The phrase "a brief assignment in" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when referring to a short task or project related to a specific subject or field.
Example: "I have been given a brief assignment in marketing strategies that I need to complete by the end of the week."
Alternatives: "a short task in" or "a quick project in".
Shoup began a brief assignment as Inspector General for Recruit Training in May 1956 after being ordered to do so by Commandant Randolph M. Pate following the Ribbon Creek incident, which involved the accidental drowning of six recruits during a training march.
During that break I would have offered a brief assignment -- write down your key questions or goals for the course in my absence -- and returned to a discussion.
After a brief assignment with the Army Corps of Engineers, Mr. Blee was transferred to the Office of Strategic Services, the wartime predecessor to the C.I.A.
My one brief assignment in another country was for another publication — a three-week stint in Indonesia in 1998 when Suharto stepped down.
In 2004, after Colonel Shaffer returned from another brief assignment in Afghanistan, D.I.A. officials charged him with violating several agency rules, including claiming excessive expenses for a trip to Fort Dix, N.J.
After a brief teaching assignment in a Berlin girls' school, Cantor joined the faculty at the University of Halle, where he remained for the rest of his life, first as lecturer (paid by fees only) in 1869, then assistant professor in 1872, and full professor in 1879.
In 2006, researchers Geoffrey L. Cohen, Julio Garcia, Nancy Apfel, and Allison Master found that a self-affirmation exercise (in the form of a brief in-class writing assignment) significantly improved the grades of African-American middle-school students, and reduced the racial achievement gap by 40%.
In brief, assignment of the histological grade of well-differentiated adenocarcinoma to a tumor sample required that 95% of the tumor contain glands.
Each paper assignment was preceded by a brief in-class discussion that modeled the assignment.
He will need to make additional appearances before returning to the majors, likely in the form of a brief rehab assignment.
