15.2: Quizzes, Essay Assignments, and Other Ancillary Materials

We have created the following kinds of ancillary materials tied to the methods and vocabulary of the book, with links to the appropriate pages and chapters. These are available in the Canvas Learning Management System (LMS) but can be imported into other systems. All are licensed CC BY NC, so you are free to customize and reshare them.

• Self-grading quizzes with automated feedback 

• Essay assignments

• Brainstorming assignments with questions tailored to each essay

• Rubrics for essay assignments

• Discussions for select chapters

Browse what’s available

The quickest way to get an idea of what’s available is to navigate to the How Arguments Work Canvas shell. 

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From the homepage, click on Modules in order to see a list of all resources available, organized by each chapter. Even if you are not logged in, you can view the essay assignments, brainstorming assignments, and rubrics. Quizzes and discussions are only viewable once you import them into a Canvas course. 

View previews in Canvas Commons

To see previews of all materials, including quizzes and discussions, you will need to have a Canvas account. If your institution does not offer one, you can create a free Canvas instructor account. To access the materials, log in to Canvas (if you are not logged in already, the Canvas Commons link may not work).  Then, in the left navigation, click on Commons:

Now, search on “how arguments work”:

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If you click on the How Arguments Work course, you will see a preview:

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By clicking on the various types of resources, you can see the text of each item, including quizzes.

Import from Canvas Commons 

If you would like to use or adapt any of the resources in your Canvas course, you will want to import the course from Canvas Commons. 

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If you intend to use the resources in one course, you can import the How Arguments Work course directly from Canvas Commons into that specific course.

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If you want to use the materials in more than one course or if you want to use only some of them, consider importing into a Canvas sandbox. From there, you can copy specific items to one or more courses where you will use them with students. We have begun to post quizzes and other resources individually to Canvas Commons, so if you only want one item, search to see if it is available separately. For more, see this detailed Canvas Commons guide on how to view and import materials or the Canvas Commons FAQ.

Import into a different learning management system (LMS)

If you use a learning management system other than Canvas, such as Blackboard, BrightSpace, Moodle, Teachable, or Thinkific, you should be able to import our resources using the following files:

• Course files (IMSCC format)

• Quizzes (QTI format) 

The quizzes are intended to be formative rather than summative.  They are set to allow students to retake them after viewing feedback and scores. Please be aware that students may be able to get access to the answers since we have shared them publicly.

Join the Canvas course 

You are welcome to join the How Arguments Work Canvas resources course if you have a ccconlineed.instructure.com account through the California Virtual Campus – Online Education Initiative (CVC-OEI).  As we understand it, your institution’s office of online learning requests accounts for faculty involved in the CVC-OERI initiative.

Joining the course allows you to try out quizzes and discussions directly in Canvas without importing them into your sandbox from Canvas Commons.  You will also be able to copy or export specific items to other courses you are working with in the same Canvas instance (any courses that show up when you log in to ccconlineed.instructure.com). 

On the How Arguments Work course page, click “Join this Course” at the top right.

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You will be prompted to log in to ccconlineed.instructure.com and enroll: 

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Give attribution

If you decide to use and/or edit any of the ancillary materials, please do make sure you include an attribution according to the CC BY NC license. At the end of the item description in Canvas, give credit to How Arguments Work and the author of the individual resource. See more from Creative Commons on best practices for attribution. Here is a sample attribution:

Adapted from "Common Response Phrases" by Anna Mills in How Arguments Work: A Guide to Writing and Analyzing Texts in College, sponsored by ASCCC OERI and licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

Request or share additional materials

If you have an idea for a kind of ancillary resource you would like to see added, please let us know by filling out our feedback survey.  

If you create materials you would like to make available, consider sharing them on Canvas Commons and including the phrase “How Arguments Work” as a tag so others searching for the textbook can find them.  Please let us know about them by emailing [e-mail] or commenting on this page in our Instructor Feedback Hypothesis group.