Written Communication Toolkit

Provide clear criteria

General guidelines

Distinguish which features of the writing you need to assess

Are students expected to consider a topic? Generate ideas? Demonstrate understanding? Construct an argument? Ensure students know which elements are important in grading.

Make assignments and deadlines work for you

Structure and schedule writing tasks that won't bury you. Assess students' work in stages through drafts, peer review, group evaluation and self-assessment. Refuse to be the first human being to read their paper.

Expect excellence

Set high standards in advance. Ensure students are aware of grading criteria and can self-evaluate against those criteria. Set process deadlines for the assignment so students approach it as an on-going reflective experience and stay on task.

Designing Effective Writing Assignments. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 23 October, 2006
http://www.umuc.edu/ugp/ewp/design.html

Let students know criteria

Make sure students know the criteria you use to mark their written work. Ask students to hand in the criteria sheet with their assignment with their own grading of their work indicated on the sheet.

Let them see how their expectations and your expectations align.

Why not:

Use a 'dummy' assignment from the High Distinction and Fail ranges to illustrate strengths and weaknesses of student writing.

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