First-Year Writing Requirement

Process for Approving Courses to Meet the First-Year Writing Requirement:

Faculty members wishing to propose new courses to meet the first-year writing requirement will submit their course proposals, proposed syllabus, and proposed writing assignments to the APPC, which will then consult with the Director of the Writing Program.  In making their determinations, the Director and the APPC will be guided by the following expectations, which are typically practiced in English 101.  It will be helpful to the Director and the APPC if the material submitted for consideration includes information on the means by which the course will address these expectations.  

1.  Writing, both formal and informal, graded and perhaps ungraded, is assigned frequently.  

2.  Writing is taught as a process.  For example, students might work on revisions in several stages, with grading based on goals set for each draft by the instructor.

3.  Course requirements include a minimum of four graded formal assignments, at least two of which go through a process of revision.  In English 101, for instance, students submit a minimum of 20 finished pages.

4.  Essays are evaluated in terms of their expository strengths, in addition to their command of content.  Terminal comments on papers include an indication of how well students are meeting the instructor's goals for student writing.

5.  Some class meetings are set aside as workshop sessions, typically including peer editing and other techniques of writing instruction.

6.  In class writing instruction focuses on such things as:

•     Developing effective thesis statements

•     Outlining and structure

•     Paragraphing, with attention to development and coherence, and to
      internal transitions

•     Stylistics, grammar and mechanics

•     Strategies for revision

•     Standards for documentation