/Institutions/Dickinson-State-University/json/2022-2024/Catalog-local.json

/Institutions/Dickinson-State-University/json/2022-2024/Catalog.json

2022-2024 Catalog > Academic Affairs > Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) and Writing in the Disciplines (WID)

Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) and Writing in the Disciplines (WID)

Participation in Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) and Writing in the Disciplines (WID)

The Dickinson State University Writing Across the Curriculum Program endorses the following goals:

1. To integrate Writing Across the Curriculum and Writing in the Disciplines, emphasizing their relationship and differences.
2. To implement, develop, and document effective writing practices within the Dickinson State University curriculum.
3. To improve student learning to write for a variety of audiences and purposes necessary for college students and graduates, enhancing their future employability.
4. To teach students to write specifically as professionals in their academic disciplines.

Dickinson State University students seeking an associate or baccalaureate degree participate in the university’s WAC program. All courses the university designates as writing courses are part of the WAC program. In addition, university departments and degree programs designate certain courses and practices as WID requirements necessary for students to develop written communication skills appropriate for their disciplines. All WID courses and requirements are part of the WAC program.

WAC trains students in writing necessary for multiple audiences and situations throughout their college curriculum and after graduation. Students begin their WAC experience in the General Education program by completing College Composition I and II no later than the sophomore year. Successful completion of these two composition courses is a prerequisite for enrollment in 200, 300 or 400 level writing courses. College Composition I and II are writing intensive courses providing students with practical experience writing in multiple genres. Students progress to other WAC courses subject to the requirements of their major and minor programs of study or their free elective choices. 

Concurrent with or upon completion of their required General Education writing courses, students continue their WAC experience by taking required WID courses. WID courses consist of those courses departments and programs consider essential courses for introducing students to writing within their disciplines. Departments and programs also identify certain courses or required writing practices they designate as writing intensive.  Required writing practices may consist of any degree or program requirement in addition to or supplemental of credit bearing coursework that engages students in writing intensive practices; these practices may consist of such activities as portfolios, capstone projects, or any other assessable practice departments and programs consider necessary and are able to document. 

All WID courses and requirements are part of WAC, but not all WID courses are writing intensive courses.  Writing intensive courses or practices are courses or practices with a significant writing component. Although each discipline is responsible for determining what represents significant writing within the discipline, writing intensive courses share the following characteristics: an emphasis on the forms and quality of writing necessary for the discipline; a clearly defined process appropriate for that writing; and the use of models, guided instruction, and feedback for improving content writing.

The university’s WAC program emphasizes quality of the students’ writing experience over quantity measured by credit hours. Students earning a baccalaureate degree must complete a minimum number of credit hours designated as writing courses or a combination of writing courses and documentable required writing practices subject to the following guidelines:

• 18 hours of designated writing courses or 12 credit hours of designated writing courses with additional required writing practices; if less than 18 credit hours, the students’ department must document writing practices required for degree completion.
• A minimum of six hours of designated writing courses or additional required writing practices; these can be either within or outside of the discipline. If additional writing practices are required rather than six additional credit hours of coursework, the students’ department must document writing practices required for degree completion.
• A minimum of nine credit hours of writing intensive coursework, three hours of which must be a WID course designated for the students’ major; in lieu of a three credit hour writing intensive WID course, the students’ department may designate and document discipline appropriate writing intensive practices required for degree completion.
• A minimum of six credit hours of WID courses, 3 hours of which must be writing intensive.
• A minimum of six credit hours of general education writing courses not part of students’ degree plans; this credit must consist of the required composition sequence but may include any designated writing course credit transferred from another institution, not inclusive of developmental writing.

Students completing a two-year degree program must complete the following basic WAC/WID requirements:

• 12 hours of designated writing courses or nine hours of designated writing courses with either three WID hours that are writing intensive or an alternative writing intensive practice; if less than 12 credit hours of designated writing courses, the students’ department must document writing practices required for degree completion.
• A minimum of three credit hours of WID courses.
• A minimum of six credit hours of general education writing courses not part of students’ degree plans; this credit must consist of the required composition sequence but may include any designated writing course credit transferred from another institution, not inclusive of developmental writing.
• A minimum of three hours of additional designated writing courses or additional required writing practices; these can be either within or outside of the discipline. If additional writing practices are required rather than three additional credit hours of coursework, the students’ department must document writing practices required for degree completion.

Departments and programs will identify their WID and writing intensive courses and practices in the College Catalog using catalog statements appended to the Writing Across the Curriculum and Writing Across the Curriculum policy statement. Whereas changes in the policy statement are subject to the curriculum process, each department’s catalog statement identifying its WID and writing intensive courses is subject to internal department review; the DSU Writing Committee and the Division of Academic Affairs must be informed of such changes. All courses designated as part of the university WAC/WID program will be identified in the catalog by the following designation added to their course description: “This course is part of the university’s Writing Across the Curriculum/Writing in the Disciplines program.”

Writing intensive courses have a significant writing component. Although each department is responsible for determining what represents significant writing within its discipline(s), writing intensive courses share the following characteristics: an emphasis on the forms and quality of writing necessary for the discipline; a clearly defined process appropriate for that writing; and the use of models, guided instruction, and feedback.

WI courses are based in strategies that involve both writing-to-learn and learning-to-write activities. 

Writing-to-learn practices use writing to help students learn course content.  Learning-to-write practices emphasize the teaching of writing itself, whether as an independent goal within the course (as in ENGL 110 and ENGL 120) or as a discipline-specific goal of the course (for example, a business professor might teach students how to write a company or SWOT analysis). Classroom strategies that incorporate both writing-to-learn and learning-to-write activities include, but are not limited to, the following:

• careful, thoughtful sequencing of writing tasks in order to enable students to 1) move from simpler to more complex tasks and 2) improve as creative and critical thinkers and writers.  In first-year composition courses, the sequencing of writing tasks will focus on the preparation of students as WAC and WID writers; in WI courses in the disciplines, sequenced writing tasks will emphasize students’ preparation to write within their major fields and future careers. 
• the teaching of key concepts about writing (audience; rhetorical situations; genres; accurate and meaningful data collection; use of evidence; professional standards; the research process; integrity in writing; and writing conventions, including citation styles, as appropriate to the course and/or the discipline).
• the use of professional readings and student writing, as appropriate, to provide models of the kind(s) of writing that is (are) required by the course and/or discipline.

First-year composition courses and courses taught within particular disciplines will be bolstered by pedagogical strategies such as these:

• writing activities that are completed by means of a multi-step or scaffolded process (for example, a short in-class reflective writing assignment could lead to a longer and more formal essay);
• frequent and extensive writing with an emphasis on feedback from the professor, peer writing tutors (in the case of discipline-based WI courses, these should be discipline-specific writing tutors), and/or other students in the course;
• reflective writing /metacognitive learning strategies; and
• an emphasis on formative as well as evaluative feedback and low-stakes writing in first-year composition and 100- and 200-level WI courses within the disciplines.

WI courses taught within particular disciplines will also benefit from the use of strategies such as these:

• movement from simpler to more complex discipline-based writing, focusing on the types of writing that are most central to work in a particular discipline and
• an increasing emphasis on evaluative feedback and high-stakes writing in 300- and 400-level courses.

Faculty members who have questions about WI courses or the implementation of WI strategies are encouraged to contact DSU's WAC/WID coordinator at 701-483-2128.  Support for student writers in WI courses may be obtained by contacting DSU's Tutoring Center coordinator at 701-483-2122.