This article describes the results of a survey of community college instructors who were asked about the writing they assign in non-English courses. The 171 respondents, representing 140 colleges, identified the kinds of writing they assign and the challenges that come with assigning writing. These challenges included finding time to grade…

This paper discusses a collaboration between a criminal justice professor and the coordinator of composition at a small, four-year University in a rural location. The goal was to restructure the writing assignments in criminal justice courses in such a way as to enhance student participation in writing assignments and to improve the quality of…

We used Problem-Based Learning (PBL) as a new pedagogy in an intermediate composition course. Our course design was based in constructivist pedagogical practices, which suggest that knowledge is co-created through social interactions. Although professors have much to offer students, students can also learn important lessons through interactions…

Teachers as readers would have a more pleasant and stimulating job if they were reading essays that interested them. The step to reading a good paper is designing a good assignment. Some areas that need to be defined for students before they begin to write are outlined. (MLW)

When the teacher does writing assignments along with students, students see four things: how the teacher would approach the assignment; how to do revisions; how even the teacher makes grammatical and spelling errors in the first draft; and how those errors get corrected. (MLW)

Encouraging students' use of satire, irony, and parody in college writing assignments is recommended to help students voice their concerns, think critically, and discover how a form of discourse contributes to both form and substance of the writing. Samples of student work illustrating the effectiveness of this approach are offered. (MSE)

Argues that assignments requiring the student to write in a specific genre stimulate formation and retention of critical concepts about the genre. A classroom experiment compared the results of a sonnet-writing assignment with a traditional essay-writing assignment about sonnets, confirming the effectiveness of the experiential approach.…

A grid system designed to help students and other writers exploit familiar forms of discourse for better thinking and composing is outlined. The technique helps link topic and discourse form innovatively, promotes understanding of the contextual character of every writing task, and can encourage students to read in order to master writing…

This article discusses college-level writing assignments designed to stimulate students to (1) explore initial student attitudes, (2) activate prior knowledge, (3) increase subject relevance, (4) clarify and organize course material, (5) connect new and previously known material, (6) improve critical thinking skills, and (7) develop and strengthen…

A college writing teacher offers teaching suggestions based on experience, concerning communication with students, error correction, creating priorities among objectives, making standards and evaluation criteria clear, giving positive reinforcement, encouraging use of the writing center, giving assignments that support writing objectives, and…