Our structure for WRTG 150 is driven primarily by the learning outcomes for the course, and we plan daily lessons and writing units that address those learning outcomes. The assignments presented here serve as vehicles for addressing those learning outcomes. We expect that students will develop awareness of the principles of rhetoric, their own writing process, and how genres work in the real world through completing these assignments.

We expect that you will address each outcome in some way during each of the major assignments; the name for this design is a spiral curriculum, and you can read more about that here or here if you’d like additional information beyond that you received in your training.

In the sections below, you’ll find links to assignment descriptions, models (which can be used in addition to those located on The Draft website), and grading rubrics for each of these major assignments. For more specific ideas about how to approach these in the classroom, see the tag cloud or visit the Learning Outcomes section of the site.

The Opinion Editorial

Description of the Op-Ed (taken from older materials used prior to our use of Mindful Writing). This document can provide some details that you can include in the assignment description you hand out to students.

Assignment Description Handout: This document gives one example of a handout for students about the assignment. You should expect to adapt/change for your students and your classroom.

Analytic Rubric: We strongly suggest that you use this rubric to evaluate students’ writing in this genre. In addition, you should share the rubric with students early in the writing process as a tool to help them draft and revise their writing.

Holistic Grading Tool: This document comes from materials we used in WRTG 150 before Mindful Writing. It provides a general description of performance for the Op-Ed at different levels. It can provide useful background information about our expectations for this piece.

Rhetorical Analysis (current version)

We want you to teach the skills of rhetorical analysis throughout the semester, via short, focused writing tasks that build towards one of the major assignments. To do so, you should assign all three of these assignments to students during the other major assignments. You may make minor adjustments to these assignment sheets to meet your own needs.

Genre Analysis (Op-Ed)
In this assignment, we assess and teach students to analyze a genre (the opinion editorial in this case). This should be done before students write their own op-ed; they should be working on this as they learn rhetorical principles and while you model these analytical practices for them in class.

Source Analysis (Conference Paper)
In this assignment, we ask students to do a close reading of a peer-reviewed, academic article (similar to the conference paper they’re writing) so that they can better understand how experienced writers use sources, build ethos, craft an academic argument, etc. This should be assigned after students have conducted preliminary research and have sources to draw from.

Visual Rhetoric Analysis (Multimodal Project)
In this assignment, we ask students to take what they’ve learned this semester about rhetoric and analysis and apply it to a multimodal text.  These skills should be modeled for them in class, and the assignment should help them build understandings that they will rely on when they compose their own multimodal text.

The Rhetorical Analysis (older version, deprecated)

We offer two options for this assignment, with this first being a traditional essay that analyzes the rhetoric of a text. (You may choose a text for students to use, curate a set of texts they can choose from, or allow them to choose a text on their own with your approval.)

Description of the Rhetorical Analysis: (taken from older materials used prior to our use of Mindful Writing). This document can provide some details that you can include in the assignment description you hand out to students.

Assignment Description Handout: This document gives one example of a handout for students about the assignment. You should expect to adapt/change for your students and your classroom.

Analytic Rubric: We strongly suggest that you use this rubric to evaluate students’ writing in this genre. In addition, you should share the rubric with students early in the writing process as a tool to help them draft and revise their writing.

Holistic Grading Tool: This document comes from materials we used in WRTG 150 before Mindful Writing. It provides a general description of performance for the Rhetorical Analysis at different levels. It can provide useful background information about our expectations for this piece and can shape troubleshooting efforts you might make in helping students.

The Research-Based Argument (Conference Paper)

Description of the Source-Based Argument: (taken from older materials used prior to our use of Mindful Writing). In the past, we’ve referred to this major assignment as an “Issues Paper” but we’re asking now that you refer to it as the “Conference Paper” in line with our hope to create a more authentic context and audience for the writing. This older material, however, remains relevant to the general objectives of the project and you may find useful information here.

Template for the Conference Paper Assignment: This Google doc will allow you to customize the context (situation and audience) for the conference paper assignment as well as provide some sample topics that might fit that context.

Analytic Rubric: We strongly suggest that you use this rubric to evaluate students’ writing in this genre. In addition, you should share the rubric with students early in the writing process as a tool to help them draft and revise their writing.

Holistic Grading Tool: This document comes from materials we used in WRTG 150 before Mindful Writing. It provides a general description of performance for the Conference Paper (called the Issues Paper in this tool) at different levels. It can provide useful background information about our expectations for this piece that can inform both your grading and the way you teach this genre to students.

Multimodal Project

Because this project can take on many forms, we’ve collected here a small sampling of different multimodal project assignments.

Final Exam

Again, this final can take on many different forms, so we’ve collected a few in this Google drive folder for you to review.