Revised March, 2010

GUIDELINES FOR WRITING-RICH COURSES AT CARLETON

The ability to write effectively is one of the fundamental goals of a liberal arts education. In writing-rich courses we strive to help students develop fundamental writing skills so that they can use their writing to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for a variety of purposes.  Goals for college-level writing include attention to:

• Audience and purpose;
• Clarity of prose;
• Clear organization;
• Effective use of evidence;
• Appropriate diction;
• Effective use of Standard English.

LEARNING OUTCOMES FOR WR COURSES:

In writing-rich courses we also help students to:
• understand writing as a process and begin to develop an effective process of their own;
• learn how to seek and use feedback;
• gain an awareness of audience and of voice and begin to see themselves as part of a community of scholars/writers;
• learn how to apply forms of attribution and citation as appropriate;
• understand accepted guidelines for academic honesty;
• develop confidence in their writing, both through experience and also by producing at least one polished piece of their own writing;

MAIN COMPONENTS OF A WR COURSE:

Number and Variety of Assignments
• A WR course will normally have 3 or more writing assignments. These assignments may include papers, posters, lab reports, web pages and other formats and types of writing;
• These assignments may be components of one large writing project or several smaller papers, or some combination of the two;
• Informal, ungraded, writing assignments may also be used to help students create a polished piece of writing.
Opportunities for Feedback
• A WR course will offer students feedback on their writing;
• This will take place through faculty comments or individual conferences and may also include: writing tutors; peer review; class conferences; writing workshops; use of a Writing Assistant; and other opportunities;

Opportunities for Revision
• A WR course will provide students with opportunities for revision;
• These may include rewriting to improve a grade; producing drafts of a paper in succession; polishing a paper for the Sophomore Writing Portfolio; or something else.

“Fact and Fiction”:  A brief version of WR guidelines for faculty.