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.
POD Network Presentation
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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.
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Unessay Examples: Sources
Click the button below for information about the unessay examples shown in my POD Talk.
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 Galleries & Examples
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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.”
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Matthew Cressler
"Black Religion and Black Nationalism," College of Charleston
Image: Mazzy Weiland, “Stop Killing Them”
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Rebecca Gilmore
“Primatology and Human Evolution,” Mount Royal University
Image: Breanna Wilbur, “Beauty in Death”
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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
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Hilary N. Green
Intro to Africana Studies; Race and Campus Histories; Southern Black Education History, University of Alabama and Davidson CollegeImage: 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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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.”
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Cara Ocobock
“Fundamentals of Biology,” Notre Dame University
Image: “Madeline Andrea’s needle point of key features of AMH”
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
Resources
Click the button below for a list of scholarly articles, blog posts, and other reflections about using unessay assignments.