English 1000

Instructor Guide: Section 2, Assignment Design

Here at Missouri, we encourage teachers of English 1000 to design their own assignments, partly so that their classes reflect their interests and expertise, partly so that we don't tempt students from different sections to hand in duplicate papers. Assignments are the backbone of a composition class: the teacher who makes good ones is likely to succeed.

2-1 Typical Writing Intensive Assignments

Since our students go from English 1000 to Writing Intensive courses, a useful way to begin thinking about the design of our assignments is to consider a well-made assignment from a WI class. The one below was written by Professor David Roediger, formerly of UMC’s history department, and one of the architects of the WI program.

Write a paper of about five double-spaced, typed pages on the following:

In 1892, a fierce strike involving a union associated with Gompers’ American Federation of Labor broke out at Carnegie’s Homestead works. The strike happened while Carnegie was away and ended in tremendous bloodshed. Looking back on the strike later in their lives, Gompers and Carnegie agreed that the violence would have been avoided if Carnegie were on the scene. Write an essay considering why these two figures would have been so confident in their abilities to “work things out” face-to-face. What, in terms of their backgrounds, values, views of America, political commitments and attitudes toward workers and the rise of industry and unions might have given them common ground? You might also consider whether these similarities really were enough to defuse tense strike situations such as that at Homestead.

When you quote from the Livesay and Gompers books, or borrow an insight from either, put the author’s name and page number in parentheses after the passage used.

Prof. Roediger’s assignment requires close reading of two texts, but makes mere summary of the texts a weak strategy: since neither Gompers nor Livesay were writing to answer the question Roediger poses, the students will have to “mine” the books rather than rephrase them. Roediger’s question discourages students from seeing the subject in simple right/wrong terms. Yes, students are expected to see the evidence that Gompers and Carnegie might have been able to “work things out,” but they are encouraged to consider the possibility that the evidence doesn’t quite support that conclusion. That is, they are expected to search wholeheartedly for evidence to support a case, but they are also encouraged to see (and acknowledge) the limitations of the argument they are building. Notice that though Roediger’s question is academic in the best sense (good historians could enjoy thinking and writing about it), he doesn’t obsess about the mechanics of scholarship (the citations need to be there; he’s not worried about the minutiae of their form).

An elegant example from another field is a film assignment by political science professor Robin Remington:

Louis Malle’s “Lacombe Lucien” is the final film we’ll be viewing this semester. It is set against the backdrop of Nazi occupation of France during World War II, following France’s surrender to Hitler’s troops in 1940. The Nazis subsequently administered France with the active collaboration of a great number of French men and women. Lucien Lacombe is one of that great number who, for one reason or another, were drawn into such collaboration.

Your task in this paper is to analyze and explain Lucien’s adoption of the fascist cause. What was it in the fascist ideology and practice which drew him and so many others into the politics of Vichy France? What was it about Lucien himself—e.g., his education, class background, human nature, socio-economic circumstances—which made that ideology and practice so appealing? As products of a legal-rational system, we perhaps have a tendency to dismiss fascism as a message concocted by and for beady-eyed crazies. Try to get beyond that tendency in this paper. See how much your political science vocabulary helps you in understanding not just the power of the fascist message, but its authority as well.

We see some of the same virtues here that we saw in Roediger’s assignment. The students must “read” the film with exceptional care and deal with the kind of issues that trained political scientists deal with. Notice that Remington anticipates in her second paragraph the conceptual pitfall students are likely to fall into, and she makes it rather clear that learning to avoid this pitfall is precisely what makes writing the paper an educational experience.

There are many fine Writing Intensive professors other than Roediger and Remington whose assignments we might examine, and we don’t want to imply that the sole aim of English 1000 is to prepare students for WI classes or any other classes. The point here is that our course can make common cause with other courses distributed throughout the undergraduate curriculum. By having students to spend time writing about difficult and important questions rather than composing mere exercises, we can make our classes more interesting for both our students and ourselves. And by asking them to consider the tentativeness of knowledge and the potential validity of points of view other than their own, we can help them develop into more sophisticated thinkers.

2-2 Sample English 1000 Assignments

On the pages that follow, you will find some examples of assignments used by teachers in English 1000 (or, in earlier days, English 20). All are good enough to reward study and indirect imitation. But assignments are the property of the teachers who write them. Please don’t use any of these assignments without the permission of the person who wrote it. Please don’t write an assignment that is differently worded, but would produce the same paper.

The Freedoms and Limits of Choice by Rachel Palencia Harper For this assignment we will be looking at people in fiction in relation to the society and culture in which they live. The kind of life that these characters live and the choices that they make (or do not make) appear to be influenced or affected in some way by the customs, laws, traditions, or mores of the community around them.  In a 1250-1500 word essay explore the following question in relation to one of the stories listed below: To what extent are characters controlled (or not controlled) by the society and culture in which they live? 1. Nadine Gordimer’s “Africa Emergent” 2. Mahasweta Devi’s “Dhowli” 3. Khushwant Singh’s “The Wog” 4. Elaine Fowler Palencia’s “Small Caucasian Woman” 5. Tadeusz Borowski’s “This way to the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen” 6. Ralph Ellison’s “Battle Royal,” an excerpt from Invisible Man 7. George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant”

<< By creating an assignment with several options (a “bundled” assignment), Harper creates rich possibilities for peer review. All students are expected to read all stories, but inside the working groups (in most classes, groups of three or four), each student writes as an expert on the story he or she has chosen. Students give each other advice without fearing that they are giving away their best ideas to the competition.

 

The Theory And Practice of Civil Disobedience by Trish Roberts In this paper, you will use a specific instance of civil disobedience in order to reflect back on what King says about the theory of civil disobedience in "Love, Law and Civil Disobedience." You should rely entirely on primary material regarding your incident in order to become an expert on it. What does that incident show about King's theory--does it suggest that he was entirely right? That he left out certain qualities? That his argument applies only to certain kinds of incidents? In order to answer those questions, you might consider whether or not the incident was a success. Did the organizers achieve their goals? Did their actions agree with what King states (note that many of you are discussing incidents which predate King's speech, so it isn't just a question of whether or not they intentionally did what he says)? Do not write a simple comparison and contrast essay! You are not being asked to identify all the points of agreement and disagreement between your incident and King's theory, but to use points of agreement or disagreement (probably not all of them that you note) in order to reflect back on King's theory and critique it in some way. "Critique" does not necessarily mean "say negative things about," but it does mean to analyze. As with the previous paper, you should assume that the class is your audience. So, you will need to refer to King's argument specifically (almost certainly with quotes) but you do not need to summarize it in detail. You will need, however, to give substantial historical background on the incident. In this paper, I am especially looking for: 1. a clear understanding of King's argument; 2. use of primary material for explicating the incident; 3. a balance of discussion regarding the incident and the theory; 4. reflection back on King's theory; 5. a wide range of supporting evidence; 6. as always, clarity and elegance of organization and writing. There are certain ways that this paper can go wrong: 1. little or no discussion of King's theory; 2. too much or too little summary of the specific incident; 3. slipping into praise or blame of King or the protestors rather than analyzing the incident in light of the theory; 4. reliance on too few sources.

<< Like Harper, Prof. Roberts (now at UT-Austin) bundles this assignment by allowing students to choose from several examples of civil disobedience. Prof. Roberts notes that the “theory in practice” paper is common in many disciplines. Her “looking for” and “can go wrong” are fruits of long experience with assignments of this kind.

 

The War Room by Mike Lueker Informal essay: Here are some questions to get you started thinking about this assignment: Based on what you've read and seen so far, what do you think the key issues will be in this year's presidential election? What do you think the key differences are between the Republican and the Democratic parties? Now think about your own concerns as a citizen in a representative democracy: What issues are you most concerned about? Why do you think these are your primary concerns? For this informal essay, choose one of these issues and write an analysis of the elements you think contribute to your opinion on that issue. Be as specific as you can in terms of social class, background, temperament, education, work history, family loyalties, goals, etc. Speculate on how these elements might differ in those who disagree with your view of the issue. Two to three typed pages--due week of 9/24. Major Paper: For this assignment, the class will work exclusively in two groups. One will be a team of researchers for the Republican candidate for president, the other for the Democratic candidate. Individually, you will choose an issue that you believe will (or should be) central to the election campaign, and you will set out to become an expert on this issue as quickly as possible. Your job as a researcher is crucial for the candidate: You will provide him with a written analysis of an issue, placing it into historical and social context. For instance, if you choose to research Welfare reform, you will want to provide your candidate with the political history of the issue (at least back as far as the past 5 or 6 elections), then you would provide an analysis of Welfare as a social issue. What do various groups of people seem to feel about Welfare? What are some of the symbols and images associated with the issue? How can he best enter the current national "conversation" about the issue and sound like an informed participant in that conversation? A 7-8 page essay will necessarily be an overview of the issue, but I'm interested in seeing how well you're able to analyze a variety of sources. You'll read opinion pieces in popular magazines like Time and Newsweek, newspaper editorials, as well as articles from academic and professional journals. You can talk to your friends, families, professors, coworkers. Remember, however, that you're not writing a speech for the candidate and this isn't a position paper in the traditional sense; your job is to provide cultural analysis of the issue, to make observations about the political climate and inform the candidate accordingly. Your argument will be in the form of advice--how should the candidate present the issue, what reasons and evidence should he emphasize? How will this change as his audience changes? Of course, he must remain consistent and not appear to contradict himself. If he can only read 7-8 pages, what should he know? (Let's hope that in practice they do a lot more homework than this.) I'll grade you on your ability to provide a clear and compelling analysis of the issue, synthesize varied sources, using evidence from at least eight sources, documented in MLA format, in a 7-8 page essay. Copies of typed rough draft due week of October 8. Final draft due Mon. Oct.21. Presentation to your team on your issue. Week of Oct. 1. By this time, you should know quite a bit about the issue you've chosen. Put together a 4-5 minute presentation to share with your group members. Some helpful sources: The Library of Congress provides access to a wealth of congressional information on the internet. I'll give you a list of helpful sites in class. Congress and the Nation (index divided into 3-5 year intervals, providing specific legislation on all issues)

<< Like many of our teachers, Leuker works up to a major assignment with an informal exploratory paper.               << Lueker’s assignment, too, is “bundled,” in that students distribute themselves across the two parties and across a series of issues. A great advantage of this assignment is that new source material is constantly being produced in contemporary media, and the students may be excited by pursuing questions that are generating vigorous debate all around them. Of course, the teacher has to keep up with the news as well in order to be an informed and critical reader of the students’ papers.

 

Dracula On Screen by Cheryl Hall Since its publication in 1897, Dracula has captured the imaginations of readers in a way that has never been equaled in horror fiction, and even the author of the novel was quick to see its dramatic possibilities.  Presumably as copyright protection, Stoker patched together a stage version of the book, and when after his death the film Nosferatu made unauthorized use of the novel’s ideas, Stoker’s widow sued successfully and licensed another stage version.  Nearly every decade since the advent of movies has seen at least one film adaptation of the novel (or a film inspired by the novel) in production—often these films take their content largely from the Deane and Balderston stage play rather than the novel itself.  Today, more people know Dracula through films than through Stoker’s portrayal, and the quality and characteristics of those films vary significantly. Your task in this paper is to compare one of these film adaptations to Stoker’s novel and to analyze how the film affects or changes our overall perception of the original story.  Because your space in this paper is limited to 4-5 typed, double-spaced pages, you will need to focus your comparison/contrast around a specific topic.  You may choose to compare the depiction of a particular character, the use of violence, sexuality, religion, science and technology, madness, etc.  There are countless possibilities for focusing your paper—choose one appropriate to the film adaptation you select and one that will yield specific and interesting details for your paper.  In analyzing the effects of the changes made in the film you may also want to take into account the difference in media, the time period in which the film was produced, etc.  Keep in mind that this in not a movie review—praise or criticism of the quality of the film should not be a significant portion of your paper and should probably be restricted to the introduction and conclusion, if it occurs at all. Audience:  Educated readers and moviegoers, though not necessarily well-versed in the technical language of film production.  You may assume their familiarity with the basic story of Dracula—your emphasis should be on the analysis of specific examples rather than general plot summary. Due dates:  See syllabus.  Your first responsibility will be the Research/Topic Report (assignment to be distributed).  By that time you should have selected the adaptation you want to write about (see handout), viewed the film, and selected a topic for your comparison/contrast. Grading criteria: Interest-engaging introduction that clarifies your subject, leading into a Specific thesis that clearly identifies the focus of your comparison and answers the question “How does the adaptation’s treatment of this topic affect our perception of Stoker’s story?” Support for your thesis in the form of detailed analysis of evidence from the novel and film Effective organization, including transitions between and within paragraphs, clear topic sentences, appropriate intro and conclusion, etc. Correct grammar and mechanics; correct and thorough documentation of source material in MLA style, including parenthetical citations and works cited page Evidence of significant revision between drafts

<< Hall anticipates the strong impulse many students have to reduce every analysis to a game of praise or blame.                   << Learning to compare two items (texts, events, theories) in a disciplined and focused way is one of the key academic skills. Hall's assignment prepares students for a task they will be asked to perform repeatedly in their academic and professional careers.

2-3 A One-Source, Two-Source, Multi-Source Sample

The box in Section 1-1 outlines what an English 1000 class must cover. In particular, the second item provides three paper descriptions that form the backbone of the course: an academic argument grounded in an interpretation or analysis of a single text; an academic argument grounded in or concerning the relationship between two texts; and an academic argument using multiple sources. The sample assignments just provided in Section 2-2 illustrate each of these descriptions. For example, Harper’s assignment calls for students to explore a question by closely considering a single text. It isn’t necessary, of course, that the entire class work with the same text in order to satisfy the single source expectation; even so, students are engaged in common cause by addressing the same problem. Hall’s assignment results in an academic argument based upon the relationship between two texts, one written and one visual. Both Roberts’ and Leuker’s assignments require students to work with multiple sources.

Paper 1: Utopia According to Politicians In this paper you will try to mentally synthesize the class discussion and conceptualization of utopia/dystopia and apply those concepts to political rhetoric. We will discuss some campaign speeches in class. Your task will be to track down at least three policy (not campaign) speeches or debates from the presidential candidate of your choice on a specific topic (healthcare, birth rights, gay rights, etc.) and to speculate on what your politician’s utopia might look like if his political “wish list” were fulfilled. You will then evaluate that utopia based on our class definitions and discussions—is it possible to achieve, or is it destined to remain a “non-place”? Is it a “eutopia” or a “dystopia,” and for whom? Paper 2: Comparison of Two Utopian and/or Dystopian Texts You will look at two examples of u/dystopia from our readings and compare/contrast them. Do they both fit exactly the genre of u/dystopia according to class definitions of these genres? If not, how and why not? Do they agree or disagree on what society should look like? In what areas are they similar, and how are they different? Why? How does this similarity or difference serve the point each author is trying to make? What is the larger significance for the work and for the reader of these similarities/ differences? Your comparison/contrast will focus on specific elements of each work and analyze them—close reading and careful, deep analysis will determine your success on this paper. Focus and depth are better than breadth of subject matter. Paper 3: U/Dystopia and Historical Context Look at a particular u/dystopian work and analyze it in terms of its historical context. Why does the author choose to focus on particular themes? How does their situation in place, history, social hierarchy, etc. influence the author’s choice of topic? You will analyze the influence of context on your work, and ideally you will be able to make some speculations about the importance of context to writing in general. For this paper, you will be expected to complete additional research outside of class on your author. We will discuss possible sources to tap as this paper approaches. You may NOT write on the same author(s) you covered in earlier works.

<< Zimmerman’s first assignment satisfies the spirit of the program’s requirement of a one-text paper. The three speeches serve simply to fully represent a single source.

Just as the term text stands for more than simply print texts, argument refers to more than pro and con or controversial issues. Any thesis-driven paper makes an argument. And for our purposes, academic doesn’t mean a paper directed to professionals in a recognized academic field but a paper that is representative in form, use of sources, and level of analysis for typical undergraduate classes beyond first-year composition.

Lindsay Zimmerman’s major paper assignments serve as a good illustration of the “one source, two source, multi-source” requirement. The upcoming text box includes an excerpt from her first-day handout in which she briefly describes the papers students will write. If instructors are unable to distribute complete assignment sheets on the first day of classes, they should provide descriptions of major papers as Zimmerman has done so that students have clear expectations of the particular section in which they’re enrolled.

Zimmerman assigned the one-text paper first, the two-text paper second, and the multi-source paper last, but no particular arrangement of the three papers is requisite. It isn’t necessarily the case that a multi-source paper is more challenging than an assignment based upon a single text. Or, for that matter, it may not be advisable that the most difficult assignment come as the semester draws to a close. These sorts of decisions are up to the instructor.

At first glance, Paper 1 may not appear to meet the single text requirement. In spirit, however, it does. Students are asked to track down three policy speeches on the same topic and from the same perspective, or speaker. The purpose of students gathering three speeches is simply to make sure they have a fully developed single source with which to work.