Engaging Ideas

The Professor's Guide

to Integrating Writing,

Critical Thinking,

and Active Learning

in the Classroolll

-.

:.: JOSSEY-BASS PUB LI SHERS San Franc isco

.Published by

-I

JOSS EY- BAS S

A Wiley Company
350 Sansome St.
San Francisco, CA 94104
1

Copyrigh r~

wv.lw.)osseybass.com

2001 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc

Jossey-Bass ts a regtstered uademark of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

No part of this publication may
form or

by any

be reproduced, stored in a rerrieval system, or rransmitted

In

any

means, electronic, mechanical, pho(()copying, recording, scanntng. or orherw15e,

except as penmltted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, withour
either the prior written permission of the Publlsher o r authorization through payment of the

appropriare per-copy fee to rhe Copyright Clearance Cemer, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danver.;, MA
01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 750-4744 Requests to rhe Publtsherfor permission should be
add ressed to the Pem1issions Department, John Wiley & Sons, inc., 605 Third Avenue, New
Yotk, NY 101 58-0012 , (212 ) 850601! , fax (212) 850-6008, e-mail pcnmreq@wiley.com.

Jossey-Bass books and productS are available through most bookstores. To contact Jossey
Bass directly, call (888) 378-2537, fax to (800) 605-2665, or v"i, our website at
www.josseybass.com .
Sub~ran[ial di..scounts on bulk quantities of Jossey,Bass books (lIe available to corporarions,
profe5.)ion(l1 associarions, and other orgalllzations. For de(ails and discount tnformation,
contact the special les depanmenr at Jos "ey~Bas5 .

We at

Jossey~Rass

strive

to

use the mosr environmentally sensinve paper stocks avallable to us.

Our publtcanons are printed on acid-free recycled stock whenever possible, and out paper always
meets or exceeds mmimum GPO and EPA reqUIrements.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bean, John C
Engaging ldeas: the professor's guide to int egrating writing,
critical thinkmg, and active learning in the classroom I John C,
Bean. - 1st ed.
p. cm .- (The Jossey-Bass higher and ad ult education se ries)
Includes bibliographical references and ind x.
ISBN 0-7879-0203-9
1. English language-Metoric-Stud), and teaching 2. Critical
thinking--Stud)' and teaching llitle n. Series.
PE1404 B35 1996
808'042- dc20
95-36265
FIRST EDmON

PB Prinhng

10 9 8 7

CHAPTER

Forlllal Writing

A ssignlllents

Par t Two of thi s book focuse s o n th e design of problem-based

assignments to promote critical thin king and active engagemen t
wi t h cour se subje ct matter. The presen t chapter concerns the
des.ign of fo rma l woting assignmen ts, whic h call s for finished
p rose Formdl writing usually requires multiple drafts and is thus
di::,tin g-uished from equa lly important informal, exploratory w nt
ing ai med a t ge nera ting, de veloping, and extending thinking on a
subject (H ow to use informal explora tory vvriting in your co urses
is the subject of Chap ter Six )
Formal wri ting can range from lengthy research papers to
short (on e- or two-paragraph) micro themes, The chapter's initial
focus is on th esis-governed academic wri ting, bu t the cone! ud i ng
section surveys alterna tive kinds of assig nments that let stud ents
write in d more personal voice in c1 varie ty of modes and s ty les

Th e Trad itiona l Method of As signin g Writi ng _ _ _ __ _ _ __

In Am er ican uni ve rsities, th e traditi onal way to aSS ign writing
goes some thing like thlcc "There w ill be a term paper due a t the
end of th e se mester, The term paper can be on any aspec t of the
co urse tll a t interes ts yo u , but I have to approve your tOpiC in
ad va nce," A bou t lv lfwa y thro ugh the term, s tudents su bmit pro
posals for tlTics-us ually stated as a topic area ra ther than as d
I'esea rch ques ti on or tentative thes is. The ins tructor either approves
73

74

Engaging Idea s

the topic or ad vises that it be narrowed , sometimes giving prelimi

n ary ad vice for bibliographic item s In man;' cases, no fur ther con
tact be tween teacher and studen t occurs . At the end of the term,
the tea cher collects and grades the peipers Some teachers mark the
papers copiously; others make only cryptic end comments Much
to teac hers' d isa pp ointment, man y students never pick up their
papers from the teac her 's offic e.

Alte rn ative Ap proache s to Assign ing Writing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

As one of many alte rna tive approaches, consider the method used
by fin anc e professor Dean Drenk (Drenk, 1986; Bea n, Drenk, and
Lee, 1986), who requires a series of short essays, ea ch of which
must support either the positiv e or the negative side of a thesis on
a controversial question in finan ce. Th e tl,e ses , ''''hich Drenk
sequences from easy to d ifficult, are constructed to cover various
key iss ues in the field such as the follovving
Th e m ark et is/is not efficient in strong-form, random-walk
terms.
Bonds are / are not more risky inves tments th an stocks.
Rand om diversification is/is not m ore reliable than selective
di versifica bon.
Each thesis support assignmen t requires students to understand
and use key course concepts while simultan e01J siy prac ticin g the
methods of inquiry, research, and argumentation in fin ance. Stu
dents must use library research skills to find relev ant d ata on th eir
assigned issues, analyze th e data, develop reasoned positions, and
p roduc e empiricall y supported arguments Dren k requires stu
dents to meet minimal standa rds on ea ch th es is support ess ay
before progressin g to the next and encourages stud ents to rewrite
th eir essays for higher gra des, tllUS stimulating revisi on. He pro
vides fe edb ack through an evaluati\'e chec ksheet fo cusmg on th e
q uality of critical thinkin g, th e clarity of w riting, an d th e adequacy
of empirical support

Trad iti on al and Alte rn ative Methods Com pared _ _ _ _ _ _ __

The first of these methods- the trAditional one- can be excellent
for skilled upper-di"ision students wllo hav e already learned th e
conventions of inquiry and argulllentation in a discipllne At som e
point in their undE'I't;raduate care,';'s, we w ant to turn students

Forma l Writing Assignments

75

loose and say, "Okay, now talk and w rite like a ne w mem ber of this
d iscipline Go find you r ow n topic and do something interes ting
with it "
[Jut for many college wri ters, such fre edom is de bilita ting. Not
ye t at home wi th academic wri tin g o r w ith th e discourse con ven
tions of a new discipline, these students are ap t to pro duce wander
ing "aU about" papers ra ther than arguments or quasi-plagiarized
data dum ps with long, pOintless quotations and thinly disguised
parap hr ases Even worse, s tudents may resort to outright plagia
ri sm . Because th e traditional term paper assignment does not
g uide students tow a rd form ula ting a prob lem and developing a
thesis, it often does not stimu la te the complex thin king (and hence
the need for multiple drafts) that teachers de si re. In addition, tra
ditional term papers often do little to enhance learning of co urse
content. They supplement a course b ut d o not foc us s tu dents'
mental energies on the most important or most difficult course
con cepts or issues.
In contras t, Drenk's thesis support assignments focus di rec tly
on co urs e concepts and teach thesis-governed argumentation in the
discipline. In investigating a series of iss ues in finance, students see
tha t knowledge in this discipline is not a collection of iner t princi
ples and data but rather an arena for inquiry and argu ment. More
over, because Drenk's thesis support essays are short (one to two
pages), s tudents can rework them through multiple re visions and
transfer what they have learned from one essay to the next. Fur
thermore, Drenk 's em p ha sis on stand ards, combined w it h his
allowi ng of rewrites, often leads to a surprisin gly high leveJ of stu
dent work. "Although doubts always accompa n y teaching," Drcnk
says, "I know that I am successful as a teacher when students con
fes s that they learned more through my writing assignments than
through any other academic activi ty" (Drenk, 1986, p. 55)

The Effect of Sli ght Variation s in Ass ignm ent Desi gn _ _ _ __

When designing formal writing assignments, ins tru ctor s should
consider carefully the kin d of w ritin g the y hop e for and the
proce sses they want students to follow Sometimes s light varia
tions in the wayan instructor d esign s a w riting task can cause sig
nificant differences both in students' writing and think in g
processes and in their fina l products. Consider my inform al experi
ment w ith faculty in wri ting-acros s-the-curr iculum workshops at
three different in sti tutions . Prior to each wo rkshop, I wanted par
ticipants to read and react to an article on expressive writin g by
Ran d all Fre isinger of Mi ch igan Techno log ical Uni ve rsi ty (see

76

Engaging Idea s

Freisinger, 1980). I asked fa culty to write, as homework, an essay in

resp onse to an yone of the follm'ving four options:
Op t ion 1 Write a tw o- to thr ee-p ag e criti ca l rev iew o f th e

Freisinger article. H ere is your chance to w rite an essay illus

b'ating wha t professors really w ant when they ask students
to do an article or b ook review
Option 2.' Wri te a t wo - to thr ee-p age criti cal revie w of th e
Freisinger article, but structure it in the follov.ring wa y p art
one sh ould be a two -hund red- wo rd ab s tract that simpl y
surrun arizes Freisinger's essay without injectmg any of your
ow n ideas or opini ons Part t"vo should answ er the follow
ing gues tion: "What d o you consider to be the strengths and
w eGlknesses of Freisinger ' s \'iews 7 "
Option 3.' One d ay you receive the following letter:
Dear Professor X:
I am in the p rocess of collecting and reprinting major
articles that have influenced the w riting-a cross-the-cur
riculum m ovement in the p ast tw o d ecad es. Your name
hJS been recommended to me because of your participa
ti on in a recent writing-across-the-curriculum workshop.
One of the ar ticl es tha t has been nomin a ted for m y
co llec tion is Rand all Fre isinge r's "Cross -Disci plina ry
Writing Workshop s: Theory and Pra ctice. " Since you were
asked to rea d this articl e f or one of vour workshop s, I am
very interes ted in your reaction to it Did you think it was
an impor tant article 7 WhGlt imp act did it ha ve on ),01l 7
Would yo u recommen d th a t other people inte rested in
wri ting across the curriculum read this article 7 Any infor
mation you co uld give me on yo ur reacti ons to this article
would be m ost appreciated .
Sincerely,

Snavely Snodgrass

Write a letter to Snav ely resp ond ing to his gu es tions.

Optio77 4.' Write a mini-play in whicll tw o or m ore faculty mem

bers get in an argument over Freisinger 's article. Choose an y

setting v ou w o u ld lik e fo r yo ur p la y, su ch as a fa culty
lo un ge o r a loc al ta ve rn . If yo u \-" ant, yo u ca n h a ve
Freisinger himself m ake a cameo appearance in your p lay.
Your goal here is to have at least one p erson w ho enthusias
ticGlll y supp orts Freisinger 's vi e\<\' of writing and lan gua ge
ge t in an arg ument w ith at lea s t on e person wh o thinks
Freismger is wron g You can h ave as many other persons as
vou wish in the pla y.

\Nh at this expe rim ent rev eale d is tha t the w riting pro cess
reported by workshop p articip ants differed significantly dep end
ing on which option the y chose Of the ap pro ximately sixty fa culty
whu have responded to this assigmnent , only three chose option 1,

.1

Formal Writi ng Assignm ents

77

w he reas nearl y ha lf chose option 2. Perhaps surp risingly the more

p rescriptive of the hrst tw o assignments was the mo re popular.
Appare ntly a large proportion of faculty as welJ as of stud ents,
prefer assign ments with some guiding constraints.
[ he o the r frequentl y chosen op tion-abollt 40 percent of facul
ty- was option 3, the informal letter. But the difference in process
between writers of option :2 and ootion 3 is re vealing. Option 2 peo
ple re ported spending two or three hours on the assignment and
w ri ting at least tw o drafts. Thev also reported a careful rereading of
the Freis inger article in order to compose the ab stract. Option 3
people, however, usually repo rted spending less than an ho ur on
the assignment. (In fact , many say they chose option 3 because it
seemed to require less wo rk. ) Most option 3 writers composed their
le tter in one sitting fe w rep orted revising their letters or rereading
the Freisin ge r a rticle prior to writing . Despite less time on task,
how ever, the option 3 people o ften wrote more lively, provocative,
and interesting pieces than the option 2 peop le
What is the lesson here? I hypothes ize that an option 2 assign
ment encourages careful planning (including, in this CdC'e, rereading of
the article) and form al top-down organizing. An option 3 assignment
encourages more personality, voice, energy, and spontaneity. IlL my
own courses, I hy to give students opportunities for both kinds of writ
ing. My experiment with option 3 has led to the occasional "thought
letters" I often require of my students as part of their ex ploratory w rit
inr; for my COUIses (see Chapter Si;x). But I use assignments like option
2 to encourage thoughtful study of difficult material and to teach struc
tured, analytical reading and response
The las t ass ignmen t-the mini-pl ay- was chosen by onl y a
handful of workshop p articip an ts, but their engagement with tb e
assignment was intense . They "got into it," often reporting six or
seven hours of work. In several instances, th ei r pla ys evolved into
humorous sa tires of their own institutions. Whereas the other w rit
ers wrote out of duty, the op tion 4 people' wrote for their own plea
sure (In the ja rg on of composition specialists, th e assi gnment
became "self-sp onsored.") The task become a crea tive project like
writing the script for a banquet roast. Proud of their work, op tion -1:
people wanted to go public, and at one institution they eve n insist
ed on performing their playas a wo rkshop finale .
rvl y p oint is that instructo rs can influ ence the th in king and
w riting processes of th eir students by varying such aspec ts of th e
ass ignmen t as the aud ience, the rhetorical context, the w rit er 's
ass umed role, the purpose, or the format. When planning assign
ments, therefore, teach ers need to consider not only the learning
goals they ha ve se t for th eir courses but ellso the thinking and writ
ing processes that thev want to invoke in their students as leJ. rn ers

78

Engaging Ideas

TIle remaining sec ti ons of this chapter focus on issues of plan

ning, d esig ning, and gi\'ing formal w riting assignments

Revi ew of Cou rse Goals as Preparatio n

for Designin g Ass ignments _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ __

Des igning critical thinking tasks works best if teachers focus their
assignments on th eir main teaching goals for the course. Prior to
des igning assignmen ts, teachers can inventory their course goals
b~T conSidering answers to the follow ing questions:
1 What are the main units or modules in my course? (Fo r

ex ample, two weeks on X, four days on Y, and another tw o

weeks on Z )
2. Wha tare m.y main Jearning obje cti ves for each of these
modules and for the whole course? What are the chief con
cepts and principles that I want s tudents to It'am in each
unit or module?
3. What thinking skills am I trying to develop within each
uni t or module and throu gho ut the whole cll urse? (Such
skills include \Nays of observing, habits of mind, questi on
ing strategies, use of evidence-wha tev er thinking process
es are important in your co urse or discipline To put it
another way, what wa ys of thinking characterize a histori
an, an accountant, a chemist, a nurse, and so fortll?)

4. Based on previous students ' exp erience, what are the most
difficult aspects of m y course for students?
5. Jf I could ch ange m y students' stud y habits, what wo uld I
most like to change?
6 \tVhat difference do I want m y course to make in my stu
d ents ' lives-in their sense of self, their values, their "vays
of thinking? What is my unique stamp on this course? Ten
years later, "",h at do I want th em to remember most about
m v course?
Of course, it is imp ossi bl e to d esig n. assignments th at have an
impact on every bcet of a course. But teachers can put together a
combination of form a I and informa I vniting ass ignments and other
kinds of critic<11 thinking tasks that will help students meet man y
of the teache rs' course goals. (For a more d e tailed <1ppr03ch to
articulating course gO<1ls, see "The Te<1 ching Goals inventory" in
Angel o and Cross, 1993, pp. 13-23.) In d esign in g formal assign

!. ', -c 1-/

or

,.. . . . .

Formal Wr itilg Assignments

79

ments, teachers have numerous options. We turn first to shor t

"w r i te -to- lc ~l[n" assignments focusi ng on specific course concepts
or thinking skills.

Desig nin g Short Write-to-Learn Assig nme nts _ _ _ __ _ _ __

Although wr iting to ie a rn is often associated w ith informal,
exploratory writing such as journals or lea rning logs (the su bject of
Chapter Six), teachers can also design formal assignments th at help
s tudents leorn imp o rtant concepts in a course. In the following
cases, consider how a physics professor and a psychology prafes
sur developed assignments focu sing on key course concepts The
physir'S professor identified accele ra tion an d velocity as difficult
concepts for beginning physics students, w hile the p sych ology
profl::ssor identified operant conditioning. Hav ing identified these
concepts, the professors then developed the following vvrit e-to
lei1fll assignments (the physics assignmen t is drawll largely from
Bean, Drenk, and Lee, 1986, p. 35) .

~@--.

~
-

Yo u are Dr. Science. the question-and-answer person for a popular mag azi ne
called Practical Science. Readers of your magazine are invited to submit letters
to Dr. Science, w ho ans w ers them in "Dear Abby" style in a special section of
the magJz ine. One day y ou recei ve the fo llowing letter:
Dear Dr. Science:
You'v e got to help me settle this argument I am having with my girl
fri end. We w ere watching a baseball game several weeks ago when this
guy hit a high pop-up straight over the catcher's head. When it finall y
came do wn, the catcher caught it standing on ho me plate. Well, my g irl
friend told me that when the ball stopped in midair Just before it started
back down , its velocity was zero , but its acceleration was not zero. I said
she was stupid. If something isn 't mov ing at all , how could it have any
acceleration 7 Ever since then , she has been making a big deal out of this
and won't le :- me kiss her. I love her, but I don't think we can get back
together unti l we setle this argument. We checked some phYSics books,
but they weren't very clear. We agreed that I would w rite to you and let
you sett le the argument . But , Dr. Science, don't ju st te ll us the anSWN.
You've got to explain it so we both understand because my girlfriend is
really dogmatic. She said she wouldn't even trus t Einstein unless he could
explain himse lf clearly.
Sincerely,
Baseball Blues
Can this relationship be saved 7 Your task is to w rite an answer to Basebal l
Blues. Because space in y o ur magazine is limited , restr ict your answer to what
can be put on a Single fi ve- by eight-inch card. Don't confu se Baseball and his

Engaging Ideas

80

gir lfriend by using any special physics terms unless you explain clearly what
they mean.

Here's the psychology assignment.

- - ----: 7 .

Consider the follovving problem:

In the morning, when Professor Cat love opens a new can of cat food, his
cats run Into the kitchen purring and meowing and rubbing the ir backs
against hi s legs . What examples, if any, of class ical conditioning, ope rant
condi tioning , and soc ial learning are at work in this brie f scene 7 Note
that both the cats and the professor might be exhibiting cond itioned
behav ior here.
You and some fellow classmates have been discussing this problem over cof
fee, and you are convinced that the other members of your group are confused
about the concepts. Write a one to two-page essay that sets them straight.

These assignments require students to apply the target con

cepts to new situations and to articulate their thinking processes
clearly to a new learner. Assignments like these can prompt intense,
purposeful rereading of textbooks and class notes while stimulating
out-of-class discussions among students. Furthermore, students
report that the act of writing often alerts them to gaps in thei r
understanding. In the operant conditioning problem, for example,
students reported in interviews with me that it was easier to explain
how the professor conditioned the cats than how the cats condi
tioned the professor, yet it was in their contemplation of the latter
case that the concept of a learned behavior became most clear.
r om a teacher's perspective, these assignments-because
they are short-have the additional benefit of being easy to grade
They use what we might call the principle of leverage: a s mall
amount of writing preceded by a grea t amoun t of thinking. Such
short assignments, or micro themes, can be very effective at maxi
mizing learning while minimizing a teacher's grading time. (For a
discussion of how to grade micro themes using "models feedback"
rather than writing comments on the essays, see Chapter Thirteen,
page 236.)

Using Short Write-to- Learn Ass ignments

for Formative Ass ess ment ________________

In designing vvrite-to-learn assignments, we obviously hope that

they will help students learn the desired concepts. Often-to our
disappointment and chagrin-this is not the case. What many stu
dents' reveal in their microth emes is the depressing variety of

- '- :J

,.-.,

Forma l Writ ing As signments

\",

81

ways that they can misunderstand the very concep ts 'Vve hoped
tbev would learn.
N v 'rthele'i'i, students' errors, mistakes, and n:lisunderstand
ings can gi ve us valuable insights into tbeir thinking processes and
provide d ues about how to redesign and sequence instruction. As
recent work in formative assessment has demonstrated (Angelo
and Cross, 1993) , te achers vvho re gularly assess their students'
und,'rstanding of concepts as a course p rogresses can adjust
instruction to improve the quality of learning For assessing stu
dents' le arning, short write-to-learn assignments are particularly
etfective because they provide direct windows into students' think
ing processes
Consider three student responses to the physics microtheme
on acceleration versu c velocity The teacher graded the micro
themes on a 1 (lowest) through 6 (highest) scale using the grading
rubric sho'Vvn in Chapter Fifteen (page 263). Tbe following micro
theme received a top score of 6:
Ask your girlfriend's forgiverless because she is absolul >ly right . An
ever day definition of acceleration means speeding up But the sci
en tific meaning is more precise It .neans the rJte Jt which spc!' or
direcl iOIl changes over a certain period of time two things really.
Thus it is indeed possible for the LJ;~ll to still be accelerating even
when it has zero velocity I i the baseball haa no acceleration when it
stopped in mid air, it would t10at in the air where it stopped forever.
A baseball can accelerate in either of two wavs. It CJn change
its speed or it can change its direction of traveL If it does either or
both of these things over " period of time it has accelerated. As the
baseball stopped in midair its speed- or velOCity- became zero. Yet
the acceler,l tion was not zero because, like a stretched out spring,
<.7 ravit:v was pulling at it. As :vo u Iwticed, It soon turned around
fro m going up and came thundering s trai g h t down toward the
catcher 's rnitt. During any given interval of time, it was changing
direction or speed (vploClty). Because of this, i t~ , cderation (a mea
surement taken over a period of time) 'Nas never zero.
In giving this micro theme a 6, the instructor felt that the student
both understood the concept accurate ly and explained it well in his
own words to a new learner
In cOl1trast, the following micro themes vvere rated in the 1 to 2
range because their writers faded to apply the concrpts accurately. But
the significantly different patterns of thinking in these low-success
microthemes helped the teacher understand each writer's difficultv.

Student A's Microthem e

Acceleration is defined as the ratio of the change in velocit\ to the
time over which this change occurs. When the pop-up left the hit
ler's bat it had J certain accp lerJtion in the upward direction. This

82

Engaging Ideas

accel eration soon became deceleration (a decrease in speed w ith

time) as the downward pull of the earth became strong enough to
decrease upward acceleration to O. This force is called gravity and by
definition accelerates a free falling body at 32 ft. / sec.' in the down
ward direction. When the ball paused a t the peak of its flight, before
beginning its descent, the upward acceleration and the downward
acceleration were equal, even though the ball was stationary.

Student B's Microthem e

It makes me sad to hear that you have lost your girlfriend over such
a trivial problem I have some good news for you, though. You are
right. An object cannot hav e 0 velocity and have acceleration too I
hope that with the arguments I lay for th in the next few paragraphs
you two can reconciliate.
First, velocity is defined as h ow far an object moves during a
certain time. If an object is moving then, in any direction, it has
velocity. An airplane is a good example of this. It flies at a certain
velo city such as 160 miles per hour, which means it covers 160 miles
every hour it is in the air. N ex t we need a definition of acceleration.
This is simp ly the change in velocity over a certain period of time. If
you have an object that is moving at a constant veloci ty. and covers
the same amount of distance during each time period, then it cannot
have any change in velocity and thus any acceleration. Going back
to the airplane we see acceleration when it speeds up or slows
down.
j\ow we can use these two above concepts to give an answer to
your question. If you have an object having no velocity it can have
no change in that velocity, thus it cannot be accelerating. If this is
still not clear think of the airplane si tting in its hangar. It has no
velocity just sitting there, right? Therefore it cannot be accelerating
or it would run through the side of the building l TIle baseball is the
same way. I hope that the explanation above w ill help your girl
friend to see the light.

Student A's microtheme reveals a problem-solving strategy

commonly encountered among novices to any discipline-what
one of my colleagues calls "te xt-parroting." Unsure of the answer,
the student uses the textbook as a crutch, attempting to imitate its
authority by creating a dense, academic-sounding style complete
with impressive technical data ("This force is called gravity and by
definition accelerates a free falling body at 32 ft / sec. c in the down
ward direction"). To nonspecialist readers, this strategy is often
succe ssful-what students in my part of the country call a
"snowjob " When sho wn student A's microthem e, beginning
physics stud ents (and many faculty members outside of science)
often give it a top-ranking score of 5 or 6. When it is pointed out
that student A never act uall y answers the question (is the girl
friend right or wrong?), the weakness of this microtheme starts to
em erge. To h el p te xt-parroter s make progress on their next

Forma l Writ ing Assignments

83

micro theme a ~~ ignment, the inctructor Gtn urge them to replace

their current strategy ("When in doubt/ so und like the textbook")
\\'ith a more productive one III which they explain the answer in
the ir own words. (To S(:'12 how a history professor helps students
overcome text-parroting, see Walvoord and McCarthy, 1990, pp
97-143.)
In contrast, student B writes admirably in his own voice but is
led astray by his inability to transfer his own private analogy (the
airplane sitting in the hangar) to the problem of tbe baseball in
midair. The minot-herne's structure records the student's thinking
process as he proceeds systematically from what he knows to what
he is trying to learn Despite his misunderstanding by the end (the
middle paragraph shows a correct understanding of ve locity and
accele rJtion when applied to the simple examele of the airplane in
fligh t), tIle student may be only a few moments away from an
"aha l " experience. A few probing questions from the instructor
mi ght make the concept snap in to place for the s tudent. By d is
cussing microthem es such as this one, the instructor can review the
concepts of acceleration and velocity while helping the cl 5S see
where and how analogies can be helpful or break do w n.
M y point here is that short write-to-Iearn assignments, though
not guaranteeing student learning, nevertheless provide a window
into students ' thinking that allows the instructor to monitor stu
dent progress, to readjust instruction, and to develop teachin g
strategies that reach different kinds of learners . (Fo r a detailed
account of ho w a mathematics professor analyz es and responds to
learnmg problems revealed in student writing, see Ke ith, 1989, pp
141-146.)

The Process of Giving a Formal Writing As signmen t _ _ __

~_

Whether yo u assign microthemes, two- to three-page essays, or

long research papers, how you present the assignment to the class
can aff 'ct yo ur students' success.

Prep ari ng a Student Handout for a Formal Writing Assignment

Students appreciate handouts explaining each writing assignment.
Although some te ac hers give theu w riting assignments orally or
place general explanations in their course syllabi, putting assign
ments on separate hand outs has several advantages: (1) it meets
the needs of sensing or concrete learners (as Identified by person
ality inventories such as the i'Ayers-Briggs), who comprise, accord
ing to Schroeder (1993 , p 22), perhaps 60 percent of our entering

84

Engaging Ideas

students and who seem paralyzed by vague assi gnments th at do

no t specify what the teacher w ants; (2) it gives all students some
thing to refer to late at night when their class n otes no longer seem
so clear; (3) if your institution has a \"ifiting center, it helps writing
consultants understand "vhat the professor is looking for prior to a
tutoring session; and (4) m ost importantl y, it helps the professor
identify potential problems with the assignment and thus clarify
its purp os e and focus. Expla n a tions of assign ments for formal
essays-as worded for students-sho uld usually include the fol
lowing elements:

Task. Explain what the student is supposed to write about.

Th e instructor oft n presents the ta sk as a problem or a
question for the student to address, a thesis to supp or t, or a
rhetorical mode or form to follow.
Role and audience. Gen erally, ask students to write from a
position of power to audiences who know less about the
topic than the writer or whose views on the topic differ from
the writer's (for example, "Address your paper to students
who missed last w eek's classes," or, " In yo ur argument on
old-growth forests , ad dress yo ur essay to the gro up tha t
opposes your position-either the logging industry or Earth
First," or, "Address your essay to peer-scholars in this disci
pline who are interested in your proposed question and will
look forward to reading your findin gs an d analysis") Ask
ing students to address the teacher, who typi ul ly kn ows
more about the topic than the student, places the writer in
an unnatural rhetorical position
Format. Specify expected leng th, manuscript form , and
similar details. Sometimes an ass ig nmen t also speciJ ies a
certain organ izational pattern "Place your thesis statement
prominently near th e end of yo ur intro duction," or, "Use
th e standard scientific report format."
Expectations about the process to be followed Specify a time
schedul e for completion of first drafts, peer review work
shops, revisions, and so forth. Ask stud ents to save all doo
dles, notes, outlines, and drafts and to submit these along
wi th th e final essay (This requirement encourages students
to follow the rec ommended process and effectively discour
ages plagiarism.)
Criteria for evaluation Explain hol'v the final p roduct will
be gra ded Will you grade essays holistically with a single
letter grade? If so, what arc the criteria for an I Or will
you grade analy tically by weighing d ifferent fe atures sep a

1.\ -e Li

//'

Fo rmal Writ ing Assignments

rately' 1f so, ho w mu ch w eight w ill be given to il "J S' To

ll rgi"lOizJtl(")n and develupment? To sentence stvlc and red d
ab ili ty ? To mec hani cs, ap pea rance, cHid manuscript fO lTn )
(See Cli J p te r Fi t teen for a discussion ,I f gril ding )
Here is an example of an eff ective assignment hand o ut for an
upper-di visio n busine ... co urse .

The Situation
Yo u have recen t ly been hi red as a resea rch assistan t to business consul i "nt
Wilbur Jones, who has j ust taken on a new consu lt ing project for Steamboat
Beer, a gro w in g reg ional firm that hopes to go na tr onal. One m orning, Wilbur
sends you th e follow ing memo:
Before my meeting next week with the Steamboat people, I neeu '['Iorma
tion o n beer companies that hav e recently 1001 market share. I Wlnt you
to ' ind au , wh,H w ent wrong with Pabst. Plb st Blue Ribbon was d majo r
company when I was in college . Now you hardly ev en hear about It. Get
back to me w ith an ana lysis ASAP. What happened at Pabst and wh y?
You have he.Fd that Wilbl 'r likes his reports SUCCinct and to the point , w it h
mea nings highlighted up tront. He is a 'scan reader" who want s to g et the gi st
of report quickly.

Your Task
After re ad ing, studying, and analyzing the assigned case m ater ials on the Pabst
Brew ing Com pany, prepare your report for Wilbur. Make sure th at it has t w o
part s: (I) a b l,ef chronolo gical narrativ e sho w in g w hat happened at Pab st , and
(2) an analysis o f what w en t wrong.

Process Stages for the Assignment

I. Rea d the c se materi als on Pabst.
2. Analyze case matenals In small groups (we'l l do this in cla ss).
3. Wri t e rough drafts; complete out-of-class peer re v ie lNs.
4 . Sub mit "e x ecutive summaries' to instructor.
S. Rewrite drafts after peer review and comm en t s on ex ecut ive sum marie s
by IIlst ru ctor.
6. Su bmit final product.

Crading Criteria
Quality of na rrative (brief but clear picture of w hat ha ppened at Pabst) : 10
po ints
Quality of causal anal ysis (clearl y stated causes, good support , pla usible
and co nVincing argum ent based on datLl ): 30 poin ts
Readab ili ty (top-do w n organization , good use of he adin gs. clear sentences
wit h no confusing passages): 20 point s
Gr mmar nd correctness: 10 points

86

Engaging Ideas

Havin g a Colleag ue Cr iti que Your Assig nment Hand ou t

A good way to fine-tune an assignment is to ask a colleague to read
it and role-playa student, trying to predict how students would
react. Then discuss w ith yo ur colleague questions such as th e fol
lowing:
1. Is the assignment clear? Might a student misread the assign
ment and produce something not anticipated? Is its purpose
clear? Will a student see how it fits into course goals?
2. Does the assignmen t seem interesting and challenging?
From a student's perspective, how difficult is this assign
ment? How much time w ill it require?
3. What kinds of students would this assignment particularly
appeal to? What kinds of students might not like this
assignment?
4. Does the assigmnent specify or imply a suitable audience?
Are the grading criteria clear?
5. Are the mechanics of the assignment clear (d u e dates,
expected length, manuscript form, other particulars)?
6. Is the process I want students to follow as explicit as possi
ble? Should I build checkpoints into the assignment (sub
mission of a prospectus, abstract, peer review dates, and
so forth)?
7. How easy or difficult will this assignment be to coach and
grade?
Such discussions with colleagues may help you see "ways to revise
the assignment to make it both stronger and clearer.

Givi ng the Assig nment in Cl ass

When giving the assignment in class, allow plenty of time for stu
dent questions N o matter how clearly yo u think yo u have
explained the assignment, students will ferret out ambiguities If
possible, show students an A paper from a previous class on a
slightly different but related topic. Even better, if you can afford
the class time, pass out a set of representative essays, strong and
weak, and ask students to grade them for themselves in an in-class
collaborative session. (See Chapter N ine, pp. 158-159, for a discus
sion of group scoring sessions. ) You can then explain how you
wo uld grade th e papers in order to clarify your expectati ons . Be
prepared for a lively discussion'

Formal Writing Assignments

87

Designing Assign me nts That Lead

to Top-Down, Thesis-Governed Writing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Chapter Two and part of Chapter Three provide a rationale for

top-down, thesis-governed wri ting-the prototypical structure of
ac ademic prose. Such wri ting begins with the presentation of a
problem to be add ressed; near the end of the introduction, after
the wri ter has presented the problem, the wri ter states his or her
thesis, otten accompanied by a purp ose s tatement or a blueprint
statement that gives the reader an overv iew of the w h ole essay.
The body of the paper then supports the thesis wi th appropriate
arguments and evidence Because thesis-governed writing does
not come naturally to s tudents, teache rs need to encourage it.
They Can do so by s tructuring their assignments in one of three
ways .

1. Prese nt a Pro po siti on (Thesis) That St ud ents Are Suppo sed

Defend or Refute

to

Using this method, the teacher asks students to defend or attack a

controversial proposition or to defend one of two opposing propo
sitions. The teacher 's task is to develop arguable propositions that
cover major concepts in the course. When students are asked to
supp ort or attack an assigned thesis, their mental energies, from
the start, are channeled toward analysis and argumenta tion and
away from chronological or "all ab out" writing.

This proposed bridge deSign does/ does not meet th e cri teria set forth by t he
city in it s request for proposal. (Ci v il engineering]
"The pat h to holines s lies through questioning everything. " Ag ree or disagree.
(Reli gio us studie s]
Based on the attached ca se, the nurse supervis or should/should not ho no r the
hus ba nd' s reque st that his wife (a stroke victim) be aSSigned a new nurse.
[Nurs ing]
Sch izophrenia is a brain d isease ./Schizop hrenia is learned behavior. [P syc hology]
Mercury amalgam filling s are/ are not sa fe. [Research project for a course in sci
entific arg ument]
Global warming is/is not a sign ifi ca nt environmental threat at this time. [En vi
ronme nta l b iology course]

An alternative is to present a controversial thesis but to ask

students to take a position or approach that you specify-.

Enga ging Ideas

88

=--4!
_-
-~--

Write a I n er to th e editor agai ns t t he sa le s tax on the gro un ds of it being a

re gressive ta x . Expli citly use ratio and proportion to explai n to th e uninformed
r e ade ~ th e meaning of regressive tax. [M at hematic s]
Upon arri v in g hom e for Ch ri st mas, you di scove r your father w riting a letter to
his repr es ent ati ve in Cong ress urging th e passage of legis lation limiting beef
irnr orts fro m Arge nti na . He arg ue s th at such imports pu t ran che rs out of bu si
ness, cau e U S. pack ing houses to clos e, 2.nd generall y make this coun try poo r
er. You , on the basIs of yo ur brilliant performa nc e in Economics 105 , engage
yo ur fathe r in a spi rited d isc ussion (In other words, a heated argument). Write
the argu ment that you use to convince him of the error o f his position. Your
fa th er d oes n't understand economic jargon, so an y Jargo n you us e must be
expl aine d . [Ec onomi cs]

Thesis-Sllpp ort w riting, as exem plifi ed in these assignments,

"vorks best \,,'hen s tuden ts are urged to consider opposing views
, nd to sift and w eigh evidence on all sides. Teachers can h elp s tu
d"' nts con sider opposing v iews by sho"ving the m llOW to add an
"althou g h clau se" to a thesis s tatement al ong with appropria te
qualifiers: "Altho ugh there is some e\'idence to sugges t that schizo
p hr e n i J is a learne d beha v io r, the prepo nderanc e of curre nt
research favors the theory that schizophrenia is a brain disease." In
addition , teachers can allow students to revise tIle provid ed thesis
to repres ent th eir own arguments m ore accuratel y (For fu r ther
examples of thesis support assign ments, see Chapter Seven, page
124; see also, in Chapter J Tine, the "beli ev ing / doubting" strategy,
pcges l Sb- 1 7; and the "evidence-finding" strategy, pages 157-1S~ .)

2. Give Stu dents a Problem or Question

That Dem ands a Thesis Answer
A second way to encourage th esis-governed vvriting is to gi\ e stu
den ts a ques tion calling for (l thc::, is statement answer O fte n yo u
will nee u to give bac kgrou nd information and prc)\'ide ,1 context
for tIl e problem The key to this kind of assignment is to s u m up
the problem in a on e-sentence guestion, te Jling studen ts that their
th esis s tatem.ents should be one -sentence ans'Vvers to this question.
H ere are so me ex anipl es (in eCl ch case, th e ins tructor's focu sing
question is ital ici1:E'd)

Writ e an es sa y of no mo re t han two doub le -space d pages answe rin g th e fol low
ing a uestlo n: Is a skilled trou t fish erman on a variable il1terval or a vanable
ratio sched u le of reln forcement 7 Imagine that you are wri tin g to a classmate
wh o has miss ed the la st w eek of lectures and finds t ne te xtbook expl an ilt ions
o f ' varia bl e intel'va l" and "var iab le ratio " co nfu 5lng . [Psyc hology ]
Gaus s's law rel ates i 1e fiel d at the sLirface ta the charge

sid e the su r face. But

Form al Wr it ing Assignment s

89

sure ly the field at the surface IS affected by the ch arges out side th e surface. Ho w
do you resol ve this difficcilt y7 [Mull in, 198 9 , p. 20 7] [Physi cs)
Ch oose a que stion that Plato answers In one w ay and Ari stotle an swer s in a di ffer
ent way (fo r example, "How do thi ngs chJ. nge?"). Then, in the first part of your
paper, ex plain to you r re ader the di fferences in thes e tw o theorie s. In the second
part of you r pap er, evalu ate the tw o pO Sition s, arguing th at on e pOSition is
stron ger thJ.n the other. In this section , specificall y answer the following question:
What situati on or thi ng does one theory ex plain w ell th at the other cannot ex plain
adequately? [Phil osoph yl

N ote th a t some teachers, in an understan dable effor t to guide

studen ts' thi nking, prov ide a w hole series of intcne la ted ques tions
instead of a single focusing question. My experience sugges ts that
this practice confuses students more than it helps.
Confusing
In the graveyard scene of Hamle t, Sha kespeare alters h is sources by
adding the cl ownish gravedi ggp rs. How d oes th e presen ce of the
g ra vediggers influen ce your in terpre tati on of the scen e? Do you
th ink they [l re funny? Absurd? Bla sphemou s? H ow does Hamlet's
Mtitud e toward the g ravediggers affect the scene? Do you think it is
app ro p riate to sing while digging a grave? What abo ut the jokes
they telP Do you think that Yoric k was more like the gravediggers
or more like H amlet? Do you thin k it is appropriate to ha ve a light
hearted moment like this in the m iddle of a tr agedy ? Is the scene
really li ghthe ar ted ?

Although th e instructor probably thinks of these question s as help

ful pro bes, students often fe el overw h elmed by them. Because the
questions seem parallel rather than hierarchical, students are apt to
produ ce a seri es of short an swers, ad dres sing each q ues tion tn
turn, ra ther than a unified essay.
Better
In th e graveya rd scene of H a mle t, Shakespea re alters his som e's by
addin g the clown ish grav ediggers. H ow d oes the presence of the
grJvediggers influence you r interp reta tion of the scene?

Phrased as a single question, the assignm ent now forces the stu
d ent to frame a single ans wer as a thesis statem ent for the essay.
3. Ask Students to Follow an Organizational Structure
That Req uires a Problem-Thesis Pattern
The m ost open-endt' u way of assigning thesis-governed w riting is
to give students complete choice of topic but to requi re tha t th ey
follow a prob lem-thesis stru c ture. Su ch a "gen eric" assignm ent
g uid es students with surprising effectivene ss toward theSis-gov
erned w riting.

90

Engaging Ideas

Write an essay of X pages on any topic related to this course. Use the introduc
tion of your essay to engage your reader's interest in a prob lem or qu es tion
that you would like to address in yo ur essay. Show your reader what makes the
question both significant and problematic. The body of your essay should be
your own response to thi s question made as persuasive as possible through
appropriate analysis and argumentation , including effective use of evidence.
Midway through the course, you will submit to the instructor a prospectus that
describes the problem or question that you plan to address and shows why the
question is (1) problematic and (2) significant.

II

Using the generic assignment has a number of advantages.

First, for teachers who like to give students as much freedom as
possible, the generic assignment permits free choice of topics while
g Uiding students toward thesis-governed prose that addresses a
real problem. By requiring that the introduction set forth a prob
lem, the aSSignment implies both an audience and a purp ose, thus
helping inexperienced writers overcome their tendency toward "all
about" papers, "and then" narratives, or unfocused data dumps.
Second, in its focus on qu estion asking, the assignment encourages
teachers to discuss the process of inquiry in their disciplines. By
teaching question asking in a discipline, teachers help students
become active learners. Finally- and this is an advantage not to be
taken lightly--- lhe assignment is easy to coach. Well before the
aSSignment due date, students can be asked to submit a prospectus
explaining and focusing the question to be addressed (the prospec
tus later serves as a rough draft of the introduction) . In r sponding
to the prospectus, the instructor can guide the student toward an
appropriately delineated ques tion and thesis.
For shorter assignments, an even simpler m ethod of screening
is possible teachers can ask students to submit two sentences
their introductory question and their thesis statement, which can
be quickly checked for focus and direction. Conceptual problems
noted at this stage can often be solved through indi\'idual or group
conferences or through referral of the student to a teaching assis
tant or writing center consultant. (See Chapter Thirteen for further
discussion of this screening technique.)

The Gen eri c Ass ig nme nt Adapted to Science an d Engineerin g:

The Sci entific Report _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
The typical research report in the phys ical and social sciences or
engineering follow s the structure of the generic assignment in that
the body of the report addresses a ques tion or problem set forth in
the introduction. But the body itself has a conventional structure

.J."

Fo rm al Writing As signment s

91

that students need to learn. The following explanation of the scien

tific report serves as a generic assignment for the sciences .

The Formal Sc ientific Rese arch Rep ort

A formal scientific researc h report is a piece of profes sional writing
addressed to other professionals w ho are interested in the investigation you
conducted. They will want to k now wh y you did the inve st igation , how you
did it, what you found out , and whether your findings were significant and
usefu l. Research reports usually follow a st andard five-part format: (I ) intro
duction, (2) methods, (3) results , (4) discussion of results, and (5) conclusions
and recommendations.
IntroductIOn. Here you ex plain briefl y the purpose of your in vestigation .
What problem did you address? Why did you address it? You will need to prov ide
enough background to en able the reader to understand the problem being
in vestigated. Sometimes the introduction also includes a "literature review" sum
marizing previous research addressing the same or a related problem. In many
scientific disciplines, it is also conv entional to present a hypothesis-a tentati ve
"answer" to the question that your in vestigation w ill confirm or di sconfirm.
Methods. This is a "cookboo k" section detailing hovv you did your invest i
gation. It pro v ides enough details so th at other researchers could replicate y our
investigation. Usually, this section i ncludes the fo llowing subsections: (a )
rese arch design , (b) apparatus and materials, and (c) procedures followed.
Results. This section, sometimes headed "Findings ," presents the empiri
cal results of your investigation. Often, your findings are displayed in figures ,
tables, graphs, or chart s that are referenced in the text. Ev en though the data
are displayed in v isua ls, the text it self should al so describe the most significant
data. (I magine that the figures are displ ayed on a v iew graph and that you are
ex p laining t hem ora lly , us ing a pointer. Your written te x t shou ld transcr ibe
what you would say orall y .) Your figures and tables must have sufficient infor
mation to stand alone, including accurate titles and clear labels for all meaning
carrying features.
Discussion of results. This is the main part of the report , the part that wi ll
be read with the most care by other professionals. Here y ou explain the signifi
cance of your findings by relating w hat you discov ered to the problem you set
out to investigate in your introduction . Did your investig ation accomplish your
purpose? Did it answer your question s? Did it confirm or disconfirm your
hypothe sis? Are your re sults useful ? Why or why not7 Did you discover informa
tion that you hadn't anticipated? Was your research des ign appropriate? Did
y our i nv estigation raise new questions ? Are there implic ations from your
results that need to be explored? The key to success in this section is to lin k
your findings to the questions and problems raised in the introduction.
Conclusions and recommendations. In this last section , you focus on the
main things y ou le arned from the investigation and, in some cases, on the prac
tical application s of your inv estigation. If your investigation was a pure research
proJect, this section can be a summary of your most important findings along
w ith recommendations for further research. If your Investigation was aimed at
making a pract ical dec iSion (for example , an engineering design decis ion), here
you recommend appropriate actions. What you say in this section depend s on
the context of your investig ation and the ex pectations of your readers .

Engaging Id eas

92

More Pe rs onal Fo rm s: Al te rn atives to the To p-Down,

Th esis -Governed Essay _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
The foregoing discussion has emphasized top-down, thesis-go v
erned wri.ting, which typifies most academic discourse in m os t dis
ciplines. in Chap ters Two and Three, I discussed the benefits of
as si gning top-down , thesis-gove rned writing while also raising
some theore tical and pedagogical obj ection s to it (see especia lly
pages 46-50).
For the kinds of reasons discussed in Chapter Three, a teacher
may be wary of thesis-governed writing, or weary of it, or simply
more attracted to m ore p ersonal forms of w riting that privilege the
subjective, creative, personal voice of the writer. One al ternative is a
strong emphasis on journals and o ther kind s of inform al, explorato
ry w riting (the subj ec t of Chapter Six). But there are also m any ways
to assign formal , fini shed-prod uct wri ting that is not the sis gov
erned : explora tory essays, reflection papers, p ersonal narratives,
myths, dialogues, letters, poems or short stories, magazine-style
articles for popular audiences, advertisements, satires, parodies, and
so forth. What foDo,I\'s are examples of alternative aSSignments.

Fo rmal Exp loratory Essays

An academically oriented alternative to thesis-based writing is an
exploratory essa y, which "ve might define as a thesis-seeking essay
rather than a thesis-supporting essay (s ee Zeige r, 1985; Spellmeyer,
1989) . The assignment typicaLly asks students to propose a p rob
lem and then to "vrite a narrative of their own thou aht processes in
trying to think through the problem. Here is a sample assignm ent
hand ou t, easily a daptable to any discipline.

=#-

Write a first-person, chronologically organized account of yo ur thinking process

as yo u expl o re possible solutions to a question or p roblem related to thi s
course. Begin by describing what the question is and ho w and why yo u became
interested It. Th en, as you co ntemplate the problem and do research, narrate
the evolVing proce ss of yo ur thinking. Your explorator y es say should inc lude
both external detai ls (what yo u read, ho w you found it, who you tal ked to) and
internal mental detai ls (w hat yo u were thinking about, ho w you r ideas we re
evolVing). Fo r thi s es say , it doesn't matter wh ether you rea ch a final position or
so lve the problem ; your reader is interested in y our proce ss, not you r final
product . Show us, for exam ple , yo ur frustration w hen a p ro mi sing so urce
turned out to be use les s. Sho w us how new idea s continua lly led yo u to refor
mulate you r problem through expansion, narrowing , shifting of foc us, or w hat
ever . Make y our ex plo rat o r y essay an interesting in t ellectua l detective
sto ry-som ethin g yo ur readers wi ll enJoy.

I often assign a Im'mal exploratory essay as an in termedia te

stage in a research project leading ultim ately to a thesis-governed

Formal Writing Assi gnments

93

term paper. To have content for the exploratory essa y, s tudents

need to rea d w idely, confronting the problem's complexity by
w res tling with disagreements among th e experts and so fo r th.
Because the subject matter of the exploratory essay is the student's
th inking process, the essay encourages and rewards critical thinking
while giving teachers wo nderful insights into the intellectual lives
(a nd study habits) of their students.
Another version of th e exploratory paper is Llsed by Berling
hoff (1989) in teaching mathematics. Berlinghoff asks each student
to w rite a paper focusing" on the process of solving a particular prob
lem" (p . 89, emphas is in original). He begins the course by teaching
students a numbe r of problem-solving tactics such as "check the
d efinitions," "res tate the problem," "d raw a diagram," "argue by
analogy," "solve , similar problem, " an d "reason backwa rd from
the desired conclusion." He then gives each student a challenging
mathematical problem to try to solve and asks the student to write
a paper about his or her process. "The student is asked to d escribe,"
Berlingh off explains, "how he or she used these problem-solving
tac tics to attack a particula r question. Thus, there is alw ays some
thing to write about, regardless of whether or not the student can
'solve' the problem. Even a dead end is worthwhile, provided the
path to it can be described. Moreover, by paying careful attention to
the problem-solving tactics (because the y p rovide a guaran te ed
source of material for their papers), students often succeed in doing
a lot m ore mathematics than they think they can " (p 90).

Refl ecti on Pape rs

A p opular assignment for m any teachers is a "reflecti on paper,"
sometimes called a "reader-response pa per" or a "personal reac
tion paper." Although this genre seems to vary considerably in its
meaning from teacher to teacher, in m ost cases it evokes w riting
tha t is more exploratory, tentative, and personal than the standard
top-down academic essay. Its essential nature is the exploration of
the connections between course material and a person's individu al
life or psyche . Refle ction papers are often assigned to elicit stu
dents ' responses to complex, difficult, or troubling readings and
invite the writer to "speak back" to the reading in a musing, ques
tioning, and probing way. Here is how one philosophy professor
assigns a reflection paper:
In a two- to three-page refle ction essay, consider the fo ll owing state ment by
Aristotle (Ethics II , 2) with respec t to yo ur own life:
We are not studying in o rder to kno w what excellence is , but to become
good, fo r otherw is e there wo uld be no profit in it. . . [We must therefore]
co nsid er the question of how we ought to act.

94

Engaging Ideas

Are you studying in order to become good) Explain what you think Aristotle is
getting at and then explore your own response.

(For further discussion of ways to encourage responses to

readings, see Chapter Eight, pages 143-146.)

A Pot pou rri of Oth er Kinds of Alternative

Formal Ass ignm ents
Many other variations remain. What follows, in no particular order,
is a potpourri of ten different kinds of alternative assignments.
1. A psycholog y professo r asks his students to write a poem
from the perspective of a schi zophrenic. The teacher claims that
students learn a great deal about schizophrenia in their attempt to
walk in a schizophrenic's shoes. The bes t poems are movillg and
memorable (G orman, Gorman, and Young, 1986) .
2 A religious studies professor asks s tudents to w rite a
dialogue.
Write a dialogue between a believer (in God) and an unbeliever, In which the
main issues that we have raised in class are debated. Each participant will be a
spokesperson for a whole range of ideas and arguments, whatever serves to
advance his or her basic position. As you write the dialogue, draw on the
strongest ideas and arguments for each side that we have seen in this course .
Wherever re levant, include your own responses or arguments. The point of this
dialogue is not to have a clea r victory for one side or the other; rather, the
point is to engage the issues in an active and critical manner.

(For further examples of dialogue aSSignments, see Chap ter Seven,

pages 129-130)
3. A literature teacher has students rewrite the ending to a
short story or to retell a story from the perspective of a different
narrator; a history teacher asks students to rewrite a historical nar
rative fr om a different point of view.
4. A social p sychologist requires students to interview some
one who has a job, lifestyle, or worldview very different from the
s tudent's and then to write a "profile" of the person interviewed.
The idea is for the s tudent to encounter an "other" \..vhose sphere of
experience differs extensively from the s tudent 's .
5. A women's studies p ro fessor asks students to create
myths or parables to express their personal understanding or
\'ision of the role of the feminine.
6. A mathematics p rofessor asks students to 'write their own
"math autobiography" in which they reflec t on their past math his
tory and experiences She reports getting vt'rv useful inSights into
the mathematical anxieties and learning problems of her students
(as well as the causes of many' of these problems).

j , ,,,V . - . .'. ,

Formal Wr iting Assignments

95

7. A h i:i tory of religions professor asks students to write

eS:iays from the perspective of different persons- an exercise in
decen tering, seeing the world from a different context.
Wr ite a b def letter back to Paul , as if you were a member of the Cori nthian com
munity, respondin g to his letter. You may choose any pOint of view you w lsh
argu ing back from t he point of view of a faction, repenting the error of your
ways , or any other option you can t hink of.

(For further examples of role-playing assignments, see Chapter

Seve n, pages 127-128,)
8. A history and sociology teacher (Bateman, 1990) asks stu
d ent to do an ethnographic paper on another culture. The trick is
to find a local subculture "where vievvs and language and beliefs
are just different enough to make their study fascinating" (p 120).
Bateman's solution? To have stud ents explore subcultures right in
their micist the subcultures of paper carriers, kindergartners, Win
nebago grandpas, root beer drive-in carbops, cbeerleaders, formal
wear distributors, and so on.
9. A mathematics teacher has students write their own story
problems relating mathemi:1tica l concepts to real-world concerns.
According to Rose (1989, p 19), "When students write their own
problems, they often choose situations from their own experience
and thus see how mathematics applies to their own lives, giving
them more confidence to read and olve word problems from the
textbook. In ad dition, writing word problems demands clear, spe
cific, <md complete instructions, \lvhich requires good understand
ing of the rna thematical concept underlying the problem This
activity a lso pro vides a break in the monotony of traditional math
em a tica I tasks"
10. A sociologist teaching an environment cou rse asks stu
dents to wri te personal narrah ve ess2lys about their encoun ters
w ith the natural world, taking as their models such nature writers
as Loren Eisely, Da v id Quammen, Annie Dillard , and Le wis
Thomas . In part, this course juxtaposes study of academic Il r Lic/es
about nature and personal essays about nature. Students talk about
what can and cannot be said in each genre

Con cl usion : Writing Ass ignments in the Context

of the Whole Course _ __ __ __ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Dev eloping high-quality writing assi gnments is one of the bes t

ways for professors to improve student writing across the curricu
lurn. A good writing ass ignment d eepens students' pngagement
with course ma terial, promotes critical thinking, and helps them

96

Engaging Ideas

learn the discipline's discourse-its characteristic methods of

inquiry analysis, and argumentation This chapter has considered
ways to design short assignments (micro themes) to promote the
learning of key course concepts and to prov ide a useful means of
formative assessment. It has also looked at three methods for
assigning top-down, thesis-governed prose: giving students a the
sis to defend, asking a question that demands a thesis answer, and
requiring a problem-thesis structure. Finally, it has surveyed a vari
ety of ways to assign alternatives to thesis-governed essays.
The next chapter focuses on informat nongraded writing
aimed at helping students genera te and explore ideas, deepen their
thinking, and make personal connections between their courses
and their lives.