Sequence the Assignments

If possible, assignments should be sequenced so that students build on their thinking and writing skills though the quarter. Assignments should ask students to perform more straightforward writing tasks before progressing to more complex ones. Early in the term, for instance, it’s better for students to analyze a single text, and then ask them to progress to synthesizing several texts.

When moving from one assignment to the next, try to forge connections between them. Explain to your class how they’re related—that is, how they can apply the skills they’ve been developing to the next assignment? Ideally, students writing Example #1 would have examined Marx, Durkheim, or Weber’s theory of religion separately before including them in one essay, for example.