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Discover Chicago
 Proposal
Form
Sample
Proposal
Student
Page
Explore Chicago
Proposal
Form
Sample
Proposal
Student
Page
Common Hour
Learning
Goals
Focal Point Seminars
Proposal
Form
Sample
Proposal
Sample
Syllabus
Student
Page
Best
Practices
CQ Learning
Outcomes
Faculty Resources
Quantitative Reasoning
Student
Page
Writing Program
The First-Year Program
Liberal Arts
& Sciences
FAQ
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Learning Outcome 2: Students will demonstrate competent
oral and/or written rhetorical skills (e.g. clearly identified thesis
and/or main point, development of ideas, standard grammatical usage, clear
organization).
Learning Goal 2: Develop student’s writing and rhetorical skills
through classroom exercises, and projects:
Note: Writing Requirements for CQ classes include:
1. A minimum of 7 – 10 pages of formal writing (typed and graded)
and at least 12 pages of writing overall.
2. This amount of writing should be divided between at least two different
types of assignments (e.g. journal, group projects, site visit reports,
readings-based assignments).
3. At least one of these assignments should involve critical analysis
of concepts, texts, or arguments.
Formal Graded Assignments:
1. Give creative writing assignments, such as asking your students to
imagine they are an immigrant to the City who is just arriving at the
turn of the last century. What would they see and do that was different
from now, and how would themes of your particular class vary from then
to now? Alternatively, ask them to envision what the City will be like
100 years from now.
2. At the end of a site visit, ask students to write about what their
senses took in -- what sounds they heard, aromas they smelled, how the
weather felt on the surface of their skin, what they tasted in a particular
neighborhood, and of course, what images they saw. You may also want to
have your students relate the sensory information to themes and topics
of the course.
3. Have students write comparative essays in response to two readings,
rather than simply having them respond to one.
4. Require students to revise and re-submit at least one writing assignment.
5. Have students in groups of four read each other’s final papers
and engage in a peer editing session.
6. For those elusive teachable moments, have students write a short paper
on what role if any they played in the event, what effect the incident
had on them, and how the incident added to their understanding of course
material.
7. Ask students to write for different audiences (politicians, community
activists, high school students, parents, etc.), and for different venues
(a magazine article, a newspaper editorial, an anthology of short stories,
etc.).
Informal Graded Assignments:
1. Give students a journal assignment using the “sentence prompt”
technique. That is, every sentence a student writes must start with a
particular phrase (e,g,, “In Pilsen, I saw . .” ). Students
are encouraged to write fast, without analyzing or censoring their thoughts.
This technique allows some subconscious thoughts and ideas to bubble to
the surface.
2. Have students write a paper on something that was personally meaningful
to them associated with a site excursion.
3. Break students up into groups of four and have them work on a blog
with different topics related to the course.
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