Several crumpled and folded pieces of white paper scattered on a black background.
Three paper airplanes made from crumpled white paper, flying against a bright yellow background.
A paper airplane flying towards a crumpled piece of paper on a dark blue background.

The Unessay

I am currently working on a book project titled Unessays: Reimagining Research Papers in the Post-Information Age, under contract with Oklahoma University Press for their series, Teaching, Engaging, and Thriving in Higher Ed.

This page on my website will include bonus open access content for the book; slides and other information about presentations I’ve done on the unessay; and links to other unessay-related resources including examples of completed projects and assignments used by a multidisciplinary group of educators.

Open-Access Bibliography

Coming Spring 2027: An open-access bibliography to supplement the citations in my book Unessays: Reimagining Research Papers in the Post-Information Age.

Coming Spring 2027

“American Promise” Unessay

I used an unessay assignment when I taught HIS 102: “American Civilization Since 1877” at SUNY Plattsburgh. I focused the course on the idea of the “American promise” of equality, freedom, and justice for all. The unessay was the student’s opportunity to meet this stated learning outcome: “Articulate and apply your understanding of the American promise to your own life in the U.S.”

Unessay Assignment

2025 POD Network Presentation

  • Colorful paper airplanes on a blue background with dotted lines connecting them.

    Unessay Elevator Pitch: Teaching Writing Without Writing, Promoting Pedagogical Well-Being

    Click the button below to view my slides for my November 20, 2025 POD Talk.

    Slides
  • Colorful origami paper airplanes on a blue background

    Unessay Examples: Sources

    Click the button below for information about the unessay examples shown in my POD Talk.

    Examples

Unessay Galleries & Examples

  • A collage of various images including a woman pouring liquid, a girl with flames and the earth, a girl with a gun and fire, a girl with a tear, and people in a park, composed of newspaper clippings and magazine cutouts.

    Emily Contois

    “Advertising History, Culture and Critique,” University of Tulsa

    Image: Gabby, no last name given, “digital art series that critiques advertising’s disempowering representations of gender and race, as well as how planned obsolescence, the American Dream, and consumer culture’s insatiability each encroach upon nature.”

    View

  • Matthew Cressler

    "Black Religion and Black Nationalism," College of Charleston

    Image: Mazzy Weiland, “Stop Killing Them”

    View
  • Mixed media sculpture titled 'Beauty in Death' by Breanna Wilbur, featuring gold-painted skulls, vibrant flowers, feathers, a butterfly, and decorative elements arranged on a platform.

    Rebecca Gilmore

    “Primatology and Human Evolution,” Mount Royal University

    Image: Breanna Wilbur, “Beauty in Death”

    View
  • Black T-shirts with red and white text. The front says "JOIN US" and "DO YOUR PART FOR THE REBELLION THIS AUGUST." The back says "WE WILL OBTAIN OUR FREEDOM OR DIE TRYING."

    Jamie Goodall

    World History; The United States: Colonial America to 1877; Pirates of the Caribbean/Atlantic, U.S. Army Center of Military History

    Image: McKenna DeBandi, t-shirt from series of pro- and anti-slavery materials

    View
  • Custom decorated denim shorts with photographs, drawings, and text. The back pockets have pictures, one of a woman and the other of a young man. The shorts are on a wooden surface with papers around.

    Hilary N. Green


    Intro to Africana Studies; Race and Campus Histories; Southern Black Education History, University of Alabama and Davidson College

    Image: No name given, captioned “Using the Corollas and Crimson White, student designed a pair of jean shorts contrasting the experience of white and black women’s experiences from 1973-1977. One side represented the “white-washed version of history, yet the raw truth lies just on the other side.”

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  • A piece of paper with handwritten or printed maze or labyrinth patterns in various colors, spread out on a wooden surface with some other paper, a pink object, and an electronic device nearby.

    Marc Kissell

    “Technologies of Text,” Northeastern University

    Image: No name given, “One page from a larger project about coded language and written in a code devised by the student.”

    View
  • Embroidery hoop with a stitched diagram of a human skeleton and text describing human characteristics, including brain, heart, foot, and various traits like compassion, language, and art.

    Cara Ocobock

    “Fundamentals of Biology,” Notre Dame University

    Image: “Madeline Andrea’s needle point of key features of AMH”

    View

You’ve got 30 seconds to convince an instructor—from any discipline or department—to come to your workshop / reading group / faculty learning community about designing, assigning, and assessing unessay assignments. What will you say? Watch my unessay elevator pitch, and see what points to emphasize and key words to drop in.

My Unessay Elevator Pitch