Beginning with the 2007-08 undergraduate catalog (No. 130), a minimum of two writing-intensive courses will be required for graduation from Texas A&M University. Students will be required to take two courses that include at least 2,000 words of graded, finished writing in their major. The courses must also provide students with writing instruction, feedback on their written work, and an opportunity to revise their drafts.

W courses can award any number of credits, but a substantial portion of the final course grade should be based on written documents: 80 percent or higher in a one-credit course, 50 percent or higher in a two-credit course, 33 percent in a three-credit course, and 25 percent in a four-credit course. Likewise, W courses can be either upper-or lower-division, as long as the writing for the course is appropriate to the major. Ideally, the writing required should prepare students for what will be expected of them either in upper-level courses or in the workplace.

“The university has planned two W courses all along,” explains University Writing Center Executive Director Valerie Balester, “but the requirement was implemented in two stages to give colleges and departments time to get courses in place. The goal of the W course initiative is to make writing an integral part of learning. Writing isn’t a skill students can pick up in one semester and then ignore. Learning to write takes time, and this additional requirement will enable students to practice and refine their abilities.”

Many departments plan to meet the need for additional W courses with a menu of upper division courses, but the Dwight Look College of Engineering has taken a different approach, offering the only college-wide W course, Engineering Ethics.

Departments also can elect to meet the need for more Ws by adapting existing courses required within a major. For some departments, like Psychology, that means offering a W course at the 200-level and another in the junior-senior year.

“The W Course Advisory Committee, which reviews all W course proposals, recognizes that different departments will have different ways of meeting this objective,” says Balester, who chairs the committee. “We’re quite open to new approaches, as long as they meet the university’s stated priorities for W courses.”

For more on proposing a W course, click to www.writingcenter.tamu.edu/faculty.