Assignment Calculator

This resource describes some steps you can take to better understand the requirements of your writing assignments. This resource works for either in-class, teacher-led discussion or for personal use.

The first step in any successful college writing venture is reading the assignment. While this sounds like a simple task, it requires thoughtful attention. This handout will help you unravel your assignment and begin to craft an effective response. Much of the advice involves translating typical assignment terms and practices into meaningful clues to the type of writing your instructor expects.

Your writing task begins when you receive your writing assignment from your teacher. The first step is to make sure you understand the assignment and what your teacher wants you to do with it. To do this, review the requirements of the assignment. These may be in the form of an assignment sheet or a description of the assignment, or they may be given to you verbally during a class lecture. Your requirements might also be stated as a one-line entry in your syllabus or as a short essay question.

Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing is a book series containing peer-reviewed collections of essays--all composed by teachers for students--with each volume freely available for download under a Creative Commons license. The Writing Spaces' aims to build a library of quality open textbooks for the writing classroom as an alternative to costly textbooks.