91´ÎÔª

Writing Course Guidelines

Overview

The ability to write effectively is fundamental to a liberal arts education, essential to academic inquiry, and important for student success in academic, professional, and civic endeavors. Composition and writing courses at The 91´ÎÔª (UM) help students become adept at writing for a variety of audiences and purposes. Effective writing both strengthens and is strengthened by an understanding of critical thinking and information literacy. Students should learn to use writing as a means of finding, synthesizing, analyzing, and evaluating information, retaining course material, and using that information and material in order to form and express coherent thoughts and arguments.

Writing Requirements for Graduation

To fulfill the writing requirements at UM and to demonstrate writing proficiency, students should satisfy the following four requirements in order:

1. Introductory College Writing

2. Writing Across the Curriculum

3. Writing in the Disciplines 

The Writing in the Disciplines requirement can be fulfilled using the following options:

• One Writing in the Disciplines course (numbered 300-400), with a grade of C- or better defined by the department and approved by the ASCRC Writing Committee, or
• Writing in the Disciplines expectation defined by the department and approved by the ASCRC Writing Committee

Introductory College Writing Course

The Composition Program seeks to advance the University's mission to pursue academic excellence in the context of writing instruction. Composition courses facilitate students' achievements in exploring and enacting rhetorical knowledge; critical thinking, reading, writing and research processes; and knowledge of conventions. Writing is a powerful means of purposeful inquiry, communication, and action in the classroom and in the world. (For current information, see: UMT English Composition)

Writing Across the Curriculum Courses

These courses use informal and formal writing to enhance writing skills and promote critical thinking in content areas. Information literacy is integrated into all general education courses approved for Group I: Writing Skills. Students are required to complete Introductory College Writing unless exempted, prior to taking the Writing Across the Curriculum Course.

Writing in the Disciplines Course

This writing requirement typically focuses on the student's major area of study. For this reason, faculty members within specific disciplines develop courses or expectations based on the conventions for research, analysis, and writing in their field.

Types of Acceptable Writing Tasks

Writing tasks may include formal and informal, graded and ungraded, and in-class or out-of-class exercises. The range of possible writing tasks includes journal entries, case studies, blogs, e-portfolios, hypertext, lab reports, free writing, annotated bibliography, essay, analyses, proposals, abstracts, reviews, field notes, electronic postings, research papers, or proofs. For more ideas, contact the Writing and Public Speaking Center.

 

Writing, Learning, and Use of Generative AI 

The Writing Committee affirms that writing-intensive courses must focus on developing students’ abilities in reading, analysis, synthesis, composition, and ethical engagement with information literacy. Writing is an active process that teaches students to think critically, communicate effectively, and express ideas with clarity and purpose. 

At the 91´ÎÔª, Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) and Writing in the Disciplines (WID) courses are central to cultivating students’ capacity to communicate complex ideas, engage ethically with information, and produce original work. 

Generative AI offers both opportunities and challenges in writing pedagogy. When used thoughtfully, AI can support learning; when overused, it can replace essential elements of the writing process and hinder growth as independent thinkers and communicators. The Writing Committee recognizes AI as a powerful and enduring tool that should be engaged critically and responsibly. 

To promote transparency and uphold instructional integrity, the Writing Committee is asking for all WAC and WID course syllabi to include an instructor statement defining the acceptable use of generative AI tools in the classroom. 

The statement should: 

• Help students understand which AI tools may be used and under what conditions; 

• Encourage instructors to thoughtfully consider how AI might support or hinder learning outcomes; and 
• Offer the Writing Committee insight into how courses are engaging with AI while maintaining writing standards and assessment goals. 

The Writing Committee remains committed to the ongoing evaluation of General Education writing requirements and to advocating for effective writing instruction, curriculum, and assessment that promote student agency, academic integrity, and meaningful engagement with writing in an AI-informed world.

 

Guidelines

Writing requirements establish a logical progression of development as students move through the college curriculum. Therefore, Writing Across the Curriculum and Writing in the Disciplines requirements have different outcomes. The Writing Across the Curriculum courses and Writing in the Disciplines requirement are reviewed and approved by the Writing Committee and Academic Standards and Curriculum Review Committee (ASCRC). Proposals for all writing courses and expectations should specifically address how they will achieve the learning outcomes. Faculty who propose writing courses or are assigned to teach departmental courses are encouraged to seek guidance from the Mansfield Library, the Writing Center, and other campus resources. Specifically, collaboration with library faculty is encouraged for addressing information literacy. Departments will determine the criteria for graders, if used.

Writing Across the Curriculum Courses

Students should plan to take an approved writing course after completing the composition course and prior to taking the writing proficiency assessment. Upon completing the Writing Across the Curriculum, students should understand writing as means to practice academic inquiry and demonstrate the ability to formulate and express opinions and ideas in writing. Upon completing the Writing Across the Curriculum course, the student should be able to:

Learning Outcomes

• Use writing to learn and synthesize new concepts.

• Formulate and express opinions and ideas that are developed, logical, and organized.

• Compose written documents that are appropriate for a given audience, purpose, and context.

• Revise written work based on constructive comments from the instructor. 

• Find, evaluate, and use information effectively and ethically. 

• Begin to use discipline-specific writing conventions.

• Demonstrate appropriate English language usage.

 

Requirements for Writing Across the Curriculum Courses 

Instructors must:

• Limit enrollment to 

• Identify course specific and writing course learning outcomes in the syllabus.

• Provide students with detailed written instructions, including criteria for evaluation, for all 

• Provide adequate instruction and require students to write frequently for specified audiences, purposes, and genres:

  • Formal or informal

  • Graded or ungraded

  • In-class or out-of-class

• Provide feedback on students' writing and require students to revise and resubmit at least one 

• Require each student individually to compose at least 16 pages of  over the course of the semester.

• Base a significant portion (at least 50% of a 3 credit course or equivalent hours) of the course grade on student performance on 

• Incorporate information literacy into learning outcomes, instruction, and assignments.

 

Writing in the Disciplines Courses

The Writing in the Disciplines requirement is defined for the major and may be met by either a course or an expectation as articulated by the program. Upon completing the Writing in the Disciplines requirement, students should be more active, confident, and effective contributors to a body of knowledge and should understand the ethical dimensions of inquiry. Upon completing the Writing in the Disciplines requirement, the student should be able to:

Learning Outcomes

• Identify and pursue more sophisticated questions for academic inquiry.

• Find, evaluate, analyze, and synthesize information effectively and ethically from diverse sources.

• Manage multiple perspectives as appropriate.

• Recognize the purposes and needs of discipline-specific audiences and adopt the academic voice necessary for the chosen discipline.

• Use multiple drafts, revision, and editing in conducting inquiry and preparing written work.

• Follow the conventions of citation, documentation, and formal presentation appropriate to that discipline.

 

Requirements for Writing in the Disciplines Courses

Instructors must:

• Limit enrollment to 

• Identify course specific and writing course learning outcomes in the syllabus.

• Provide students with detailed written instructions, including criteria for evaluation, for all 

• Provide students with tools and strategies for effective writing and editing in the major.

• Require students to write frequently for specified audiences, purposes, and genres:

  • Formal or 

  • Graded or ungraded

  • In-class or out-of-class

• Provide feedback on students' writing and require students to revise and resubmit at least one 

• Require each student to individually compose at least  over the course of the semester.

• Base a significant portion (at least 50% of a 3 credit course or equivalent hours) of the course grade on student performance on 

• Incorporate information literacy into learning outcomes, instruction, and assignments.

Requirements for Writing in the Disciplines not fulfilled by a Course**

• This approach to fulfilling the advanced college writing requirement should be designed to produce learning outcomes similar to those described for the advanced college writing courses.

 

** Proposals requesting approval for Writing in the Disciplines experiences that are not fulfilled by a course or combination of courses must clearly articulate how the learning outcomes will still be achieved.

 

Writing Resources for Faculty

Writing Center Resources for Teaching Writing

• Bigger isn’t Better: Soliciting Sophisticated, Rigorous Writing through Short Assignments
• So You Are’t a Writing Teacher?  Stress-free Strategies for Using Writing to Help Students Learn in Any Discipline
• Speaking the Same Language: Strategies for Responding to Writing in the Sciences and Beyond
• Not on the Same Page?:  Defining your Assignment Expectations and Using Rubrics to Communicate Them
• How Rubrics Help Students and Teachers
• Providing Productive Feedback in a Reasonable Amount of Time 
• Revision Strategies that Work