Writing Across the Curriculum

The Second-Level Writing Handbook // Creating and Implementing Effective Writing Assignments // Responding to Student Writing // In-Class Writing Activities // Peer Response // Preventing Plagiarism // OSU Resources.

Download Samples and Suggestions for Informal Out-of-Class Writing Assignments as a Microsoft Word file.

Requiring students to keep a notebook, journal, or log and to write in it informally on a regular basis is an excellent way to assign widely diverse kinds of writing activities in a casual way. Journals are highly adaptable and versatile: you can have students write in them regularly or sporadically, in class and out of class. In addition to the assignments below, think about using the journals for any or all of the in-class tasks described above, or perhaps about assigning weekly out-of-class study questions or exercises from the class textbook.

You can collect the notebooks periodically to respond to them. As with all the Writing-to-Learn activities, don't feel that you must "grade" these notebooks, but do respond naturally to what students say and suggest ways they can be even more insightful. Alternatively, don't make comments at all--just collect them and note briefly how complete the entries are.

Below are several particularly effective ways to use journals.

Reading Logs:

Ask students to keep a notebook designed to help them understand their reading assignments better and to demonstrate to them that critical reading is an active process. First, introduce them to the "Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review, Write" method for improving reading habits and ask them to practice it regularly in their reading journals. As they survey the reading assignment, they should note large headings, the first sentence of each paragraph, and the first and last paragraphs of the assigned text. At this point, they should record in their notebooks answers to the following questions:

1. What is the main subject or topic of this text?
2. What do I expect the major points to be in discussing this topic?
3. What questions do I have that I hope will be answered by this text?

Students then read "with a purpose," i.e., to answer their questions and to see whether hypotheses are confirmed or denied--which is what good readers do. After they have read the text and attempted to answer the questions, they should review the material, noting whether the major points and key questions they identified turned out to be accurate. Finally, they should write in their notebooks answers to the questions they posed.

Reading Response Questions:

1. Summarize, as briefly as possible, what you have read.
2. Describe how the reading has made you feel, explaining why whenever possible.
3. What are your other responses to what you have read?
4. What has this reading made you think about?
5. What has this reading suggested you might want to write about?

Ask students to keep reading notebooks, but to write "double entries" for each assigned reading. That is, have them divide in half each page in their journal lengthwise. On the right side of the notebook, they record reading notes, direct quotations, lists, observational notes. On the left side, they write notes about those right-hand side notes--summaries, questions, revisions, comments, personal responses. Ann Berthoff says that the double-entry format provides a way for students to "conduct that continuing audit of meaning that is at the heart of learning to read and write critically. The facing pages are in dialogue with one another." 1Ann Berthoff. The Making of Meaning. Clairmont, NJ: Boynton-Cook, 1981. P. 45. (For more information on double logs, call CSTW and request our "Double Logs" handout).

Writing Logs

Ask students to keep and submit at regular intervals a writing process log in which they address the following questions:

1. How did you arrive at your topic?
2. When did you first begin to think about the assignment?
3. How long did it take to complete the assignment (including time spent learning and revising)?
4. What kind of planning or investigating did you do?
5. Where did you write the first draft? Subsequent drafts? (Briefly describe the settings)
6. Who is the audience for this piece of writing?
7. What is your relationship to the audience?
8. What do you see as the major strengths of your essay?
9. What do you see as the weaknesses of the essay?
10. What would you like to change about your process of writing or about this piece of writing?

Reading and writing notebooks, of course, may be used in much more informal ways, and students should be encouraged to use the notebook to fulfill their own purposes. For example, some might want to keep a section called "questions I don't know the answers to," while others might want to focus on personal responses to what they have read. An American history student might want to free-write in her notebook about her personal, free-associative responses to materials read about the Civil War before going on to a more traditional, analytical approach to those same materials.

Observation Reports

Ask students to do a bit of field research, taking careful field notes on whatever they choose to observe: a physical object, person or animal, process, event, or phenomenon. Students can then compare these notes and question one another about what may be missing.

Problem Generating

Have students generate "problems" from the reading or class discussions. Generating problems is often harder than solving them, and so this activity forces students to articulate key issues or questions. One way to do this might be to have math or physics students take a formula or theorem and create a scenario or word problem which would require using the formula. In a history class, students might write journal entries that consist simply of lists of questions from the outside reading that they would pose to the author of the piece or offer up for class discussion.

Focused Questioning

Have students articulate places where they got stuck and how they solved their dilemmas, whether the problems be found in comprehending outside readings or in working on homework assignments. This strategy can also be effective in pinpointing the source of writer's block; when students feel stuck, leaving the primary task and writing a journal entry about where they think the problems come from can stimulate fresh thinking.

The 25-word Abstract

"For tomorrow, read X. pp.___; then write a 25-word abstract stating the major point or theme of X. Exactly 25 words. Why that number? Because you can say a great deal in 25, well-chosen words. If you have used more words, examine your abstract for repetition. Consider combining or changing focus. Play with the words; you'll be amazed at how much you can say. If you are a word or two short, look for an important detail to add. Include the name of the author and the title of the piece; they don't count toward the 25 word total."

This assignment accomplishes a wide range of goals:

1. encourages students to read the assignment prior to class;
2. leads them to make judgments about the material and reshape it in their own words;
3. fosters class participation since they have actively processed the information under discussion;
4. allows them to play with words and language structures;
5. helps them refine skills in writing succinct statements;
6. is very fast to respond to (takes about 45 seconds per precis).

Microthemes

John Bean of Seattle University recommends three types of "microthemes," which must be typed on one side of a 5x8 card: the summary microtheme; the thesis-support microtheme ("students choose from lists of propositions or 'theses' and then generate the support for that thesis"); and the data-provided microtheme (the obverse of the thesis-support: in this assignment, students are given data and asked to discover propositions or theses which give meaning to the data). For a discussion of microthemes assignments as well as criteria for marking them quickly and uniformly, see "Microthemes Strategies for Developing Cognitive Skills," New Directions for Teaching and Learning: Teaching Writing in All Disciplines. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1982, from which the following sample assignment is taken:

Quandary-Posing Microtheme for Introductory Physics

Suppose that you are Dr. Science, the question-and-answer person for a popular magazine called Practical Science. Readers of your magazine are invited to submit letters to Dr. Science, who answers them in "Dear Abby" style in a special section of the magazine. One day you receive the following letter:

Dear Dr. Science:

You've got to help me settle this argument I am having with my girlfriend. We were watching a baseball game several weeks ago when this guy hit a high pop-up straight over the catcher's head. When it finally came down, the catcher caught it standing on home plate. Well, my girlfriend told me that when the ball stopped in midair just before it started back down, its velocity was zero, but acceleration was not zero. I said she was stupid. If something isn't moving at all, how could it have any acceleration? Ever since then she has been making a big deal out of this and won't let me kiss her. I love her, but I don't think we can get back together until we settle this argument. We checked some physics books, but they weren't very clear. We agreed that I would write to you and let you settle the argument. But, Dr. Science, don't just tell us the answer. You've got to explain it so we both understand, because my girlfriend is really dogmatic. She said she wouldn't even trust Einstein unless he could explain himself clearly.

Sincerely,

Baseball Blues

Can this relationship be saved? Your task is to write an answer to Baseball Blues. Because space in your magazine is limited, restrict your answer to what can be put on a single 5x8 card. Don't confuse Baseball and his girlfriend by using any special physics terms unless you explain clearly what they mean. If you think some diagrams would help, include them on a separate sheet.

Response or "Position" Papers

Have students write a short (1-5 pp.) response paper to an assigned reading, a film, or an issue that comes up in discussion. These response papers are most effective if the class itself is the audience. The main objective of the assignment is not to "perform"--i.e., to prove a thesis statement about the reading--but rather to formulate a response to a work and share it with the class. Not surprisingly, you will find that students who write such responses are more prepared for discussion and more engaged with the material. The way you use the papers in class can be quite informal or more formal, e.g., you might have students trade papers and write responses back to each other.

Letters

Art Young of Clemson University has suggested that students correspond with each other about questions or concerns they have with course readings. For example, a student having trouble understanding the intricacies of photosynthesis might find that his or her correspondent understands the concepts and is able to explain them. This activity works especially well in large lecture courses, where students often don't have the chance to ask all of their questions during class. It also promotes student collegiality and fosters a sense of shared inquiry. If possible, you should collect these letters and read them, responding if you wish but not grading them based on correctness. Knowing you will read the letters prompts students to take them more seriously; reading them also gives you a better sense of which concepts that students are having difficulty understanding.