Writing Course Guidelines

The College of Arts and Sciences requires each student obtaining a degree in the College to complete  two specifically designated writing courses (WR) at the 300-level or above.   This College programmatic requirement is in addition to the University-wide General Education requirement of ENGL 101 and 102 or equivalent.   These upper-level WR courses may both be taken in the major and may fulfill other College or General Education requirements.  One WR course may be in a language other than English.
Courses approved for upper-level WR credit must be approved by the Arts and Sciences Curriculum Committee and will be so designated in their titles.

CRITERIA for WR Courses

  1. Written assignments shall reflect the discipline’s forms and methods of inquiry.
  2. Every WR course shall require a minimum of 2400 words of writing in response to several written assignments (papers, essays, tests, reviews, or reports).  Faculty assessment shall include recommendations for improvement.
  3. Course syllabi shall specify all WR requirements for the course.
  4. Upper-division WR courses shall include a discipline-based research component as a significant part of at least one of the graded writing assignments.
  5. Enrollment in WR courses shall be limited to 24 students.