One important dimension of teaching a Writing in the Disciplines (W) course is choosing a type of writing that is appropriate for the kind of intellectual work you want students to do and the kinds of writing skills you want them to learn.
Traditionally, faculty have often assigned generic "school writing" forms such as "essays, "reports" and "term papers." However, these terms tell students little about the specific kinds of writing faculty actually expect. Assigning more field-specific types of writing--and discussing models of such writing with students--can help them better understand the task and increase the likelihood that they will produce what you hope for.
Unfortunately, locating appropriate genres--in terms of structure, length, target audience, and so on, can be time consuming. To help you identify the type of writing that best suits the context of your class and your learning goals, this page houses a growing collection of genres listed by field or discipline, along with examples or links to examples.
If you have suggestions for genres we might add to this page, please drop me a note at cmosk@duke.edu.
Rand Policy Briefs:
Without visual displays of data:
http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_briefs/2010/RAND_RB9524.pdf
With visual displays of data:
http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_briefs/2010/RAND_RB9501.pdf