Give students a chance (or chances) to work on parts of the final assignment as separate tasks

The Ag Econ assignment is a good example of breaking down a larger writing task so that the teacher can see if students need help with key elements of the larger writing task. If students, for example, don't know how to frame an adequate research question, you'll be able to tell if you give students a mini-task that asks for a research question long before students begin their source work.

Similarly, if your experience with this class in the past suggests that students often struggle to analyze or synthesize data, you might want to set up sequenced writing tasks that give them some practice--and feedback--on these key writing skills.