|Writing Intensive Courses|
W and W/R Courses
A course designated as W (Writing Intensive) or W/R (Writing Intensive with Research) integrates a significant number of writing assignments within the teaching of subject matter. One goal of the W or W/R course is to help students to see writing as a process of planning, drafting, re-imagining, revising and editing.
Courses with a W designation must require formal essays and other representative genres of writing within the discipline. Although the number of assignments and pages will vary by class, students should complete approximately fifteen pages of revised and polished work.
Classes designated as W/R include, among other writing assignments, a paper that integrates at least six secondary sources. In W/R classes, the students hone their research skills and learn to more effectively incorporate citations, paraphrase, and summary of secondary material. Documentation of sources varies by discipline (i.e., MLA for English and modern foreign languages; APA for psychology, etc.). Through directed guidance and feedback in both W and WR courses, either from the professor or a writing consultant, students are encouraged to read, analyze and think more rigorously, and to produce incisive, elegant essays, lab reports, case studies, or other forms of writing.