Writing Requirements and Templates
In spring 2013, the college adopted a policy on writing instruction for the General Education curriculum and each major. As part of this policy, each department developed writing requirements for its major(s) and submitted a report to its divisional dean.
Hope College’s writing instruction policy requires all majors to include instruction in their respective disciplines. Each department should determine how this requirement is met in accordance with the following guidelines:
- Writing instruction must take place in one or more designated courses.
- The following criteria will be used, except where effective discipline-specific writing
necessitates a different approach:
- The course will involve writing multiple drafts
- The course instructor will explicitly discuss the features of strong writing
- The course instructor will provide feedback on the quality of student writing
- Each course will involve a designated minimum of writing to be determined by the department
- Papers in final form will be graded on not only content but also quality of writing
- There will be annual assessment of whether students are achieving each major’s stated writing outcomes.
Each department has the responsibility to develop its own implementation of writing instruction for its major(s). To this end, departments are asked to submit the following:
- Writing Instruction Inventory, which allows departments to reflect on efforts already taking place and where additional writing instruction might be needed
- Writing Instruction Report, which lists the writing instruction courses for each major, describes how these courses meet the above criteria and outlines a plan to assess the effectiveness of writing instruction
Suggested templates are provided to assist you in preparing these documents. Reports are to be submitted to your divisional dean.
Thank you for your efforts to ensure that all Hope graduates are able to write effectively in many contexts, especially in their major discipline.