THE STRUCTURE OF WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

The first thing to realize is that you have complete freedom here. Writing assignments can be as short or long, simple or complex, as you wish. However, particularly if giving and grading writing assignments is a new venture for you, we recommend keeping things as simple as possible at the outset. When we first tried it ourselves, we began by assigning one or two page biographical sketches of famous mathematicians as extra credit assignments. This is an excellent way to develop a feel for what it is like to assess such assignments. From this beginning, we have experimented with incorporating writing in the math class more thoroughly, with assessment of writing assignments forming an integral part of student assessment for the course. Starting small and simple helps your students also, as they can then become accustomed to the standard you will require of them. Additionally, the simpler the assignment, the less time must be devoted during class (and by your students outside of class) to getting the assignment organized, understood, and completed. To help you get a feel for how writing assignments may be structured, we present here some assignments that we have used over the last several years, together with examples sent to us by other teachers:

Personal Essay
Biographical Sketch
Infinity Research Paper
"Large Numbers" Research Paper
Overpopulation Thesis Paper
Logical Fallacies Paper
Daily Notebooks

We always place these assignments on our department-provided web pages, where students may access them and print them. This encourages students to use the web for research, and permits us to include links to some of these resources. You are welcome to save these sample assignment web pages to your home directory to serve as a template for your own assignments.

THE REQUIRED FORMAT OF WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

Although you may be tempted not to require any consistency of style or format from your students, we strongly advise that you do so, for many reasons. First, the (admittedly bland) uniformity of the required style permits the reader (i.e., the grader) to focus on the content and substance of a paper without being influenced (or distracted) by its formatting. Second, the required format promotes clarity, and makes it easy to find important information, such as the author of the paper, the references used, and so on. Third, it lets students know what is expected, and permits the instructor to apply a uniform grading standard vis-á-vis the purely structural aspects of the paper. In short, keeping in mind that we are not trained to teach composition, setting a minimum standard for the purely formal compositional elements frees us to focus assessment of our students’ efforts on the content rather than the form of their papers.
         Because there is not a universally accepted style for mathematical writing (and to the extent that there is one, it addresses exposition at the research level, which is irrevelent here), we have always implemented the Modern Language Association (MLA) academic standard for writing assignments. This is the standard that is taught in freshman composition courses, and the primary reference text is always available in college bookstores. (For flexibility’s sake, we generally permit students trained in the APA standard to use it instead – provided they do so properly.) A concise, detailed exposition of the MLA standard for academic papers is included at the end of this article.          As regards other qualities of their compositions, such as sentence structure, paragraphing, and so forth, we allow students more latitude than a composition teacher would do, because such issues are not central to the purpose of a writing assignment in a math-class setting. We do, however, mark down a paper for failure to follow the prescribed format, sloppy presentation, poor grammar, and rampant spelling errors. This simply reinforces a standard that should be common to all academic work.

ASSESSMENT

It is natural to divide assessment of students’ written work into two parts – form and content. By setting a minimum standard for the form of the paper (as outlined above, and as described below in the For The Student section), assessment of the form of the paper is facilitated and made uniform. How content is assessed will vary greatly depending on the assignment. The guiding principle is to ensure that students know what is expected of them, and that assessment of their work is applied as uniformly as possible. The challenge for the instructor is that some students will be very good at written composition, whereas others will be very poor at it. By focusing on content rather than style, you can help to level the playing field in such a way that all your students will get the greatest benefit possible from the assignment.

BASIC REQUIREMENTS FOR YOUR PAPER

1. Papers should always be typed, double-spaced, using either courier or times roman typeface in black 12 point type. DO NOT use any other typeface, color, or size.
   
   
2. The paper used should be stock white, and a standard size (8 1/2 × 11 in. in North America, A4 elsewhere).
   
   
3. Every page should have a 1 inch (2.5 cm) margin on all sides. This is critical to allow the grader to write comments in the margins.
   
   
4. When references are used, a works cited page must be prepared.

DETAILED REQUIREMENTS

1. Citations are made in accordance with the MLA (Modern Language Association) standard. If you are specifically trained in the use of APA, then the APA style may be substituted, but only with instructor permission.
   
   
2. Every paper should have a title.
   
   
3. The student author’s name should appear, together with the page number, in the top right hand corner of every page (this element only may violate the 1 inch margin rule).
   
   
4. The first page should have the student’s name, the instructor’s name, the class, and the date in the top left-hand corner of the page (see illustration below).
   
   
5. Titles of books, titles of web pages, and any non-English text must either be underlined or italicized.
   
   
6. DO NOT fully justify text (left justify only). In other words, the right edge of the text should be “ragged.”
   
   
7. When a complete paragraph or block of text has a single source, place the citation at the end of the paragraph or block of text.
   
   
8. Quotations longer than three lines of text must be indented.
   
   
9. Use of graphs and other images is encouraged. Images that cannot be printed inline with the text (such as hand-drawn graphs, etc.) should be attached on separate sheets, with titles such as “Figure 1,” and referenced by title in the text. Note that such extra sheets will ordinarily not count towards length requirements.
   
   
10. Alphabetize the works cited page, and ensure that the references are listed the same way they are cited in the text. (See Format for References below.)
    
    
11. The second and following lines of references are indented on the works cited page, not the first line.
    
    
12. The “works cited page” may be included on the last page of text if room allows. When this is done, separate the works cited from the text by using a solid line, drawn from the left margin to the center of the page. (I.e., this is drawn between the last line of text and the words “works cited.”)
    
    
13. BE SURE TO CITE YOUR SOURCES IN THE TEXT.

TIPS

Forget formatting – until you have finished doing your research, compiling your sources, and preparing your draft paper. When the paper is essentially finished, then is the time to carefully format it. Finally, proof the completed paper for spelling (use the spell checker!) and grammar. Sloppiness with respect to proper formatting, correct spelling, and good grammar will cause the paper to be marked down.

BOOKS

Book References should list the author, title, and publication information, as follows:

Author Last Name, First Name. Title of Book (ital-
        icized). City of Publication: Publisher,
        year of publication.

Lobdel, Jared. England and Always: Tolkein's World of
        the Rings. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981.

Note that this is the basic form; there are many variations for anthologies, multi-volume works, etc. See the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers for guidance.

WEB PAGES (& misc. electronic sources)

To cite files available for viewing/downloading via the World Wide Web, give the author's name (if known), the full title of the work in quotation marks, the title of the complete work (if applicable) in italics, the full http, ftp, or internet address, and the date of the visit.

Author Last Name, First Name. "Title of Work." Title of
         Complete Work (italicized). [protocol and address]
         [path] (date of message or visit)

Burka, Lauren P. "A Hypertext History of Multi-
        User Dimensions." MUD History."
        http://www.ccs.neu.edu /home/lpd/history.html
        (12 Nov. 2001)

Bruckman, Amy. "How To Manage Deviant Behavior
        in Virtual Communities." ftp://medea.mit.edu
        /pub/asb/papers/defiance-chi97 (18 Mar. 2001)

If the name of the author is not available, the reference may be listed (and alphabetized) by title or subject. Be sure the reference is cited in your text the same way it is listed in the works cited page.

"Writing for a Math Class." Platonic Realms.
        http://www.mathacademy.com /pr/minitext/writing/
        (4 May 2001)

PERIODICALS

Articles from periodicals should be cited using the author's name, the title of the article in quotation marks, the name of the periodical (italicized or underlined), the series number or name, the volume number (if applicable), the date of publication, and the page numbers:

Booth, Wayne C. "Kenneth Burke's Way of Knowing."
        Critical Inquiry 1 (1995): 1-22.

AFTERWORD

s for any class, the papers you write for your math class will invariably reflect the time and effort you put into them. Although we are all familiar with the somewhat romanticized image of the disorganized student burning the midnight oil to finish a paper only a few hours before it is due, it should be remembered that such students are rarely successful. Start working on your paper early, give yourself time to come back to it, and aim to have your draft completed at least a day or two early. This way, you can “pretty it up” at your leisure. If writing well is a particular challenge for you, we strongly recommend you get a copy of Strunk & White's The Elements of Style. This brief book, easily absorbed in an hour or two over a cup of something warm, will change how you write forever, and very much for the better.
         We will leave you with some excellent advice from William Safire:

FUMBLERULES OF GRAMMAR:

• Don't use no double negatives.
• Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
• Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixed metaphors.
• If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, resist hyperbole.
• "Avoid over use of 'quotation "marks."'"
• Avoid commas, that are not necessary.
• If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
• Avoid clichés like the plague.
• Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
• Avoid colloquial stuff.

                                     – William Safire