Council of Writing Program Administrators

Dear Colleagues, Our for-profit institution accepts several types of prior learning assessment to give credit for the first term of college composition, including the CLEP and an in-house challenge exam, at present under extensive revision. Because of certain issues, we must use an objective exam. Therefore, our challenge is to develop the exam in such a way as to test for our course outcomes using objective questions testing at the college level.

My specific question is how do I find sample short essays, paragraphs, etc., that can be used in exam questions without copyright infringements? I am looking for the type of examples which contain errors of logic, sentence structure, and/or grammar--what the CLEP delineates as sentence level skills, but which also can be used to demonstrate revision skills, paragraph development, and other composition skills.

I also welcome any other suggestions!

Many thanks,

Mary Rose Kasraie English Lead American Intercontinental University-Buckhead