Objectives for Writing Skills (“W”) courses

New first-year students will be placed into Freshman Composition on the basis of an English Department formula incorporating PQPA, SAT scores and class rank.

To complete the skill development program for writing, students must complete Freshman Composition (English 111 or 112) and pass two W courses, each in a different discipline.

A course in any field is eligible to be designated as a W course if, in addition to its other goals, it  meets the following objectives:

I.    W courses assist students in being able to write a substantive essay that conforms to modern conventions of American grammar and punctuation. Specifically, the student will be able to write an essay with the following features:

·        A properly narrowed, controlling idea or argumentative thesis;

·        Supporting examples and accurate, sound analysis;

·        A sense of audience and rhetorical purpose;

·        Minimal errors in grammar and punctuation;

·        A clear prose style appropriate to the discipline;

·        Correct documentation appropriate to the discipline.

II.     W courses must provide instruction in writing.  Some of this instruction includes the methods of writing papers in a discipline.

III.   W courses require at least 12 pages of writing.

·        This minimum can be achieved through several assignments spaced widely enough so that the students have the chance to benefit from the instructor’s comments, or through several versions of one paper.

IV. W courses provide students with opportunities to revise their essays in response to the instructor’s evaluative comments about their writing skills.

V.     In order to provide the level of instruction and feedback which are necessary, W courses are open to no more than 20 students.