Please explore these examples of activities and assignments used in various writing classrooms. These assignments come from ECU and non-ECU affiliated scholars and instructors who have given permission to share their work on this secure site. Please provide proper attribution on any assignment you create that is influenced or uses any part of these assignments. You are encouraged to share your own assignments by emailing them to Dr. Tracy Morse (morset@ecu.edu).
Pre-writing
Concept Mapping: ask students to use free technologies like Prezi, bubbl.us, Pinterest to explore topics and ideas
Purpose, Audience, and Genre
Abby Morris’s Audience Awareness through Social Media Profiles
Will Eddins’s Purpose/Audience/Context Exercise
Angela Raper’s PAG Exercise
Angela Raper’s Freaks PAG
Corinee Guy’s Audience and Purpose Exercise
Christine Nicodemus’s Rhetorical Situations Gone Bad
Jason Faulkner’s Purpose, Audience, and Topic
Abigail Morris’s Audience analysis document
Sarah Parrish’s Audience Awareness using The Office (For Instructors)
Audience Awareness using The Office (Handout for Students)
Florida State University’s Activities and Exercises with Audience
Research Process
“What is Important to You?”: a series of questions to help students figure out issues to research that are important to them
Studying Writing in the Field Worksheet by Wendy Sharer
Abby Morris’s Proposal Form for Writing to Persuade (and an example of a form completed)
Angela Raper’s Journal ID Activity
This article from The Prompt discusses work that may helpful in teaching students how to read journal articles and other academic writing. It works by focusing students’ reading on finding and synthesizing key information in a text in order to generate an accurate and informative abstract. The author also provides 8 days worth of scaffolded exercises that can be used systematically or piecemeal (depending on time constraints and goals). This could help solve the problem of students cherry-picking content from articles and using quotes without context.
From The Howe Center for Writing Excellence – Guide to Integrating Sources
Rhetorical Analysis
Tracy Morse’s What is Rhetorical Analysis? Handout
Tracy Morse’s Restaurant Review
Tracy Morse’s Analyzing an Ad
Temp McKoy’s Rhetorical Analysis of Music worksheet
Jib Fowles’ Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals This is an article that may help students think more critically about the appeals at work in an ad. This may also serve as a secondary source for some students writing an analysis of an advertisement.
Amanda Smith’s Family Guy Episode Analysis
Thinking about Audience and Rhetorical Strategies by Tracy Ann Morse influenced by Celestine Davis
Evaluating Websites Questions to Ask
Rhetorical Analysis Worksheet
“Born the Hard Way” original beer commercial & “Born the Hard Way” Rhetorical Analysis video essay
“Take a Photo Here” -NYT article on spacial rhetoric and control
Zac Singletary’s “ENGL1100.SampleAnalysisAct.” Asks students to find specific types of sources, through the lens of specific appeals.
Rhetorical Analysis Activities for 2201
Ruby Nancy’s Disciplinary Values List
Jamal-Jared Alexander’s Think.Pair.Share Rhetorical Analysis Group Exercise
Rhetorical Modes and Styles
Brian Glover’s Problem Statement Exercise
Joe Campbell’s Memo Response
Randall Martoccia’s Paragraph Development
Carleigh DeAngelis and Suzan Flanagan’s Research Proposal Exercise
Short Story Exploration Paper
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/radical_teacher/v084/84.hale.htm
This article uses the topic of immigration to demonstrate ways in which an argumentative paper can be written.
Description and Explanation. Assignment.
Newspaper Article Writing Assignment
Peer Review
Guidelines for Peer Review
Peer Review Ideas
Workshop Handout for Writing to Reflect
Workshop Handout
Workshop Handout for Proposal (face-to-face)
Workshop Handout for Research Project (2201–face-to-face)
Peer Review–General Guidelines
Peer Review Exercises (Thompson)
Peer Review–Editing (with Proofreading Tips Handout)
Basic Artifact Essay Checklist
Activity-Speeding Dating by Jamal-Jared Alexander
Citation, Documentation, and Works Cited (Reference)
Chris Bethel’s In-Text Citation Practice (with answer key)
Chris Bethel’s Citing Traditional and Non-Traditional Sources in MLA/APA
Therese Pennell’s Citation Style Exercise
Joe Campbell’s MLA Homework Assignment
Corinee Guy’s Evaluating Sources
Corinee Guy’s Evaluating Websites In-Class Exercise
Randall Martoccia’s Make Your Own APA
Randall Martoccia’s Categorizing Research
Pete Frank’s Summary, Paraphrase, and Quotation
Citation Game–APA Psych Out
Citation Game–MLA Master Blaster
Citation Game–Chicago Showdown
Group Presentations/Group Work
Fall 2013 Group Presentation
Presentation Organization/Schedule Organization
Anonymous Group Task Grade
Temp McKoy’s Group Presentation Instructions
Temp McKoy’s Group Presentation Rubric
FIRSTS
First Day Survey (way to introduce syllabus)
Student Survey (way to get to know students better)
EXERCISES/WORKSHEETS
Show Don’t Tell
Entering the Conversation Worksheet
Ed Reges’s Loci Activity
Other Useful Bits
Logical Fallacies MiniGuide
Metaphors Matter Articles (PDFs) ROOKIE MISTAKE & This is how tiny changes- metaphors matter & Why Metaphors Matter for App Designers