College: Agriculture and Life Sciences
Department: Animal Science
Type: W
Status: Approved
REPORT ON RECERTIFICATION OF W COURSE: ANSC 481
We recommend that ANSC 481 Seminar in Animal Science be certified as a writing (W) course for four academic years (1/20 to 1/24). We have reviewed a representative syllabus and have determined that the course meets or exceeds the following criteria: (1) 75% of the final grade is based on writing quality; (2) the total number of words is 4100; (3) the instructor to student ratio is 1:20; and (4) the assigned writing is appropriate to the major.
ANSC 481 is a one-credit course. Students write a technical paper on a topic related to animal science, for which they submit a short topic selection in writing. The first draft of the paper is peer reviewed by two peers. The second draft also receives instructor feedback. They present all these documents in a notebook, including the finished paper and slides from an oral presentation (not counted above in the word count or percentage), for a final grade on their presentation of the materials. Instruction is given on writing a technical paper, how to do a peer review, and how to avoid plagiarism. The University Libraries provides instruction on literature searching.