Building from Your Assignment
Learning to write is learning what questions to ask yourself. Your assignment may trigger this process, raising some questions and answering others. For example, Ben Tran jotted notes in his book as his instructor and classmates discussed his first assignment — recalling a personal experience.
See more detail about this assignment.
The assignment clarified what audience to address and what purpose to set. Ben’s classmates asked about length, format, and due date, but Ben saw three big questions: Which experience should I pick? How did it change me? Why was it so important for me? Ben still didn’t know what he’d write about, but he had figured out the questions to tackle first.
Sometimes assignments assume that you already know something critical — how to address a particular audience or what to include in some type of writing. When Amalia Blackhawk read her argument assignment, she jotted down questions to ask her instructor.
Try these steps as you examine an assignment:
- Read through the assignment once to discover its overall direction.
- Read it again, marking information about your situation as a writer. Does the assignment identify or suggest your audience, your purpose in writing, the type of paper expected, the parts typical of that kind of writing, or the format required?
- List the questions that the assignment raises for you. Exactly what do you need to decide — the type of topic to pick, the focus to develop, the issues or aspects to consider, or other guidelines to follow?
- Finally, list any questions that the assignment doesn’t answer or ask you to answer. Ask your instructor about these questions.