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Style and Conventions

Why It Matters

Given the diversity of assignment types, disciplinary “flavors,” and student backgrounds all working together in any Gen Ed course, it's crucial that you and your teaching team and your students are on the same page about whatever conventions (e.g., degrees of formality, citation styles, norms around grammar, etc.) students will be expected to follow for a particular assignment. As the type of assignment changes, so too will some, if not many of the conventions. And depending which department(s) your teaching team are coming from and the varied academic backgrounds of your students, assumptions about what these conventions might be—Is using "I" ok? What about the passive voice? Are footnotes a blessing or anathema?—will need unpacking, especially if expectations aren't laid out and explained in the prompt itself. 

In the end, how much emphasis you place on these guidelines in your teaching and feedback should:

  • reflect their relative importance to the assignment’s goals and 
  • be normed across all sections of your course.   

More on "Style and Conventions"

When prompts give students guidance about whether to use MLA, APA, or Chicago style, or emphasize the need for correct grammar and usage, they typically don’t say why. In fact, citation and stylistic conventions are functions of other elements such as genre and audience, and it’s both equitable and intellectually non-trivial to explain their relative importance within a writing assignment as a whole.

That being said, it’s useful for instructors to double check how important these conventions in fact are meant to be in the context of an assignment’s goals. If they’re really important, they should be substantially reflected in your feedback/grading rubric—in which case you should make sure there’s time in section dedicated to learning and practicing them—and you should make sure that students are aware of the resources and support available to them on these fronts, e.g., the Harvard Guide to Using Sources. Finally, it’s crucial that your teaching team are all on the same page about what feedback/grading for this element should look like: Grammar and style are perhaps the area of greatest debate and inconsistency among teachers who are giving students feedback on writing, and students in a course working from the same prompt should be getting consistent feedback, regardless of which section they’re in.

What It Looks Like

In the tabs below you'll find annotated examples of “style and conventions” in assignment prompts, drawn from recent Gen Ed courses across a range of Gen Ed categories.

DATE: April 9, 2020
TO: GENED1008 Class Members [1]
FROM: Prof. M. Cammett
RE: Policy Memorandum Assignment

ASSIGNMENT

⋮

Style and Format

- Do not include a cover sheet; instead, use the format at the outset of this document (i.e., “Date,” “To,” “From,” “Re:”); [1]
- Follow conventions of memo format, notably headings for sub-sections and bullet points for a list of items [2];
- Remain within the page limits. Memos that exceed the assigned length often fail to establish priorities clearly; [3]
- Do not include footnotes or bibliography. [4] If you use supporting information in a memo, reference the source in the text. For example, you might refer to some research to support an assertion and support it as follows: “A 2010 Gallup Survey showed. . . .” [5] 

__________
[1] Specific guidance about the style sheet for this assignment, including a model
[2] Formatting advice tied to the conventions of the genre at hand
[3] A specific guideline that’s explained in terms of a) the purpose of the genre and b) its intended audience
[4] Citation guidance that's helpful in so far as it might strike many students as counterintuitive (Don’t include a bibliography?!)
[5] An explanation and model for citing sources in the genre at hand 

 

Adapted from Gen Ed 1008: Power and Identity in the Middle East | Spring 2020
Professor Melani Cammett

 

STEP 1: PROPOSAL WITH ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Length: 250–500 words, not including annotated bibliography. The annotated bibliography must have at least 5 different references from outside the course and 5 different references from the syllabus.

Source requirements:

  • Minimum 5 different references from outside the course (at least 3 must be peer-reviewed scholarly sources)
  • Minimum 5 different references from Gen Ed 1093 reading assignments listed on the syllabus; lectures do not count toward the reference requirement, and Reimagining Global Health will only count as one reference
  • Citation format either AAA or APA, consistent throughout the paper [1]
  • Careful attention to academic integrity and appropriate citation practices
  • The annotated bibliography does not count toward your word count, but in-text citations do.

Due: Monday, November 16, at 5 PM, on Canvas.

__________
[1] Guidance on citation style is included with other guidelines for the assignment. Students are given a choice between two styles, the American Anthropological Association (AAA) and the American Psychological Association (APA), but they are asked to apply whichever style they choose consistently throughout the proposal and annotated bibliography.


Adapted from Gen Ed 1093: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Cares? Reimagining Global Health | Fall 2020

[The following example pairs excerpts from an essay prompt and a grading rubric]  

from the Paper #1 Assignment prompt

Grading:

You will be graded according to the rubric on the course website. [1] Please make sure to follow the guidelines on this assignment and ask your TF if you have any questions.

⋮

from the Grading Rubric for Written Work 

Clarity and Style

  • Is there a clear thesis/stance?
  • Is the essay well written? (Topic sentences, clear transitions, proper formatting, interesting to read)
  • Is the essay succinct? (no rambling paragraphs or “filler” that does not clearly relate to the thesis)
  • Are facts/claims properly cited (including a references or “works cited” list at the end?) [2]
  • Is there a clear conclusion that synthesizes the argument made?
  • Have the guidelines on the paper assignment been followed?
  • (For paper #2 on:) Are critiques from previous papers incorporated/improved on?

__________
[1] Students are given clear guidance on how the assignment will be graded: there's a rubric, and students know where to find it. 
[2] The "style" section of the rubric reflects the assignment's priorities: the clarity of the thesis, overall concision, and proper citation are relatively more important, for example, than how well the conclusion synthesizes the student's argument. 

 


Adapted from Gen Ed 1064: Brains, Identity, and Moral Agency | Spring 2020
Professor Steven Hyman

The Final Report

If you are accompanying your report with a device demonstration or composition performance, the recommended length is 2000 words. If you are writing a research report without a demonstration or composition, the recommended length is 3000-4000 words.

Your report must include proper references (for example, device creation must reference any related prior art; compositions should reference related pieces and artists in similar genres; and research papers should include references to academic texts or journals). [1]

__________
[1] For assignments that give students the option to work in different modalities, the guidelines and most appropriate stylistic conventions are likely to vary. Here the prompt is clear that every report must include proper references, but it also offers guidance about what counts as "proper," depending on which modalities a student is working in. 


Adapted from Gen Ed 1080: Engineering the Acoustical World | Fall 2020
Professor Robert Wood