Overview

Writing Intensive courses (WIs) are at the core of the WAC program. WIs are courses that are designed to use student writing as a pathway to content knowledge and understanding. These courses treat writing as a process, and they focus on writing as a component of critical thinking and analysis. The WAC committee recommends a cap of 25 students for WI courses.

All courses seeking WI designation must meet the school curriculum guidelines, WAC in the Schools guidelines, as well as the WAC committee guidelines. The WAC committee reviews all requests for WI status and confers with unit representatives and faculty if greater clarification, recommendations or resources are needed in order to determine WI status prior to forwarding the course proposal to ARC.

Recommended Syllabus Language

The WAC committee recommends that the following language be included in WI course syllabi. This language is also included in the ARC manual:

Writing will be integrated into the life of this course. You will receive comments, direction, and support as you work on strengthening your writing skills. Your writing will be evaluated and returned in a timely fashion, allowing you to incorporate my comments into your future work. For help outside the classroom, please see me during my office hours and/or work with a writing consultant in The Center for Reading and Writing, located in the Learning Commons, Room 420, x7557, crw@ramapo.edu. The professional staff offices are within the Center for Reading and Writing (Rooms 423, 424, 425).

See the course schedule of assignments for when drafts and revisions are due.

(Include these dates in the course schedule.)

The grading policy for drafts and revisions is as follows:

(Describe whether drafts will be graded, and how those grades will be factored into the grade for the assignment or weighted for the course.)

Overview

WAC in Gen Ed is comprised of two courses: Critical Reading & Writing II, and Studies in the Arts and Humanities. Each of these courses has distinct goals and learning outcomes for student writing, but they are designed to overlap and reinforce one another. The overarching writing guidelines for these three courses are:

1. The course will emphasize the process of writing, including prewriting and revision.
2. Faculty will provide students with multiple writing assignments.
3. Students will be encouraged to revise their writing in multiple draft forms after receiving feedback from the instructor.
4. Students will be expected to write at least 10 pages over the course of the semester.

Critical Reading & Writing II

(4 credits/Gen Ed requirement)

Critical Reading & Writing II is organized as a course for students who demonstrate a level of proficiency as determined by successful course work in Critical Reading & Writing I, or by an Accuplacer score of 6 or higher. The course is focused on sophisticated argument and research strategies and the crafting of academic papers. Specific to writing, students focus on rhetorical knowledge (purpose, audience, tone); critical writing (evaluating, analyzing, synthesizing); writing process (drafting, editing, revising); and knowledge of conventions (syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling).

View more information under General Education on the HGS website >

Studies in the Arts and Humanities

(4 credits/Gen Ed requirement)

Studies in the Arts and Humanities is an interdisciplinary liberal arts course.  It provides students with an introduction to key texts, concepts, and artifacts from different fields in the humanities.  (These could include, for instance history, literature, philosophy, music, art history, and others.)  Each section of the course covers a range of different cultures, and at least four different periods in human history, which can range from the ancient world to contemporary works.  ! ;The course is designated Writing Intensive, and will require students to complete at least two different types of writing assignments.

View the latest events in Humanities and Global Studies Events >

Overview

Each school or convening group will develop its own guidelines regarding Writing Intensive (WI) courses. These guidelines are approved by the faculty of the respective schools or convening groups as well as the WAC committee. The school representatives to WAC are charged with steering this process and facilitating the WAC committee’s review process and recommendations.

Each major or program in the schools will determine the writing objectives and learning outcomes for their major and designate at least three courses covering multiple course levels. Schools can utilize school core courses for these designations where appropriate. In addition to a coherent design of multi-level courses, the WAC committee recommends that courses included in the WAC in the Schools program follow these guidelines:

1. The course will emphasize the process of writing, including prewriting and revision.
2. Faculty will provide students with multiple writing assignments.
3. Students will be encouraged to revise their writing in multiple draft forms after receiving feedback from the instructor.

WAC in the Schools: WI Guidelines and Policies

• Anisfield School of Business (ASB) (PDF)
• School of Contemporary Arts (CA) (PDF)
• School of Humanities and Global Studies (HGS) (PDF)
• School of Social Science and Human Services (SSHS) (PDF)
• School of Theoretical and Applied Science (TAS) (PDF)

These are some sample writing assignments from Ramapo faculty members:

Reflections on Readings

Each Monday you will hand in a 1-2 page reflection about your responses to at least one piece of writing from your readings in the New York Times. You should be reflecting specifically on how the piece dealt with issues we have addressed in class or our other readings.

Qualitative Analysis

Develop a series of interview questions, and interview at least 5 people about their schooling and educational experiences, specifically related to diversity. The interviewees should represent people born in the 1960s (or earlier), 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. Some potential interview questions are:

• What was the racial/gender composition of the students in your school? What was the racial/gender composition of the teachers?
• In what ways did teachers make use of diversity in the classroom? In what ways did they shy away from it?
• What materials did you use to learn in school? How did those materials represent different cultures and backgrounds?
• In what ways did students from different backgrounds mix in and out of the classroom? In what ways did students from different backgrounds stay apart? How did the school foster acceptance and working together?
• Did diversity play a part in bullying—did some students pick on others because they were different? What did the school do to combat this?

Now use your interview data, class readings, lectures, personal experiences, and research sources to either write a 10-12 page paper (including references) that synthesizes what you learned in light of the social contexts of education. What themes and trends emerged in the interviews related to diversity? How has diversity in schooling changed over the decades, and how has it remained the same? What supports the arguments that we’ve made in class related to diversity, and what seems to contradict those arguments? How will diversity impact the future of American education, based on what you’ve seen and learned so far?

One excellent resource for rubric development is RubiStar.

These are some sample rubrics for evaluating written work:

• Sample Rubric 1
• Sample Rubric 2
• Sample Rubric 3