A survey of 190 academic departments in 34 universities indicates that considerable variability exists across fields in the kinds of writing required and in preferred assessment topics. (FL)

Learn how to use literature to teach students the six traits that characterize effective writing: ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions. This practical text gives the reader a variety of ideas and strategies for developing and integrating the traits into students? writing, bibliographies of recommended…

Service learning discourses have often addressed questions of representation through reciprocity, asking what various participants receive from service learning community experiences. In the process of researching an article about reciprocity, a writing teacher found that reciprocity was often defined as an exchange of learning for some form of…

The lead of a story is the beginning, and yet it can be the end if the reader is not entranced immediately. This lesson examines types of leads in prominent children's literature and asks grade 3 to 5 students to try their own hand at writing leads. During the two 40-minute lessons, students will: discuss their reactions to the leads from the…

This book explores the intersections of creative writing, composition, feminism, and critical theory in ways that speak powerfully to each discipline. It offers provocative considerations of writing and teaching, side by side with practical features including sample assignments and ready to use classroom strategies, as well as a glossary of terms…

Applies three major points of American pragmatism to the development of technical writing assignments: (1) restricting the writing environment to the practical, workaday world, (2) emphasizing the complex contexts of purpose and audience, and (3) verifying the effectiveness of any piece of writing by its intentions. Offers criteria by which both…

Provides a writing assignment that introduces the use of an invention heuristic to students of middle school age. Illustrates the use of the assignment with the prewriting and in-class essay of a nine-year-old student. (RL)

Describes ideas for writing prompts and assignments proposed by three different teachers: (1) writing poems inspired by smells of herbs and spices; (2) writing about past perceptions and feelings after looking at a photograph; and (3) writing a "self-portrait." (TB)

Reports on a study that examines the planning and revising of ninth-grade coauthors to determine how collaborative writing socializes and impacts the writing process. Finds that the students' writing processes tended to resemble those of more expert writers--planning, composing, and revising collapsed into a truly recursive process. (TB)

Outlines effective and practical creative writing assignments given to literature students. Concludes that writing short, imaginative summaries provides a change of pace from the usual lecture, discussion, and group work formats of literature classes. (PM)

Details a creative writing assignment used in literature classes to help students better grasp the principles of literature from the inside out. Suggests this method should be employed more often in survey classes. (PM)

Argues that when the context supports sustained writing, both assigned and self-designed tasks can foster learning and commitment to writing. Reports on a case study of two graduate students in two universities. Finds that sustained writing, both of instructor- and self-designed tasks, can lead to positive intellectual and affective changes. (RS)

Reports a study of teachers' and writers' interpretations of scenario assignments. Finds that, among the three groups tested (graduate students trained to teach rhetoric, academically successful undergraduate students trained as tutors, and entering freshmen) experienced writers' interpretations adhered most closely to the interpretive community's…

Suggests a first writing assignment--an ungraded "practice" memo assignment--for the business writing class, which promotes good will between teacher and students, and offers the opportunity for class discussion on principles of business communication and business writing. (SR)

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)