Sequenced Assignments

Three assignments offer exemplary models for sequencing major assignments across the semester. Two for the conventional research paper are taken from HIST 300 and BECA 300. The third is from CAD 625, the policy memo paper. The fourth example is the syllabus from URBS 677, which assigns a series of short papers and then a longer research essay.

Here are 3 Guidelines for Sequencing Assignments from professors in WAC programs.

(1) Link the course objectives to your assignments by breaking down particular skills. For example, in Urban Studies 677, the professor assigns a series of short reading responses throughout the semester BEFORE asking students to draft a longer research paper. Such short reading responses teach valuable skills: summarizing difficult concepts; drawing connections between course concepts; citing and documenting sources. These are all skills that would be needed to write an effective research essay at the course's end but here the students practice them separately before producing the final essay.

(2) Staged assignments give students opportunities to address problems before they receive a grade, and professors spend less time responding to a final product. The examples from BECA, History, and CAD break a long project into smaller pieces over the course of a semester. Students have the opportunity to plan, draft, and research their projects while receiving constant feedback from peers and professor. (In HED classes, students work directly with librarians in class while they are formulating their topics so they don't postpone the research until too late in the semester. They also work with tutors to narrow their topics so that, long before the final is due, they have found an appropriate focus for their work.)

(3) Sequenced and staged assignments provide the opportunity to integrate writing into a class and the thinking of particular disciplines. In all the examples posted below, professors can integrate resources from the library and tutorial services into class. They can also give students the opportunity to work collaboratively on their projects. History and Urban Studies also link oral presentation projects directly to the final draft of major written projects.