Sample Assignments

Structuring Your PWR Assignment Sequence

PWR Courses are structured around specific sequences of assignments. Consult the PWR Assignment Sequence Guidelines from the 2001-2002 PWR Guide for Instructors.

Writing Effective Assignment Descriptions

• Designing Writing Assignments, a web resource from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, hosts an excellent page comparing what instructors expected and what students understood the assignment to mean. Read through the section "What Students Want in Writing Assignments" to help you modify the rhetoric of your own essay prompts and assignment handouts.

• When constructing a research assignment, you might study the guidelines on Writing & Research to help students find a topic, develop and refine research questions, and compose the material. Often students are bewildered by the openness of the assignment, and these suggestions from the University of Hawaii at Manoa Writing Matters Series can help you help them.

• The University Writing Program at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University offers a comprehensive online guide to Designing Writing Assignments. This resource page discusses selecting your framing language, attending to the course audience and goals, establishing your assignment sequence, and developing criteria for evaluation.

Sample Assignments

	Sample Rhetorical Analysis Assignments
	Course Title	Instructor
	The Rhetoric of Civil Rights	Shay Brawn
	Writing and the Arts of Persuasion: The Uses of Classical and Contemporary Rhetoric	Marvin Diogenes
	Breaking the Rules: The Rhetoric of Rebellion	Wendy Goldberg
	Sample Contextual Analysis Assignments
	Course Title	Instructor
	The Rhetoric of the Family	Stacey Anderson
	The Rhetoric of Civil Rights	Shay Brawn
	The Rhetoric of Plato	Marvin Diogenes
	The Rhetoric of the Museum	John Tinker
	Sample Research-Based Argument Assignments
	Spring 2002	Stacey Anderson
	The Rhetoric of Civil Rights	Shay Brawn
	The Rhetoric of [Open Topic]	Marvin Diogenes
	Political Writing and Real World Problems: The Rhetoric of the News	Alyssa O'Brien
	Current Controversies and the Rhetoric of Change (sequence)	Alyssa O'Brien

Other PWR 1 Sample Assignments

Sample Annotated Bibliography Assignment (O'Brien)
Sample Annotated Bibliography Peer Review Assignment (O'Brien)
Sample Analyzing Visual Rhetoric Assignment (Lee)
Sample Assessment of Online Resources Assignment (Lee)
Sample Oral/Multimedia Presentation Assignment (O'Brien)
Sample Personal Public Essay Assignment (Lee)
Sample Photo Analysis Assignment (Wyle)
Sample Student Information/Goal Setting Worksheet (O'Brien)