Assignment Ideas
Go beyond the ordinary. Using creativity in designing assignments demands creativity from your students. The following assignments were gleaned from a variety of books, handouts and web sites. (See: Sources)
| Title | Description | Type |
| Nobel Peace Prize | Students nominate someone or a group for the Nobel Peace prize. Learn about person, prize, jury. | Research, writing |
| Research an event | Students attend an event (game, concert), write a citation for it and find an article, a book and a web site about the composer, the sport, etc. | Research, writing |
| Topic on Web | Students choose topic and find all websites which discuss it. Include annotated bibliography | Research, history, writing |
| Information search | Write short paper about research process with bibliography of web sites.— state info need, research, evaluate. | Research, writing |
| Historical figure | Students are a historical figure for a day. Research person, time period, costume, culture. Be prepared to talk about it. | Research, history, writing |
| Discussion between historical figures | Students take persona of historical figure and interact with other figures keeping in character. Research history etc. | Research, history, writing |
| Adopt persona | Students write letters or diary as real person or fictional character about historical event, everyday life | Research, analysis, history, creativity, writing |
| Newspaper story | Students write newspaper story describing event (social, political, cultural) | Research, analysis, history, creativity, writing |
| Write editorial or column of opinion | Students write editorial or opinion piece. Could be in historical context | Research, analysis, history, creativity, writing |
| Create entire newspaper | Include 'reports' of actual events, editorials, letters to editor. Eg. Abolitionist newspaper | Research, analysis, history, creativity, writing |
| News conferences | Simulate interviews with real people of period. Questions contemporaries would have asked & questions with hindsight | Research, analysis, history, creativity, writing |
| Create anthology | Students compile anthology of articles and/or books plus introduction to show understanding of subject | Research, analysis, history, creativity, writing |
| Build book collection | Students build book collection for fictional library. Provide annotated bibliography with justification, availability, cost | Research, analysis, writing |
| Compare articles | Compare journal articles with conservative vs liberal tendencies | Research, analysis, writing |
| Review a performance | Write a review of a musical or dramatic performance. Reference reviews of debut, history, chronology | Research, analysis, writing |
| Compose an exam | Compose an exam on a topic. Include annotated bibliography of sources and rationale | Research, analysis, writing |
| Plan off-campus study | Students provide itinerary for an off-campus study trip — rationale, sites, annotated reading list for participants | Research, analysis, writing |
| Create an action plan | Students create an action plan for organizing around an area of interest. Investigate agencies | Research, analysis, writing |
| Job interview preparation | Assemble background information on a company or organization in preparation for a hypothetical interview. | Research, analysis, writing |
| Write a grant proposal | Write a grant proposal addressed to a specific funding agency, with literature review, budget. | Research, analysis, writing |
| Class peer review | Have class members peer review any written assignment | Analysis, writing |
| Research topic | Research topic in literature from '60s and '70s and then in '80s and '90s. Compare literature in bibliographic essay | Research, analysis, writing |
| Evaluate psychological test | Determine adequacy of psychological test based on literature. Then develop a test battery designed for clinical situation. | Research, analysis, writing, psychology |
| Criticism of literature | Prepare written criticism of literature on a topic with book reviews, citation indexes and biographical sources. | Research, analysis, writing |
| Primary sources | Using bibliographies, guides to the literature and Internet, students find primary sources on an issue or event | Research, analysis, writing |
| Responsible patient | As patients, students research a disease and diagnosis. 2 pages describes condition, symptoms, comparison of treatments | Research, analysis, writing, biology |
| Legislation trail | Follow piece of legistation through Parliament; understand issue and different political views | Research, analysis, writing, political science |
| Foreign policy | Follow particular foreign policy situation as it develops. Organizations involved, history, ideological conflicts | Research, analysis, writing, political science |
| Research major person in discipline | Through periodical literature, follow major person in a discipline; CV, bibliography, citations | Research, analysis, writing |
| Research a career | Describe and research an aspired career. Leading companies; outlook for occupation, expected starting salary | Research, writing |
| Research a company | Choose a company and find out employment policies, net worth, patents | Research, writing |
| Biography | Write a biographical sketch of famous person including time period | Research, writing |
| Research portfolio or journal | Have students maintain paper trail — document sources consulted, first draft, working bibliography, reflect on process | Research, writing |
| In-class writing | Assign topic for students to research and bring note cards to class then write the paper in class | Research, writing |
| Debate in class | Assign controversial topic & have students research and bring note cards to class then debate the topic on one side of the issue | Research, writing |
| Literature Review | Choose topic applicable to women and examine the literature from the '50s & '60s to see how the topic was being treated then | Research, analysis, writing |
| Update literature review | Choose number of specific psychological phenomena treated in review articles several years ago; student must update the review | Research, writing, psychology |
| Primary sources | Students examine primary materials on slave life or abolition and compare them to textbook treatment of subject | Research, analysis, writing, history |
| Analysis of journals of opinion | Examine body of journals available across political spectrum; select three representing different views; examine editorial opinion | Research, analysis, writing, political science |
| Analyse differing articles | Find several articles on same topic but with different positions; analyse two differing articles relating to your own ethical theory | Research, analysis, writing, philosophy |
| Iconography of work of art | Write paper on iconography of one of eight works of art based on students' own observation, library sources, time period, etc | Research, analysis, writing, fine arts |
| Dramatize historical events | Group of students choose a topic and develop an effective method to present topic to class (trial, debate); background research | Research, analysis, history, creativity, writing |
| Compare definitions | Students write their own definition of Afro-American music and then compile definitions from other sources; then compare; evaluate | Research, analysis, writing, music |
| Create a portrait of an author and his literary life | Choose author and reconstruct their life, their times and assess their work; can be highly personal judgement | Research, analysis, history, creativity, writing |
| Reaction to fiction | Students write a short response to reading a novel giving their honest reaction | Creativity, writing |
| Explore a cliche | Select a cliche and translate into psychological terms; research related issues and state whether you think cliche is true | Research, writing, creativity, Psychology |
| Interview family member | Interview older family member about their earlier life; research that time period and weave personal material with background | Research, writing, creativity, History |
| Early music in its setting | Select piece of music and research setting for an early performance; write fictionalized account of you at performance (letter, diary) | Research, analysis, writing, music |
| Prepare for interview of famous person | As journalist, extensively research an individual, compose intro to interview, draft 10 questions to ask | Research, analysis, writing |
| Personal journals | Math students keep a journal about their thought processes | Writing |
| Letter to a sick friend | Math students write to a sick friend explaining what they missed in class | Writing, comprehension, math |
| Letter to a history major | Math students write to a friend who is a history major explaining what Calculus is all about and why they should take it | Writing, comprehension, Math |
| Tracing a chain of events | Choose an past event and trace how it was covered in the various types of media (news, newspapers, magazines, journals, etc | Research, analysis, writing |
| Primary sources | Choose a decade of history and ask students to find primary sources and put together a montage of information and images | Research, writing, creativity, history |
| Primary sources | Have students read secondary source and determine which primary sources were used. Discuss how they would locate | Research, writing |
| Primary sources | Give students a primary source from the time period or topic under discussion; brainstorm on questions it raises and how to research | Research, writing, creativity |