear. Talking with others about your ideas is a good way to begin to achieve clarity. Listening to others helps you understand what points need special attention. Discussion also helps writers realize that their own ideas are often best presented in relation to the ideas of others.
• Use e-mail to carry on discussions in writing. An e-mail exchange with a classmate or your instructor might be the first step toward putting words on a page.
• Brainstorm. Jot down your thoughts as they come to mind. Just write away, not worrying at first about how those ideas fit together. (This is often called “free writing.”) Once you’ve written a number of notes or short blocks of sentences, pause and read them over. Take note of anything that stands out as particularly important to you. Also consider how parts of your scattered notes might eventually fit together or how they might end up in a sequence in the paper you’ll get to later on.
• Keep a journal in which you respond to your assigned readings. Set aside twenty minutes or so three times a week to summarize important texts. Go beyond just summarizing: talk back about what you have been reading or apply the reading to your own experience. See Chapter 5 “Reading to Learn” for more tips on taking notes about your readings.
• Ask and respond in writing to “what,” “why,” and “how” questions . Good questions prompt productive writing sessions. Again, “what” questions will lead to descriptions or summaries; “why” and “how” questions will lead you to analyses and explanations. Construct your own “what,” “why,” and “how” questions and then start answering them.
• In your notes, respond directly to what others have written or said about a topic you are interested in. Most academic writing engages the ideas of others. Academic writing carries on a conversation among people interested in the field. By thinking of how your ideas relate to those of others, you can clarify your sense of purpose and sometimes even discover a way to write your introduction.

All of these steps and actions so far are “prewriting” actions. Again, almost no one just sits down and starts writing a paper at the beginning—at least not a successful paper! These prewriting steps help you get going in the right direction. Once you are ready to start drafting your essay, keep moving forward in these ways:

• Write a short statement of intent or outline your paper before your first draft. Such a road map can be very useful, but don’t assume you’ll always be able to stick with your first plan. Once you start writing, you may discover a need for changes in the substance or order of things in your essay. Such discoveries don’t mean you made “mistakes” in the outline. They simply mean you are involved in a process that cannot be completely scripted in advance.
• Write down on a card or a separate sheet of paper what you see as your paper’s main point or thesis. As you draft your essay, look back at that thesis statement. Are you staying on track? Or are you discovering that you need to change your main point or thesis? From time to time, check the development of your ideas against what you started out saying you would do. Revise as needed and move forward.
• Reverse outline your paper. Outlining is usually a beginning point, a road map for the task ahead. But many writers find that outlining what they have already written in a draft helps them see more clearly how their ideas fit or do not fit together. Outlining in this way can reveal trouble spots that are harder to see in a full draft. Once you see those trouble spots, effective revision becomes possible.
• Don’t obsess over detail when writing the draft. Remember, you have time for revising and editing later on. Now is the time to test out the plan you’ve made and see how your ideas develop. The last things in the world you want to worry about now are the little things like grammar and punctuation—spend your time developing your material, knowing you can fix the details later.
• Read your draft aloud. Hearing your own writing often helps you see it more plainly. A gap or an inconsistency in an argument that you simply do not see in a silent reading becomes evident when you give voice to the text. You may also catch sentence-level mistakes by reading your paper aloud.

What’s the Difference between Revising and Editing?

Some students think of a draft as something that they need only “correct” after writing. They assume their first effort to do the assignment resulted in something that needs only surface attention. This is a big mistake. A good writer does not write fast. Good writers know that the task is complicated enough to demand some patience. “Revision” rather than “correction” suggests seeing again in a new light generated by all the thought that went into the first draft. Revising a draft usually involves significant changes including the following:

• Making organizational changes like the reordering of paragraphs (don’t forget that new transitions will be needed when you move paragraphs)
• Clarifying the thesis or adjustments between the thesis and supporting points that follow
• Cutting material that is unnecessary or irrelevant
• Adding new points to strengthen or clarify the presentation

Editing and proofreading are the last steps following revision. Correcting a sentence early on may not be the best use of your time since you may cut the sentence entirely. Editing and proofreading are focused, late-stage activities for style and correctness. They are important final parts of the writing process, but they should not be confused with revision itself. Editing and proofreading a draft involve these steps:

• Careful spell-checking. This includes checking the spelling of names.
• Attention to sentence-level issues. Be especially attentive to sentence boundaries, subject-verb agreement, punctuation, and pronoun referents. You can also attend at this stage to matters of style.

Remember to get started on a writing assignment early so that you complete the first draft well before the due date, allowing you needed time for genuine revision and careful editing.

What If I Need Help with Writing?

Writing is hard work. Most colleges provide resources that can help you from the early stages of an assignment through to the completion of an essay. Your first resource may be a writing class. Most students are encouraged or required to enroll in a writing class in their first term, and it’s a good idea for everyone. Use everything you learn there about drafting and revising in all your courses.

Tutoring services. Most colleges have a tutoring service that focuses primarily on student writing. Look up and visit your tutoring center early in the term to learn what service is offered. Specifically check on the following:

• Do you have to register in advance for help? If so, is there a registration deadline?
• Are appointments required or encouraged, or can you just drop in?
• Are regular standing appointments with the same tutor encouraged?
• Are a limited number of sessions allowed per term?
• Are small group workshops offered in addition to individual appointments?
• Are specialists available for help with students who have learned English as a second language?

Three points about writing tutors are crucial:

• Writing tutors are there for all student writers—not just for weak or inexperienced writers. Writing in college is supposed to be a challenge. Some students make writing even harder by thinking that good writers work in isolation. But writing is a social act. A good paper should engage others.
• Tutors are not there for you to “correct” sentence-level problems or polish your finished draft. They will help you identify and understand sentence-level problems so that you can achieve greater control over your writing. But their more important goals often are to address larger concerns like the paper’s organization, the fullness of its development, and the clarity of its argument. So don’t make your first appointment the day before a paper is due, because you may need more time to revise after discussing the paper with a tutor.
• Tutors cannot help you if you do not do your part. Tutors respond only to what you say and write; they cannot enable you to magically jump past the thinking an assignment requires. So do some thinking about the assignment before your meeting and be sure to bring relevant materials with you. For example, bring the paper assignment. You might also bring the course syllabus and perhaps even the required textbook. Most importantly, bring any writing you’ve done in response to the assignment (an outline, a thesis statement, a draft, an introductory paragraph). If you want to get help from a tutor, you need to give the tutor something to work with.

Teaching assistants and instructors. In a large class, you may have both a course instructor and a teaching assistant (TA). Seek help from either or both as you draft your essay. Some instructors offer only limited help. They may not, for example, have time to respond to a complete draft of your essay. But even a brief response to a drafted introduction or to a question can be tremendously valuable. Remember that most TAs and instructors want to help you learn. View them along with tutors as part of a team that works with you to achieve academic success. Remember the tips you learned in Chapter 7 “Interacting with Instructors and Classes” for interacting well with your instructors.

Writing Web sites and writing handbooks. Many writing Web sites and handbooks can help you along every step of the way, especially in the late stages of your work. You’ll find lessons on style as well as information about language conventions and “correctness.” Not only should you use the handbook your composition instructor assigns in a writing class, but you should not sell that book back at the end of the term. You will need it again for future writing. For more help, become familiar with a good Web site for student writers. There are many, but one we recommend is maintained by the Dartmouth College Writing Center at http://www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/materials/student/index.html .

Plagiarism—and How to Avoid It

Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of material from a source. At the most obvious level, plagiarism involves using someone else’s words and ideas as if they were your own. There’s not much to say about copying another person’s work: it’s cheating, pure and simple. But plagiarism is not always so simple. Notice that our definition of plagiarism involves “words and ideas.” Let’s break that down a little further.

Words. Copying the words of another is clearly wrong. If you use another’s words, those words must be in quotation marks, and you must tell your reader where those words came from. But it is not enough to make a few surface changes in wording. You can’t just change some words and call the material yours; close, extended paraphrase is not acceptable. For example, compare the two passages that follow. The first comes from Murder Most Foul , a book by Karen Halttunen on changing ideas about murder in nineteenth-century America; the second is a close paraphrase of the same passage:

The new murder narratives were overwhelmingly secular works, written by a diverse array of printers, hack writers, sentimental poets, lawyers, and even murderers themselves, who were displacing the clergy as the dominant interpreters of the crime. The murder stories that were developing were almost always secular works that were written by many different sorts of people. Printers, hack writers, poets, attorneys, and sometimes even the criminals themselves were writing murder stories. They were the new interpreters of the crime, replacing religious leaders who had held that role before.

It is easy to see that the writer of the second version has closely followed the ideas and even echoed some words of the original. This is a serious form of plagiarism. Even if this writer were to acknowledge the author, there would still be a problem. To simply cite the source at the end would not excuse using so much of the original source.

Ideas. Ideas are also a form of intellectual property. Consider this third version of the previous passage:

At one time, religious leaders shaped the way the public thought about murder. But in nineteenth-century America, this changed. Society’s attitudes were influenced more and more by secular writers.

This version summarizes the original. That is, it states the main idea in compressed form in language that does not come from the original. But it could still be seen as plagiarism if the source is not cited. This example probably makes you wonder if you can write anything without citing a source. To help you sort out what ideas need to be cited and what not, think about these principles:

Common knowledge. There is no need to cite common knowledge . Common knowledge does not mean knowledge everyone has. It means knowledge that everyone can easily access. For example, most people do not know the date of George Washington’s death, but everyone can easily find that information. If the information or idea can be found in multiple sources and the information or idea remains constant from source to source, it can be considered common knowledge. This is one reason so much research is usually done for college writing—the more sources you read, the more easily you can sort out what is common knowledge: if you see an uncited idea in multiple sources, then you can feel secure that idea is common knowledge.

Distinct contributions. One does need to cite ideas that are distinct contributions . A distinct contribution need not be a discovery from the work of one person. It need only be an insight that is not commonly expressed (not found in multiple sources) and not universally agreed upon.

Disputable figures. Always remember that numbers are only as good as the sources they come from. If you use numbers like attendance figures, unemployment rates, or demographic profiles—or any statistics at all—always cite your source of those numbers. If your instructor does not know the source you used, you will not get much credit for the information you have collected.

Everything said previously about using sources applies to all forms of sources. Some students mistakenly believe that material from the Web, for example, need not be cited. Or that an idea from an instructor’s lecture is automatically common property. You must evaluate all sources in the same way and cite them as necessary.

Forms of Citation

You should generally check with your instructors about their preferred form of citation when you write papers for courses. No one standard is used in all academic papers. You can learn about the three major forms or styles used in most any college writing handbook and on many Web sites for college writers:

• The Modern Language Association (MLA) system of citation is widely used but is most commonly adopted in humanities courses, particularly literature courses.
• The American Psychological Association (APA) system of citation is most common in the social sciences.
• The Chicago Manual of Style is widely used but perhaps most commonly in history courses.

Many college departments have their own style guides, which may be based on one of the above. Your instructor should refer you to his or her preferred guide, but be sure to ask if you have not been given explicit direction.

Checklists for Revision and Editing

When you revise…

When you edit…

• A writing course is central to all students’ success in many of their future courses.
• Writing is a process that involves a number of steps; the product will not be good if one does not allow time for the process.
• Seek feedback from classmates, tutors, and instructors during the writing process.
• Revision is not the same thing as editing.
• Many resources are available to college writers.
• Words and ideas from sources must be documented in a form recommended by the instructor.

Checkpoint Exercise

For each of the following statements, circle T for true or F for false:

Learning Objective

Understand the special demands of specific writing situations, including the following:

• Writing in-class essays
• Writing with others in a group project
• Writing in an online class

Everything about college writing so far in this chapter applies in most college writing assignments. Some particular situations, however, deserve special attention. These include writing in-class essays, group writing projects, and writing in an online course.

Writing In-Class Essays

You might well think the whole writing process goes out the window when you have to write an in-class essay. After all, you don’t have much time to spend on the essay. You certainly don’t have time for an extensive revision of a complete draft. You also don’t have the opportunity to seek feedback at any stage along the way. Nonetheless, the best writers of in-class essays bring as much of the writing process as they can into an essay exam situation. Follow these guidelines:

• Prepare for writing in class by making writing a regular part of your study routine. Students who write down their responses to readings throughout a term have a huge advantage over students who think they can study by just reading the material closely. Writing is a way to build better writing, as well as a great way to study and think about the course material. Don’t wait until the exam period to start writing about things you have been studying throughout the term.
• Read the exam prompt or assignment very carefully before you begin to respond. Note keywords in the exam prompt. For example, if the exam assignment asks for an argument, be sure to structure your essay as an argument. Also look for ways the instructor has limited the scope of your response. Focus on what is highlighted in the exam question itself. See Chapter 6 “Preparing for and Taking Tests” for more tips for exam writing.
• Jot notes and sketch out a list of key points you want to cover before you jump into writing. If you have time, you might even draft an opening paragraph on a piece of scratch paper before committing yourself to a particular response. Too often, students begin writing before they have thought about the whole task before them. When that happens, you might find that you can’t develop your ideas as fully or as coherently as you need to. Students who take the time to plan actually write longer in-class essays than those who begin writing their answers right after they have read the assignment. Take as much as a fourth of the total exam period to plan.
• Use a consistent approach for in-class exams. Students who begin in-class exams with a plan that they have used successfully in the past are better able to control the pressure of the in-class exam. Students who feel they need to discover a new approach for each exam are far more likely to panic and freeze.
• Keep track of the time. Some instructors signal the passing of time during the exam period, but do not count on that help. While you shouldn’t compulsively check the time every minute or two, look at your watch now and then.
• Save a few minutes at the end of the session for quick review of what you’ve written and for making small changes you note as necessary.

A special issue in in-class exams concerns handwriting. Some instructors now allow students to write in-class exams on laptops, but the old-fashioned blue book is still the standard in many classes. For students used to writing on a keyboard, this can be a problem. Be sure you don’t let poor handwriting hurt you. Your instructor will have many exams to read. Be courteous. Write as clearly as you can.

Group Writing Projects

College instructors sometimes assign group writing projects. The terms of these assignments vary greatly. Sometimes the instructor specifies roles for each member of the group, but often it’s part of the group’s tasks to define everyone’s role. Follow these guidelines:

• Get off to an early start and meet regularly through the process.
• Sort out your roles as soon as you can. You might divide the work in sections and then meet to pull those sections together. But you might also think more in terms of the specific strengths and interests each of you bring to the project. For example, if one group member is an experienced researcher, that person might gather and annotate materials for the assignment. You might also assign tasks that relate to the stages of the writing process. For example, one person for one meeting might construct a series of questions or a list of points to be addressed, to start a discussion about possible directions for the first draft. Another student might take a first pass at shaping the group’s ideas in a rough draft. And so on. Remember that whatever you do, you cannot likely keep each person’s work separate from the work of others. There will be and probably should be significant overlap if you are to eventually pull together a successful project.
• Be a good citizen. This is the most important point of all. If you are assigned a group project, you should want to be an active part of the group’s work. Never try to ride on the skills of others or let others do more than their fair share. Don’t let any lack of confidence you may feel as a writer keep you from doing your share. One of the great things about a group project is that you can learn from others. Another great thing is that you will learn more about your own strengths that others value.
• Complete a draft early so that you can collectively review, revise, and finally edit together.
• See the section on group presentations in Chapter 7 “Interacting with Instructors and Classes” , Section 7.4 “Public Speaking and Class Presentations” for additional tips.

Writing in Online Courses

Online instruction is becoming more and more common. All the principles discussed in this chapter apply also in online writing—and many aspects are even more important in an online course. In most online courses, almost everything depends on written communication. Discussion is generally written rather than spoken. Questions and clarifications take shape in writing. Feedback on assignments is given in writing. To succeed in online writing, apply the same writing process as fully and thoughtfully as with an essay or paper for any course.

• Even in in-class essays, using an abbreviated writing process approach helps produce more successful writing.
• Group writing projects require careful coordination of roles and cooperative stages but can greatly help students learn how to improve their writing.
• Writing for an online course puts your writing skills to the ultimate test, when almost everything your instructor knows about your learning must be demonstrated through your writing.

List three ways in which a process approach can help you write an in-class essay.

Describe what you see as a strength you could bring to a group writing project.

Explain ways in which writing in an online course emphasizes the social dimension of writing.

Chapter Takeaways

Successful writers in all contexts think of writing as

• a means to learn,
• a social act.
• Paying close attention to the terms of the assignment is essential for understanding the writing approach the instructor expects and for shaping the essay.
• Using the writing process maximizes the mental processes involved in thinking and writing. Take the time to explore prewriting strategies before drafting an essay in order to discover your ideas and how best to shape and communicate them.
• Avoid the temptation, after writing a draft, to consider the essay “done.” Revision is almost always needed, involving more significant changes than just quick corrections and editing.
• Virtually all college writing builds on the ideas of others; this is a significant part of the educational experience. In your writing, be sure you always make it clear in your phrasing and use of citations which ideas are your own or common knowledge and which come from other sources.
• College writing extends throughout the curriculum, from your first writing class through to your last term, including writing in class on examinations, group projects, and online courses. Through all this great variety of writing, however, the main principles of effective writing remain consistent. Work to develop your college writing skills at this early stage, and you will be well served throughout your education and into your career thereafter.

Chapter Review

Complete this sentence:

The main reason I am in college right now is

• Look for abstract or general words in what you just wrote. (For example, if you wrote, “I want a better job,” the key general word is “better.” If you wrote, “I need a good education for my future,” the general words are “good” and “education.” Circle the general word(s) in what you wrote.

Write a sentence that gives your personal definition of your general words. (For example, if you wrote “I want a better job,” what makes a job better to you personally?)

Now look at the why of what you’ve written. Why did you define your reason for being in college in the way that you did? Why this reason and not other reasons? Think about this for a minute, and then jot down a statement about why this is important to you.

Now look at the what involved in your reasoning. What specifically do you expect as a result of being in college? What are you gaining? Try to come up with at least three or four specific examples related to your reasoning so far.

Imagine you are assigned to write an essay for this prompt: “Argue for a particular benefit of a college education.” Look back at what you’ve written so far—is it headed in this direction? Write down a tentative thesis statement for such an essay.

Look back at what you wrote for questions 5 and 6 to see if you have the beginning of a list of topics you might discuss in an assigned essay like this. Test out a possible outline by jotting down a few key phrases in the order in which you might discuss your ideas in the essay.

• Think about what you have just been doing in the previous questions. If you took this exercise seriously and wrote out your responses, you might actually be ready to begin writing such an essay—at least as prepared as you might be for an in-class exam essay. You have just gone through the first step of the writing process although very quickly. If you spent a few minutes thinking about your ideas, clarifying your reasons and thinking of developing your thesis through examples and explanations, you are in a better and stronger position to begin writing than if you’d started immediately with the prompt. Your essay will be much more successful.

Outside the Book

1. Use this exercise for the next paper you write in any of your college classes. Your goal is not merely to write a great paper in that class but to learn what writing process techniques work best for you. Plan to begin just as soon as you are given the assignment. Try to use each and every one of these strategies (review them in the chapter), even if some things seem repetitious. Your goal is to find out which techniques work best for you to stimulate the most thought and lead to the best writing.

• Read the assignment and make sure you understand exactly what is expected.
• Sit down with a piece of paper and jot some notes as you brainstorm about your topic.
• Talk with another student in the class about what you’re thinking about your topic and what you might say about it.
• Write a journal entry, written strictly to yourself, about what you think you might do in your paper.
• Write down some questions to yourself about what your paper will be covering. Start your questions with “why,” “how,” and “what.”
• Send a classmate an e-mail in which you describe one of the points you’ll make in your essay, asking them for their opinion about it.
• When your classmate responds to your e-mail, think about what they say and prepare a written response in your notes.
• Write a statement of purpose for the paper and a brief outline listing key points.
• Show your outline to your instructor or TA and ask if you’re on the right track for the assignment. (You can ask other questions, too, if you have them, but try this step even if you feel confident and have no questions at all. You might be surprised by their response.)
• Write a fuller outline—and then go ahead and draft the paper.

2. Return to this exercise after receiving the paper back from your instructor. If you feel the paper was successful, think back to the techniques you used and circle steps above that you felt were particularly helpful and contributed to your success. If you are dissatisfied with the paper, it’s time to be honest with yourself about what happened. When unhappy about their grade on a paper, most students admit they didn’t spend as much time on it as they should have. Look back at the list above (and other writing strategies earlier in this chapter): what should you have done more fully or more carefully to make sure your paper got off to a good start?

Make an Action List

Past Writing

My worst writing habits have been the following:

To overcome these bad habits in college, I will take these steps:

Sentence-Level Mechanics

I generally make the following specific errors (things my past teachers have marked):

I can learn to correct errors like these when proofreading and editing by

Writing Process

I generally rush through the following stage: (circle one)

• Revising/proofreading

I will spend this much time on this stage in my next college paper:

I will use these strategies to ensure that I successfully move through this stage:

Seeking Help

I am most likely to need help in these areas of writing:

I will use these resources if I need help in these areas in my next course paper:

Source: College Success By M Libraries Publishing CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0

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Gen ed writes, writing across the disciplines at harvard college.

• Types of Assignments

Gen Ed courses transcend disciplinary boundaries in a variety of ways, so the types of writing assignments that they include also often venture outside the traditional discipline-specific essays. You may encounter a wide variety of assignment types in Gen Ed, but most can be categorized into four general types: 

• Traditional academic assignments include the short essays or research papers most commonly associated with college-level assignments. Generally speaking, these kinds of assignments are "expository" in nature, i.e., they ask you to engage with ideas through evidence-base argument, written in formal prose. The majority of essays in Expos courses fall into this category of writing assignment types.  
• Less traditional academic assignments include elements of engagement in academia not normally encountered by undergraduates. 
• Traditional non-academic assignments include types of written communication that students are likely to encounter in real world situations. 
• Less traditional non-academic assignments are those that push the boundaries of typical ‘writing’ assignments and are likely to include some kind of creative or artistic component.

Examples and Resources

Traditional academic.

For most of us, these are the most familiar types of college-level writing assignments. While they are perhaps less common in Gen Ed than in departmental courses, there are still numerous examples we could examine.

Two illustrations of common types include: 

Example 1: Short Essay  Professor Michael Sandel asks the students in his Gen Ed course on Tech Ethics to write several short essays over the course of the semester in which they make an argument in response to the course readings. Because many students will never have written a philosophy-style paper, Professor Sandel offers students a number of resources—from a guide on writing in philosophy, to sample graded essays, to a list of logical fallacies—to keep in mind. 

Example 2: Research Paper In Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Cares?, a Gen Ed course co-taught by multiple global health faculty members, students write a 12–15 page research paper on a biosocial analysis of a global health topic of their choosing for the final assignment. The assignment is broken up into two parts: (1) a proposal with annotated bibliography and (2) the final paper itself. The prompt clearly outlines the key qualities and features of a successful paper, which is especially useful for students who have not yet written a research paper in the sciences. 

Less Traditional Academic

In Gen Ed, sometimes assignments ask students to engage in academic work that, while familiar to faculty, is beyond the scope of the typical undergraduate experience. 

Here are a couple of examples from Gen Ed courses: 

Example 1: Design a conference  For the final project in her Gen Ed course, Global Feminisms, Professor Durba Mitra asks her students to imagine a dream conference  in the style of the feminist conferences they studied in class. Students are asked to imagine conference panels and events, potential speakers or exhibitions, and advertising materials. While conferences are a normal occurrence for graduate students and professors, undergraduates are much less likely to be familiar with this part of academic life, and this kind of assignment might require more specific background and instructions as part of the prompt. 

Example 2: Curate a museum exhibit In his Gen Ed class, Pyramid Schemes, Professor Peter Der Manuelian's final project offers students the option of designing a virtual museum exhibit . While exhibit curation can be a part of the academic life of an anthropologist or archaeologist, it's not often found in introductory undergraduate courses. In addition to selecting objects and creating a virtual exhibit layout, students also wrote an annotated bibliography as well as an exhibit introduction for potential visitors. 

Traditional Non-academic

One of the goals of Gen Ed is to encourage students to engage with the world around them. Sometimes writing assignments in Gen Ed directly mirror types of writing that students are likely to encounter in real-world, non-academic settings after they graduate.

The following are several examples of such assignments: 

Example 1: Policy memo In Power and Identity in the Middle East, Professor Melani Cammett assigns students a group policy memo evaluating "a major initiative aimed at promoting democracy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)." The assignment prompt is actually structured as a memo, providing context for students who likely lack experience with the format. It also outlines the key characteristics of a good memo, and it provides extensive advice on the process—especially important when students are working in groups. 

Example 2: Letter In Loss, Professor Kathleen Coleman asks students to write a letter of condolence . The letter has an unusual audience: a mother elephant who lost her calf. Since students may not have encountered this type of writing before, Professor Coleman also provides students with advice on process, pointing to some course readings that might be a good place to start. She also suggests a list of outside resources to help students get into the mindframe of addressing an elephant. 

Example 3: Podcast  Podcasts are becoming increasingly popular in Gen Ed classes, as they are in the real world. Though they're ultimately audio file outputs, they usually require writing and preparing a script ahead of time. For example, in Music from Earth, Professor Alex Rehding asks students to create a podcast in which they make an argument about a song studied in class. He usefully breaks up the assignments into two parts: (1) researching the song and preparing a script and (2) recording and making sonic choices about the presentation, offering students the opportunity to get feedback on the first part before moving onto the second. 

Less Traditional Non-academic

These are the types of assignments that perhaps are less obviously "writing" assignments. They usually involve an artistic or otherwise creative component, but they also often include some kind of written introduction or artist statement related to the work.

The following are several examples from recently offered Gen Ed courses: 

Example 1: Movie Professor Peter Der Manuelian offers students in his class, Pyramid Schemes, several options for the final project, one of which entails creating a 5–8 minute  iMovie making an argument about one of the themes of the course. Because relatively few students have prior experience making films, the teaching staff provide students with a written guide to making an iMovie as well as ample opportunities for tech support. In addition to preparing a script as part of the production, students also submit both an annotated bibliography and an artist’s statement. 

Example 2: Calligram In his course, Understanding Islam and Contemporary Muslim Societies, Professor Ali Asani asks students to browse through a provided list of resources about calligrams, which are an important traditional Islamic art form. Then they are required to "choose a concept or symbol associated with God in the Islamic tradition and attempt to represent it through a calligraphic design using the word Allah," in any medium they wish. Students also write a short explanation to accompany the design itself. 

Example 3: Soundscape In Music from Earth, Professor Alex Rehding has students create a soundscape . The soundscape is an audio file which involves layering sounds from different sources to create a single piece responding to an assigned question (e.g. "What sounds are characteristic of your current geographical region?"). Early on, as part of the development of the soundscape, students submit an artist's statement that explains the plan for the soundscape, the significance of the sounds, and the intention of the work. 

• DIY Guides for Analytical Writing Assignments

• Unpacking the Elements of Writing Prompts
• Receiving Feedback

Assignment Decoder

Module 8: Study Skills

What to do with essay assignments, learning outcomes.

• Identify how to approach common types of college writing assignments

Writing assignments can be as varied as the instructors who assign them. Some assignments are explicit about what exactly you’ll need to do, in what order, and how it will be graded. Some assignments are very open-ended, leaving you to determine the best path toward answering the project. Most fall somewhere in the middle, containing details about some aspects but leaving other assumptions unstated. It’s important to remember that your first resource for getting clarification about an assignment is your instructor—he or she will be very willing to talk out ideas with you to be sure you’re prepared at each step to do well with the writing.

Most writing in college will be a direct response to class materials—an assigned reading, a discussion in class, an experiment in a lab. Generally speaking, these writing tasks can be divided into three broad categories.

Summary Assignments

Being asked to summarize a source is a common task in many types of writing. It can also seem like a straightforward task: simply restate, in shorter form, what the source says. A lot of advanced skills are hidden in this seemingly simple assignment, however.

An effective summary does the following:

• reflects your accurate understanding of a source’s thesis or purpose
• differentiates between major and minor ideas in a source
• demonstrates your ability to identify key phrases to quote
• demonstrates your ability to effectively paraphrase most of the source’s ideas
• captures the tone, style, and distinguishing features of a source
• does not reflect your personal opinion about the source

That last point is often the most challenging: we are opinionated creatures by nature, and it can be very difficult to keep our opinions from creeping into a summary, which is meant to be completely neutral.

In college-level writing, assignments that are only summary are rare. That said, many types of writing tasks contain at least some element of summary, from a biology report that explains what happened during a chemical process, to an analysis essay requiring  you to explain several prominent positions on gun control as a component of comparing them against one another.

Defined-Topic Assignments

Many writing tasks will ask you to address a particular topic or a narrow set of topic options. Even with the topic identified, however, it can sometimes be difficult to determine what aspects of the writing will be most important when it comes to grading.

Defined-topic writing assignments are used primarily to identify your familiarity with the subject matter. You must shape and focus that discussion or analysis so that it supports a claim that you discovered and formulated. Although the topic may be defined, you can’t just grind out four or five pages of discussion, explanation, or analysis. It may seem strange, but even when you’re asked to “show how” or “illustrate,” you’re still being asked to make an argument.

Often, the handout or other written text explaining the assignment—what professors call the writing prompt —will explain the purpose of the assignment, the required parameters (length, number and type of sources, referencing style, etc.), and the criteria for evaluation. Sometimes, though—especially when you are new to a field—you will encounter the baffling situation in which you comprehend every single sentence in the prompt but still have absolutely no idea how to approach the assignment. No one is doing anything wrong in a situation like that. It just means that further discussion of the assignment is required. Below are some tips:

• Focus on the verbs . Look for verbs like compare , explain , justify , reflect, or the all-purpose analyze . You’re not just producing a paper as an artifact; you’re conveying, in written communication, some intellectual work you have done. So the question is, what kind of thinking are you supposed to do to deepen your learning?
• Put the assignment in context . Many professors think in terms of assignment sequences. For example, a social science professor may ask you to write about a controversial issue three times: first, they will ask you to argue for one side of the debate and then they will ask you to argue for another. Finally, you’ll be asked for a more comprehensive and nuanced perspective by incorporating text produced in the first two assignments. A sequence like that is designed to help you think through a complex issue. If the assignment isn’t part of a sequence, think about where it falls in the span of the course (early, midterm, or toward the end), and how it relates to readings and other assignments. For example, if you see that a paper comes at the end of a three-week unit on the role of the Internet in organizational behavior, then your professor likely wants you to synthesize that material in your own way.
• Try a free-write . A free-write is when you just write, without stopping, for a set period of time. The “free” part is what you write—it can be whatever comes to mind. Professional writers use free-writing to get started on a challenging writing task or to overcome writer’s block or a powerful urge to procrastinate. The idea is that if you just make yourself write, you can’t help but produce some kind of useful nugget. Thus, even if the first eight sentences of your free-write are all variations on “I don’t understand this” or “I’d really rather be doing something else,” eventually you’ll write something like “I guess the main point of this is . . . ,” and you’re off and running.
• Ask for clarification . Even the most carefully crafted assignments may need some verbal clarification, especially if you’re new to a course or field. Try to convey to your instructor that you want to learn and you’re ready to work, and not just looking for advice on how to get an A.

Undefined-Topic Assignments

Another writing assignment you’ll potentially encounter is one in which the topic may be only broadly identified (“water conservation” in an ecology course, for instance, or “the Dust Bowl” in a U.S. history course), or even completely open (“compose an argumentative research essay on a subject of your choice”).

Where defined-topic essays demonstrate your knowledge of the content , undefined-topic assignments are used to demonstrate your skills— your ability to perform academic research, to synthesize ideas, and to apply the various stages of the writing process.

The first hurdle with this type of task is to find a focus that interests you. Don’t just pick something you feel will be easy to write about—that almost always turns out to be a false assumption. Instead, you’ll get the most value out of, and find it easier to work on, a topic that intrigues you personally in some way.

The same getting-started ideas described for defined-topic assignments will help with these kinds of projects, too. You can also try talking with your instructor or a writing tutor at your college’s writing center to help brainstorm ideas and make sure you’re on track. You want to feel confident that you’ve got a clear idea of what it means to be successful in the writing and that you’re not wasting time working in a direction that won’t be fruitful.

assignment prompt: instructional material provided by the teacher explaining the purpose of the assignment, required parameters, and criteria for evaluation

summary: a writing task that asks the student to restate in shorter form what the source says

undefined-topic assignment: a writing task based on a broadly identified topic that the student is expected to pull into focus

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1-College Writing

Common Types of Writing Assignments

While much of the writing you did in high school may have been for an English or literature class, in college, writing is a common form of expression and scholarship in many fields and thus in many courses.

You may have to write essays, reflections, discussion board posts, or research papers in your history, biology, psychology, art history, or computer science classes.

Writing assignments in college vary in length, purpose, and the relationship between the writer (you) and the topic.  Sometimes you may be asked to gather information and write a report on your findings .  Sometimes you may be asked to compare opinions expressed by experts.  You might be asked to answer a question or state your position and defend it with evidence .  Some assignments require a mixture of several of these tasks.

When a writing assignment is mentioned in the syllabus of a course, make sure you understand the assignment long before you begin to do it.   The university’s Writing Center recommends that you note the vocabulary used in assignment descriptions and make sure you understand what actions certain words suggest or require.  You should also talk to peers in your class to compare understandings and expectations.

The university’s Writing Center consultants will help you with questions about an assignment and how to ask your instructor for more information if necessary. They will help you strengthen your writing, give you feedback on your ideas, and offer suggestions for organizing your content.  They can tell you if you are appropriately using sources.

The Writing Center is not only for students who have questions or are puzzled about assignments.  It offers support to experienced writers, too.  Faculty and graduate students routinely schedule sessions with Writing Center consultants.

Strong, experienced writers enjoy conversation about their writing decisions and find it helpful to have an outside reader for their work. 

Conferences with a writing consultant can be face-to-face or online.

If you are uneasy about talking with your instructor, make an appointment at the Writing Center:  https://cstw.osu.edu/writing-center

Common characteristics of writing in college: 

• Based on evidence
• Is written for a very or moderately knowledgeable audience rather than general public
• Style is formal, objective, often technical
• Uses conventional formatting
• Documents evidence using a professional citation style

                                                                                                                                                        (From:  Lunsford & Ruszkiewicz, p. 367)

An Introduction to Choosing & Using Sources Copyright © 2015 by Teaching & Learning, Ohio State University Libraries is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

How To Use Your College’s Online Writing Center

Updated: Jul 2, 2024, 5:41am

Key Takeaways

• Writing centers can assist students with academic writing in all subjects, as well as with professional writing such as cover letters and résumés.
• Any student can use their school’s writing center, regardless of major.
• Writing center tutors can offer improvement suggestions, but they won’t edit or proofread your writing for you.
• Writing center appointments typically last about 20 minutes to an hour and can take place in person or online.
• To get the most out of your writing center tutoring appointment, come prepared with ideas and questions and make sure your tutor understands the assignment details.

If you’re a student at a college or university that has a writing center, you have a valuable resource at your fingertips. Writing skills can benefit you throughout your life, no matter what career path you choose.

Consider visiting your school’s writing center whenever you need assistance with writing projects, from term papers to résumé updates. In this article, we’ll introduce you to everything you need to know about your school’s writing center and how it can help you become a better writer.

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What Are University Writing Centers?

University writing centers employ tutors who provide feedback on their peers’ writing. Writing centers offer generalized writing support and are not set up to provide editing or proofreading services.

Writing centers can assist with any type of writing, regardless of type and subject matter. You can visit your writing center at any point in the writing process as well. For example, you can schedule a consultation to brainstorm ideas for a writing assignment before you’ve written anything at all. You might also visit the center just before the assignment’s due date to discuss your final draft.

The most recent National Census of Writing , released in 2017, showed that 100% of participating four-year higher education institutions operated writing centers. Most writing centers offered services beyond assistance with academic papers, including help with grad school and job applications, oral and multimodal presentations, and online research.

Who Can Use the Writing Center?

Your university’s writing center is available to all students at your school, regardless of their enrollment status, their major or the type of writing task at hand. It’s a misconception that writing centers are only for aspiring writers or English majors; likewise, it’s a misconception that if English isn’t your first language, you won’t be able to seek help at a writing center.

How Do Writing Center Sessions Work?

Every writing center functions differently, but they all aim to help students become better writers.

Some schools require you to make an appointment to visit the writing center. Others accept drop-ins. Harvard’s writing center, for example, offers both: You can schedule an appointment if you don’t want to run the risk of having to wait for a writing tutor, or you can simply drop by at your convenience. Sessions can run from 20 minutes to an hour.

Are Writing Centers Available Online?

Many writing centers offer online services. Using Harvard as an example again, writing center clients can complete their consultations over Zoom. The Indiana University of Pennsylvania even offers asynchronous online tutoring, which does not involve a live consultation with a tutor. Instead, the tutor and client work on the same document online.

What to Expect From Your Writing Center Session

Before we discuss what to expect from your school’s writing center, we’ll outline what you won’t experience there. A university writing center isn’t a place of punishment for poor writers. It also isn’t a drop-off editing service or a place where tutors will write your papers for you.

Writing centers offer clients free assistance with their writing assignments with a broader goal of helping students build strong, lasting writing skills.

Below, we’ll discuss a few tips for maximizing the success of your visit to your school’s writing center.

Ask Lots of Questions

Whether you’ve drafted your entire paper, you only have a rough outline or you aren’t sure what you want to write at all, come prepared with questions for your tutor and some issues you want to tackle. If you’re working on a particular assignment, make sure to give your tutor a sense of the assignment’s instructions so they can properly advise you.

Collaborate With Your Peer Tutor

A writing center session is a collaborative process that inspires you to come up with new ideas and approach your writing assignments with a fresh perspective. Come prepared to work with your tutor, rather than taking a backseat while they drive the process.

Brainstorm for Writing Assignments

You might have an upcoming term paper or essay due, but you can’t figure out which angle to take. Or maybe you’ve written half of a creative writing assignment, but your plot has become unfocused. Your writing center tutor can help you brainstorm new ideas and come up with a writing plan that helps you reach the finish line.

Read Through and Discuss Your Draft

If you’ve got a draft in hand, your writing center tutor can look it over and make suggestions for improvements. Writing center tutors commonly ask clients to read their own work out loud; this helps to catch mistakes and odd phrasing. (That said, you never have to read your writing out loud if you aren’t comfortable doing so.)

Do Not Expect Your Tutor to Edit or Proofread

As previously mentioned, a writing center isn’t a university-provided editing service. While writing center tutors will certainly make suggestions and help you identify improvement areas, it’s up to you to take action and implement changes. Think about a writing center tutor like a coach: They do not play the game for you, but they can help you play the game the best you can.

Writing Center Benefits

Create a comfortable tutoring environment.

Since all writing center tutoring is peer to peer, student writers can feel more comfortable seeking help in a supportive, nonjudgmental environment. Your tutor is not an authority figure.

Coach Students Through the Writing Process

Writing centers can help with the entire writing process, from brainstorming to outline creation to polishing the final draft. This can help you save time on assignments by ensuring you’re on the right path from beginning to end.

Help Build Strong Writing Skills for the Long Term

University writing centers take a “teach-a-man-to-fish” approach with the goal of shaping clients into better writers. The skills you learn at a writing center can apply in many facets of your life even after you graduate and enter the workforce.

Online Writing Labs (OWLs) for Everyone

If your school doesn’t have a writing center or you are unable to attend tutoring sessions, check out these fantastic resources. The below online writing labs offer free writing services for anyone who needs them.

Purdue OWL®

One of the best-known online writing centers, Purdue OWL offers video- and print-based writing resources and instructional material for students everywhere. Whether you want assistance with grammar basics or you need help putting together a resume, Purdue OWL can help.

Excelsior OWL

Excelsior OWL offers a comprehensive suite of online writing topics. Information is presented in article format and is concise, easy to use and helpful. Topics covered include avoiding plagiarism, rhetorical styles and citation guides.

Writing@CSU

Colorado State University’s online writing hub allows anyone to get feedback on their writing. Writing@CSU includes a university writing center, which serves all writers; CSU Writes, which serves academic writers and professional researchers; and a host of resources for writing tips and practice.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Online College Writing Resources

What is a writing center in college.

A writing center is a physical—and often virtual—space where college students can receive help with writing class assignments, from brainstorming to research, composition and editing. Writing center tutors also assist learners with grad school and professional applications, presentations and more.

What are the benefits of writing centers in college?

Writing centers provide collaborative, peer-to-peer support for students who want to become better writers, researchers and communicators. Using your school’s writing center can help you improve your grammar, sentence structure, organization and understanding of your audience, which can boost your grades, help lower your stress and improve your self-confidence.

What degree has the most writing?

Degrees in the humanities and social sciences are often among the most writing-heavy. However, strong written communication skills can benefit students in all majors.

What should you major in if you want to be a writer?

Many students planning careers in writing major in subjects such as English, journalism or communications. However, it depends on what type of writing you hope to pursue. For example, an aspiring technical writer might choose a degree in the field they want to write about, such as computer science or health sciences, and learners who plan to use their writing skills in a business context might choose a marketing or public relations major.

How can you be a better writer in college?

One of the best ways to improve your writing in college is to get a fresh outside opinion. You can ask a friend for help—or better yet, use your school’s writing center to receive support from trained tutors—for free.

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Christin Perry is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in numerous outlets, including WeddingWire, The Knot, Parents and Verywell Family. When she's not working, Christin enjoys reading, gardening and hanging out with her husband and four young kids. She also loves to do small home improvement projects any chance she gets.

Why Should You Use Writing Assignments in Your Teaching?

Brad hughes, director, writing across the curriculum, university of wisconsin-madison.

Why should you use writing assignments in your teaching? That’s an important question. Even though this is a Writing Across the Curriculum website, designed to encourage faculty to incorporate writing into their teaching, let’s be honest—there are many reasons why you might not want to assign writing in your courses. And many of those reasons have to do with limits on your time. Designing writing assignments and responding to student writing take valuable time—lots of time if you do them carefully. The larger the enrollment is in your classes, the more time responding to student papers takes. You have lots of important course content to cover, so you have limited time for building in a sequence of writing assignments and some instruction around those assignments. . . .

You also need to remember that writing assignments  take substantial time for your students to do well. And not all of your students are well prepared to succeed with the writing you assign. This list could go on; the challenges can be formidable.

Yet countless faculty—in every discipline across the university—make writing an integral part of their teaching and reap benefits from doing so. Why? Here are some of the many reasons writing is an especially effective means for students to learn.

• Writing deepens thinking and increases students’ engagement with course material.
• Well-designed writing assignments prompt students to think more deeply about what they’re learning. Writing a book review, for example, forces students to read more thoroughly and critically. As an old saying goes, “How do I know what I think until I hear what I say or see what I’ve written?”
• In fact, research done by Richard Light at Harvard confirms that “students relate writing to intensity of courses. The relationship between the amount of writing for a course and students’ level of engagement—whether engagement is measured by time spent on the course, or the intellectual challenge it presents, or students’ self-reported level of interest in it—is stronger than any relationship we found between student engagement and any other course characteristic” ( The Harvard Assessment Seminars , Second Report, 1992, 25).
• Research done by the Association of American Colleges and Universities demonstrates that writing-intensive courses are a high-impact practice in undergraduate education (George D. Kuh, High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter , 2008).
• Research done by Michele Eodice, Anne Ellen Geller, and Neal Lerner ( The Meaningful Writing Project , 2017) demonstrates that certain writing projects can be especially meaningful parts of undergraduate education.
• Writing can improve our relationship with our students. When students write papers, we get to know them and their thinking better; they’re more likely to talk with us after class, or come to our office hours to share a draft or seek advice.
• Writing gives us a window into our students’ thinking and learning. Through our students’ writing, we can take pleasure in discovering that students see things in course readings or discussion we didn’t see; students make connections we ourselves hadn’t made. And through our students’ writing, we also discover what confuses our students. Admittedly, we’re not always eager to discover the gaps in our students’ knowledge or understanding, but it’s our job to expand that knowledge and improve students’ thinking.
• Writing assignments can improve our classroom discussions. By helping students keep up with readings, regular writing assignments can prepare students to participate in discussion.
• Writing assignments provide us with an opportunity to teach students to organize ideas, develop points logically, make explicit connections, elaborate ideas, argue points, and situate an argument in the context of previous research-all skills valued in higher education.
• Students remember what they write about-because writing slows thinking down and requires careful, sustained analysis of a subject. No matter how many years it’s been, most of us can remember some paper we wrote as undergraduates, the writing of which deepened our knowledge of a particular subject.
• Students and professors remember what they’ve written, in part, because writing individualizes learning. When a student becomes really engaged with a writing assignment, she has to make countless choices particular to her paper: how to focus the topic, what to read, what to make the central argument, how to organize ideas, how to marshal evidence, which general points to make, how to develop and support general ideas with particulars, how to introduce the topic, what to include and what to omit, which style and tone to adopt. . . .
• Finally, though it’s much more than this, writing is a skill—a skill that atrophies when it isn’t practiced regularly. Because learning to write well is difficult and because it requires sustained and repeated practice, we need to ensure our undergraduates write regularly, throughout the curriculum, in all majors. It’s the responsibility of all of us to ensure that students learn to think and write clearly and deeply.

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Teaching during a pandemic: Using high‐impact writing assignments to balance rigor, engagement, flexibility, and workload

Julie a. reynolds.

1 Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham North Carolina, USA

2 Program in Education, Duke University, Durham North Carolina, USA

Sarah Faller

Arthi kozhumam, jonathan schwartzman, ananya vohra, associated data.

Not applicable.

The COVID‐19 pandemic has created new challenges for instructors who seek high‐impact educational practices that can be facilitated online without creating excessive burdens with technology, grading, or enforcement of honor codes. These practices must also account for the possibility that some students may need to join courses asynchronously and have limited or unreliable connectivity. Of the American Association of Colleges and University's list of 11 high‐impact educational practices, writing‐intensive courses may be the easiest for science faculty to adopt during these difficult times. Not only can writing assignments promote conceptual learning, they can also deepen student engagement with the subject matter and with each other. Furthermore, writing assignments can be incredibly flexible in terms of how they are implemented online and can be designed to reduce the possibility of cheating and plagiarism. To accelerate the adoption of writing pedagogies, we summarize evidence‐based characteristics of effective writing assignments and offer a sample writing assignment from an introductory ecology course. We then suggest five strategies to help instructors manage their workload. Although the details of the sample assignment may be particular to our course, this framework is general enough to be adapted to most science courses, including those taught in‐person, those taught online, and those that must be able to switch quickly between the two.

Writing‐intensive courses may be one of the easiest high‐impact educational practices for science faculty to adopt as they adjust to teaching during the pandemic. Writing assignments promote lasting conceptual learning, deepen student engagement, offer flexible implementation, and can be designed to reduce the possibility of cheating and plagiarism. To accelerate the adoption of writing pedagogies, we summarize characteristics of effective writing assignments, offer a sample writing assignment from an introductory ecology course, and suggest strategies to help instructors manage their workload.

1. INTRODUCTION

The COVID‐19 global pandemic will require that most educators move instruction online, at least temporarily. As many of us pivot from physical to virtual classrooms, we need to focus on preserving the “high‐impact educational practices” that promote deep student engagement with their learning (Kuh,  2008 ). Some high‐impact practices, such as experiential education and research, are likely to be more difficult to reproduce online, whereas others, such as service‐learning projects, internships, and study abroad, may need to be postponed while we are observing physical distancing protocols. Fortunately, one high‐impact practice that can be readily facilitated online is writing, including assignments that ask students to engage with complex ideas through an iterative process of writing, feedback, and revision.

When done well, writing can promote conceptual learning, critical thinking, and communication skills (Dowd, Thompson, Schiff, & Reynolds,  2018 ; Reynolds, Thaiss, Katkin, & Thompson,  2012 ). Furthermore, writing assignments in science courses give students important opportunities to practice scientific reasoning and disciplinary ways of thinking (Dowd, Connolly, Thompson, & Reynolds,  2015 ; Dowd, Roy, Thompson, & Reynolds,  2015 ; Dowd, Thompson, & Reynolds,  2016 ; Reynolds & Thompson, 2011 ). Writing can also shift students from algorithmic learning, which is common among science students (Cracolice, Deming, & Ehlert,  2008 ), to more conceptual learning so that they can, for example, offer nuanced explanations rather than only definitions or calculations.

There are, understandably, barriers that instructors must overcome in order to include writing assignments as part of their teaching. Science faculty often choose not to assign writing due to concerns about the efficacy of prompts at promoting learning (Thompson et al., in review ) or due to instructional constraints such as large course size, lack of expertise in teaching writing, or an overloaded curriculum (Finkenstaedt‐Quinn et al., in review ). However, as new challenges arise as a result of the pandemic, instructors seek high‐impact practices that can be facilitated online without creating excessive burdens in preparing assignments, grading, or enforcing honor codes, all while being mindful of the possibility that some students may need to join courses asynchronously or have limited connectivity. Writing assignments are a viable option for science instructors to consider.

To address faculty concerns about the value of writing at promoting learning, we present five evidence‐based characteristics of effective writing assignments and illustrate these characteristics with a sample writing assignment from an introductory ecology course. We then offer instructors five strategies for managing their workload. Although the details of the sample assignment may be particular to our course, this framework is general enough to be adapted to most science courses, including those taught in‐person, online, and hybrids of the two.

2. CONTEXT FOR THE SAMPLE WRITING ASSIGNMENT

“ Ecology of Human Health ” is an introductory ecology course designed for undergraduates interested in understanding how human health is linked to the environments in which we live. The three major sections of the course are food security, disease ecology, and climate change, taught in that order. However, in January 2020 when news hit about a novel coronavirus that emerged in Wuhan, China, we quickly adjusted our course schedule to discuss zoonotic diseases, age structure, metapopulations, and superspreaders. By the time, the stay‐at‐home orders were issued for our state, we had been tracking the spread of the disease for 6 weeks, having asked the question on 20 January 2020: “Are we witnessing the beginning of a pandemic?” That was also the point at which the students and instructor became cocreators—and coauthors—of a writing assignment about COVID‐19 which we present below. The instructor of the course (coauthor JAR) has taught writing‐intensive courses for 18 years and has an active research program focusing on writing‐to‐learn pedagogies.

3. FIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

Faculty are justifiably skeptical about the efficacy of writing prompts; writing assignments are not inherently beneficial and, if not carefully designed, they can create unproductive work for both instructors and students (Bangert‐Drowns, Hurley, & Wilkinson,  2004 ; Reynolds & Moskovitz, 2008 ). Assignments that are “knowledge‐telling” are likely to be less beneficial than those that are “knowledge‐transforming” (Bereiter & Scardamalia,  1987 ). In knowledge‐telling assignments, students write summaries or descriptions but there may be little critical thinking involved. In contrast, knowledge‐transforming assignments require students to weigh evidence, construct an argument, or critique ideas. In general, knowledge‐transforming tasks include higher‐order cognitive activities such as applying a concept to solve a novel problem, analyzing data, evaluating claims, and synthesizing multiple pieces of information to generate new understanding (Anderson, Anson, Gonyea, & Paine,  2015 ; Bloom,  1956 ; Lemons & Lemons, 2013 ). The benefits of writing assignments, therefore, depend on the cognitive activities that students engage in while writing (Galbraith,  2015 ). The best assignments obviously have clear expectations but also require students to construct their own understanding of an issue through the iterative process of writing, receiving feedback, and revising (Anderson et al.,  2015 ). Additionally, they require students to monitor and evaluate their thinking throughout the process (Bangert‐Drowns et al.,  2004 ). Assignments with all or most of these components are correlated with the largest student learning gains (Gere, Limlamai, Wilson, MacDougall Saylor, & Pugh,  2019 ).

Here are five characteristics of effective writing assignments:

• Sticky topics

Not all topics are suitable for writing assignments as some concepts are taught more efficiently through other methods. For example, topics that have a singular correct answer (e.g., “What is the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium?”) may be better suited for short‐answer assessments or calculations than a full, fleshed‐out writing assignment. In contrast, writing assignments are particularly appropriate when instructors want students to grapple with topics that, for example, are inherently challenging, conceptually complex, include common misconceptions, or are rooted in threshold concepts which, once understood, allow for greater competency in a subject (Loertscher, Green, Lewis, Lin, & Minderhout,  2014 ; Marion et al., in preparation ; Meyer & Land,  2005 ). These so‐called “sticky” topics warrant the time and effort of a writing assignment and the interactive feedback involved with review and revision. Another consideration for appropriate topics is to acknowledge that students are more motivated and engaged when instructors connect assignments with real‐world issues that students care about (Herrington, Oliver, & Reeves,  2003 ), particularly students from groups that have been historically excluded from science (e.g., Williams, Papierno, Makel, & Ceci,  2004 ).

Topic for our sample writing assignment

“When COVID‐19 swept across the globe, policy makers endeavored to flatten the curve through various strategies such as requiring physical distancing, case isolation, quarantine, mandatory face coverings, and business and school closures. To investigate the effectiveness of such strategies, scientists use mathematical models which allow them to make predictions of how —and how quickly—this disease spreads. As you have learned in class, these models are based on assumptions and estimates of a select few parameters; given what you have learned, which parameter (from any of the models we have studied) do you think would be most useful to have a more accurate estimate of? Make a well‐reasoned argument for why improving our estimates of that parameter would give policy makers a better understanding of which strategies would be most effective in flattening the curve.”

• Meaningful purpose

The purpose or goal of writing can range from entertainment (e.g., fiction) and expression (e.g., poetry) to information (e.g., journalism) and persuasion (e.g., editorial). In science courses, instructors need to consider the purpose of the writing they assign. Writing assignments that ask students to summarize a complicated process in their own words (e.g., “Explain climate change to a nonspecialist audience”) may certainly inform instructors about students’ understanding, but this is an example of a knowledge‐telling exercise and students may struggle to find their voice. Instructors can shift the goal of this assignment to knowledge‐transforming by asking students to construct an evidence‐based argument about whether or not current efforts to mitigate climate change are likely to be effective (Jang, 2007 ; Klein,  2004 ). The purpose of an academic argument is to create and share new knowledge; in this case, the new knowledge is the student's position as supported by the evidence that they have synthesized and evaluated. Another example of a knowledge‐transforming assignment would be to ask students to write about their beliefs and doubts regarding climate change and what evidence would change their minds. The purpose of this type of critical reflection is for students to synthesize and make meaning of their prior knowledge, experiences, biases, and opinions.

Purpose of our writing assignment

“The main purpose of this assignment is for you to develop a logical argument that is supported by evidence and reasoning (not simply citing claims made by others). To achieve this goal, you will need a solid understanding of ecological concepts and you must be able to apply critical thinking skills to solve a complex problem that doesn't have a singular or simple solution.”

• Detailed guidelines

Scaffolding involves providing detailed instructions for the various stages of the writing process. Effective writing prompts go well beyond assigning a topic; they include clear expectations about the purpose of the assignment (Melzer,  2014 ) as well as guidance about the audience, genre, and modes of assessment (Anderson et al.,  2015 ).

Prompts should be explicit about who their audience is. Too often, college writing assignments have an actual audience comprised of only one person (i.e., the instructor) or an imagined audience (e.g., a national review panel for grant proposals). One challenge with these audiences is that students, who are novices, are being asked to feign expertise and communicate to experts, a scenario that may invoke impostor's syndrome or stereotype threat (Steele,  2011 ); these types of assignments may exacerbate students’ fears that they need to pretend to be someone who they know that they are not. Another challenge with this type of audience is that the power differential between the student and their audience may deny student agency, especially if students try to write what they are guessing the audience wants to hear in order to achieve their goal of a good grade. One of the best strategies for helping young writers to develop an authentic voice is to have them write to real audiences (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1987 ), such as their classmates or members of their community.

The genre of writing should be unambiguous in writing prompts; instead of asking student to write a “paper,” we should ask for a persuasive essay, an editorial, an opinion pieces, or a critical reflection. By naming the genre, we give students insights into purpose, form, length, tone, and citation conventions. Assigning writings genres that are common within our academic disciplines serves the added purpose of socializing students into the conventions of our disciplines. In a review of over 200 studies focused on the efficacy of writing in STEM disciplines at the college level, Reynolds et al. ( 2012 ) identified two genres of writing assignments that were most strongly associated with improved learning. The first involves assignments that ask students to formulate a supported argument (e.g., Armstrong, Wallace, & Chang, 2008 ; Bradley, 2001 ; Kelly, Chen, & Prothero, 2000 ; Kelly & Takao, 2002 ; Lerner, 2007 ), which requires students to evaluate the strength of evidence and add their voice to the conversation by crafting a claim. The second involves assignment that requires critical reflections (e.g., Bangert‐Drowns et al.,  2004 ; Lerch, Bilics, & Colley, 2006 ) which ask students to identify and challenge their thoughts and beliefs. Given that belief systems may mediate or moderate learning (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000 ), writing is a good way to let student examine these complicated interactions.

Finally, instructors should be explicit about how the writing will be assessed , what modes of feedback they will receive, and the timing of that feedback (Borgman & McArdle, 2020 ).

Guidelines for our writing assignment

“Write a 500‐word editorial for a newspaper.

A complete answer does not have to involve any mathematics but, if included, must be explained conceptually. The focus of your editorial should be in applying your understanding of ecological concepts to infer what the most important limitation is to our current understanding. Furthermore, there is no single answer, and the strength of your writing will be based on the argument you construct.

Cite all sources you use. You do not need to do additional research—although you may—but you must site any sources you draw upon, including all course readings.

I strongly suggests you compose your paper in a Word document, saving drafts frequently, then paste your writing into Eli Review. Keeping copies of drafts will make the revision process easier.

Draft 1 uploaded to Eli Review by 10 a.m. EDT on <date>

Peer review in Eli Review by 10 a.m. EDT on <date +4 days>

Draft 2 (with revision plan) uploaded to Eli Review by 10 a.m. EDT on <date +7 days>”

• High‐quality feedback

One of the most significant barriers to assigning writing, especially in large science courses, is the time commitment required by instructors to grade or provide feedback on student writing (Moon, Gere, & Shultz,  2018 ). To address this barrier, we suggest integrating peer review into writing assignments, a strategy that is known to promote learning for both the one giving the feedback as well as the one receiving it (Li, Liu, & Steckelberg,  2010 ; Lundstrom & Baker,  2009 ), offering both pedagogical value and time savings for instructors (Cho & MacArthur,  2010 ; Cho & Cho,  2010 ; Finkenstaedt‐Quinn, Snyder‐White, Connor, Gere, & Shultz,  2019 ; Halim, Finkenstaedt‐Quinn, Olsen, Gere, & Shultz,  2018 ). Peer review promotes learning through a number of possible pathways; there is evidence that it encourages students to evaluate assignments more carefully (Li et al.,  2010 ) and to focus more clearly on the overall purpose of assignments (Lundstrom & Baker,  2009 ). Learning gains may also be the indirect effect of increases in self‐efficacy that occur when students participate in reciprocal peer review (Ruegg,  2018 ).

We do not advocate peer grading or peer editing; instead we support the idea that students are highly capable of giving each other meaningful, formative feedback that both allows them to rethink and rewrite. Students must be taught how to give high‐quality peer feedback (see the appendix to Reynolds & Russell,  2008 for an example of guidelines to give to peer reviewers) and they must be motivated to invest the time and effort in that process by, for example, knowing that their peer reviews will be graded (see “Limit grading” section below).

Feedback plan for our writing assignment

In addition to receiving guidelines for how to conduct peer review (Reynolds & Russell,  2008 ), the peer‐review process is scaffolded to ensure that their feedback is focused on the issues that aligned with the learning goals for the assignment. We assigned the following four components for peer review:

• Does the writer identify a single parameter from one of the models?
• Does the writer make an argument for why knowing more about this parameter is important?
• Is there evidence cited in support of this argument?
• Is the evidence cited persuasive?
• Does the writer connect an understanding about this parameter to the relevance in policy making?
• Are the connections that the writer makes convincing?
• Was the writing appropriate for the target audience?
• Were the citations complete and professionally reported?
• Rating Scales : How strong is this first draft? 1–2 stars mean it needs a lot of work; 3–4 stars mean it is on target but could be enhanced with some additional attention; 5 stars mean that you think the essay would get full marks as is (this will be rare for first drafts!)
• Contextual Comments : Using the “trait identification” section as a guide, give your classmates feedback on the areas in which they could make improvements to their writing. The best peer reviews offer sufficient quantity—and quality—of feedback such that your classmate knows what is missing or unclear and can make substantial improvements in their revision. TIP: The class average is to make 4 written comments per review (>200 words total) with the best reviewers offering > 5 comments.
• Final Comment : If your classmate only had time for one change, which change do you think would most significantly improve the strength of their argument?
• Metacognition

Even the most carefully constructed writing assignments will not promote deep learning if students approach them with a mindset focused simply on reporting what they think they know. Students who are not practiced at self‐reflection will approach complex issues with increasingly complex—although nonetheless rote—solutions (Lemons, Reynolds, Curtin, & Bissell,  2013 ; Tsai,  2001 ). Therefore, the writing assignments that are likely to be of greatest benefit are those that explicitly promote metacognition (Bangert‐Drowns et al.,  2004 ). Metacognition refers to “the knowledge, awareness, and control of one's own learning” (White,  1998 ) including students’ ability to predict how well they will do on a task based on what they know as well as an awareness of what they don't fully understand (Bransford et al., 2000 ). Some of the most effective assignments will naturally involve metacognitive processes such as planning what to write, monitoring the development of the narrative, and evaluating the clarity of one's own writing. Instructors can promote these practices by asking students to write brief reflections at various stages in the writing process. Peer review can also be a powerful tool to promote metacognition, particularly self‐regulated learning (Bransford et al., 2000 ): through the process of analyzing classmates’ writing in response to a rubric, students are better able to predict their own performance through monitoring their understanding of both the content and the expectations.

How we promoted metacognition with our writing assignment

We required a “Revision Plan” (to be submitted with the final draft) which has the following two components (adopted from https://elireview.com/learn/tutorials/students/using‐feedback/ ):

“Rate all the comments you received, on a scale of 1–5, for helpfulness. Rating your feedback serves several purposes, including deciding what feedback to use, giving feedback to reviewers regarding the helpfulness of their comments, and informing your instructor about whether or not you received useful feedback. Add the helpful comments to your revision plan.

A revision plan is simply a brief paragraph in which you reflect on the feedback you received and explain how you will use it in your revision. In other words, what did you learn through the peer‐review process that will help you make meaningful revisions? As a reminder, you are not obligated to use any of the feedback you received and considerable benefit may be derived from reading and reviewing your classmates’ writing.”

4. FIVE STRATEGIES FOR MANAGING THE WORKLOAD

Writing assignments, when done well, are “high‐impact pedagogical practices,” but in order for instructors to assign writing in their courses, they must address barriers to implementation such as large course size, lack of expertise in teaching writing, or overloaded curriculum. They must also address emergent challenges such as reducing opportunities for cheating online and increasing access for remote and asynchronous students. We offer the following suggestions for implementing writing assignments that can be effective even in large classes delivered online, synchronously or asynchronously. We begin with a caveat, however; with limited time, instructors must still make the trade‐off between how much content they can deliver versus how much time and effort they allocate for grappling with each topic. It is well beyond the scope of this manuscript to argue that point. Instead, we address the remaining barriers and suggest strategies for managing the workload associated with implementing writing assignments effectively and efficiently.

• Use peer review

Peer review is pedagogically valuable regardless of course size, but in large classes, it has the added benefit of tempering instructors’ workload. There are many technologies available to facilitate the exchange of drafts for peer review, including simply assigning peer‐review groups and asking students to exchange drafts via email, shared documents, or discussion boards. We used the software Eli Review ( elireview.com ) as this program manages all the deadlines, can be integrated into course‐management software, such as Sakai, and offers a seamless interface for our students to upload drafts, review each other's writing, respond to feedback, create revision plans (including rating the helpfulness of their classmates’ feedback), and resubmit. More importantly, the software is designed to promote best practices in writing pedagogy, providing built‐in support for faculty. There is a tremendous amount of flexibility in how to set up the peer‐review process in Eli Review; instructors can decide whether or not to make reviews anonymous, how many peers are within a reviewing group, if late submissions are accepted and, if so, how those students are assigned to groups. The software also offers instructors with plentiful analytics, such as the number of comments reviewers make and how long those comments are, both of which could be used as proxies for student engagement. Although we have no direct experience with other peer‐review software (such as iPeer and peerScholar), these tools may be more readily available on some campuses.

• Limit grading

Another strategy for limiting instructor workload is to be very disciplined about what and how to grade. Most science faculty are under no obligation to teach writing skills, and therefore even if they assign writing, they are not obligated to grade the quality of the writing per se. As with all good teaching, assessments must align with learning outcomes. Therefore, if the primary learning outcome of a writing assignment is to assess students’ ability to use scientific evidence in support of claims, for example, then instructors can design grading rubrics to focus on those issues and not on the mechanics of writing.

Furthermore, if the goal is to encourage students to grapple with complicated scientific issues, it is reasonable to treat the writing assignment as a formative assessment and assign a grade based on how deeply students engaged with the process (e.g., meeting deadlines, writing substantive and helpful comments in peer reviews, making meaningful revisions). Some instructors may want to link writing assignments with summative assessments (via online quizzes or tests, for example) to assess content knowledge (Marion et al., in preparation ).

Alternatively, instructors can provide valuable but limited feedback to students on their writing in a number of ways. One option, within Eli Review, is to endorse or contradict peer‐review comments for additional formative feedback students can use toward revision. Another option is for instructors to grade final drafts using rubrics that limit the number of factors that instructors need to attend to (~5 items is a reasonable target). To avoid time creep, instructors should resist editing student writing.

• Collaborate with experts

Another common barrier to implementing writing that science faculty cite is lack of familiarity with writing pedagogy (Finkenstaedt‐Quinn et al., in review ). For those lucky enough to work at colleges and universities that have Writing Centers or Centers for Teaching and Learning, we encourage you to collaborate with these experts in crafting assignments and rubrics for your courses. These colleagues can help identify which peer‐review and plagiarism‐prevention software they support, as well as help you set up online assessments of writing using software such as Crowdmark and Gradescope. At the very least, it is useful to have a colleague who is well‐versed in writing pedagogies to review assignments and point out potential ambiguities that may distract students or make grading more problematic. For campuses that do not have these resources, we suggest the following online resources: Calibrated Peer Review's library of writing assignment ( http://cpr.molsci.ucla.edu/Home , although we caution against adopting assignments without modifying them to meet your specific institutional context, see Reynolds & Moskovitz, 2008 ), Eli Review's learning resources ( https://elireview.com/learn/ ), Science Writing Heuristic ( https://education.uiowa.edu/science‐writing‐heuristic‐swh ), and the WAC Clearinghouse ( https://wac.colostate.edu/ ).

• Reduce incentives for cheating

An additional challenge to teaching online is to create assessments that do not need to be proctored. Writing assignments fit this bill with the added benefit that well‐crafted assignments reduce the likelihood of cheating and plagiarism. Unlike knowledge‐telling assignments or assignments with a singular correct answer that could be copied from a source, knowledge‐transforming assignments require students to stake out a position and are therefore less amenable to copy‐and‐paste answers. We suggest further reducing incidents of plagiarism by teaching students the conventions of citation in your discipline; these are often different from those in the humanities which may be the only place students have learned about disciplinary‐specific citation. To avoid reinventing the wheel, we suggest either inviting campus librarians to give short tutorials (live or recorded) or to link to existing tutorials on campus library webpages. Additionally, we suggest informing students in advance that all their writing will be run through plagiarism detection software such as iThenticate or Turnitin. Faculty who use Eli Review can download all final drafts for an assignment into a single file which they can then easily upload to iThenticate for review. We suggest doing this early in the semester and using any problems detected as a teaching moment for the entire class; we have found that this approach virtually eliminates subsequent issues with plagiarism.

• Be flexible

Finally, in these challenging times, both students and faculty will benefit from increased flexibility. Unlike proctored examinations, for example, writing assignments are inherently flexible in terms of when students can work on the assignment. We encourage instructors to spread out the deadlines for the various elements of the assignment to avoid unnecessary pressure. Under normal conditions, we have found that for short assignments (~500 words) one week is generally the minimum gap between the due dates for the first draft and the final draft, allowing several days for thoughtful peer reviews and the rest of the week for meaningful revisions. Given the unpredictable nature of teaching during a global health crisis, instructors may want to stretch out those deadlines to avoid some of the challenges we will undoubtedly face as a result of illness or unpredictable connectivity. Increasing peer‐review groups (from 2 to 3, for example) will reduce the complications if one student cannot complete their review on time.

5. CONCLUSION

We have claimed that of the American Association of Colleges and University's list of 11 high‐impact educational practices, the easiest for science faculty to adopt during these difficult times is writing‐intensive courses. We are not naïve in believing that it is easy to convert an existing course into one that is writing‐intensive; we acknowledge that little about teaching during a pandemic is easy. Instead, we suggest that writing assignments can be powerful tools for faculty who seek rigorous assignments that promote deep engagement with the subject matter and among students through the iterative process of writing, giving and receiving feedback, reflection, and revision. All this can be done online and asynchronously, giving students great flexibility in when they complete assignments. As for faculty, there is certainly an initial time investment involved in creating the infrastructure for writing assignments (a process that we suggest could be done in collaboration with campus writing specialists) but the workload can be managed carefully, even in large classes. The pay‐off is in providing a high‐impact experience for students even in these uncertain times.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

None declared.

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTION

Julie A. Reynolds: Conceptualization (equal); Funding acquisition (lead); Writing‐original draft (lead); Writing‐review & editing (equal). Victor Cai: Conceptualization (equal); Writing‐review & editing (equal). Julia Choi: Conceptualization (equal); Writing‐review & editing (equal). Sarah Faller: Conceptualization (equal); Writing‐review & editing (equal). Meghan Hu: Conceptualization (equal); Writing‐review & editing (equal). Arthi Kozhumam: Conceptualization (equal); Writing‐review & editing (equal). Jonathan Schwartzman: Conceptualization (equal); Writing‐review & editing (equal). Ananya Vohra: Conceptualization (equal); Writing‐review & editing (equal).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

For engaging in interesting discussions with us about COVID‐19 and about our writing, we offer thanks to our spring 2020 classmates: Trevor Anderson, Amanda Beach, Noam Bendavid, Luca Calero, Ben Frye, Hazel Horvath, Liat Levin, Jordan McGilvery, Lisa Regula, Michael Stolzenberg, and Jennifer Uzcategui. JAR would like to thank Dr Jennifer Ahern‐Dodson and Dr Monique DuFour, facilitators of the Duke University 2020 Summer Scholarly Writing Retreat, as well as her fellow retreat participants for creating a virtual writing community that supported her productivity and scholarship in the early months of the pandemic. We are also very grateful to Dr. Melissa Meeks of Eli Review for her generous insights and guidance in optimizing our use of this software. This manuscript has been greatly informed by research done by coauthor JAR as part of a National Science Foundation IUSE (Improving Undergraduate STEM Education) Grant No. DUE‐ 1525602.

Reynolds JA, Cai V, Choi J, et al. Teaching during a pandemic: Using high‐impact writing assignments to balance rigor, engagement, flexibility, and workload . Ecol Evol . 2020; 10 :12573–12580. 10.1002/ece3.6776 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]

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Advantages and Disadvantages of Assignments For Students

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We have collected some solid points that will help you understand the pros and cons of Assignments For Students in detail.

But first, let’s understand the topic:

What is Assignments For Students?

Assignments for students are tasks or activities given by teachers to be completed outside of class time. These can include writing essays, solving math problems, or reading books. They help students practice what they’ve learned and prepare for future lessons.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Assignments For Students

The following are the advantages and disadvantages of Assignments For Students:

Advantages of Assignments For Students

Disadvantages of assignments for students.

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A publication of the harvard college writing program.

Harvard Guide to Using Sources 

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Why Use Sources?

College writing assignments generally ask you to respond in some way to sources. Some assignments will require you to consult only sources assigned in class, while others will require you to locate your own sources relevant to a specific research topic. In many of your courses, your research will focus primarily on written texts such as books and scholarly articles, but you may also be asked to consult a variety of other sources, including letters, diaries, films, works of art, data from experiments, numerical data, surveys, and transcripts of interviews.

What constitutes a useful and reliable source will vary according to both your assignment and the methods used in a particular field of study. As you approach a paper in an unfamiliar field, it will be important to remember that within each field of study, scholars distinguish between primary sources, or the raw material that they analyze as they attempt to answer a question, and secondary sources, or the analyses of that raw material done by other scholars in the field. For example, for literary scholars, primary sources include fiction and poetry, while secondary sources include criticism written by other scholars about those literary texts. Historians, on the other hand, grapple with primary sources such as letters, diaries, and eyewitness accounts produced at the time of an event, as well as with secondary sources such as arguments presented by other historians. Sociologists tend to rely for raw material on quantitative data, such as surveys, censuses, and other statistics, or qualitative data, such as observation and interviews.

Social scientists in some fields, such as psychology and economics, also consider empirical journal articles (articles that describe the results of original research) published in peer-reviewed journals to be primary sources. These articles provide raw material for other scholars, who may then raise questions about the published results or develop new research based on these results. Social scientists in other fields, such as anthropology and history, however, do not consider research articles primary sources because articles in these fields do not typically present raw data. For these social scientists, journal articles would be secondary sources. For all social scientists, literature reviews and published books are considered secondary sources.

Natural scientists consider empirical articles published in peer-reviewed journals to be primary sources. These published results of experiments and analyses of data provide the raw material for other scientists to consider as they pursue their own research. Secondary sources in the natural sciences include literature reviews and books.

As a college student taking courses in many different fields, you will need to ask questions about what is considered a reliable source in each new field, and about how sources can be used appropriately in that field. At the same time, there are many common principles for using sources effectively that you will be able to carry with you from course to course. For more information on using sources in different disciplines, you can consult the Harvard Writing Project series of writing guides for specific courses and concentrations. If you are writing a paper for a course in the Government department, you should consult GovWrites for guidance. If you are writing for an anthropology course, you should consult AnthroWrites . If you are writing for a course in one of the Life Sciences fields, you should consult ScienceWrites .

When in doubt, of course, you should always consult your instructor.

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What is journaling?

Benefits of journaling, types of journaling, how to journal, tips to avoid journaling pitfalls, journal prompts, journaling for mental health and wellness tips and prompts to start a journal.

Quick writing exercises can help boost your mood, improve your outlook, and ease stress. Whether you choose to bullet journal, gratitude journal, or use another style, these journaling prompts can help you get started.

Journaling is a self-care exercise that involves recording your life events and related feelings and thoughts. It can be a way to declutter your mind and cope with stress, anxiety, and depression. As you put your experiences into words, you can begin to organize thoughts, express and process emotions, identify patterns, and reflect on ways to improve your well-being.

There are many types of journaling practices and many ways to express yourself. In expressive writing, for example, you free-write without stopping for several minutes. The focus is on recording your thoughts and emotions surrounding an upsetting or traumatic event in your life. In other styles, such as gratitude journaling, you focus more on recounting positive experiences.

In studies on journaling , participants seem to reap both physical and mental health benefits, such as a boost in mood, reduced feelings of distress, and improved immune function. Journaling may help to enhance well-being in several different ways:

• Keeping things in or suppressing thoughts and feelings about events, including traumatic experiences , can be stressful, increasing your heart rate and making you more susceptible to illness.
• Disclosing your thoughts and feelings as you journal, on the other hand, may help to ease stress .
• Journaling may also help you regulate your emotions and become more aware of your different emotional states.
• It can make you less sensitive to intrusive thoughts and anxious feelings.
• Journaling allows you to reassess situations in a more positive (or at least less-threatening) light.

If you feel intimidated about getting started, know that journaling doesn’t need to involve a huge time commitment. You may simply choose to journal about your mood for two minutes each day before bed. Or use your phone while commuting home on the bus to free-write about stress at work .

By better understanding the potential benefits of journaling and all the different writing options, you can experiment until you figure out the practices that best meet your needs and preferences.

Talking about your thoughts and feelings to other people can have many benefits, especially when you’re going through tough times . It can give you a chance to unburden yourself, get feedback, and brainstorm solutions. But when a friend, family member, or therapist isn’t available or sharing isn’t an option, journaling can be a helpful alternative.

Journaling allows you to confront past issues and organize your thoughts. It can also be a tool for gaining insight. As you reflect on your experiences and emotional reactions, you may notice patterns emerge. You might begin to see how past abandonment has affected your approach to current relationships, for example. Or how you’ve picked up unhealthy behaviors from your parents.

Journaling can be particularly useful for people struggling with issues they don’t want to share with others or feel they can’t talk freely about. For example, people in marginalized groups—such as the LGBTQ+ community—or those dealing with stigmatized conditions—such as certain mental health issues—can use journaling to explore their feelings until they feel safe disclosing them to others. It can also be useful for people who have difficulty opening up or expressing themselves due to factors such as intense shyness or social anxiety .

Research on journaling benefits

Early studies on a type of journaling known as expressive writing revealed that the practice can enhance both mental and physical health. Those who journaled were less likely to seek treatment for illness in the months following their writing sessions.

Additional research has shown that journaling can potentially help with:

• Managing symptoms of major depressive disorder . Although it’s not a silver bullet solution, daily journaling can be a supplement to depression treatment .
• Treating symptoms of PTSD . Journaling allows you to organize traumatic events into a meaningful narrative, which can help you process the events.
• Promoting reflection . Journaling allows you to reflect on events, gain some emotional distance from things that have happened, and view problems and situations from a more objective perspective.
• Easing anxiety . If you obsess over or can’t stop worrying about a situation, it can make it difficult to focus on other things. But by putting your thoughts down on paper and gaining perspective, it can help you to let go of worries and free up mental space.

There are many different journaling styles including:

Expressive writing

Otherwise known as “written emotional disclosure”, expressive writing involves writing down your thoughts and emotions about a situation. Writing non-stop for several minutes, you disclose your deepest thoughts regarding an upsetting or traumatic event, helping you to process your feelings and gain insight.

Gratitude journal

This type of journaling encourages you to focus on positives to cultivate a sense of gratitude and improve your mood. Some research shows that gratitude journaling can increase feelings of life satisfaction, lower stress, and serve as a buffer from stressful life events. Gratitude itself is linked to a decrease in worry and rumination and an increase in optimism and motivation.

Visual journaling

With this style of journaling, instead of using words, you make drawings, paintings, or other visual art that represent your experiences. However, one study found that it may be most effective when combined with written reflections. For example, you might choose to draw a picture about a past event that still upsets you and then accompany that image with some written notes about your thoughts and feelings.

Mood tracker

A mood tracking journal gives you a way to monitor your emotional states over time. This helps you identify factors that impact how well you feel. You can also use this type of journaling to identify triggers if you’re coping with issues such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) , addiction, migraines, or other sources of chronic pain .

Bullet journaling

Developed by Ryder Carroll, this journaling approach involves creating separate logs for future, monthly, and weekly tasks and tracking your progress. Writing down your tasks and goals may help you to better manage your time and responsibilities, reducing stress in the process.

Keeping a bullet journal can be an especially beneficial style of journaling if you have ADHD or a similar disorder that makes it difficult to stay on task.

Bullet journaling can also serve as a creative outlet since it’s an exercise you can easily customize.

• You can create decorative cover pages for each section for example.
• Add in mood or gratitude logs, where you record how each task made you feel and track your emotions over time.
• Include a habit tracker. Here, you track your consistency as you aim to build healthy new habits, such as doing weekly meal-prep or going to bed at a specific time.

If a bullet journal seems too intensive, consider starting with a typical to-do list. One study found that writing a descriptive to-do list before bed may help you to fall asleep faster .

No matter how you decide to journal, there are some ways to help your writing sessions be more effective.

Find a quiet place to write. You don’t want to be distracted by other people or your surroundings. You might designate a corner of your room for journaling practices or simply sit in your parked car at the end of a long day.

Choose a time when you’re unrushed. Aim for a time when most of your other daily activities are completed so you can better focus. You might find a peaceful moment after work or when your children have gone to bed. You could keep a journal on your nightstand for easy access before sleep.

Try to be consistent with the timing. You might decide to write for 10 minutes at the same time every evening, for example. Being consistent in this way can help make it a habit that sticks.

Continuously journal for the allotted time. Don’t worry about spelling and grammar; just get your thoughts out. If you ever feel stuck or at a loss of what to write next, simply repeat things that you’ve already written.

Writing session length and frequency

Initial expressive writing experiments involved subjects writing for 15-minutes on four consecutive days. However, other research has shown that journaling for longer or shorter sessions can be equally effective.

Journaling is likely to be more effective if you do it regularly because it allows you to continually revisit and develop your thinking. Try to write for at least two minutes. If you find yourself writing for longer than you want, set an alarm for 30 minutes and then stop.

Journal privacy

Some research shows there might be a benefit to sharing your writing. A 2010 study found that when people journaled with the expectation that anonymous researchers would see their work, they experienced greater mental and physical benefits. It’s possible that when you expect someone else to read your writing, you put more effort into the task, which leads to increased benefits.

However, sharing might not be the right decision for everyone.

When deciding on the privacy of your journal, ask yourself:

• Will the writing offer the other person useful insight into my thoughts and emotions? This might be the case if the other person is your therapist or someone trying to help you with problem-solving.
• Will sharing my writing prevent me from being completely candid in my journaling exercises? Sometimes, the expectation of being judged by others can lead you to hold back or censor yourself. Your writing should be as honest and open as possible.
• Will sharing my writing put stress on a relationship? Sharing sensitive information with the wrong person might lead to hard feelings or misunderstandings.

Methods of journaling

If writing things down on paper isn’t your style, you can also:

• Type yourself a message in an email app, text message, or notes app on your phone, tablet, or laptop.
• Talk into a recorder, such as using the audio recording function on your phone.
• Video record yourself on your phone.

While these methods all involve emotional disclosure and exploration, each can also have some specific advantages and drawbacks. Video or audio recording, for example, can be handy if you have difficulty writing or eyesight issues. They may also allow for faster journaling, but you’ll need to find a private space where no one can overhear you.

Writing, on the other hand, forces you to slow down more, which can be beneficial for reflection. It also allows you more freedom in when and where you journal. On public transport or in a busy coffee shop, for example, it’s much easier to write rather than talk into your phone.

When starting your journal practice, try out different methods to find the one that works best for you.

Although there’s plenty of freedom and very few rules when it comes to journaling, there are some potential pitfalls to consider.

If the writing exercise becomes too upsetting, change topics or take a break. Journaling can involve confronting unpleasant memories. Some people even report feeling an emotional dip after writing sessions—although this is usually only temporary. If writing about certain topics proves too upsetting, switch to a different topic, try a different style of journaling (such as gratitude journaling), or simply take a break.

Don’t let journaling become a substitute for concrete action. Always consider whether the situation you’re reflecting on is within your control. For example, you might spend days journaling about how upset you are about your spouse neglecting their chores. However, the solution might be as simple as having an open conversation with them. Or perhaps you’re stressed about an upcoming exam. Writing about your anxieties might prove helpful, but creating a realistic study schedule is also important.

Note if your journaling becomes an unhealthy outlet for complaints. You want your journaling to be more than simply listing all the things that are wrong with your life. If you use your journal to just write about how disrespectful your boss is, or how you’d like to get revenge on an ex-lover, it won’t lead to understanding, healing, or action.

Rather than just dwell on negative emotions, consider what’s driving them. This allows you to move from feelings to thoughts. In one study , some participants were asked to only journal about their stressful feelings for a month. The others were told to write about their feelings as well as their thoughts—such as how to understand the stress and cope with it. The first group was essentially stuck ruminating and didn’t benefit from the exercise. In fact, they seemed to experience a decrease in their well-being.

Consider combining journaling with therapy. Both journaling and therapy can help you to self-reflect and gain a better understanding of your emotions and life circumstances. However, writing alone may not resolve deep distress or a mental health issue. Instead, think of writing as a preventative exercise or a supplemental tool to your work in therapy.

[Read: Finding a Therapist Who Can Help You Heal ]

Speak to a Licensed Therapist

BetterHelp is an online therapy service that matches you to licensed, accredited therapists who can help with depression, anxiety, relationships, and more. Take the assessment and get matched with a therapist in as little as 48 hours.

To get started journaling for improved mental health, try out some of these exercises.

1. Write your deepest thoughts and feelings surrounding a traumatic experience or stressful life event. This could involve anything from a childhood conflict with a parent to the sudden and unexpected loss of a loved one . Explore both the objective (what happened?) and the subjective (how did you feel and why?).

2. Write about stories you tell yourself that aren’t true or aren’t grounded in evidence. Some examples:

• “My partner is secretly planning to leave me.”
• “People only spend time with me out of pity.”
• “I’m always the source of drama in my friendships.”

What are some likelier alternatives to those stories? Writing on this prompt can help you identify cognitive distortions —automatic negative biases in your thinking patterns.

3. Describe a setback you experienced in life. How did you grow from that experience? What lessons did you learn? What positive experiences emerged from the pain? For example, the death of a parent may have helped you reconnect with distant siblings. This is known as a benefit-finding exercise, and it can help you find the silver lining in otherwise undesirable events.

4. Write a list of several things you would like to accomplish tomorrow. Make sure the items on the list are realistic and measurable. For example, you might need to take the cat to the vet for a noon appointment. Get more specific and include the steps that you will need to do to complete each task. Try doing this exercise before bed to declutter your mind.

5. Write a narrative about your best possible future self. In this scenario, consider where are you at in life, and what goals you have yet to accomplish. Consider things like your career , health, relationships, and hobbies. Get as specific as possible about the details. This exercise can help you gain insight on your motivations, priorities, and values in life.

6. Write a letter of gratitude to people in your life. Write about treasured memories with these individuals and the ways in which they’ve made your life brighter and fuller. What are some positive traits you appreciate about them? You don’t have to show them your writing when you’re done (although doing so may spread some love and positivity).

7. Write three good things that happened to you (either recently or throughout your life). How did they improve your life? What caused those events to happen? This is, in part, a gratitude exercise. However, it can also help you build self-confidence if you explore the active role you played in making those positive events occur. For example, you may be grateful for an overseas trip you enjoyed with a significant other, one that happened because the two of you worked together to save money and plan the vacation.

8. Free-write about a problem for 10 minutes. If you’re facing financial stress or issues in a relationship, for example, identify barriers to overcoming the problem and then write about them in detail for 10 minutes. Then brainstorm some potential solutions that will help you overcome those barriers. You might not immediately generate an answer, but this exercise can help you get into the right mindset.

9. Write the word “stress” and then begin listing words and phrases that crop up in your mind. Don’t overthink, just freely write the topics that come to mind. Continue until you feel done. When you review your writing, look for patterns or themes. This word association exercise can help you identify underlying sources of stress in your life.

10. What is something you have been avoiding? It might be something you’ve been avoiding for days or even years. How do you feel when the issue or circumstance is looming over you? Why might you be avoiding it? Are there healthier alternatives to your avoidance?

In the end, how you journal and what you journal about is entirely up to you. You may decide to combine several different styles, or come up with a prompt that is better suited for your specific concern or situation. No matter how you decide to journal, it’s a creative tool that can help you explore emotions and patterns, reassess your perspective on problems, brainstorm solutions, and navigate life with more confidence.

More Information

• How to video - – Video on how to start a bullet journal. (Bullet Journal)
• Allen, S. F., Wetherell, M. A., & Smith, M. A. (2020). Online writing about positive life experiences reduces depression and perceived stress reactivity in socially inhibited individuals. Psychiatry Research , 284 , 112697. Link
• Crozier, S. E., & Cassell, C. M. (2016). Methodological considerations in the use of audio diaries in work psychology: Adding to the qualitative toolkit. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology , 89 (2), 396–419. Link
• Fekete, E. M., & Deichert, N. T. (2022). A Brief Gratitude Writing Intervention Decreased Stress and Negative Affect During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Happiness Studies , 23 (6), 2427–2448. Link
• How Journaling Can Help You in Hard Times . (n.d.). Retrieved June 7, 2024, from Link
• How to Journal Through Your Struggles . (n.d.). Retrieved June 7, 2024, from Link
• How to Start a Bullet Journal for Beginners . (n.d.). Retrieved June 7, 2024, from Link
• Jans-Beken Phd, L., Jacobs, N., Janssens, M., Peeters, S., Reijnders, J., Lechner, L., & Lataster, J. (2019). Gratitude and health: An updated review. The Journal of Positive Psychology , 1–40. Link
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