Periodic journal reviews by the professor permit identification of students not doing the assignments, students with writing difficulties, and students who need to dig deeper into their selected topic. Effective writing assignments develop students' abilities rather than simply test them. To ensure their effectiveness, clear guidelines must accompany assignments. The answers to these questions need to be provided to students. The more clearly professors and students understand a writing assignment, the more likely both are to find it a useful learning experience.
Many professors avoid writing assignments because of the time commitment involved.
The time commitment is significant, but need not be onerous. Evaluating assignments is a three-stage process. While actually reading, marking, and grading papers, instructors need to think about the particular components of each paper that should be marked, the comments and feedback that will be most helpful to students, and the established grading standards. The preevaluation stage can be the briefest, especially if professors have already communicated clear guidelines to students. The time spent developing the assignment guidelines does not need to be repeated.