The writing requirement is designed to allow students the opportunity to gain and develop their writing skills over the course of their time at Brown. Courses that fulfill the writing requirement offer instruction, feedback, and guidance in disciplinary or academic writing conventions for students. Writing-designated (WRIT) courses provide students with substantive formative feedback on a minimum of two writing assignments. For example, students might have the opportunity to draft a writing assignment, receive instructor feedback, and then revise the assignment based on feedback. Research shows that writing is an iterative process and that students learn best when given the opportunity to revise their work based on writing-specific feedback they receive (Sommers, 2013).

For faculty: more information on writing-designated courses     For students: information on the writing requirement

• To arrange a consultation on designing a WRIT course, developing writing assignments, responding to student writing, or assessing writing assignments, please email sheridan_center@brown.edu.
• You may encourage students to visit the Writing Center, where they can spend 60-minutes working one-on-one with a Writing Associate or English Language Support Specialist on clearly articulating and persuasively arranging their ideas in writing. If you wish to require Writing Center visits for your course, please first contact the Writing Center at writing_center@brown.edu.
• Additionally, you may contact us if you would like the Writing Center to visit your classes to facilitate peer response sessions and/or writing groups. The Writing Center is also available to develop a workshop or presentation that addresses the needs of a faculty member’s particular course and writing objectives.

• The Sheridan Center offers digital resources on course and syllabus design, effective classroom practices and assessment.
• The Harvard Writing Project has well-developed resources for faculty regarding writing assignment design and response methods.
• Carnegie Mellon University maintains a page of resources for faculty teaching writing across the disciplines; their guidance on creating rubrics to assist with writing assessment is particularly useful and includes sample rubrics from across the disciplines.
• University of Michigan’s Sweetland Center for Writing has also developed an extensive page of resources for faculty members teaching writing across the curriculum, including information about collaborative projects, working with multilingual writers, and facilitating effective peer review.
• The WAC Clearinghouse, hosted by Colorado State University, maintains a database of resources on writing across the curriculum for both faculty and students, including open-access student-centered readings on writing.