as adopted by the University-wide General Education Committee
Approved by the University-wide General Education Committee on 9-3-97

General Education Courses Are To Be Writing Intensive

The University recognizes that writing is a basic way of learning as well as a means of ordering and communicating knowledge. In General Education courses, writing should engage students actively with the body of facts, ideas, and theories presented to them. It should help students develop a critical appreciation of the ways in which knowledge is acquired and applied. To this end, writing assignments should be relevant to the discipline and the course.

Instructors in Tier Two courses may assume that their students have taken Freshman Composition, but instructors in Tier One courses should assume that most students have not completed this requirement. Instructors at both levels should bear in mind that most students take two or more writing-intensive courses in the same semester.

The University-wide General Education Committee offers these guidelines for integrating writing in Tier One and Tier Two courses. The Committee will look for specifics when evaluating course proposals-sample assignments are especially welcome.

• Writing should be integrated into the course requirements through more than one means. Some examples are written papers, laboratory reports, abstracts, quizzes, examinations, journals, ungraded writing assignments, writing during class, and writing in small groups. Examinations alone are not enough, even though they may include essay questions.
• The writing process and the writing assignments should emphasize critical inquiry, including gathering, interpreting, and evaluating information appropriate to the area of study.
• Written work should be evaluated for format, organization, style, grammar, and punctuation as well as content and argument.
• At least one writing assignment should involve revision after the instructor has provided feedback on a first draft or revision after an assignment in which peers have provided feedback on a first draft.
• At least one writing assignment should be an out-of-class or lab assignment of at least 500 words.
• Writing assignments may vary in number and length, but should add up to a minimum of 10 pages or 2500 words over the semester.
• Instructors may suggest partial equivalencies to these 10 pages or 2500 words over the semester. They are encouraged to use forms of communication that meet the spirit of the writing requirement by creating assignments that ask students to organize, document, and communicate information in ways appropriate to the discipline.