A Graphic Example or
A Survival Guide to Creation and Assessment
of College Writing Assignments
Chuck Maples, CADE, SUCO
It is sometimes difficult to say who suffers more from all the good intentions behind a
college writing assignment, the students who must write the papers or the teachers who
must grade them. As the College Writing Center works to assist students with their
composition processes, it is often apparent that the most difficult task both for the
teacher and the writer involves organizing the various ideas that must be explored and
incorporated into a logical flow within the paper.
Failures in clear, logical organization make the writing process extremely difficult for
students and the grading process equally painful for instructors--and unfortunately, the
first causes of those failures often arise in the structure of the original assignment.
Even when instructors labor long over extended handouts detailing the individual tasks
required by an assignment, there may often be no indication of how those tasks should be
interrelated to form a cohesive paper. Or, an assignment may give a more comprehensive
view of the assignment but, at the same time, make it difficult for students to discern
the individual tasks.
The use of “graphic organizers” addresses all of these difficulties and allows the
clarification of four essential and strategically crucial stages in the college writing
assignment: the creation of the task, the presentation of the task, the student’s
negotiation of the task, and the instructor’s assessment of the completed task.
Instructor
Student
Graphic Organizer for
instructor’s analysis of tasks
Graphic Organizer for
presentation of tasks to students
Graphic Organizer
for
simplification of assessment
Graphic Organizer for guiding
student’s negotiation of tasks
Stage 1, The Conception
Teachers often make writing assignments backwards or only
get “so far” with their creation. If this incomplete
assignment is given orally, it might sound like this: “In a
three to four page paper, I want you to discuss character
and setting, and maybe something about a major theme, oh,
and maybe why Hamlet delays so long in killing Claudius and
what that says about human endeavor.”
Stage 2, The Assignment
If I were to write this down and give my students a hand-out or a note in the
syllabus, it might be a bit more refined.
In a three to four page paper, discuss at least three of the major
characters in the play, how setting affects the action, and at least
one major theme. Be sure to consider what Hamlet’s delay says
about the human condition.
I might add notes on plagiarism, double spacing, seeking assistance from the
College Writing Center, or due dates. I might even expand upon the individual
tasks, how to view the characters or examples of major themes, but this is about
as far as we usually get with creating assignments, a set of tasks, generally
related around a topic, but somewhat unfocused in their relationships to each
other and with no clear guidance toward creating the kind of internal logic
necessary to a coherent paper.
Stage 3, Analyzing the Tasks
First I need a way of examining my own expectations for this assignment and a
way of reflecting on how I, as an expert writer, might approach these tasks. In
this first, reflective step, a graphic organizer can be very helpful, and the
“Tables” feature in Microsoft Word makes creation of these tables very simple—
well, perhaps not very simple.
So, first—CREATING A TABLE
• Always type a heading to your document before inserting a table
• Note that you may either create the table with the toolbar icon that looks
like a calendar or with the “Table” menu in the top tool bar.
• For this assignment, I’ll create four columns: task, chosen element, ideas
for writing, and questions
When I first insert the table, it will look like this.
Then I add my column headings.
Tasks
Chosen Elements
Ideas
Then I break the assignment down into its individual tasks.
Tasks
Chosen Elements
Ideas
Character 1
Character 2
Character 3
Setting/Action
Major Theme
Hamlet’s Delay
Questions
Questions
Now that the table is set up, I just free write my choices, ideas and questions,
thinking out loud within the table cells.
Task
Element
Ideas
Question
Character 1
Gertrude
I have no ideas, because A three to four page
I don’t know how I am
paper could be
supposed to approach my written on any of
Character 2
Ophelia
discussion of the
these characters, but
characters.
from what angle,
Character 3
Claudius
through what lens?
Setting/action
The
The embattled self
How do I relate this
fortress
part of the paper to
the first part? Do I
just write it in
The great
Reinforcement of power separate chapters?
hall and it’s
structure
Am I supposed to
have a thesis that
formality
includes all of this?
The
Underlines the final end
graveyard
of the characters and
widens the action to
include all humanity
Major theme
Perhaps the The double images-Relates well to the
unreliability Claudius and Hamlet’s
character section but
not to the settings.
of
father. Contradictory
perception
images—the villain at
This would be at least
prayer—Gertrude as
a 2-3 page paper.
mother and betrayer—
Ophelia as virgin and
pawn.
Hamlet’s delay
Relates to
Hamlet is too
This is a four page
problems of philosophical to
paper, easily
perception
completely trust his own
judgments and
perceptions far enough
to take an irreversible
and fatal action. Is this
a weakness or strength
in human endeavors? Is
self doubt a disease or a
sign of developing
morality?
OK, I can see that my original assignment is too
unfocused. It doesn’t lend itself to a single thesis
and really calls for 2-3 short papers rather than
one. But, with this graphic representation of my tasks
can create a refined and more focused assignment.
I
Stage 4, Refining the Task
Let’s try again, this time focusing not on what I want the writer to discuss, but on
what I want them to write, or how I want them to write it, and I should try to
make all this fit under one thesis.
My refined assignment handout might read as follows.
We have discussed several themes that pervade Shakespeare’s
Hamlet, among them, the uncertainty of perception, the double
nature of reality, and the unpredictable outcomes of human
action. Choose one of these themes and investigate how that
theme is explored in each of three major characters (Claudius,
Gertrude, Hamlet, Ophelia, Laertes, Horatio, Polonius). You
might consider the following. What is Hamlet’s perception of
each character? Is that perception stable or does it shift?
Does Shakespeare reinforce or undercut Hamlet’s perceptions
of these characters? Finally, consider how your theme relates
to Hamlet’s delay.
Well, that’s better but not great. I lost “setting” but I got the rest of it in, and
now it might fit under one thesis statement. Still it could be somewhat confusing
to read, so maybe I could arrange the prompt graphically.
Stage 5, Presenting the Assignment Graphically
One way of presenting an assignment graphically is simply to arrange the
assignment on the handout in a way that visually organizes the tasks. The
“Bullets” feature in Microsoft word is ideal for this kind of presentation. My
handout might look like the following page.
ELIT 394 Shakespearean Existentialism
Due, Monday, September 20, 2004
A three to four page paper on Shakespeare’s Hamlet as described below
We have discussed several themes that pervade Shakespeare’s Hamlet,
among them,
ƒ the uncertainty of perception,
ƒ the double nature of reality,
ƒ and the unpredictable outcomes of human action.
Choose one of these themes and investigate how that theme is explored in
each of three major characters other than Hamlet
ƒ Claudius
ƒ Gertrude
ƒ Ophelia
ƒ Laertes
ƒ Horatio
ƒ Polonius
You might consider the following:
ƒ What are the character’s misperceptions?
ƒ Are those perceptions stable or do they shift?
ƒ How do these perceptions lead to actions with unpredictable
outcomes?
Finally, consider how your theme relates to Hamlet’s delay in taking the
irreversible action of killing Claudius.
See reverse for instructions on
• formatting
• citations
• avoiding plagiarism
Stage 6, Reviewing the Assignment
Now, when I return to my first process, graphically analyzing the tasks assigned,
I see that the assignment organizes much more easily. This time I am able to
actually create an organizer that is structured like the paper.
Introduction
Character 1:
Ophelia
Character 2:
Gertrude
Character 3:
Polonius
Finally: Hamlet
Conclusion
State chosen theme and three
characters who represent that
theme. Assert that the theme
helps us understand the
difficulties encountered by
Hamlet that lead both to his
delay and the unpredictable
outcomes of his actions.
How are Ophelia’s perceptions
inaccurate? How do they lead
to incorrect action or
unpredictable consequences
The characters whom Gertrude
must perceive correctly are
her son, her present husband,
and herself.
All of Polonius’s perceptions
are faulty because his
perception of himself is false.
Hamlet’s problems of
perception.
• Is the ghost real?
• Can his uncle be so
pleasant and so evil?
• Can his own mother
whom he loves be so
completely corrupted?
Using the characters listed
above and the problem of
Hamlet’s actions and his
inaction, draw a conclusion
about what Shakespeare is
saying about the human
condition.
Hamlet’s need to
constantly sort through
his own thoughts and
perceptions.
Ophelia’s perception of
Hamlet’s behavior.
Ophelia’s trust in the
misperceptions of others.
The scene in Gertrude’s
bedroom focuses and
changes all three of these
perceptions.
Speech to Gertrude and
Claudius
P’s misperceptions lead to
his own death and to the
deaths of his children.
Hamlet’s need for others
to reinforce his
experience with the
ghost.
The prayer scene.
Hamlet’s mistaken murder
of Polonius.
The unpredictable string
of deaths that result
from Hamlet’s sequence
of actions and inactions.
Stage 7, Creating the Rubric
All of us have who assign writing have been confronted with the towering stack of
student papers and the mind dissolving task of grading them. One of the great
rewards for the instructor who creates a graphic representation of the writing
assignment is that with only one further and very simple step, the creation of a
grading rubric, the assessment process is significantly simplified. The
instructor’s task becomes simply to relax, read, and mark the rubric. An added
advantage to the rubric is that it makes both the assessment criteria and the
assessment process transparent to students.
A grading rubric created from the graphic organizer above might look like this.
ELIT 394 Shakespearean Existentialism
The Hamlet Paper
Due, Monday, September 20, 2004
Background
1-5
Introduction
State chosen theme and three characters
who represent that theme. Assert that the
theme helps us understand the difficulties
Clarity of thesis 1-5
of Hamlet’s delay and the unpredictable
outcomes of his actions.
Examples 1-5
Character 1
How are the character’s perceptions
inaccurate? How do they lead to incorrect
Explanation 1-5
action or unpredictable consequences
Examples 1-5
Character 2
How are the character’s perceptions
inaccurate? How do they lead to incorrect
Explanation 1-5
action or unpredictable consequences
Character 3
How are the character’s perceptions
Examples 1-5
inaccurate? How do they lead to incorrect
action or unpredictable consequences
Explanation 1-5
Finally:
How do Hamlet’s problems of perception
Examples 1-5
Hamlet
lead both to his delay and to actions with
unintended outcomes?
Explanation 1-5
Use presented
Conclusion
Using the characters listed above and the
evidence to support
problem of Hamlet’s actions and his
thesis. 1-5
inaction, draw a conclusion about what
Shakespeare is saying about the human
Draw a logical
condition.
conclusion 1-5
Organization
Note
1-10
Proofreading
Note:
1-10
Citations
Note:
1-10
Quality
Note:
1-10
Final Notes
Grade Total