De-Coding Writing Assignments

Abstract

WHEN ALICE WALKER, BARBARA TUCHMAN, or Stephen Jay Gould write, they choose their own topic, write after long years of thought or research, and write because they want to write. Students, on the other hand, often are given a topic, need to produce an essay within a week or two, and write because they are required to do so. Yet what students and professional authors have in common is the desire to succeed. Professional authors want to please their audience, to garner good reviews, to impress their editors, and to build a solid reputation. Essentially, students want the same things: to please their instructors and classmates, to receive praise, to earn a high grade, to build a reputation as a hard-working and intelligent member of the class. Students sometimes feel frustrated by what they see as the limitations imposed on them by assignments. When first got to college, one senior said, I kept asking myself 'What does he want? What does he want?' Whenever got an assignment, it drove me crazy. spent more time, think, trying to psych out the teacher than did planning my paper. Then, when was a junior, my gov professor asked me, 'What do you want?' And it was the first time ever thought that my paper could mean something to me. We talked about the assignment-the course was on