Writing Guides

Learning and assessment 🍎

Ask yourself these two important questions whenever you are given assignment guidelines (Gillett et al. 2009, pg. 6):

• What is the assignment testing or measuring? These are the learning outcomes. 
• How will the assignment measure your learning? These are called the assessment criteria.

Look for learning outcomes and assessment criteria in key course documents like the syllabus, assignment guidelines, and grading rubrics. They will help you to understand what is being asked of you and why, as well as what success in the assignment looks like. 

Don't hesitate to speak with your instructor if this information remains unclear to you.

🏃‍♀️ Pay attention to verbs 

Assignment prompts tend to feature verbs, or action words, which tell you what you are supposed to do in the assignment. These verbs can also be clues to the learning objectives and assignment criteria. For example: "In this essay, compare the novels Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë and Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. Analyze the thematic commentary that Rhys is making on Brontë's novel." 

The following table, adapted from Gillett et al. (2009, pg. 7), features some common examples of assignment verbs. 

Genre awareness 🧠

An obvious question to ask yourself when you are given an academic assignment is, what kind of assignment is this? Despite this question being obvious, its implications can be significant. There is a big difference, for example, between writing an essayistic humanities paper and an IMRaD-style research article. Not until you have determined the genre of the assignment, or the type of text you are meant to write, will you be able to write it effectively.

📖 Reading is half the work 

If you've never encountered published or professional examples of your assignment genre before, seek one or two out and read them. (Your instructor can help with this if you're unsure where to start.) This might sound like extra work, but it will pay off in the long run. We first learn how to write by observing and implementing the strategies and techniques of other successful writers. Think about it this way: if you've never read a literary analysis of a Shakespeare play, how can you be expected to know what is typical of successful literary analyses of Shakespeare? Reading is half the work of writing. 

A guide to analyzing your assignment guidelines 🔍

This guide, adapted from Creme and Lea (2008, pg. 42-43), offers a step-by-step method for analyzing assignment guidelines. 

1. 📝 Write down in your own words what the assignment is asking you to do. 

• What are the learning outcomes?
• What are the assessment criteria? 
• What kind of assignment is it? I.e., what is the genre?

2. 📚 Ask yourself what you already know about the subject matter of the assignment. 

• Articulate what you already know in relationship to the question which you have been asked. 

3. 🧩 Ask yourself what you need to learn to complete the assignment successfully. 

• Identify gaps in your knowledge.
• Articulate any questions which have yet to be answered.
• Consider perspectives which may previously have gone unconsidered. 

4. ⚖️ Consider how the assignment is different from or similar to other assignments you've done. 

• Assessment genres can vary greatly across the disciplines and even from class to class within a discipline.
• Be aware of your current situation and how the genre you are being asked to write relates to that situation.
• Choose writing strategies that are specific to that genre. 

5. 💻 Contemplate how you will choose your reading and/or research material. 

• Maybe you only need to read a primary text (e.g., a poem or set of qualitative interview data).
• Or maybe you are also being required to do additional research into secondary materials.
• You may need to search for scholarly literature and write a literature review. 

Creme, P. and Lea, M. R. (2008.) Writing at university: A guide for students. Open UP, McGraw-Hill Education.

Gillett, A., Hammond, A., and Martala, M. (2009.) Successful academic writing. Pearson Education.