ENGL 1010: Expository Writing
22 Sample Writing Projects
Below you will find sample ENGL1010 writing projects. When deciding on assignment design, consider the purpose of each project. Also, it is important to keep in mind that the True Blue Core program requires that all faculty incorporate one “Signature Assignment” that meets all of the course objectives for assessment purposes. There must be one assignment that is designed in a manner that shows evidence of all the True Blue Core objectives being reached. This assessment is done outside of our department by the True Blue Core Program.
Project 1 Exigency: Consider your own literacy
The purpose of this assignment is to draw students’ attention to themselves as literate individuals, writers, and rhetors who have made many informed decisions about composition throughout their lives. Through building metacognitive awareness, this project introduces students to each other, to you, the university, and – broadly – writing at the university level. It also helps them see discourse as constructed and rhetorical, key components of the course, and later success as flexible, strategic writers. Because this assignment asks students to draw on their past experiences, they must also use “I” – an experience that some students feel uncomfortable about initially, though many find it liberating and enjoyable. This is also a great tone-setting assignment in which you can encourage students to experiment, challenge themselves, and find joy in writing.
Project 2 Exigency: Consider the literacy practices of others
In this project, students begin to look outside themselves, bringing their burgeoning rhetorical awareness and literacy understanding to primary research opportunities. Adopting primary research methods such as interviews, surveys, and observations, students draw on their findings to craft a window into someone else’s literacy experiences.
Project 3 Exigency: Consider how literacy functions in communities
In this project, students draw on their literacy learning in Projects 1 and 2 to guide their exploration of how literacy functions more broadly, in communities. In particular, they examine genres rhetorically, considering how community literacies are expressed through genre. Genres function like cultural artifacts, demonstrating their needs, values, and expectations through discourse. Students might focus on one genre in particular, or they might examine myriad genres of a specific community, such as that of a particular university community or those in their major discipline. Example 1 from Kate Pantelides also works well as a True Blue Core Signature Assignment.
Project 4 Exigency: Reflect on literacy across the semester; Transfer learning to ENGL1020 and further writing opportunities
In this project, students are asked to thoughtfully and mindfully reflect on their work from across the semester and develop an attendant reflection on their learning. In addition to giving students the opportunity to articulate their understandings of course material, the presentational aspect of the project invites students to share their learning with each other, prime their work for ENGL1020, and integrate lessons learned across their coursework.
True Blue Core Signature Assignment
Each ENGL 1010 course must include one Signature Assignment featuring all True Blue Core course objectives (copied below for convenience):
- Examine multimodal literacies across contexts, cultures, and communities, including academic disciplines and public audiences (Reading processes)
- Reflect on literacy in student lives and across learning experiences (Integrative Thinking)
- Compose writing tasks that demonstrate understanding of the rhetorical situation (Rhetorical Knowledge)
- Revise writing assignments based on iterative feedback and make appropriate decisions about content, form, and presentation (Composing Processes)
- Demonstrate understanding of ethical primary research practices (Genre Conventions)
- Practice genre analysis of various types of text—print, digital, and audio (Information Literacy)
The following project from Dr. Kate Pantelides is an example of an ENGL 1010 assignment that includes each of the True Blue Core course objectives and thus qualifies as a True Blue Core assessable assignment:
For further details about course objectives and assignments, visit the Curriculum Map.
