assignment module 4

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4.3: Writing Assignments

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• Lumen Learning

Learning Objectives

• Describe common types and expectations of writing tasks given in a college class

What to Do With Writing Assignments

Writing assignments can be as varied as the instructors who assign them. Some assignments are explicit about what exactly you’ll need to do, in what order, and how it will be graded. Others are more open-ended, leaving you to determine the best path toward completing the project. Most fall somewhere in the middle, containing details about some aspects but leaving other assumptions unstated. It’s important to remember that your first resource for getting clarification about an assignment is your instructor—she or he will be very willing to talk out ideas with you, to be sure you’re prepared at each step to do well with the writing.

Writing in college is usually a response to class materials—an assigned reading, a discussion in class, an experiment in a lab. Generally speaking, these writing tasks can be divided into three broad categories: summary assignments, defined-topic assignments, and undefined-topic assignments.

Link to Learning

This Assignment Calculator can help you plan ahead for your writing assignment. Just plug in the date you plan to get started and the date it is due, and it will help break it down into manageable chunks.

Summary Assignments

Being asked to summarize a source is a common task in many types of writing. It can also seem like a straightforward task: simply restate, in shorter form, what the source says. A lot of advanced skills are hidden in this seemingly simple assignment, however.

An effective summary does the following:

• reflects your accurate understanding of a source’s thesis or purpose
• differentiates between major and minor ideas in a source
• demonstrates your ability to identify key phrases to quote
• demonstrates your ability to effectively paraphrase most of the source’s ideas
• captures the tone, style, and distinguishing features of a source
• does not reflect your personal opinion about the source

That last point is often the most challenging: we are opinionated creatures, by nature, and it can be very difficult to keep our opinions from creeping into a summary, which is meant to be completely neutral.

In college-level writing, assignments that are only summary are rare. That said, many types of writing tasks contain at least some element of summary, from a biology report that explains what happened during a chemical process, to an analysis essay that requires you to explain what several prominent positions about gun control are, as a component of comparing them against one another.

Writing Effective Summaries

Start with a clear identification of the work.

This automatically lets your readers know your intentions and that you’re covering the work of another author.

• In the featured article “Five Kinds of Learning,” the author, Holland Oates, justifies his opinion on the hot topic of learning styles — and adds a few himself.

Summarize the Piece as a Whole

Omit nothing important and strive for overall coherence through appropriate transitions. Write using “summarizing language.” Your reader needs to be reminded that this is not your own work. Use phrases like the article claims, the author suggests, etc.

• Present the material in a neutral fashion. Your opinions, ideas, and interpretations should be left in your brain — don’t put them into your summary. Be conscious of choosing your words. Only include what was in the original work.
• Be concise. This is a summary — it should be much shorter than the original piece. If you’re working on an article, give yourself a target length of 1/4 the original article.

Conclude with a Final Statement

This is not a statement of your own point of view, however; it should reflect the significance of the book or article from the author’s standpoint.

• Without rewriting the article, summarize what the author wanted to get across. Be careful not to evaluate in the conclusion or insert any of your own assumptions or opinions.

Understanding the Assignment and Getting Started

Often, the handout or other written text explaining the assignment—what professors call the assignment prompt —will explain the purpose of the assignment and the required parameters (length, number and type of sources, referencing style, etc.).

Also, don’t forget to check the rubric, if there is one, to understand how your writing will be assessed. After analyzing the prompt and the rubric, you should have a better sense of what kind of writing you are expected to produce.

Sometimes, though—especially when you are new to a field—you will encounter the baffling situation in which you comprehend every single sentence in the prompt but still have absolutely no idea how to approach the assignment! In a situation like that, consider the following tips:

• Focus on the verbs . Look for verbs like compare, explain, justify, reflect , or the all-purpose analyze . You’re not just producing a paper as an artifact; you’re conveying, in written communication, some intellectual work you have done. So the question is, what kind of thinking are you supposed to do to deepen your learning?
• Put the assignment in context . Many professors think in terms of assignment sequences. For example, a social science professor may ask you to write about a controversial issue three times: first, arguing for one side of the debate; second, arguing for another; and finally, from a more comprehensive and nuanced perspective, incorporating text produced in the first two assignments. A sequence like that is designed to help you think through a complex issue. If the assignment isn’t part of a sequence, think about where it falls in the span of the course (early, midterm, or toward the end), and how it relates to readings and other assignments. For example, if you see that a paper comes at the end of a three-week unit on the role of the Internet in organizational behavior, then your professor likely wants you to synthesize that material.
• Try a free-write . A free-write is when you just write, without stopping, for a set period of time. That doesn’t sound very “free”; it actually sounds kind of coerced, right? The “free” part is what you write—it can be whatever comes to mind. Professional writers use free-writing to get started on a challenging (or distasteful) writing task or to overcome writer’s block or a powerful urge to procrastinate. The idea is that if you just make yourself write, you can’t help but produce some kind of useful nugget. Thus, even if the first eight sentences of your free write are all variations on “I don’t understand this” or “I’d really rather be doing something else,” eventually you’ll write something like “I guess the main point of this is…,” and—booyah!—you’re off and running.
• Ask for clarification . Even the most carefully crafted assignments may need some verbal clarification, especially if you’re new to a course or field. Professors generally love questions, so don’t be afraid to ask. Try to convey to your instructor that you want to learn and you’re ready to work, and not just looking for advice on how to get an A.

Defined-Topic Assignments

Many writing tasks will ask you to address a particular topic or a narrow set of topic options. Defined-topic writing assignments are used primarily to identify your familiarity with the subject matter. (Discuss the use of dialect in Their Eyes Were Watching God , for example.)

Remember, even when you’re asked to “show how” or “illustrate,” you’re still being asked to make an argument. You must shape and focus your discussion or analysis so that it supports a claim that you discovered and formulated and that all of your discussion and explanation develops and supports.

Undefined-Topic Assignments

Another writing assignment you’ll potentially encounter is one in which the topic may be only broadly identified (“water conservation” in an ecology course, for instance, or “the Dust Bowl” in a U.S. History course), or even completely open (“compose an argumentative research essay on a subject of your choice”).

Where defined-topic essays demonstrate your knowledge of the content , undefined-topic assignments are used to demonstrate your skills— your ability to perform academic research, to synthesize ideas, and to apply the various stages of the writing process.

The first hurdle with this type of task is to find a focus that interests you. Don’t just pick something you feel will be “easy to write about” or that you think you already know a lot about —those almost always turn out to be false assumptions. Instead, you’ll get the most value out of, and find it easier to work on, a topic that intrigues you personally or a topic about which you have a genuine curiosity.

The same getting-started ideas described for defined-topic assignments will help with these kinds of projects, too. You can also try talking with your instructor or a writing tutor (at your college’s writing center) to help brainstorm ideas and make sure you’re on track.

Getting Started in the Writing Process

Writing is not a linear process, so writing your essay, researching, rewriting, and adjusting are all part of the process. Below are some tips to keep in mind as you approach and manage your assignment.

Write down topic ideas. If you have been assigned a particular topic or focus, it still might be possible to narrow it down or personalize it to your own interests.

If you have been given an open-ended essay assignment, the topic should be something that allows you to enjoy working with the writing process. Select a topic that you’ll want to think about, read about, and write about for several weeks, without getting bored.

If you’re writing about a subject you’re not an expert on and want to make sure you are presenting the topic or information realistically, look up the information or seek out an expert to ask questions.

• Note: Be cautious about information you retrieve online, especially if you are writing a research paper or an article that relies on factual information. A quick Google search may turn up unreliable, misleading sources. Be sure you consider the credibility of the sources you consult (we’ll talk more about that later in the course). And keep in mind that published books and works found in scholarly journals have to undergo a thorough vetting process before they reach publication and are therefore safer to use as sources.
• Check out a library. Yes, believe it or not, there is still information to be found in a library that hasn’t made its way to the Web. For an even greater breadth of resources, try a college or university library. Even better, research librarians can often be consulted in person, by phone, or even by email. And they love helping students. Don’t be afraid to reach out with questions!

Write a Rough Draft

It doesn’t matter how many spelling errors or weak adjectives you have in it. Your draft can be very rough! Jot down those random uncategorized thoughts. Write down anything you think of that you want included in your writing and worry about organizing and polishing everything later.

If You’re Having Trouble, Try F reewriting

Set a timer and write continuously until that time is up. Don’t worry about what you write, just keeping moving your pencil on the page or typing something (anything!) into the computer.

Contributors and Attributions

• Outcome: Writing in College. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
• Writing in College: From Competence to Excellence. Authored by : Amy Guptill. Provided by : SUNY Open Textbooks. Located at : textbooks.opensuny.org/writing-in-college-from-competence-to-excellence/. License : CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
• Image of man writing. Authored by : Matt Zhang. Located at : https://flic.kr/p/pAg6t9 . License : CC BY-NC-ND: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
• Writing Strategies. Provided by : Lumen Learning. Located at : courses.lumenlearning.com/lumencollegesuccess/chapter/writing-strategies/. License : CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
• Image of woman reading. Authored by : Aaron Osborne. Located at : https://flic.kr/p/dPLmVV . License : CC BY: Attribution
• Image of sketches of magnifying glass. Authored by : Matt Cornock. Located at : https://flic.kr/p/eBSLmg . License : CC BY-NC: Attribution-NonCommercial
• How to Write a Summary. Authored by : WikiHow. Located at : http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Summary . License : CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
• How to Write. Provided by : WikiHow. License : CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
• Image of typing. Authored by : Kiran Foster. Located at : https://flic.kr/p/9M2WW4 . License : CC BY: Attribution

Resources: Discussions and Assignments

Module 4 assignment: the buying process.

Open Pedagogy Assignments are assignments in which students use their agency and creativity to create knowledge artifacts that can support their own learning, their classmates’ learning, and the learning of students around the world. (See this  peer-reviewed article  for more details.) The  assignment on this page is aligned to the  learning outcomes of Principles of Retail Management  and we’ve identified the module where the reading appears. All of the assignments can be created with a cell phone camera or any video recording device, Google or Word documents, and your learning management system.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Outline the steps of the buying process

In Module 4,  we aim to identify and understand customer behavior.  For this assignment, we’ll focus on the attention, interest, desire, and action, or AIDA model, which describes the buying largely from the marketer’s perspective. Using your experience as a customer, discuss how an advertiser has grabbed your attention and made you aware of the product or service that can satisfy an identifiable need. Then, through the description of features and benefits, your interest was then developed to the point of desire where you purchased the item or the service. You may not have used AIDA as an employee, but you’ve certainly had experience as a consumer.

Using your cell phone or any other recording device, create a short video advising a fellow student who shares your interest in learning more about the buying process. You don’t have to edit or create a professional-grade film. You’ve most likely have done this type of recording already on social media, so feel free to use the same informal conversational tone.

You might want to do a quick internet search to review current advertising for the product or service to refresh your memory, and you’ll want to reread this information in this module.  Think of your audience as fellow students who are interested to learn about this process. Better yet, try to explain as if you were talking to somebody who is not taking this course.

In your video, you address the following questions about your chosen product or service:

• How did this company get your attention? Online? Word-of-mouth? Your own research?
• How did the company’s advertising develop your interest to the point of desire to purchase the product?
• Does the path-to-purchase model make more sense to you? If so, why? If not, why?

A Note To Teachers:  For this assignment, the first term students will be creating the videos, and then the next term’s students can respond to the videos. After you have two terms of examples, use the best three from the batch as examples and start the process over again. Using the videos as starting points for OL discussion boards may work as well.

You may need to review the AIDA model and the sales funnel concept in order to scaffold this assignment. Ideally students will use their own experiences either as a customer or in the industry to explain these concepts. This is also a great opportunity to share your expertise and experience with students.

• The Buying Process. Authored by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution

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module 4 coding assignment

LavanyaChennampalli/Coursera-Module-4

Folders and files, repository files navigation, coursera-module-4.

Coursera course: HTML, CSS, and Javascript for Web Developers

Here is what you will need to do in order to complete the assignment:

(If you haven't already) Create a GitHub.com account and a repository that you will use for this class.

(If you haven't already) Follow the Development Setup Video (beginning of Module 1) instructions on how to create a repository and set it up such that you can host and view your finished web pages on GitHub Pages, i.e., GitHub.io domain name. You will need to provide that URL for your peer review.

Create a folder in your repository that will serve as a container folder for your solution to this assignment. You can call it whatever you want. For example, module4-solution or mod4_solution, etc.

You will need to download the starter files for this project and copy them into your solution container folder (e.g., into module4-solution). Since assignments and starter code get updated from time to time, don't assume that you have the latest version already on your system. The best way to ensure that you are working with the very latest starter code is either git clone the fullstack-course4 repository into a new directory OR, if you've already done 'git clone' previously, you can simply open up your command prompt (cmd on Windows or Terminal on Mac), navigate to the folder where the fullstack-course4 repository was previously cloned into and do: git pull.

This will update your local copy of the repository with whatever changes have been made since the last update.

As a reminder, the full repository URL is: https://github.com/jhu-ep-coursera/fullstack-course4

Once the local repository on your system is up to date, YOU HAVE A CHOICE! If you want a slightly more challenging assignment, use the code in the "harder" folder as your starting point. If you want a slightly less challenging assignment, use the code in the "easier" folder as your starting point. The difference between the two starting points is that in the "easier" starting point, there are a few steps that are already completed for you.

Harder: If you want a slightly more challenging assignment, copy all the contents of the fullstack-course4/assignments/assignment4/assignment4-solution-starter/harder folder into your newly created solutions container folder for this assignment, e.g., 'module4-solution'.

Easier: If you want a slightly less challenging assignment, copy all the contents of the fullstack-course4/assignments/assignment4/assignment4-solution-starter/easier folder into your newly created solutions container folder for this assignment, e.g., 'module4-solution'.

NOTE: the provided starter code will not run. It is up to you to follow the instructions to get it to run. Once you've copied the starter code of your choice into your solution folder, open up your solution folder in the code editor. Open up script.js file and follow the steps.

When you are continuously working on the assignment, use Browser Sync and keep Chrome open to the Console tab of the Chrome Developer Tools. You will likely see errors there to start with. Follow the steps outlined in the starter code and those errors should go away by the time you finish the last step. If you still see errors at that point or you are not seeing the output you're supposed to see, you probably made a mistake somewhere, so look into that and investigate.

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