Major Assignments
WR 112 Discussion Leader Presentations
For this assignment, students in WR 112 work in teams to explore a short assigned course reading in greater depth and practice their oral presentation skills at the same time. Refer to the Faculty Guide to WR 112 if you are not sure how this assignment fits into the arc of the WR 112 semester. Objective […]
Assignment Sequence: WR 120
These assignments and assignment templates are meant to offer new Writing Program instructors an easily adaptable overview of the WR 120 assignment sequence. They refer to sources using the BEAM/BEAT framework, which we recommend but do not require you to introduce to your students in WR 120. Opportunities to specify your course material and alternative […]
Synthesis Paper in WR 112
In WR 112, students will write a formal, argument-driven synthesis essay bringing together three texts. Scaffold the assignment with a series of reading journals, summaries, claim-writing workshops, and other pre-writing assignments as you see fit, and walk students through a process of peer review for their essay. Students should be developing claims with a fair amount […]
Argument-Driven Paper in WR 111
At the end of WR 111, students need to write a formal, argument-driven academic essay on the longer work (novel or memoir) that has been assigned. (Consult the sidebar here for the current list of longer works used in WR 111.) For this assignment, students should be mainly focused on thematic analysis, rather than primarily […]
Rhetorical Analysis in WR 111
Though all sections of WR 111 ask students to write and revise a rhetorical analysis of a passage from a course text, instructors have their own preferred ways of introducing this assignment. You may decide whether you wish to refer to Aristotelian models or not; this page gives you two possible approaches to this assignment. […]
Summary, Paraphrase, and Outlines in WR 111
One of the important tasks of WR 111 is to teach students to craft strong, clear basic summaries of texts. Paraphrasing and outlining are of course related, though distinct, skills. The resources on this page may help instructors scaffold this assignment for students. For the first summary assignment in the course, spend additional time on […]
Cumulative Portfolios in the Writing Program
Since Fall 2023, all WR students create a portfolio in their first WR course and continue to add to it throughout subsequent WR courses. This cumulative portfolio assignment will create a shared experience for WR students, offering them a space to reflect on their growth and their developing identities as college writers and communicators over […]
Sample WR 120 Assignment: Op-ed
Use, or adapt, the following to structure an op-ed (or “guest essay”) assignment as an alternative genre assignment to an academic paper in WR 120 or another class. Objective To analyze one or more model op-eds; to argue effectively for a point or claim in the context of an op-ed, while providing evidence and considering […]
Sample WR 120 Assignment: Rewriting a Fairy Tale
For this non-academic genre assignment, you will research a traditional fairy tale and then write a version of that fairy tale. You will also write an analysis of how and why you wrote your version. In the creative portion, you will need to reimagine the fairy tale you have chosen. In the analytical portion, you […]
Sample WR 120/15x Assignment: Academic Paper on an Outside-of-Class Experience
Use this template to help design a paper assignment based on an outside-of-class experience. Expand the focus of the paper to include information literacy skills and library research for WR 15x courses. Sample paper assignments are provided at the end of the template. Objective To use observations, field notes, and/or reflections on outside-of-class experiences […]