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 Creating Writing Assignments that Encourage Fair Use and Citation Ethics as a Microsoft Word file.

• Reflect on your own expectations, those of your discipline, and how different assignments require different expectations.
• Think about the role of writing in your course and in the learning process.
• Stay in touch with your students by scheduling individual conferences to discuss their research and writing process as well as their topic.
• Emphasize the writing process by offering a variety of progressive step assignments such as outlines, annotated bibliographies, research proposals, thesis statements, and rough drafts.
• Give students the opportunity to explore their own writing processes and to adopt a variety of progressive step procedures that fit their needs.
• Encourage a sense of ownership and responsibility by providing opportunities for students to negotiate their writing processes and/or create their own evaluation criteria.
• Model fair and ethical writing by providing sample essays for review and revision.
• Model the collaborative nature of writing and scholarship by requiring drafts that are reviewed by you and their peers.

• Spend time talking about the value of using secondary sources, the history of intellectual property, and the importance of creating their own voices as writers.
• Ask students to think about writing as a recursive process that includes the following 3 activities
  • pre-writing (brainstorming, outlining, researching)
  • writing (drafting and revising)
  • post-writing (editing and proofreading)
• Ask them to discuss their own positive, negative, and in-between writing experiences.
• As a class, share writing process strategies from brainstorming to research to drafting.
• Discuss the differences between quoting, paraphrasing, and summaries of others' work.
• Make sure the students are aware of the University plagiarism policy.

• Give specific instructions and evaluation criteria and communicate the different citation expectations based on the assignment criteria.
• Change course assignments regularly.
• Vary assignment audience and purpose.
• Limit choices to a list of topics that you provide.
• Use unique assignment formats such as newspaper articles, PowerPoint presentations and/or debate issue briefs.
• Create assignments that capture students' attention and interests.
• Require up-to-date resources.
• Use local issues as topics.
• Require documentation of their research process through research journaling and/or research process mapping.
• Require an oral presentation of the finished assignment.
• Use shorter informal writing assignments early in the term as an opportunity to become familiar with each student's writing style and voice.
• Create cumulative assignments that build on each other. For example, a shorter problem statement essay can be used to build toward a longer argumentative essay that advocates a particular policy or solution to the problem.
• Ask students to reflect personally on the topic or on their research/writing process.

• Provide evaluation criteria for each assignment.
• Make sure students know that you read their papers by offering constructive and thorough feedback.
• Give students the opportunity to revise their work and turn in for another grade evaluation.
• Incorporate peer evaluation and review to communicate the importance of sharing their writing.
• Discuss how you will handle academic dishonesty.

• Know the University's rules and definitions of fair use and plagiarism.
• Request that your teachers discuss citing secondary sources, citation ethics, and what their expectations are.
• Select a documentation style that fits the disciplinary standards and become familiar with the style.
• Copy all bibliographic information when doing research.
• Separate your ideas from others by using quotation marks, brackets, or underlining when you are taking notes.
• Try writing the 1st draft or part of the draft using no notes.
• Ask questions and seek advice.
• Seek other readers; ask your classmates, a writing tutor or an advisor to read and respond to your work.
• Think about writing as a recursive process that includes the following 3 activities
  • pre-writing (brainstorming, outlining, researching)
  • writing (drafting and revising)
  • post-writing (editing and proofreading)