Send mail to Bill Condon
Writing in the Major [M] courses at Washington State University are designed to provide pre-professional writing tasks appropriate for that particular major. Two [M] courses, to be taken after students have turned in their WSU Writing Portfolios (e.g., after 60 semester hours), are required of majors and are devoted to instruction in the discipline; the writing tasks focus on the discourse of that discipline. These writing assignments represent a variety of appropriate professional forms: research, synthesis, argument papers, proposals, laboratory and technical reports, memoranda, progress notes, and so forth. Because writing is in some sense a form of social behavior within a discipline, the faculty teaching [M] classes are the best judges of what that writing behavior should be.
The [M] courses are typically small (large classes are ordinarily not awarded [M] status); they are listed at the 300 and 400 level, to be taken in the junior and senior years when students are more well-versed in disciplinary knowledge bases and discourses. The courses are developed and taught by faculty in the disciplines; in rare cases where T.A.'s may be employed, responsibility for the evaluation of written assignments rests with the faculty member in charge.
In order to qualify for [M] status, a course must have writing distributed over the semester rather than due all at once (courses with one term paper at the end do not qualify). There must be a minimum of two papers which receive critical response, and students must have a chance to draft, revise, and resubmit their writing as their work is being evaluated so that they can improve their writing according to the feedback they receive. The evaluation of the writing assignments must contribute significantly to the grades in the course.
Go back to Writing Programs Home Page
Send mail to Bill Condon