Academic and Professional Writing

The Academic and Professional Writing Program is a gateway to critical thinking and research in the university and beyond. In our courses, students use writing as a form of inquiry and an avenue to self-discovery, a way to investigate the world and even to change it. Whatever their course of study and goals, our instructors aim to develop analytical and expressive skills that will help their students succeed in college and prepare for future roles as a member of multiple communities—civic, social, and professional. Our goal is to work with each student as an individual and to recognize and value the diversity of backgrounds, interests, and needs that student writers bring to their studies.

In our undergraduate classes, students engage in frequent low-stakes writing (free-writing, discovery drafts, discussion board entries, short response papers) as well as formal, revised writing. They produce multiple drafts of each assignment and work with peers and instructors on learning to revise and edit their work.  Our courses involve frequent in-class activities individually or in groups. Careful preparation of homework assignments, regular attendance, and active participation are essential to success.

Writing is challenging, exhilarating, and empowering. It persuades, informs, fascinates, and sometimes even transforms those who read it. Our goal is to help each of our students find and develop their writing powers.