Keri Epps
Assignments & Activities Archive
Assignment Description
As a writing instructor dedicated to researching and teaching rhetorical genres, I often struggle with how to facilitate students’ learning of what makes a genre, how it circulates, and who it matters to. In short, designing scaffolded assignments around “genre” has seemed difficult in writing courses at the introductory and more advanced levels. A turning point for me was the design of the included assignment, adapted from my colleagues Dr. Laura A. Aull and Professor Laura Giovanelli: “How to Write a _ Like a __.” This assignment offers students the opportunity to occupy the position of a writer they want to be. In this position, students are encouraged to think through all the ways that person would need to write a particular kind of text for a reader or group of readers who value the genre and use it to incite action. Specifically, in this assignment, students write a guide for new writers in the selected genre’s discourse community and explain to the readers who the members of the discourse communities are, what they care about, and how the writing they do should reflect those core values. In writing the guide, students also must recall how media and modes intersect with genre in order to make the best design choices for their intended audience. Students have a lot of choice in deciding the genre and the medium in which they choose to compose/design their writing guide (some examples of guides students have created can be found at the WRI 210: Writing Guides website). The assignment offers students a space to research and perform writing in a rhetorical context that is low-risk, enjoyable, and meaningful.