• ...is an important factor/concept/idea/ to consider because...
• … will be argued/outlined in this paper.
Once you have finished writing your first draft it is recommended that you spend time revising your work. Proofreading and editing are two different stages of the revision process.
As can be seen in the figure above there are four main areas that you should review during the editing phase of the revision process. The main things to consider when editing include content, structure, style, and sources. It is important to check that all the content relates to the assignment task, the structure is appropriate for the purposes of the assignment, the writing is academic in style, and that sources have been adequately acknowledged. Use the checklist below when editing your work.
Editing checklist
There are also several key things to look out for during the proofreading phase of the revision process. In this stage it is important to check your work for word choice, grammar and spelling, punctuation and referencing errors. It can be easy to mis-type words like ‘from’ and ‘form’ or mix up words like ‘trail’ and ‘trial’ when writing about research, apply American rather than Australian spelling, include unnecessary commas or incorrectly format your references list. The checklist below is a useful guide that you can use when proofreading your work.
Proofreading checklist
This chapter has examined the experience of writing assignments. It began by focusing on how to read and break down an assignment question, then highlighted the key components of essays. Next, it examined some techniques for paraphrasing and summarising, and how to build an argument. It concluded with a discussion on planning and structuring your assignment and giving it that essential polish with editing and proof-reading. Combining these skills and practising them, can greatly improve your success with this very common form of assessment.
Academic Skills Centre. (2013). Writing an introduction and conclusion . University of Canberra, accessed 13 August, 2013, http://www.canberra.edu.au/studyskills/writing/conclusions
Balkis, M., & Duru, E. (2016). Procrastination, self-regulation failure, academic life satisfaction, and affective well-being: underregulation or misregulation form. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 31 (3), 439-459.
Custer, N. (2018). Test anxiety and academic procrastination among prelicensure nursing students. Nursing education perspectives, 39 (3), 162-163.
Yerdelen, S., McCaffrey, A., & Klassen, R. M. (2016). Longitudinal examination of procrastination and anxiety, and their relation to self-efficacy for self-regulated learning: Latent growth curve modeling. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 16 (1).
Writing Assignments Copyright © 2021 by Kate Derrington; Cristy Bartlett; and Sarah Irvine is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.
A well-designed assignment can focus and guide students’ work as they write papers and develop projects, and it can also make evaluating students’ work easier for faculty. As Rebecca Hacker argues in The Chronicle of Higher Education , creating an assignment sheet is a challenging writing task, one that requires faculty to think not only about what they want students to produce but also what students need to know in order to produce good work.
Purpose: The assignment should develop students’ understanding of the most important concepts, content, and methods of the course or give students an opportunity to demonstrate their understanding – or both.
Alignment: The scale, form, and task of an assignment should fit with course goals. While traditional essays and research papers can accomplish many things, they’re not the only way to foster or measure students’ understanding of course ideas or methods. Sometimes, informal assignments or alternative projects fit better (and they can be easier to incorporate into your course and your workload).
Context: All writing happens in context, and good assignments specify the context. That might mean saying a few words about how the assignment fits in the unfolding of a course, but it could also mean inviting students to imagine writing for an audience other than the professor or in a professional or civic situation.
Engaging: Good assignments engage students in the concepts and content of a course. In addition, students produce better work when they tackle challenging questions that matter and when they write in ways that build on but also stretch their skills. Good assignments should also be interesting for faculty. Writing Studies scholar Irv Peckham encourages faculty to avoid assigning papers that we don’t want to read.
This Assignment Design MadLib template will help you think about how an assignment can help students learn the key content of your course. Want more help? Check out this example for an informal reading response and another example for a multimedia project .
WHAT does the project involve?
WHY are students doing the project?:
HOW you will evaluate students’ work?:
Here are two examples that show how the MadLib translates into an assignment:
You can also download a Writing Assignment Template to follow as you write your own assignment sheet.
The goal of a course is for students to understand a set of ideas, concepts, materials, or methods, so assignments ought to focus on generating and demonstrating that understanding. If we begin course planning by articulating the end goal in concrete terms – what could students do if they understood the core ideas of the course? – then we can design assignments that emphasize those goals.
Students generally produce better work if they develop large projects over time, rather than doing all the work at the end of the semester. Scaffolding assignments by asking students to complete several parts of a project over the course of a semester will generate better papers at the end. While responding to incremental assignments takes time, doing a little more work in the middle of the semester can make grading final papers easier.
Digital and multimedia assignments – what Writing Studies experts call “multimodal assignments” – generate interesting and meaningful work, and they can be both engaging and challenging for students and more interesting for faculty to review. Yet they also pose some particular challenges, because they ask students to integrate words with images, sound, and video, and they often involve learning new digital production skills. Faculty also evaluate these projects differently. We’ve posted some ideas about how to approach these assignments under Assigning and Assessing Multimodal Projects .
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Academic writing is a formal style of writing used in universities and scholarly publications. You’ll encounter it in journal articles and books on academic topics, and you’ll be expected to write your essays , research papers , and dissertation in academic style.
Academic writing follows the same writing process as other types of texts, but it has specific conventions in terms of content, structure and style.
Academic writing is… | Academic writing is not… |
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Types of academic writing, academic writing is…, academic writing is not…, useful tools for academic writing, academic writing checklist.
Academics mostly write texts intended for publication, such as journal articles, reports, books, and chapters in edited collections. For students, the most common types of academic writing assignments are listed below.
Type of academic text | Definition |
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A fairly short, self-contained argument, often using sources from a class in response to a question provided by an instructor. | |
A more in-depth investigation based on independent research, often in response to a question chosen by the student. | |
The large final research project undertaken at the end of a degree, usually on a of the student’s choice. | |
An outline of a potential topic and plan for a future dissertation or research project. | |
A critical synthesis of existing research on a topic, usually written in order to inform the approach of a new piece of research. | |
A write-up of the aims, methods, results, and conclusions of a lab experiment. | |
A list of source references with a short description or evaluation of each source. |
Different fields of study have different priorities in terms of the writing they produce. For example, in scientific writing it’s crucial to clearly and accurately report methods and results; in the humanities, the focus is on constructing convincing arguments through the use of textual evidence. However, most academic writing shares certain key principles intended to help convey information as effectively as possible.
Whether your goal is to pass your degree, apply to graduate school , or build an academic career, effective writing is an essential skill.
Professional editors proofread and edit your paper by focusing on:
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Academic writing aims to convey information in an impartial way. The goal is to base arguments on the evidence under consideration, not the author’s preconceptions. All claims should be supported with relevant evidence, not just asserted.
To avoid bias, it’s important to represent the work of other researchers and the results of your own research fairly and accurately. This means clearly outlining your methodology and being honest about the limitations of your research.
The formal style used in academic writing ensures that research is presented consistently across different texts, so that studies can be objectively assessed and compared with other research.
Because of this, it’s important to strike the right tone with your language choices. Avoid informal language , including slang, contractions , clichés, and conversational phrases:
It’s important to use clear and precise language to ensure that your reader knows exactly what you mean. This means being as specific as possible and avoiding vague language :
Avoid hedging your claims with words like “perhaps,” as this can give the impression that you lack confidence in your arguments. Reflect on your word choice to ensure it accurately and directly conveys your meaning:
Specialist language or jargon is common and often necessary in academic writing, which generally targets an audience of other academics in related fields.
However, jargon should be used to make your writing more concise and accurate, not to make it more complicated. A specialist term should be used when:
The best way to familiarize yourself with the kind of jargon used in your field is to read papers by other researchers and pay attention to their language.
An academic text is not just a collection of ideas about a topic—it needs to have a clear purpose. Start with a relevant research question or thesis statement , and use it to develop a focused argument. Only include information that is relevant to your overall purpose.
A coherent structure is crucial to organize your ideas. Pay attention to structure at three levels: the structure of the whole text, paragraph structure, and sentence structure.
Overall structure | and a . . |
---|---|
Paragraph structure | when you move onto a new idea. at the start of each paragraph to indicate what it’s about, and make clear between paragraphs. |
Sentence structure | to express the connections between different ideas within and between sentences. to avoid . |
Academic writing uses sources to support its claims. Sources are other texts (or media objects like photographs or films) that the author analyzes or uses as evidence. Many of your sources will be written by other academics; academic writing is collaborative and builds on previous research.
It’s important to consider which sources are credible and appropriate to use in academic writing. For example, citing Wikipedia is typically discouraged. Don’t rely on websites for information; instead, use academic databases and your university library to find credible sources.
You must always cite your sources in academic writing. This means acknowledging whenever you quote or paraphrase someone else’s work by including a citation in the text and a reference list at the end.
In-text citation | Elsewhere, it has been argued that the method is “the best currently available” (Smith, 2019, p. 25). |
Reference list | Smith, J. (2019). (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Norton. |
There are many different citation styles with different rules. The most common styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago . Make sure to consistently follow whatever style your institution requires. If you don’t cite correctly, you may get in trouble for plagiarism . A good plagiarism checker can help you catch any issues before it’s too late.
You can easily create accurate citations in APA or MLA style using our Citation Generators.
APA Citation Generator MLA Citation Generator
As well as following the rules of grammar, punctuation, and citation, it’s important to consistently apply stylistic conventions regarding:
In some cases there are several acceptable approaches that you can choose between—the most important thing is to apply the same rules consistently and to carefully proofread your text before you submit. If you don’t feel confident in your own proofreading abilities, you can get help from Scribbr’s professional proofreading services or Grammar Checker .
Academic writing generally tries to avoid being too personal. Information about the author may come in at some points—for example in the acknowledgements or in a personal reflection—but for the most part the text should focus on the research itself.
Always avoid addressing the reader directly with the second-person pronoun “you.” Use the impersonal pronoun “one” or an alternate phrasing instead for generalizations:
The use of the first-person pronoun “I” used to be similarly discouraged in academic writing, but it is increasingly accepted in many fields. If you’re unsure whether to use the first person, pay attention to conventions in your field or ask your instructor.
When you refer to yourself, it should be for good reason. You can position yourself and describe what you did during the research, but avoid arbitrarily inserting your personal thoughts and feelings:
Many students think their writing isn’t academic unless it’s over-complicated and long-winded. This isn’t a good approach—instead, aim to be as concise and direct as possible.
If a term can be cut or replaced with a more straightforward one without affecting your meaning, it should be. Avoid redundant phrasings in your text, and try replacing phrasal verbs with their one-word equivalents where possible:
Repetition is a part of academic writing—for example, summarizing earlier information in the conclusion—but it’s important to avoid unnecessary repetition. Make sure that none of your sentences are repeating a point you’ve already made in different words.
An academic text is not the same thing as a literary, journalistic, or marketing text. Though you’re still trying to be persuasive, a lot of techniques from these styles are not appropriate in an academic context. Specifically, you should avoid appeals to emotion and inflated claims.
Though you may be writing about a topic that’s sensitive or important to you, the point of academic writing is to clearly communicate ideas, information, and arguments, not to inspire an emotional response. Avoid using emotive or subjective language :
Students are sometimes tempted to make the case for their topic with exaggerated , unsupported claims and flowery language. Stick to specific, grounded arguments that you can support with evidence, and don’t overstate your point:
There are a a lot of writing tools that will make your writing process faster and easier. We’ll highlight three of them below.
AI writing tools like ChatGPT and a paraphrasing tool can help you rewrite text so that your ideas are clearer, you don’t repeat yourself, and your writing has a consistent tone.
They can also help you write more clearly about sources without having to quote them directly. Be warned, though: it’s still crucial to give credit to all sources in the right way to prevent plagiarism .
Writing tools that scan your text for punctuation, spelling, and grammar mistakes. When it detects a mistake the grammar checke r will give instant feedback and suggest corrections. Helping you write clearly and avoid common mistakes .
You can use a summarizer if you want to condense text into its most important and useful ideas. With a summarizer tool, you can make it easier to understand complicated sources. You can also use the tool to make your research question clearer and summarize your main argument.
The academic proofreading tool has been trained on 1000s of academic texts. Making it the most accurate and reliable proofreading tool for students. Free citation check included.
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Use the checklist below to assess whether you have followed the rules of effective academic writing.
I avoid informal terms and contractions .
I avoid second-person pronouns (“you”).
I avoid emotive or exaggerated language.
I avoid redundant words and phrases.
I avoid unnecessary jargon and define terms where needed.
I present information as precisely and accurately as possible.
I use appropriate transitions to show the connections between my ideas.
My text is logically organized using paragraphs .
Each paragraph is focused on a single idea, expressed in a clear topic sentence .
Every part of the text relates to my central thesis or research question .
I support my claims with evidence.
I use the appropriate verb tenses in each section.
I consistently use either UK or US English .
I format numbers consistently.
I cite my sources using a consistent citation style .
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Writing assignments, learning objectives.
Figure 1 . All college classes require some form of writing. Investing some time in refining your writing skills so that you are a more confident, skilled, and efficient writer will pay dividends in the long run.
Writing assignments can be as varied as the instructors who assign them. Some assignments are explicit about what exactly you’ll need to do, in what order, and how it will be graded. Others are more open-ended, leaving you to determine the best path toward completing the project. Most fall somewhere in the middle, containing details about some aspects but leaving other assumptions unstated. It’s important to remember that your first resource for getting clarification about an assignment is your instructor—they will be very willing to talk out ideas with you, to be sure you’re prepared at each step to do well with the writing.
Writing in college is usually a response to class materials—an assigned reading, a discussion in class, an experiment in a lab. Generally speaking, these writing tasks can be divided into three broad categories: summary assignments, defined-topic assignments, and undefined-topic assignments.
Empire State College offers an Assignment Calculator to help you plan ahead for your writing assignment. Just plug in the date you plan to get started and the date it is due, and the calculator will help break it down into manageable chunks.
Being asked to summarize a source is a common task in many types of writing. It can also seem like a straightforward task: simply restate, in shorter form, what the source says. A lot of advanced skills are hidden in this seemingly simple assignment, however.
An effective summary does the following:
That last point is often the most challenging: we are opinionated creatures, by nature, and it can be very difficult to keep our opinions from creeping into a summary. A summary is meant to be completely neutral.
In college-level writing, assignments that are only summary are rare. That said, many types of writing tasks contain at least some element of summary, from a biology report that explains what happened during a chemical process, to an analysis essay that requires you to explain what several prominent positions about gun control are, as a component of comparing them against one another.
Start with a clear identification of the work.
This automatically lets your readers know your intentions and that you’re covering the work of another author.
Omit nothing important and strive for overall coherence through appropriate transitions. Write using “summarizing language.” Your reader needs to be reminded that this is not your own work. Use phrases like the article claims, the author suggests, etc.
This is not a statement of your own point of view, however; it should reflect the significance of the book or article from the author’s standpoint.
Figure 2 . Many writing assignments will have a specific prompt that sends you first to your textbook, and then to outside resources to gather information.
Often, the handout or other written text explaining the assignment—what professors call the assignment prompt —will explain the purpose of the assignment and the required parameters (length, number and type of sources, referencing style, etc.).
Also, don’t forget to check the rubric, if there is one, to understand how your writing will be assessed. After analyzing the prompt and the rubric, you should have a better sense of what kind of writing you are expected to produce.
Sometimes, though—especially when you are new to a field—you will encounter the baffling situation in which you comprehend every single sentence in the prompt but still have absolutely no idea how to approach the assignment! In a situation like that, consider the following tips:
Many writing tasks will ask you to address a particular topic or a narrow set of topic options. Defined-topic writing assignments are used primarily to identify your familiarity with the subject matter. (Discuss the use of dialect in Their Eyes Were Watching God , for example.)
Remember, even when you’re asked to “show how” or “illustrate,” you’re still being asked to make an argument. You must shape and focus your discussion or analysis so that it supports a claim that you discovered and formulated and that all of your discussion and explanation develops and supports.
Another writing assignment you’ll potentially encounter is one in which the topic may be only broadly identified (“water conservation” in an ecology course, for instance, or “the Dust Bowl” in a U.S. History course), or even completely open (“compose an argumentative research essay on a subject of your choice”).
Figure 3 . For open-ended assignments, it’s best to pick something that interests you personally.
Where defined-topic essays demonstrate your knowledge of the content , undefined-topic assignments are used to demonstrate your skills— your ability to perform academic research, to synthesize ideas, and to apply the various stages of the writing process.
The first hurdle with this type of task is to find a focus that interests you. Don’t just pick something you feel will be “easy to write about” or that you think you already know a lot about —those almost always turn out to be false assumptions. Instead, you’ll get the most value out of, and find it easier to work on, a topic that intrigues you personally or a topic about which you have a genuine curiosity.
The same getting-started ideas described for defined-topic assignments will help with these kinds of projects, too. You can also try talking with your instructor or a writing tutor (at your college’s writing center) to help brainstorm ideas and make sure you’re on track.
Writing is not a linear process, so writing your essay, researching, rewriting, and adjusting are all part of the process. Below are some tips to keep in mind as you approach and manage your assignment.
Figure 4 . Writing is a recursive process that begins with examining the topic and prewriting.
Write down topic ideas. If you have been assigned a particular topic or focus, it still might be possible to narrow it down or personalize it to your own interests.
If you have been given an open-ended essay assignment, the topic should be something that allows you to enjoy working with the writing process. Select a topic that you’ll want to think about, read about, and write about for several weeks, without getting bored.
Figure 5 . Just getting started is sometimes the most difficult part of writing. Freewriting and planning to write multiple drafts can help you dive in.
If you’re writing about a subject you’re not an expert on and want to make sure you are presenting the topic or information realistically, look up the information or seek out an expert to ask questions.
It doesn’t matter how many spelling errors or weak adjectives you have in it. Your draft can be very rough! Jot down those random uncategorized thoughts. Write down anything you think of that you want included in your writing and worry about organizing and polishing everything later.
Set a timer and write continuously until that time is up. Don’t worry about what you write, just keeping moving your pencil on the page or typing something (anything!) into the computer.
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This page contains four specific areas:
Checking the assignment, sequencing writing assignments, selecting an effective writing assignment format.
Research has shown that the more detailed a writing assignment is, the better the student papers are in response to that assignment. Instructors can often help students write more effective papers by giving students written instructions about that assignment. Explicit descriptions of assignments on the syllabus or on an “assignment sheet” tend to produce the best results. These instructions might make explicit the process or steps necessary to complete the assignment. Assignment sheets should detail:
Providing questions or needed data in the assignment helps students get started. For instance, some questions can suggest a mode of organization to the students. Other questions might suggest a procedure to follow. The questions posed should require that students assert a thesis.
The following areas should help you create effective writing assignments.
1. If possible, explain the relative weight in grading assigned to the quality of writing and the assignment’s content:
Here’s a checklist for writing assignments:
There are several benefits of sequencing writing assignments:
The concept of sequencing writing assignments also allows for a wide range of options in creating the assignment. It is often beneficial to have students submit the components suggested below to your course’s STELLAR web site.
Use the writing process itself. In its simplest form, “sequencing an assignment” can mean establishing some sort of “official” check of the prewriting and drafting steps in the writing process. This step guarantees that students will not write the whole paper in one sitting and also gives students more time to let their ideas develop. This check might be something as informal as having students work on their prewriting or draft for a few minutes at the end of class. Or it might be something more formal such as collecting the prewriting and giving a few suggestions and comments.
Have students submit drafts. You might ask students to submit a first draft in order to receive your quick responses to its content, or have them submit written questions about the content and scope of their projects after they have completed their first draft.
Establish small groups. Set up small writing groups of three-five students from the class. Allow them to meet for a few minutes in class or have them arrange a meeting outside of class to comment constructively on each other’s drafts. The students do not need to be writing on the same topic.
Require consultations. Have students consult with someone in the Writing and Communication Center about their prewriting and/or drafts. The Center has yellow forms that we can give to students to inform you that such a visit was made.
Explore a subject in increasingly complex ways. A series of reading and writing assignments may be linked by the same subject matter or topic. Students encounter new perspectives and competing ideas with each new reading, and thus must evaluate and balance various views and adopt a position that considers the various points of view.
Change modes of discourse. In this approach, students’ assignments move from less complex to more complex modes of discourse (e.g., from expressive to analytic to argumentative; or from lab report to position paper to research article).
Change audiences. In this approach, students create drafts for different audiences, moving from personal to public (e.g., from self-reflection to an audience of peers to an audience of specialists). Each change would require different tasks and more extensive knowledge.
Change perspective through time. In this approach, students might write a statement of their understanding of a subject or issue at the beginning of a course and then return at the end of the semester to write an analysis of that original stance in the light of the experiences and knowledge gained in the course.
Use a natural sequence. A different approach to sequencing is to create a series of assignments culminating in a final writing project. In scientific and technical writing, for example, students could write a proposal requesting approval of a particular topic. The next assignment might be a progress report (or a series of progress reports), and the final assignment could be the report or document itself. For humanities and social science courses, students might write a proposal requesting approval of a particular topic, then hand in an annotated bibliography, and then a draft, and then the final version of the paper.
Have students submit sections. A variation of the previous approach is to have students submit various sections of their final document throughout the semester (e.g., their bibliography, review of the literature, methods section).
In addition to the standard essay and report formats, several other formats exist that might give students a different slant on the course material or allow them to use slightly different writing skills. Here are some suggestions:
Journals. Journals have become a popular format in recent years for courses that require some writing. In-class journal entries can spark discussions and reveal gaps in students’ understanding of the material. Having students write an in-class entry summarizing the material covered that day can aid the learning process and also reveal concepts that require more elaboration. Out-of-class entries involve short summaries or analyses of texts, or are a testing ground for ideas for student papers and reports. Although journals may seem to add a huge burden for instructors to correct, in fact many instructors either spot-check journals (looking at a few particular key entries) or grade them based on the number of entries completed. Journals are usually not graded for their prose style. STELLAR forums work well for out-of-class entries.
Letters. Students can define and defend a position on an issue in a letter written to someone in authority. They can also explain a concept or a process to someone in need of that particular information. They can write a letter to a friend explaining their concerns about an upcoming paper assignment or explaining their ideas for an upcoming paper assignment. If you wish to add a creative element to the writing assignment, you might have students adopt the persona of an important person discussed in your course (e.g., an historical figure) and write a letter explaining his/her actions, process, or theory to an interested person (e.g., “pretend that you are John Wilkes Booth and write a letter to the Congress justifying your assassination of Abraham Lincoln,” or “pretend you are Henry VIII writing to Thomas More explaining your break from the Catholic Church”).
Editorials . Students can define and defend a position on a controversial issue in the format of an editorial for the campus or local newspaper or for a national journal.
Cases . Students might create a case study particular to the course’s subject matter.
Position Papers . Students can define and defend a position, perhaps as a preliminary step in the creation of a formal research paper or essay.
Imitation of a Text . Students can create a new document “in the style of” a particular writer (e.g., “Create a government document the way Woody Allen might write it” or “Write your own ‘Modest Proposal’ about a modern issue”).
Instruction Manuals . Students write a step-by-step explanation of a process.
Dialogues . Students create a dialogue between two major figures studied in which they not only reveal those people’s theories or thoughts but also explore areas of possible disagreement (e.g., “Write a dialogue between Claude Monet and Jackson Pollock about the nature and uses of art”).
Collaborative projects . Students work together to create such works as reports, questions, and critiques.
There are four kinds of analysis you need to do in order to fully understand an assignment: determining the purpose of the assignment , understanding how to answer an assignment’s questions , recognizing implied questions in the assignment , and recognizing the disciplinary expectations of the assignment .
Always make sure you fully understand an assignment before you start writing!
The wording of an assignment should suggest its purpose. Any of the following might be expected of you in a college writing assignment:
College writing assignments will ask you to answer a how or why question – questions that can’t be answered with just facts. For example, the question “ What are the names of the presidents of the US in the last twenty years?” needs only a list of facts to be answered. The question “ Who was the best president of the last twenty years and why?” requires you to take a position and support that position with evidence.
Sometimes, a list of prompts may appear with an assignment. Remember, your instructor will not expect you to answer all of the questions listed. They are simply offering you some ideas so that you can think of your own questions to ask.
A prompt may not include a clear ‘how’ or ‘why’ question, though one is always implied by the language of the prompt. For example:
“Discuss the effects of the No Child Left Behind Act on special education programs” is asking you to write how the act has affected special education programs. “Consider the recent rise of autism diagnoses” is asking you to write why the diagnoses of autism are on the rise.
Depending on the discipline in which you are writing, different features and formats of your writing may be expected. Always look closely at key terms and vocabulary in the writing assignment, and be sure to note what type of evidence and citations style your instructor expects.
About Writing: A Guide Copyright © 2015 by Robin Jeffrey is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.
Getting Started
Why include writing in my courses?
What is writing to learn?
WTL Activities
What is writing to engage?
What is writing in the disciplines?
WID Assignments
Useful Knowledge
What should I know about rhetorical situations?
What should I know about genre and design?
What should I know about second-language writing?
What teaching resources are available?
What should I know about WAC and graduate education?
Assigning Writing
How can I avoid getting lousy student writing?
What benefits might reflective writing have for my students?
Using Peer Review
Why consider collaborative writing assignments?
Do writing and peer review take up too much class time?
How can I get the most out of peer review?
Responding to Writing
How can I handle responding to student writing?
How can writing centers support writing in my courses?
What writing resources are available for my students?
Using Technology
How can computer technologies support writing in my classes?
Designing and Assessing WAC Programs
What is a WAC program?
What designs are typical for WAC programs?
How can WAC programs be assessed?
More on WAC
Where can I learn more about WAC?
Writing assignments are often used to support the goals of Writing in the Disciplines (WID), also called writing to communicate. Writing assignments of this sort are designed to introduce or give students practice with the writing conventions of a discipline and to help them game familiarity and fluency with specific genres and formats typical of a given discipline. For example, the engineering lab report includes much different information in a format quite different from the annual business report.
Because WID is used by a large number of WAC programs, this guide presents a great deal of information on WID, including a detailed rationale, examples, and logistical tips.
WID assignments are typically, but not exclusively, formal documents prepared over a few weeks or even months. The final documents adhere to format and style guidelines typical of the professional genres they help students learn about and practice. Teachers comment primarily on the substance of these assignments, but teachers also expect students to meet professional standards of layout and proofreading (format and mechanical correctness).
Without doubt, the single most important reason for assigning writing tasks in disciplinary courses is to introduce students to the thinking and writing of that discipline. Even though students read disciplinary texts and learn course material, until they practice the language of the discipline through writing, they are less likely to learn that language thoroughly. In addition, teachers cite other specific advantages of WID tasks, large and small. Such writing helps students to:
Teachers need to decide which goals are most important for them and for the students they typically teach. For instance, if you ordinarily teach a freshman-level survey course that introduces students to the field, giving students practice in the conventions of writing for that field is generally inappropriate. Rather, you would probably want to give students opportunities to write about the new, foundational concepts they're being introduced to so that you can be sure they are learning the fundamental ideas they will need to take other courses in your discipline.
Teachers thinking about assigning writing in their courses also need to consider just how much time they'll have to review or respond to student writing. Assigning a 20-page term paper in a course with 200 students is unrealistic because teachers seldom have time to read and respond to such lengthy student writing.
As teachers determine goals for writing and their time commitment, they discover an entire spectrum of writing they might assign in their classes. You will base your decisions on complex factors, but the simplified grid below can point you toward additional materials that might be most useful to you as you plan your writing component for each class.
Use this grid to suggest which kinds of writing might be most appropriate in your classes:
WTL | WTE | WID | |
---|---|---|---|
to help students learn foundational concepts to check students' understanding of material | to practice in critical thinking, reading and writing; to engage students in critical thinking | to practice writing conventions of the discipline; to gain familiarity with genres and design conventions | |
mostly freshmen and sophomores | all students | mostly senior majors | |
can be used in the largest classes | varies depending on goals | fewer than 35 | |
• writing-to-learn prompts | • • • | • real writing tasks for audiences students will in field • based on journals in the field • library or other |
Think of alternate forms/formats. Although the research essay is the most common kind of WID assignment, it's not the only format that students can use to learn about disciplinary writing conventions. If professionals in your field use any of these types of writing, consider using these formats to help students understand the thinking and writing of your discipline:
In addition to discipline-specific formats, other kinds of writing assignments can help students learn the language and ways of thinking of a discipline, even though they may not mimic its professional writing. Any of these writing activities can provide the basis for a longer, more formal assignment, or can be used only to promote class discussion and/or thinking about course material:
In a discipline-specific context, teachers using a reading journal ask students to write summaries, responses, and syntheses as appropriate for the field. "Readings" might include not only assigned textbook material, but also lectures and outside reading of professional or popular articles relevant to the course material. Teachers might want to assign specific questions to be answered in entries about each reading, or they might link readings in other ways.
When you introduce new terms in your lectures or when students see them in readings, ask students to jot the terms down in a notebook or electronic file. Periodically, students then return to the list of terms and fill in or revise working definitions of each term. (Some terms will be easy to define immediately after they are introduced in a course; other terms might take more familiarity with the complexity of a concept to define accurately.) Build in some incentive for keeping the jargon journal by pointing out that students can refer to the definitions as they prepare for—and perhaps write—exam responses.
In addition to analyzing articles for content, as students might do in the reading journal, teachers can also ask students to look specifically at professional articles for rhetorical issues:
Small-group or full-class discussion of these analyses will help students understand the critical approaches professionals in the field typically adopt as well as the writing conventions accepted by major journals in the field.
Bring in drafts of your own work or of someone else's professional work that you have permission to share with students. Show students:
Because the popular article is written to a general audience with little specialized knowledge, teachers often assign this writing task to be sure students understand material well enough to explain it in non-technical terms. If you're concerned about assigning a full-length article, you could assign this task as a group writing project, with different group members responsible for chunks of the final article. Or you might just assign the introduction and an outline for key ideas that would go into the remainder of the article.
One reason that students report feeling overwhelmed by WID tasks is that they aren't sure where to start and then how to proceed to produce a good project of the sort required by the assignment. You can help students—and get better final drafts to read—by setting up a sequence of tasks that build toward the final project.
Two approaches work well when designing a sequence:
You'll find more detailed advice about feedback in the sections under
A few points bear repeating here:
When professors are reluctant to assign research essays, they often claim that students cannot write clearly and logically, synthesizing sources and evaluating data to draw closely argued conclusions. Most often, these weaknesses are not the result simply of poor writing skills, but also of poorly defined criteria that students don't grasp. Fortunately, teachers can improve the research essay by clarifying goals for the assignment and keeping students' resources in mind.
Most university professors agree that research-based writing in college classes can and should meet these goals:
Students often view the research-based paper as an exercise in cutting and pasting rather than in carefully sifting and synthesizing key ideas that support their own thinking. So teachers get the best results from research-based assignments that they have revised after considering these questions:
If you've decided that a traditional research essay best meets your teaching goals, please consider three ideas that might make this assignment more useful for students:
Most students in upper-level courses (and even most freshmen) know how to find general sources. But many upper-division students may not yet be familiar with specific sources in your discipline. Make sure they know how to find these, and even consider arranging a session in the library to go over search techniques for databases in your field.
Students are remarkably reluctant to admit they have a hard time reading research-based texts. But if they don't know how to read professional articles in your field, they certainly won't know how to evaluate the data and conclusions in those articles. You can tackle this problem with some sequenced "mini"-writing tasks (like those described in the Combining WTL and WID section ).
The Ag Econ assignment is a good example of breaking down a larger writing task so that the teacher can see if students need help with key elements of the larger writing task. If students, for example, don't know how to frame an adequate research question, you can head off this problem if you give students a mini-task that asks for a research question long before students begin their source work.
Similarly, if your experience with this course in the past suggests that students often struggle to analyze or synthesize data, you might want to set up sequenced writing tasks that give them some practice—and feedback—on these key writing skills.
The literature now available on writing in the disciplines or writing to communicate is deep and broad, encompassing far more than a brief bibliographic essay can accurately capture. Let me offer instead two pieces of advice—consult the general resources noted here and look at the journals in your discipline that take up teaching issues. Those journals are most likely to include articles that situate writing to communicate activities in the courses you might find yourself teaching. The articles themselves will glean from the robust resources to point you toward those titles that will best fill in background you might find helpful.
We collect below titles from across disciplines to offer some potential starting points. We have organized the resources in a table to cluster articles by discipline. Please note, however, that disciplinary titles here point to writing in the disciplines rather than writing to learn (or writing to engage) titles that are included in the WTL section of this resource. All titles refer to the list of Works Cited that follows the tables.
General | Carter, Ferzli & Wiebe, 2007 Hocks, Lopez & Grabill, 2000 Kaufer & Young, 1993 Russell, 1991 Walvoord, 1992 Young & Fulwiler, 1986 |
Arts/Humanities | Bourelle, 2012 Ford, 2004 Ford & Newmark, 2011 Hotchkiss & Hougan, 2012 Lewis, 2004 Pollard, 2008 Russell, 2007 Shaver, 2011 Ward, 2009 |
Business | Addams, Woodbury, Allred & Addams, 2010 Brumberger, 2004 Fredrick, 2008 Jebb, 2005 Kreth, 2005 Nelson & MacLeod, 1993 Planken & Kreps, 2006 Powell, 2012 Russell, 2007 Shaver, 2007 Sin, Jones & Petocz, 2007 Vega, 2010 West, 2006 Williams, 2008 Williams & Reid, 2010 |
Education | Abbate-Vaughn, 2007 Elliot, Daily, Fredricks & Graham, 2008 Galer-Unti, 2002 Gallavan, Bowles & Young, 2007 Lavelle, 2006 Reynolds-Keefer, 2010 Street & Stang, 2008 Wheeler & Wheeler, 2009 |
STEM | Bahls, 2012 Bank, 2006 Becker, 1995 Beiersdorfer, 1991 Beins, 1993 Bressette & Breton, 2001 Buddington, 2006 Buzzi, Grimes & Roll, 2012 Carlson & Berry, 2008 Carroll & Seeman, 2001 Carson, 1991 Cass & Fernandes, 2008 Chiang, et al., 2012 Colabroy, 2011 Collins, 2010 Conrad, 1991 Craig, Lerner &Poe, 2008 Crisp & Jensen, 2007 Cunningham, 2007 Davis, 1991 Deese, Ramsey, Walczyk & Eddy, 2000 DeWolf, 2002 Doty, 2012 Elberty & Romey, 1991 Falk & Yarden, 2011 Fencl, 2010 Froese, Gantz & Henry, 1998 Goodman, 2005 Guilford, 2001 Halsor & Faul-Halsor, 1991 Harding, 2005 Hosten, Talanova & Lipkowitz, 2011 Howell, 2007 Irish, 1999 Jalali, Hanlan & Canal, 2009 Kasman, 2006 Killingbeck, 2006 Klein & Aller, 1998 Kokkala & Gessell, 2003 Kroen, 2004 Libarkin, 2012 Lillig, 2008 Linsdell & Anagnos, 2011 Lord, 2009 Luthy, Petertson, Lassitter & Callister, 2009 Macdonald, 1991 Martin, 2010 McDermott & Kuhn, 2011 McGovern & Hogshead, 1990 McMillan & Raines, 2010 Meyer & Munson, 2005 Mirsky, 1991 Mizrahi, 2003 Moni, Hryciw, Poronnik & Moni, 2007 Motavalli, Patton & Miles, 2007 Mulnix, 2003 Niemitz & Potter, 1991 Paretti & McNair, 2008 Patterson, 1997 Patton, 2008 Polizzotto & Ortiz, 2008 Prothero & Kelly, 2008 Roberts-Kirchoff & Caspars, 2001 Robinson, Stoller, Horn & Grabe, 2009 Santi, 2000 Sivey & Lee, 2008 Smosna & Bruner, 2007 Snow, 1991 Sulewski, 2003 Tilstra, 2001 Tomaska, 2007 Turner & Broemmel, 2006 Vest, Long & Anderson, 1996 Vest, Long, Thomas & Palmquist, 1995 Wald, Davis, Reis, Monroe & Borken, 2009 Wallner & Latosi-Sawin, 1999 Wheeler & McDonald, 2000 Whelan & Zare, 2003 White, 2007 Zimmerman & Palmquist, 1993 Zimmerman, Palmquist, Kiefer, Long, Vest, Tipton & Thomas, 1993 Zimmerman, Palmquist, Vest, Boiarsky, Long, Tajchman, Anderson, Criswell & Crim, 1995 Zlatic, Nowak & Sylvester, 2000 |
Social Sciences | Allwardt, 2011 Carlson, Chizmar, Seeborg & Walbert, 1998 Dickovick, 2009 Goma, 2001 Kahn & Holody, 2012 Kebede, 2009 Pennock, 2011 Pressman, 2008 Ruswick, 2011 Santos & Lavin, 2004 Trepagnier, 2004 |
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Lyle Cleeland and Lisa Moody
Assignments are a common method of assessment at university and require careful planning and good quality research. Developing critical thinking and writing skills are also necessary to demonstrate your ability to understand and apply information about your topic. It is not uncommon to be unsure about the processes of writing assignments at university.
This chapter has a collection of resources that will provide you with the skills and strategies to understand assignment requirements and effectively plan, research, write, and edit your assignments.
It is important that you spend sufficient time understanding all the requirements before you begin researching and writing your assignments.
The assessment task description (located in your subject outline) provides key information about an assessment item, including the question. It is essential to scan this document for topic, task, and limiting words. If there are any elements you do not understand, you should clarify these as early as possible.
Topic words | These are words and concepts you have to research. |
Task words | These will tell you how to approach the assignment and structure the information you find in your research (e.g. discuss, analyse). |
Limiting words | These words define the scope or parameters of the assignment, e.g., Australian perspectives, a particular jurisdiction (this would be relevant then to which laws, codes or standards you consulted) or a timeframe. |
Make sure you have a clear understanding of what the task word requires you to address.
Task word | Definition | Example |
---|---|---|
Give reasons for or explain something has occurred. This task directs you to consider contributing factors to a certain situation or event. You are expected to make a decision about why these occurred, not just describe the events. | the factors that led to the global financial crisis. | |
Consider the different elements of a concept, statement or situation. Show the different components and show how they connect or relate. Your structure and argument should be logical and methodical. | the political, social and economic impacts of climate change. | |
Make a judgement on a topic or idea. Consider its reliability, truth and usefulness. In your judgement, consider both the strengths and weaknesses of the opposing arguments to determine your topic’s worth (similar to evaluate). | the efficacy of cogitative behavioural therapy (CBT) for the treatment of depression. | |
Divide your topic into categories or sub-topics logically (could possibly be part of a more complex task). | the artists studied this semester according to the artistic periods they best represent. Then choose one artist and evaluate their impact on future artists. | |
State your opinion on an issue or idea. You may explain the issue or idea in more detail. Be objective and support your opinion with reliable evidence. | the government’s proposal to legalise safe injecting rooms. | |
Show the similarities and differences between two or more ideas, theories, systems, arguments, or events. You are expected to provide a balanced response, highlighting similarities and differences. | the efficiency of wind and solar power generation for a construction site. | |
Point out only the differences between two or more ideas, theories, systems, arguments, or events. | virtue ethics and utilitarianism as models for ethical decision making. | |
(this is often used with another task word, e.g. critically evaluate, critically analyse, critically discuss) | It does not mean to criticise; instead, you are required to give a balanced account, highlighting strengths and weaknesses about the topic. Your overall judgment must be supported by reliable evidence and your interpretation of that evidence. | analyse the impacts of mental health on recidivism within youth justice. |
Provide a precise meaning of a concept. You may need to include the limits or scope of the concept within a given context. | digital disruption as it relates to productivity. | |
Provide a thorough description, emphasising the most important points. Use words to show appearance, function, process, events or systems. You are not required to make judgements. | the pathophysiology of Asthma. | |
Highlight the differences between two (possibly confusing) items. | between exothermic and endothermic reactions. | |
Provide an analysis of a topic. Use evidence to support your argument. Be logical and include different perspectives on the topic (This requires more than a description). | how Brofenbrenner’s ecological system’s theory applies to adolescence. | |
Review both positive and negative aspects of a topic. You may need to provide an overall judgement regarding the value or usefulness of the topic. Evidence (referencing) must be included to support your writing. | the impact of inclusive early childhood education programs on subsequent high school completion rates for First Nations students. | |
Describe and clarify the situation or topic. Depending on your discipline area and topic, this may include processes, pathways, cause and effect, impact, or outcomes. | the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the film industry in Australia. | |
Clarify a point or argument with examples and evidence. | how society’s attitudes to disability have changed from a medical model to a wholistic model of disability. | |
Give evidence which supports an argument or idea; show why a decision or conclusions were made. Justify may be used with other topic words, such as outline, argue. | Write a report outlining the key issues and implications of a welfare cashless debit card trial and make three recommendations for future improvements. your decision-making process for the recommendations. | |
A comprehensive description of the situation or topic which provides a critical analysis of the key issues. | Provide a of Australia’s asylum policies since the Pacific Solution in 2001. | |
An overview or brief description of a topic. (This is likely to be part of a larger assessment task.) | the process for calculating the correct load for a plane. |
The marking criteria or rubric , is an important document to look at before you begin your assignment. This outlines how your assignment will be marked and should be used as a checklist to make sure you have included all the information required.
The assessment task description will also include the:
For a more detailed discussion on task analysis, criteria sheets, and marking rubrics, visit the chapter Managing Assessments .
Brainstorm or concept map: List possible ideas to address each part of the assignment task based on what you already know about the topic from lectures and weekly readings.
Finding appropriate information: Learn how to find scholarly information for your assignments which is:
See the chapter Working With Information for a more detailed explanation .
Academic writing tone and style.
Many of the assessment items you prepare will require an academic writing style. Sometimes this feels awkward when you begin. However, it is good to know that practice at academic writing reduces this feeling.
Academic writing | Non-academic writing |
Is clear, concise and well-structured. | Is verbose and may use more words than are needed. |
Is formal. It writes numbers under ten in full. | Writes numbers under ten as numerals and uses symbols such as “&” instead of writing it in full. |
Is reasoned and supported (logically developed). | Uses humour – puns, sarcasm. |
Is authoritative (writes in third person- “Evidence suggests that…”). | Writes in first person “I think”, “I found”. |
Utilises the language of the field/industry/subject. | Uses colloquial language e.g., “mate”. |
One of the most important steps in writing an essay is constructing your working thesis statement. A thesis statement tells the reader the purpose, argument, or direction you will take to answer your assignment question. It is found in the introduction paragraph. The thesis statement:
A key element of your thesis statement should be included in the topic sentence of each paragraph.
When planning and drafting assignments, it is important to consider the structure of your writing. Academic writing should have a clear and logical structure and incorporate academic research to support your ideas. It can be hard to get started and at first you may feel nervous about the size of the task. This is normal. If you break your assignment into smaller pieces, it will seem more manageable as you can approach the task in sections. Refer to your brainstorm or plan. These ideas should guide your research and will also inform what you write in your draft. It is sometimes easier to draft your assignment using the 2-3-1 approach, that is, write the body paragraphs first followed by the conclusion and finally the introduction.
No one’s writing is the best quality on the first few drafts, not even professional writers. It is strongly advised that you accept that your first few drafts will feel rough. Ultimately, it is the editing and review processes which lead to good quality ideas and writing.
Clear and purposeful introductions and conclusions in assignments are fundamental to effective academic writing. Your introduction should tell the reader what is going to be covered and how you intend to approach this. Your conclusion should summarise your argument or discussion and signal to the reader that you have come to a conclusion with a final statement.
An effective introduction needs to inform your reader by establishing what the paper is about and provide four basic elements:
The below example demonstrates the different elements of an introductory paragraph.
1) Information technology is having significant effects on the communication of individuals and organisations in different professions. 2) Digital technology is now widely utilised in health settings, by health professionals. Within the public health field, doctors and nurses need to engage with ongoing professional development relating to digital technology in order to ensure efficient delivery of services to patients and communities. 3) Clearly, information technology has significant potential to improve health care and medical education, but some health professionals are reluctant to use it.
1 Brief background/overview | 2 Scope of what will be covered | 3 The thesis statement
You should aim to end your assignments with a strong conclusion. Your conclusion should restate your thesis statement and summarise the key points you have used to prove this thesis. Finish with a key point as a final impactful statement. If your assessment task asks you to make recommendations, you may need to allocate more words to the conclusion or add a separate recommendations section before the conclusion. Use the checklist below to check your conclusion is doing the right job.
Conclusion checklist
This below example demonstrates the different elements of a concluding paragraph.
1) Clearly, communication of individuals and organisations is substantially influenced or affected by information technology across professions. 2) Managers must ensure that effective in-house training programs are provided for public health professionals, so that they become more familiar with the particular digital technologies 3) In addition, the patients and communities being served by public health professionals benefit when communication technologies are effectively implemented. 4) The Australian health system may never be completely free of communication problems, however, ensuring appropriate and timely professional development, provision of resource sand infrastructure will enhance service provision and health outcomes.
1 Reference to thesis statement – In this essay the writer has taken the position that training is required for both employees and employers . | 2-3 Structure overview – Here the writer pulls together the main ideas in the essay. | 4 Final summary statement that is based on the evidence.
Note: The examples in this document are adapted from the University of Canberra and used under a CC-BY-SA-3.0 licence.
Each paragraph should have its own clearly identified Topic Sentence or main idea which relates to the argument or point (thesis) you are developing. This idea should then be explained by additional sentences which you have paraphrased from good quality sources and referenced according to the recommended guidelines of your subject (see the chapter Working with Information ). Paragraphs are characterised by moving from general information to the specific details. A common structure for paragraphs in academic writing is as follows.
The first sentence of the paragraph is the Topic Sentence. This is the main idea of the paragraph and tells the reader what you will discuss in more detail below. Each Topic Sentence should address one aspect of your overall argument.
Supporting Sentences provide more explanation, evidence, data, analogies, and/or analysis of the main idea.
Some paragraphs are best linked to the following paragraph through a Linking/Concluding Sentence. Not every paragraph lends itself to this type of sentence.
Use the checklist below to check your paragraphs are clear and well formed.
Paragraph checklist
Make sure all the sentences in your paragraphs make sense. Each sentence must contain a verb to be a complete sentence. Avoid incomplete sentences or ideas that are unfinished and create confusion for your reader. Also avoid overly long sentences, which happens when you join two ideas or clauses without using the appropriate punctuation. Address only one key idea per sentence. See the chapter English Language Foundations for examples and further explanation.
Use transitions (linking words and phrases) to connect your ideas between paragraphs and make your writing flow. The order that you structure the ideas in your assignment should reflect the structure you have outlined in your introduction. Refer to the transition words table in the chapter English Language Foundations .
What is paraphrasing.
Paraphrasing is changing the writing of another author into your words while retaining the original meaning. You must acknowledge the original author as the source of the information in your citation. Follow the steps in this table to help you build your skills in paraphrasing. Note: paraphrasing generally means that the rewritten section is the same or a similar length to the original.
1 | Make sure you understand what you are reading. Look up keywords to understand their meanings. |
2 | Record the details of the source so you will be able to cite it correctly in text and in your reference list. |
3 | Identify words that you can change to synonyms (but do not change the key/topic words). |
4 | Change the type of word in a sentence (for example change a noun to a verb or vice versa). |
5 | Eliminate unnecessary words or phrases from the original that you don’t need in your paraphrase. |
6 | Change the sentence structure (for example, change a long sentence to several shorter ones or combine shorter sentences to form a longer sentence). |
Please note that these examples and in-text citations are for instructional purposes only.
Original text
Health care professionals assist people, often when they are at their most vulnerable . To provide the best care and understand their needs, workers must demonstrate good communication skills . They must develop patient trust and provide empathy to effectively work with patients who are experiencing a variety of situations including those who may be suffering from trauma or violence, physical or mental illness or substance abuse (French & Saunders, 2018).
Poor quality paraphrase example
This is a poor example of paraphrasing. Some synonyms have been used and the order of a few words changed within the sentences. However, the colours of the sentences indicate that the paragraph follows the same structure as the original text.
Health care sector workers are often responsible for vulnerable patients. To understand patients and deliver good service , they need to be excellent communicators . They must establish patient rapport and show empathy if they are to successfully care for patients from a variety of backgrounds and with different medical, psychological and social needs (French & Saunders, 2018).
A good quality paraphrase example
This example demonstrates a better quality paraphrase. The author has demonstrated more understanding of the overall concept in the text by using the keywords as the basis to reconstruct the paragraph.
Empathetic communication is a vital skill for health care workers. Professionals in these fields are often responsible for patients with complex medical, psychological and social needs. Empathetic communication assists in building rapport and gaining the necessary trust to assist these vulnerable patients by providing appropriate supportive care (French & Saunders, 2018).
The good quality paraphrase example demonstrates understanding of the overall concept in the text by using key words as the basis to reconstruct the paragraph. Note how the blocks of colour have been broken up to see how much the structure has changed from the original text.
Synthesising means to bring together more than one source of information to strengthen your argument. Once you have learnt how to paraphrase the ideas of one source at a time, you can consider adding additional sources to support your argument. Synthesis demonstrates your understanding and ability to show connections between multiple pieces of evidence to support your ideas and is a more advanced academic thinking and writing skill.
Follow the steps in this table to improve your synthesis techniques.
1 | Check your referencing guide to learn how to correctly reference more than one author at a time in your paper. |
2 | While taking notes for your research, try organising your notes into themes. This way you can keep similar ideas from different authors together. |
3 | Identify similar language and tone used by authors so that you can group similar ideas together. |
4 | Synthesis can not only be about grouping ideas together that are similar, but also those that are different. See how you can contrast authors in your writing to also strengthen your argument. |
Example of synthesis
There is a relationship between academic procrastination and mental health outcomes. Procrastination has been found to have a negative effect on students’ well-being (Balkis, & Duru, 2016). Yerdelen et al.’s (2016) research results suggest that there is a positive association between procrastination and anxiety. This is corroborated by Custer’s (2018) findings which indicate that students with higher levels of procrastination also report greater levels of anxiety. Therefore, it could be argued that procrastination is an ineffective learning strategy that leads to increased levels of distress.
Topic sentence | Statements using paraphrased evidence | Critical thinking (student voice) | Concluding statement – linking to topic sentence
This example demonstrates a simple synthesis. The author has developed a paragraph with one central theme and included explanatory sentences complete with in-text citations from multiple sources. Note how the blocks of colour have been used to illustrate the paragraph structure and synthesis (i.e. statements using paraphrased evidence from several sources). A more complex synthesis may include more than one citation per sentence.
Paraphrasing and synthesising are powerful tools that you can use to support the main idea of a paragraph. It is likely that you will regularly use these skills at university to incorporate evidence into explanatory sentences and strengthen your essay. It is important to paraphrase and synthesise because:
What does this mean.
In academic writing, if you are asked to create an argument, this means you are asked to have a position on a particular topic, and then justify your position using evidence from valid scholarly sources.
In order to create a good and effective argument, you need to be able to:
For tips on how to read and write critically, refer to the chapter Thinking for more information. A formula for developing a strong argument is presented below.
As can be seen from the figure above, including evidence is a key element of a good argument. While this may seem like a straightforward task, it can be difficult to think of wording to express your argument. The table below provides examples of how you can illustrate your argument in academic writing.
Introducing your argument | • This paper will argue/claim that… • …is an important factor/concept/idea/ to consider because… • … will be argued/outlined in this paper. |
Introducing evidence for your argument | • Smith (2014) outlines that…. • This evidence demonstrates that… • According to Smith (2014)… • For example, evidence/research provided by Smith (2014) indicates that… |
Giving the reason why your point/evidence is important | • Therefore this indicates… • This evidence clearly demonstrates…. • This is important/significant because… • This data highlights… |
Concluding a point | • Overall, it is clear that… • Therefore, … are reasons which should be considered because… • Consequently, this leads to…. • The research presented therefore indicates… |
Once you have finished writing your first draft it is recommended that you spend time revising your work. Proofreading and editing are two different stages of the revision process.
As can be seen in the figure above, there are four main areas that you should review during the editing phase of the revision process. The main things to consider when editing include content, structure, style, and sources. It is important to check that all the content relates to the assignment task, the structure is appropriate for the purposes of the assignment, the writing is academic in style, and that sources have been adequately acknowledged. Use the checklist below when editing your work.
Editing checklist
During proofreading, it is important to check your work for word choice, grammar and spelling, punctuation, and referencing errors. It can be easy to mis-type words like ‘from’ and ‘form’ or mix up words like ‘trail’ and ‘trial’ when writing about research, apply American rather than Australian spelling, include unnecessary commas, or incorrectly format your references list. The checklist below is a useful guide that you can use when proofreading your work.
Proofreading checklist
This chapter has examined the experience of writing assignments. It began by focusing on how to read and break down an assignment question, then highlighted the key components of essays. Next, it examined some techniques for paraphrasing and summarising, and how to build an argument. It concluded with a discussion on planning and structuring your assignment and giving it that essential polish with editing and proofreading. Combining these skills and practising them can greatly improve your success with this very common form of assessment.
Balkis, M., & Duru, E. (2016). Procrastination, self-regulation failure, academic life satisfaction, and affective well-being: underregulation or misregulation form. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 31 (3), 439-459.
Custer, N. (2018). Test anxiety and academic procrastination among prelicensure nursing students. Nursing Education Perspectives, 39 (3), 162-163.
Yerdelen, S., McCaffrey, A., & Klassen, R. M. (2016). Longitudinal examination of procrastination and anxiety, and their relation to self-efficacy for self-regulated learning: Latent growth curve modeling. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 16 (1), 5-22.
Writing Assignments Copyright © 2023 by Lyle Cleeland and Lisa Moody is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.
Interpret your assignment.
Planning how you approach your writing will make sure that you understand the task, can manage your time, and present a researched, structured and focused assignment.
Before you start writing, you need to understand what type of writing you are required to produce. For example, you might be asked to produce a report, an essay, an annotated bibliography or a literature review. This will shape how you will prepare, research and write your assignment. Take time to understand the conventions of each type of assignment and what is expected of you.
Instructional verbs in the assignment task will indicate how to plan your approach. Choose the instructional words that you have been given below to reveal what they mean.
Examine an issue in close detail and break it into its constituent parts. Look in depth at each part, consider the evidence, and show you understand the relationship between them.
Decide on the importance or usefulness of something and give reasons and evidence for your decision.
Identify similarities and differences between two or more things, problems or arguments. Draw a conclusion about which (if either) you think is preferable or more convincing.
Outline the meaning of a word, concept or theory as it is used in your discipline. In some cases it may be necessary or desirable to examine different possible, or often used, definitions.
Present factual information about something, using appropriate evidence to support your description.
Examine the arguments and the evidence to support them. Consider different sides of the issue and weigh up the implications of each argument.
Make an appraisal of the worth of something, an argument or a set of beliefs, in the light of its validity or value. This does involve making your own judgements, but they must be supported by an evidenced argument and justification.
Explain or clarify something using evidence, diagrams, figures, or case studies.
Provide adequate reasons for a decision or a conclusion by supporting it with sufficient evidence and argument; answer the main objections that are likely to be made to it.
Summarise the main features or the general principles of a subject, topic or theory.
Provide a thorough examination of a topic. You may be asked to draw your own conclusions.
Explore and present the argument(s) for a particular topic and state the degree to which you agree with them.
Sample accordion 1
Adapted from: Greetham, B. 2018. How to write better essays . 4th ed. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Look at the assignment task to identify whether there is a specific aspect of the topic that you are being asked to focus on. For example:
If the assignment task does not include information about the scope or limitations of the topic, you should choose these yourself. Think about what key issues have been covered in your module and whether you could use any of these to produce a focused answer to the question.
If something in the assignment brief is unclear, check with your module leader as soon as possible before starting to plan your answer.
Watch this short video on how to plan and get started with your assignment.
The next step before writing is to clearly define the purpose of the writing and the audience.
Most formal academic writing at university is set by, and written for, an academic tutor or assessor. There should be clear criteria against which they will mark your work. Your tutor may ask you to write for different audiences such as a lay audience or your peers, so make sure you know who your intended audience is before you start writing.
Once you have a clear idea of what is required for your assignment, you can start to plan what you are going to write.
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Instruction or command words indicate what your tutor wants you to do in your written assignment. It's vital that you understand exactly what these instruction words mean so you can answer all parts of the essay question and provide a complete response.
Here's a list of some of the most common instruction/command words you'll see in essay questions (and examination questions as well), together with an explanation of what they mean.
Describe: Give a detailed account of…
Outline: Give the main features/general principles; don't include minor details.
Explain, account for, interpret: Describe the facts but also give causes and reasons for them. Depending on the context, these words may also suggest that you need to make the possible implications clear as well. For example: 'Explain X and its importance for Y'.
Comment on, criticise, evaluate, critically evaluate, assess: Judge the value of something. But first, analyse, describe and explain. Then go through the arguments for and against, laying out the arguments neutrally until the section where you make your judgement clear. Judgements should be backed by reasons and evidence.
Discuss, consider: The least specific of the instruction words. Decide, first of all, what the main issues are. Then follow the same procedures for Comment on, Criticise, Evaluate, Critically Evaluate and Assess.
Analyse: Break down into component parts. Examine critically or closely.
How far, how true, to what extent: These suggest there are various views on and various aspects to the subject. Outline some of them, evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, explore alternatives and then give your judgement.
Justify: Explain, with evidence, why something is the case, answering the main objections to your view as you go along.
Refute: Give evidence to prove why something is not the case.
Compare, contrast, distinguish, differentiate, relate: All require that you discuss how things are related to each other. Compare suggests you concentrate on similarities, which may lead to a stated preference, the justification of which should be made clear. These words suggest that two situations or ideas can be compared in a number of different ways, or from a variety of viewpoints. Contrast suggests you concentrate on differences.
Define: Write down the precise meaning of a word or phrase. Sometimes several co-existing definitions may be used and, possibly, evaluated.
Illustrate: Make clear and explicit; usually requires the use of carefully chosen examples.
State: Give a concise, clear explanation or account of…
Summarise: Give a concise, clear explanation or account of… presenting the main factors and excluding minor detail or examples (see also Outline).
Trace: Outline or follow the development of something from its initiation or point of origin.
Devise: Think up, work out a plan, solve a problem etc.
Apply (to): Put something to use, show how something can be used in a particular situation.
Identify: Put a name to, list something.
Indicate: Point out. This does not usually involve giving too much detail.
List: Make a list of a number of things. This usually involves simply remembering or finding out a number of things and putting them down one after the other.
Plan: Think about how something is to be done, made, organised, etc.
Report on: Describe what you have seen or done.
Review: Write a report on something.
Specify: Give the details of something.
Work out: Find a solution to a problem.
Adapted from: Coles, M. (1995), A Student’s Guide to Coursework Writing, University of Stirling, Stirling
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So wonderful can anyone get the information
Thanks Josphat!
This is a life saver, do you have a youtube channel where you talk about all this stuff? If so I would love to know about it 🙂 Rachelle
Thanks for your comment. We don't have a YouTube channel but stay tuned for more posts. You will also find additional self-directed learning resources in MySkills .
Quite helpful. I would definitely check this before my next essay.
Thank you, Dan.
Very helpful now I understand how construct my assignments and how to answer exam questions
I have understood it clearly;)
it is very useful for us to understand many instruction word and what we need to write down
There are some define of some words,and I find that there do have many common things for some words,but not all the same.Such as compare, contrast, distinguish, differentiate, relate,they all need people to compare but foucs on different ways.
Very helpful. Listed most of the words that might be misunderstood by foreign students. Now I know why my score of writing IELTS test is always 6, I even didn't get the point of what I was supposed to write!
I have already read all of this. And it gave me a brief instruction.
There are varied instruction words in essay questions. It's a good chance for me to have a overview of these main command words because I could response to requirements of questions precisely and without the risk of wandering off the topic.
When i encounter with an essay title with these instruction words above,I should understand exactly what these words mean so that i could know what my tutor would like me to do in the assignments.Also,these words may help me make an outline and read academic articles with percific purposes.
These words are accurate and appropriate. It is really helpful for me to response some assignment questions and I can know the orientation of my answers . I can also use these words to make an outline of my essay. However, in my view, for some instruction words which are confusing and hard to understand, it is better to give an example to help us understand.
It's the first time for me to recognise these instruction words , some of them are really similar with each other.
it is very helpful to my future study. it will be better to have some examples with it.
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Artificial intelligence (AI) is advancing rapidly, and new Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Elicit, Perplexity, Bard and Bing are now easily accessible online. As university students, how can you incorporate these emerging technologies into your studies and campus...
Whether you’re writing an assignment or revising for exams, getting started can be hard. Fortunately, there’s lots you can do to turn procrastination into action.
Gen ed writes, writing across the disciplines at harvard college.
Gen Ed courses transcend disciplinary boundaries in a variety of ways, so the types of writing assignments that they include also often venture outside the traditional discipline-specific essays. You may encounter a wide variety of assignment types in Gen Ed, but most can be categorized into four general types:
Traditional academic.
For most of us, these are the most familiar types of college-level writing assignments. While they are perhaps less common in Gen Ed than in departmental courses, there are still numerous examples we could examine.
Two illustrations of common types include:
Example 1: Short Essay Professor Michael Sandel asks the students in his Gen Ed course on Tech Ethics to write several short essays over the course of the semester in which they make an argument in response to the course readings. Because many students will never have written a philosophy-style paper, Professor Sandel offers students a number of resources—from a guide on writing in philosophy, to sample graded essays, to a list of logical fallacies—to keep in mind.
Example 2: Research Paper In Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Cares?, a Gen Ed course co-taught by multiple global health faculty members, students write a 12–15 page research paper on a biosocial analysis of a global health topic of their choosing for the final assignment. The assignment is broken up into two parts: (1) a proposal with annotated bibliography and (2) the final paper itself. The prompt clearly outlines the key qualities and features of a successful paper, which is especially useful for students who have not yet written a research paper in the sciences.
In Gen Ed, sometimes assignments ask students to engage in academic work that, while familiar to faculty, is beyond the scope of the typical undergraduate experience.
Here are a couple of examples from Gen Ed courses:
Example 1: Design a conference For the final project in her Gen Ed course, Global Feminisms, Professor Durba Mitra asks her students to imagine a dream conference in the style of the feminist conferences they studied in class. Students are asked to imagine conference panels and events, potential speakers or exhibitions, and advertising materials. While conferences are a normal occurrence for graduate students and professors, undergraduates are much less likely to be familiar with this part of academic life, and this kind of assignment might require more specific background and instructions as part of the prompt.
Example 2: Curate a museum exhibit In his Gen Ed class, Pyramid Schemes, Professor Peter Der Manuelian's final project offers students the option of designing a virtual museum exhibit . While exhibit curation can be a part of the academic life of an anthropologist or archaeologist, it's not often found in introductory undergraduate courses. In addition to selecting objects and creating a virtual exhibit layout, students also wrote an annotated bibliography as well as an exhibit introduction for potential visitors.
One of the goals of Gen Ed is to encourage students to engage with the world around them. Sometimes writing assignments in Gen Ed directly mirror types of writing that students are likely to encounter in real-world, non-academic settings after they graduate.
The following are several examples of such assignments:
Example 1: Policy memo In Power and Identity in the Middle East, Professor Melani Cammett assigns students a group policy memo evaluating "a major initiative aimed at promoting democracy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)." The assignment prompt is actually structured as a memo, providing context for students who likely lack experience with the format. It also outlines the key characteristics of a good memo, and it provides extensive advice on the process—especially important when students are working in groups.
Example 2: Letter In Loss, Professor Kathleen Coleman asks students to write a letter of condolence . The letter has an unusual audience: a mother elephant who lost her calf. Since students may not have encountered this type of writing before, Professor Coleman also provides students with advice on process, pointing to some course readings that might be a good place to start. She also suggests a list of outside resources to help students get into the mindframe of addressing an elephant.
Example 3: Podcast Podcasts are becoming increasingly popular in Gen Ed classes, as they are in the real world. Though they're ultimately audio file outputs, they usually require writing and preparing a script ahead of time. For example, in Music from Earth, Professor Alex Rehding asks students to create a podcast in which they make an argument about a song studied in class. He usefully breaks up the assignments into two parts: (1) researching the song and preparing a script and (2) recording and making sonic choices about the presentation, offering students the opportunity to get feedback on the first part before moving onto the second.
These are the types of assignments that perhaps are less obviously "writing" assignments. They usually involve an artistic or otherwise creative component, but they also often include some kind of written introduction or artist statement related to the work.
The following are several examples from recently offered Gen Ed courses:
Example 1: Movie Professor Peter Der Manuelian offers students in his class, Pyramid Schemes, several options for the final project, one of which entails creating a 5–8 minute iMovie making an argument about one of the themes of the course. Because relatively few students have prior experience making films, the teaching staff provide students with a written guide to making an iMovie as well as ample opportunities for tech support. In addition to preparing a script as part of the production, students also submit both an annotated bibliography and an artist’s statement.
Example 2: Calligram In his course, Understanding Islam and Contemporary Muslim Societies, Professor Ali Asani asks students to browse through a provided list of resources about calligrams, which are an important traditional Islamic art form. Then they are required to "choose a concept or symbol associated with God in the Islamic tradition and attempt to represent it through a calligraphic design using the word Allah," in any medium they wish. Students also write a short explanation to accompany the design itself.
Example 3: Soundscape In Music from Earth, Professor Alex Rehding has students create a soundscape . The soundscape is an audio file which involves layering sounds from different sources to create a single piece responding to an assigned question (e.g. "What sounds are characteristic of your current geographical region?"). Early on, as part of the development of the soundscape, students submit an artist's statement that explains the plan for the soundscape, the significance of the sounds, and the intention of the work.
Assignment Decoder
When you receive a paper assignment, your first step should be to read the assignment prompt carefully to make sure you understand what you are being asked to do. Sometimes your assignment will be open-ended (“write a paper about anything in the course that interests you”). But more often, the instructor will be asking you to do something specific that allows you to make sense of what you’ve been learning in the course. You may be asked to put new ideas in context, to analyze course texts, or to do research on something related to the course.
Even if the instructor has introduced the assignment in class, make sure to read the prompt on your own. You’d be surprised how often someone comes to the Writing Center to ask for help on a paper before reading the prompt. Once they do read the prompt, they often find that it answers many of their questions.
When you read the assignment prompt, you should do the following:
Unless the instructor has specified otherwise, most of your paper assignments at Harvard will ask you to make an argument. So even when the assignment instructions tell you to “discuss” or “consider,” your instructor generally expects you to offer an arguable claim in the paper. For example, if you are asked to “discuss” several proposals for reaching carbon neutral by 2050, your instructor would likely not be asking you to list the proposals and summarize them; instead, the goal would be to analyze them in relation to each other and offer some sort of claim—either about the differences between the proposals, the potential outcomes of following one rather than another, or something that has been overlooked in all of the proposals. While you would need to summarize those proposals in order to make a claim about them, it wouldn’t be enough just to summarize them. Similarly, if you’re asked to compare sources or consider sources in relation to each other, it is not enough to offer a list of similarities and differences. Again, this type of assignment is generally asking you to make some claim about the sources in relation to each other.
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Double spacing refers to the amount of space that shows between the individual lines of your paper. When a paper is single-spaced, there is very little white space between the typed lines, which means there is no room for marks or comments. This is precisely why teachers ask you to double space. The white space between the lines leaves room for editing marks and comments.
Double spacing is the norm for essay assignments, so if you are in doubt about expectations, you should format your paper with double spacing. Only use a single space if the teacher asks explicitly for it.
Don't worry if you've already typed your paper and you now realize that your spacing is wrong. You can change spacing and other types of formatting easily and at any time in the writing process. But the way to go about these changes will differ, depending on the word processing program you're using.
If you are working in Microsoft Word 2010, you should follow these steps to set up double-spacing.
Other versions of Microsoft Word will use a similar process and the same wording.
If you're using the Pages word processor on a mac, you can double-space your paper following these instructions:
In John 15 we read: “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vine keeper (husbandman). Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you.“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, no more can ye, unless ye abide in Me. “I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in Me and I in Him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without Me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered; and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples. As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in My love.”
What does it mean to ‘abide’ in the Lord? As I pondered these scriptures one day it became so obvious. I think very often we are all guilty of over spritualizing scriptures to the point they become some deep pondered ethereal mystery and we just kind of acknowledge the deepness of a passage like it isn’t MEANT to be understood. New Agers love doing this. It makes them feel special like they understand something you don’t on a level you couldn’t possibly comprehend because after all you are YOU not ME. Granted there are some deep truths that we cannot comprehend in our finite minds and granted sometimes God, I believe, allows us to be gripped by a spiritual truth and not comprehend it so we WILL spend time with Him and seek understanding. That being said….this isn’t one of those times. Abide speaks of where we live. I physically abide in a house in the coastal area of NC. So I got thinking about these scriptures. Jesus gives a very vivid and clear instruction and insight here. He says if you abide in HIM and He abides in you can ask what you will and it will be done to you. So I may live physically in a house at the coast but spiritually I live and abide in HIM. This is so DEEP yet so SIMPLE. He is saying when you become born again…you move in with ME. You reside where I reside. And what is so great about it is it is a spiritual house that no matter where you are physically…mentally and spiritually you can be in my house! When you are going through a difficult time, you are in my house. When you are unemployed, you are in my house. No matter what you are going through rather than walk out in the street and deal with it just look out the window of my house. Things will look different if you will just stay in my house. If anyone needs to go out in the yard and deal with any situation I will handle it. This is GOOD NEWS! But it also begs us each to answer the question: WHERE DO YOU LIVE? Too many Christians are living in the past…living in depression….living in fear…living in doubt…living in religion and tradition…and I could go on. You need to ask yourself, WHERE DO YOU LIVE? Maybe you need to be honest before God and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you where you REALLY live. There are some of us that are living in our houses of false contentment but are secretly looking out the window at the house across the street where the Lord lives, when He is inviting us to come and dine. God desires so much more for our lives than where most of us are. Yet He has said throughout His word that His kingdom is within. It is a kingdom unlimited, unfettered, unaffected by the things of this world. You are in the Father’s house no matter where you go or what your circumstances are. No matter the storm outside you are safe in His house.
Look at Psalms 91 : He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
There is that word again, ABIDE. David wrote this psalm. David made a lot of bad choices in his life. He fell to a lot of temptation but when all was said and done he knew where to turn to or I should say RETURN to. When David wrote this Psalm it is said that he would often get up before the sun rose and bow in the shadow of the sanctuary of that temple the children of Israel carried where the Ark of the Covenant was housed, the presence of God appeared in that holy place. It is said that as the shadow moved David moved from sun up to sun down literally in the shadow of the Almighty. Look at the words he uses: He DWELLS in the secret place of the most high, he ABIDES under the shadow of the Almighty. In His house there is peace and protection…in His house is healing…in His house there is salvation. Praise God! Man, Psalms 91:1 is my 911 scripture! When I am going through something that challenges my faith, that challenges my sanity…911! I go bow myself in the shadow of the almighty…I remind myself whose house I dwell in…I remind the enemy of my soul where I live, where I ABIDE! I remind my troubled mind whose child I am and in whose house I abide in! I stand upon the promise of His word that though ‘a thousand fall at my side and ten thousand at my right hand it shall not come nigh me!’ Why? Go on down to verse 9 ‘because I have made the Lord my refuge, even the most High, my habitation’ and in verse 14-15 ‘because I have set my love and my focus upon Him, He will deliver me: He will set me on high, because he has known my name. 15 I shall call upon Him, and He will answer me: He will be with me in trouble; He will deliver me, and honour me.’ Let’s return to John 15. He says HE IS THE VINE…WE ARE THE BRANCHES. He gives a very clear example here we can all relate to. How long does a branch live that you cut off of a tree? Not very long. As long as a branch stays connected to the vine He says it bears fruit…much fruit! If we don’t abide in the vine we wither…we are good for nothing except to be cast into the fire. And so it is with a Christian. They are worthless if they think they can do it on their own. We are to be branches not BRANCH MANAGERS. The best definition I can give you of a Christian is take CHRIST out of word CHRISTIAN and you are left with three letters, I-A-N. These three letters can stand for ‘I Am Nothing’. In other words, if you are truly a Christian you know what that means, you are nothing without Christ. The modern day church has created its programs and become all professional and slick in appearance to the point they can have church whether God is present or not. But that is just an illusion and a lie. It is still the same, without Him we are nothing. If we are not connected to the vine, and Jesus leaves no doubt who the vine is in verse 1 when He says HE is the vine, we are lifeless, we are powerless, we cannot produce fruit without being connected to HIM. Galatians 5 tells us what that fruit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. In that verse where it is listed, verse 22, what does it call this fruit? The fruit of US? No, the fruit of the SPIRIT. It is HIS fruit. HE produces fruit through us as long as we are connected to the vine. If you are not producing the fruit of the Spirit guess what? You just might want to check and make sure what vine you are connected to. You can’t truly produce real fruit…effective fruit, unless you are connected to HIM…or more properly said, the Holy Spirit cannot produce fruit through you if you are not connected into the true vine, Jesus. Just like it would be impossible for you to stand there and hold a branch out, no matter how well you held it out, it WILL NOT produce fruit. It will die. You can decorate a Christmas tree up all you want and it may look all pretty but guess what it is a dying tree. So many of us are like Christmas trees we look the part, we look all pretty and alive, but guess what, let someone hang around you long enough and they will figure it out…you are dead. You are fruitless. Like a Christmas tree withers and dies though it has beautiful decorations on it, the truth cannot be hidden long, it dies and all the world sees that what was all shiny and glittery and looked so beautiful and alive was nothing but artificial. Are you a Christian that looks the part, all sparkly on the outside, maybe fooling a lot of people but deep down you are dying or already dead. People don’t want your artificial promises like ‘I will pray for you’ knowing you really won’t. People don’t want your blessing to ‘go, be ye warmed and filled’ when you give them nothing to fill their belly or keep them warm. People don’t want a church that says ‘live holy’ when they are living no differently than the rest of the world. People don’t want a church to pray for them to be healed and filled with the Spirit but don’t really believe it. So many these days love to quote that verse in John 15:7 that says’ if my words abide in you ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done to you’ when they want something from God, like God is just some vending machine that if I put the right combination of coins in will get what I want. People love to quote that verse that says He will give me the desires of my heart believing that means whatever selfish desire you have. That’s not what these verses are saying. That one verse means He will give you the desires you are supposed to have, the desires HE wants you to have. If His words are truly in you and you are TRULY connected to Him like a branch to a vine you will produce the fruit He wants you to produce…the things you will ask will be things that bring HIM glory. You will ask what you will but guess what your desires will be HIS desires. You will desire and ask for things that glorify Him…that will forward HIS kingdom…that will break the chains of darkness and deliver those that are bound. If you are not producing spiritual fruit Galatians 5 tells you what you will produce…it calls it the works of the flesh…” which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings” and then he goes on to say “of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” This is serious, saints! If you are producing the works of the flesh you SHALL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD. You might be saying well, I’m not doing any of that stuff you said. Guess what, just as guilty if you are producing artificial fruit. Jesus made it clear in John 15:6 “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” No matter how good you think you are if you are not connected to Him whatever fruit you are producing no matter how good it is if it is not of Him, it will starve the world just as sure as if you fed them wax fruit. There are many good civic organizations doing many good works but that is not the fruit that will win the eternal souls of men and women. It is only as we allow Him to work through us that we become the deliverers this world needs. The 12 disciples who walked with Jesus were EVEN told to go to an upper room and wait to be endued with power from on high. It is the same with us. We get saved and if we don’t watch out we let our religion, traditions and denomination decorate us like a Christmas tree when God has delivered us from all that artificiality so we could truly bear the fruit He desires us to produce. We, like the disciples of old need to get before God and cry out to Him to connect us to the true vine…allow His life to surge through us…allow His power to flow through us and bear fruit that glorifies Him and feeds the hungry souls of this world. I…A…N…Without Him we can do nothing.
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Move writing assignments from open-topic "research papers" to specific meaning-making tasks. A well-designed writing assignment engages students with meaning-making tasks (Anderson et al 2016). The traditional term paper or "open topic" research project doesn't usually provide enough structure for students to find a focus or purpose ...
Many instructors write their assignment prompts differently. By following a few steps, you can better understand the requirements for the assignment. The best way, as always, is to ask the instructor about anything confusing. Read the prompt the entire way through once. This gives you an overall view of what is going on.
What this handout is about. The first step in any successful college writing venture is reading the assignment. While this sounds like a simple task, it can be a tough one. This handout will help you unravel your assignment and begin to craft an effective response. Much of the following advice will involve translating typical assignment terms ...
Understanding Writing Assignments. Before you can begin any writing assignment, you need to know exactly what you are being asked to do. The first step is understanding the terms your instructor has used. Luckily, the same terms appear over and over in writing assignments, whether for research papers, lab reports, or essay exams.
Designing Effective Writing Assignments. One of the best ways for students to determine what they know, think, and believe about a given subject is to write about it. To support students in their writing, it is important to provide them with a meaningful writing task, one that has an authentic purpose, clear guidelines, and engages students in ...
Writing Assignments Kate Derrington; Cristy Bartlett; and Sarah Irvine. Figure 19.1 Assignments are a common method of assessment at university and require careful planning and good quality research. ... It does not mean to criticise, instead you are required to give a balanced account, highlighting strengths and weaknesses about the topic. ...
That might mean saying a few words about how the assignment fits in the unfolding of a course, but it could also mean inviting students to imagine writing for an audience other than the professor or in a professional or civic situation. Engaging: Good assignments engage students in the concepts and content of a course. In addition, students ...
the assignment at the beginning will save you time, stress, and problems later. An assignment can look pretty straightforward at first, particularly if the instructor has provided lots of information. That does not mean it will not take time and effort to complete; you may even have to learn a new skill to complete the assignment. 2.
Table of contents. Step 1: Prewriting. Step 2: Planning and outlining. Step 3: Writing a first draft. Step 4: Redrafting and revising. Step 5: Editing and proofreading. Other interesting articles. Frequently asked questions about the writing process.
Academic writing is a formal style of writing used in universities and scholarly publications. You'll encounter it in journal articles and books on academic topics, and you'll be expected to write your essays, research papers, and dissertation in academic style. Academic writing follows the same writing process as other types of texts, but ...
1. Reflective Papers. These assignments typically require students to think about their own experiences that demonstrate a specific concept and/or principle. For instance, a student might write about their own struggle with self-harm at a young age and reflect on the circumstances that contributed to this.
Writing is not a linear process, so writing your essay, researching, rewriting, and adjusting are all part of the process. Below are some tips to keep in mind as you approach and manage your assignment. Figure 4. Writing is a recursive process that begins with examining the topic and prewriting.
Instructors can often help students write more effective papers by giving students written instructions about that assignment. Explicit descriptions of assignments on the syllabus or on an "assignment sheet" tend to produce the best results. These instructions might make explicit the process or steps necessary to complete the assignment.
Determining the Purpose. The wording of an assignment should suggest its purpose. Any of the following might be expected of you in a college writing assignment: Summarizing information. Analyzing ideas and concepts. Taking a position and defending it. Combining ideas from several sources and creating your own original argument.
Writing assignments are often used to support the goals of Writing in the Disciplines (WID), also called writing to communicate. Writing assignments of this sort are designed to introduce or give students practice with the writing conventions of a discipline and to help them game familiarity and fluency with specific genres and formats typical of a given discipline.
Introduction. Assignments are a common method of assessment at university and require careful planning and good quality research. Developing critical thinking and writing skills are also necessary to demonstrate your ability to understand and apply information about your topic. It is not uncommon to be unsure about the processes of writing ...
Interpret your assignment. Create a plan. Planning how you approach your writing will make sure that you understand the task, can manage your time, and present a researched, structured and focused assignment. Before you start writing, you need to understand what type of writing you are required to produce. For example, you might be asked to ...
Here's a list of some of the most common instruction/command words you'll see in essay questions (and examination questions as well), together with an explanation of what they mean. Describe: Give a detailed account of…. Outline: Give the main features/general principles; don't include minor details. Explain, account for, interpret: Describe ...
Impacting Your Message: Adding These Tools to Your Writing Process. Number one - Think rhetorically about your assignment. Number two - Think about your purpose as you develop ideas. Number three - Keep your purpose and audience in mind as you narrow your topic and begin to gather ideas. Number four - As you organize and draft, think ...
Academic writing should be formal, clear, and concise. Academic writing uses formal language. It's also optimized for clarity and conciseness, which can initially seem contradictory to the use of formal language. Many writers confuse formal language with flowery language. Generally, flowery language uses elaborate words, lengthy sentences ...
Sometimes writing assignments in Gen Ed directly mirror types of writing that students are likely to encounter in real-world, non-academic settings after they graduate. The following are several examples of such assignments: Example 1: Policy memo In Power and Identity in the Middle East, Professor Melani Cammett assigns students a group policy ...
When you read the assignment prompt, you should do the following: Look for action verbs. Verbs like analyze, compare, discuss, explain, make an argument, propose a solution, trace, or research can help you understand what you're being asked to do with an assignment. Unless the instructor has specified otherwise, most of your paper assignments ...
Double spacing refers to the amount of space that shows between the individual lines of your paper. When a paper is single-spaced, there is very little white space between the typed lines, which means there is no room for marks or comments. This is precisely why teachers ask you to double space. The white space between the lines leaves room for ...
What does it mean to 'abide' in the Lord? "I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abides in Me and I in Him, the same brings forth much fruit, for without Me ye can do nothing."