WRITING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM

(Approved: Academic Council 5/1/95; General Faculty 11/14/95; revised Academic Council 5/5/97, Faculty Senate
5/6/02, General Faculty 5/14/02, Faculty Senate 10/14/02, General Faculty 11/19/02)

Part II: WRITING IN THE MAJOR Beginning Fall Quarter 1996, all incoming first-year students and transfer students must successfully complete at least two Writing Intensive courses in their major field in order to graduate. Successful completion of Area One General Education writing courses (ENG 101 and 102) is a prerequisite for all Writing Intensive courses in the major.

--Writing Intensive sections of current courses. Any course in a major program may be designated "Writing Intensive" by the unit offering the course. Writing Intensive courses will have at least 4500 words (18 double-spaced pages) of writing, at least half of which will be evaluated formally and all of which will count as part of students' performance in the course. Writing Intensive courses must meet criteria established and monitored by the Writing Across the Curriculum Committee. Responsibility for ensuring that WI course requirements are met rests with the department offering the course, the college, and the WAC Committee.

Guidelines and examples of how the writing requirement may be met are available from the Writing Across the Curriculum Coordinator. Additional assistance is provided by the University Writing Center.

To permit flexibility in scheduling and staffing, units may designate certain sections of a course as Writing Intensive during any quarter. Course sections designated Writing Intensive will be identified in the quarterly class schedule.

--Independent Writing Project. Under exceptional circumstances, a paper of at least 2500 words written under the direction of a faculty member in the student's major field will be accepted for Writing Intensive credit. This option may count as no more than one Writing Intensive course and must be approved by the chair of the student's major department. Students are expected to fulfill the rest of the minimum requirement by completing one or more regular WI courses.

WRITING INTENSIVE COURSE GRADING

Writing Intensive credits are entered separately from course grades on student transcripts as PASS/NO ENTRY. In order to receive a PASS, students must complete the writing component of a WI course with a grade of C or better. Students who do not pass the writing component of a WI course but receive a D or better for the course grade need not repeat that course, unless it is required by the major. They must, however, pass the writing components of two WI courses to fulfill the requirement.

ASSESSMENT

Copies of the plan for assessing Writing in the Major are available in the office of the WAC Coordinator.