As of 2021, the Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) committee is one of the approving bodies for all new or updated courses seeking the Writing Enhanced (WE) designation. The course approval/update packet must contain the WE Preliminary Approval form. What follows is a guide to filling out that form, field by field.
1 – Course name and number – pretty straightforward.
2 – Number of pages and writing assignment types. Count the expected average number of final-product pages. Do not count each draft of a writing as a separate set of pages. Ex: 8-10 page paper (9), 10 short journals (10), a 1-2 page reflection (1.5), and a 4-5 page personal essay (4.5) works out to 9+10+1.5+4.5 = 25. For assignment types, consider the example above: a research paper, journaling, a reflection, and an essay. That’s four different types of writing, but there could be a fifth if students do a “writing-to-think” piece as part of the research paper process. A typical range for a WE course is three to five types of writing, as long as the writing covers writing-to-communicate and writing-to-think/learn/reflect.
3 – This is where you make the connection between your coursework and the goals of the WE program. The writing your students do for your course should be of the three basic purposes: writing to communicate ideas to others; writing to organize thought and think through ideas; and writing to reflect on some experience, to self-explore. Such writing covers Product and Cognition, two of the three “pillars” of the WE program. Your descriptions in this section of the form should show how your assigned writing will address these purposes. Keep in mind that Cognition covers both writing-to-think and reflection. There are rough templates for the descriptions:
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- (Writing to Communicate) “The _________ assignment has the students writing toward a peer audience in order to argue for __________.”
- (Writing to Think) “As part of the _____________ project, students will write their initial position on the issue of ___________.”
- (Reflection) “Students will also be asked to write a final reflection on how their position has changed on _________ over the course of the semester.”
And then there’s Process. Process covers both response to student writing and encouraging students to habituate a healthy writing process. How will you do this? The key habit is to treat writing as a process: draft-feedback-revise-edit. One of your writing assignments should be a multi-draft writing incorporating feedback from multiple readers (you, classmates, Writing Center, etc.). A healthy writing process should also be addressed both implicitly (through assignment design) and explicitly (by devoting class time to talk about healthy writing habits).
4 – WE Explanation (both parts). Your syllabus must explain to the students what “Writing Enhanced” means and how your course expresses Writing Enhanced objectives. Here’s a basic explanation:
“This course is designated Writing Enhanced. That means you will be using writing in a variety of ways, to think through ideas, to communicate ideas, and to reflect on course-related experiences. You’ll also be working on writing process, continuing to develop habits that will make your writing less stressful, more efficient, and more effective. The Writing Enhanced program serves all three of the “pillars” of Truman State University’s educational philosophy: communication skill, critical thinking, and quality of life (ethical and civic engagement, lifelong learning, and empathy). Writing is an essential skill, and effective written communication is at the top of employers’ desired skills. Critical thinking is enhanced by writing, and effective writing requires a critical understanding of audience, situation, and contexts. Writing can also be an essential tool for engaging in the life of one’s community and enhancing one’s own quality of life, through reflection, journaling, and correspondence. The ultimate goal of the Writing Enhanced program is to have students think of themselves as writers and not as people who sometimes use writing as a tool.”
For describing how your course incorporates WE, the basic idea is to map the WE elements to the writing assignments. For example:
“In this course, you will perform a semester-long original research project, and this project will incorporate writing in several ways. You will do some pre-project writing to help you think about your own biases. You will write an informal proposal and a formal final report. You will also write a reflection on the experience of completing an original research project. The final report will go through several cycles of feedback and revision and/or editing, and we will spend a day or two talking about appropriate academic style.”