Gustavus Adolphus College Writing Program

WRITD: WRITING IN THE DISCIPLINES

Writing in the Disciplines (WRITD) courses use writing to communicate disciplinary knowledge. WRITD courses help students develop writing strategies to explore and pursue new ideas or research questions and produce discipline-specific forms. Courses designated WRITD require students to draft, revise, and edit their work with peer and instructor feedback. Courses offered at 100, 200, and 300 level may carry WRITD designation. Because WRITD courses require revision and feedback cycles, enrollments should be limited to 20 or fewer students.

The WRITD Teaching Commons is a collaboratively authored resource designed to introduce instructors to WRITD: Writing in the Disciplines. Materials were created by WAC Director Rebecca Fremo, Writing Center Director Eric Vrooman, and various members of the Writing Program Advisory Committee (WPAC). Questions? Contact Nissa Parmar, Director of Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC).

WRITD CRITERIA AND Student learning outcomes

WRITD Course Criteria

WRITD courses will

1. Require students to find or generate at least some of the texts, data, artifacts, artworks, etc. that will be source material for their writing.

2. Teach students to evaluate and incorporate information or source material into a project, as appropriate to the discipline, and use that material to make and support claims.

3. Require students to draft, revise, and edit at least one major writing assignment or a series of shorter writing assignments with instructor and peer feedback.

4. Provide some class time for students to discuss and practice stages of the writing process.

Student Learning Outcomes

WRITD students will

1. Demonstrate rhetorical competence by creating texts that meet the needs of specific purposes,

audiences, and contexts, particularly those demanded by the discipline.

2. Critically evaluate information in order to write arguments that communicate effectively with

specific audiences.

3. Draft, revise, and edit work with feedback from others.

4. Write in ways that exemplify the structures, genres, and conventions of a discipline.

Graduation Requirement

Gustavus requires students to complete FOUR designated writing requirement courses from at least two different departments in order to graduate. Generally, one of the courses will be taken in the first year, typically in FTS or Three Crowns, and designated WRIT. Students then complete the writing requirement by taking three additional courses (WRITL and WRITD). At least one writing course must be designated WRITL.

Additional resources

WRITL Resources

FTS Teaching Commons

Developed by a cross-disciplinary group of FTS instructors, then tested and assessed in 2019, these resources support teaching argumentative writing.

Writing Program Faculty development (Slides and videos)

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