Effective vs. Ineffective Writing Prompts/Determining the desired outcome of the project

Determining the desired outcome of the project

When designing your writing assignments make sure you consider the desired learning outcome(s). To narrow the goal of a given assignment, consider the following questions:

1. What do you want students to learn or be able to do as a result of the project?

• What is the goal of the assignment?
• Is this a more basic (understanding) assignment, or one that poses a conceptual question, or asks students to solve a problem?
• Is the focus on a specific topic or a broader one?
• Do you want students to write a persuasive, argumentative, journalistic, etc. paper?
• Do you want students to learn how to cite and use sources correctly?

2. What knowledge do you want students to demonstrate?

• Do you want them to gain new knowledge or use existing knowledge? That is, do you want students to use something they have learned in class specifically, or do you want them to discover something through research?
• Do you want them to focus on grammatical techniques, style (active and passive voice), or on the scientific content more than specific writing skills/strategies?
• Which writing strategies from the lessons do you want students to use in the assignment (all of the strategies you have gone over, or focus on one or a few things)?

3. How do you want students to think about the topic or desired outcome?

• What would you like students to be thinking about as they do their assignment? Think about…, Imagine that…, You are the researcher, your objective is to find…, etc.
• How can you lead them to the final destination?
• Do you want them to research ideas through articles or do you want them to be more creative?
• Do you want them to focus on topics that appeal to them personally, or are you guiding the direction they will explore?