Most of us learn about our students’ writing capabilities by evaluating a first-day writing exercise. We’ve put together downloadable exercises for you to choose from. Feel free to customize them to your own specifications or use them as is!

Business Communication First-Day Writing contains a prompt asking the student to persuade you, as the instructor of record, for a seat in the course, which has only a few open spots. As part of their argument, students discuss their educational and career goals and evaluate their communication skills. Instructors present a model for an e-mail, memo, or letter as the document’s communication channel.

First Day Writing Assessment has six prompts that require students to write short responses that describe how they think of themselves as writers, what they can do to assure success in your course. Other prompts asks students to discuss outside writing experience, strengths and weaknesses as a writer, and areas needing improvement.

First-Day Writing Diagnostic is designed to help instructors assess students’ current writing skills, specifically organization, coherence, and design. The assignment provides background, objectives, a scenario, and assessment measures.