WRITE Courses

The Writing Program’s prefix, WRITE, offers a selection of 1-credit courses designed to support WSU students with the writing they are doing in their classes and in other academic and professional contexts. Our courses offer low-risk, high-contact environments in which to learn and practice writing skills that will serve students as they write in their disciplines and in their future careers.

All of our courses are designed to be taken concurrently with a writing-intensive course such as English 101/105, a UCORE course such as History 105, or an “M” course (writing in the major). Our courses prioritize contextualized practice, so that students learn more about writing based on the writing they’re already doing for other courses, as well as self-regulated learning  models that guide students to determine and pursue their own learning goals.


Course Descriptions

Courses satisfying the UCORE Writing (WRTG) Requirement:

WRITE 111: Writing and Reading in History

Introduction to writing and reading in history and related fields (art history, music history). The course is organized by three guiding questions: What questions do historians ask? How do they answer those questions? How do they use writing to communicate their answers? This course complements the reading and writing students will do in a lower-division history course.

Suggested prerequisite: concurrent enrollment in a lower-division History or related course (Art history, Music History).

WRITE 112: Writing and Reading in the Natural Sciences

Introduction to writing and reading in the Natural Sciences. The course is organized by three guiding questions: What questions do natural scientists ask? How do they answer those questions? How do they use writing to communicate their answers? This course complements the reading and writing students will do in a lower-division natural science course.

Suggested prerequisite: concurrent enrollment in a lower-division Natural Science course (Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Entomology, Environmental Science, Physics, etc.).

WRITE 113: Writing and Reading in the Social Sciences

Introduction to writing and reading in the Social Sciences. The course is organized by three guiding questions: What questions do social scientists ask? How do they answer those questions? How do they use writing to communicate their answers? This course complements the reading and writing students will do in a lower-division social science course.

Suggested prerequisite: concurrent enrollment in a lower-division Social Science course (Anthropology, Archaeology, Criminal Justice, Economic Science, Psychology, Sociology, etc.).

WRITE 111, 112, & 113 comprise a combination of three 1-credit WRTG courses. Collectively, these courses satisfy the WRTG requirement. They offer students an exploratory, low-risk introduction into writing and reading thinking in broad areas of scholarly inquiry.

Each course is designed to complement lower-division UCORE courses in History (WRITE 111 + ART, ROOT, DIVR, HUM), the Natural Sciences (WRITE 112 + BSCI, PSCI), and the Social Sciences (WRITE 113 + SSCI, DIVR). Students are encouraged but not required to enroll in each of the WRITE courses concurrently with a related UCORE course.

These three courses can be taken at once or across multiple semesters.


Courses complementing English 101 and 105:

English 102

English 102 supports students as they develop and practice strategies to meet the challenges of academic writing required in English 101 and other typical first-year courses. English 102 prioritizes individual reflection, peer learning experiences, and peer review activities. Currently English 102 is taught as a hybrid course with peer learning and review activities in Canvas forums and in-person consultations and events in the Writing Center

Students may be required to take English 102 based on the personalized evaluation of their Writing Placement Process essays.

English 107

English 107 supports students as they develop and practice strategies to meet the challenges of academic writing required in English 105 and other typical first-year courses. English 107 utilizes the Writing Center and peer review groups to support multilingual writers as they hone their language and communication skills for English 105 and beyond.

Students may be required to take English 107 based on the personalized evaluation of their Writing Placement Process essays.


Courses supporting students as they develop as writers:

WRITE 205: Sentence & Paragraph Construction Across the Disciplines

WRITE 205 is a one-credit course offering individualized and small group instruction to improve basic sentence and paragraph writing skills in various disciplinary fields; sentence and paragraph skill development will focus on the types of sentences (simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex) and how they fit into genres of paragraphs (expository, narrative, comparison, and causal) based on fields of study.

Some students may be required to take WRITE 205 based on their University Writing Portfolio.

WRITE 302: Advanced Writing Collaborative

WRITE 302 is a one-credit course designed to provide writing support for students enrolled in their Writing in the Major [M] courses, or any upper-division writing-intensive course. In small sections, students receive individualized and group attention as they explore and practice the rhetorical moves necessary for composing effective writing, particularly the writing expected in their discipline and their future careers.

Some students may be required to take WRITE 302 based on their University Writing Portfolio.


WRITE 309: Plagiarism Labyrinth: The Complex Relationship between Culture, Language, and Academic Integrity

This course aims to support students as they develop an understanding of the complexities of plagiarism, with an emphasis on culture and the needs of international students. Students explore the expectations of academic research and writing within and across disciplines, practice the conventions of citation in different formats, and begin to integrate aspects of source use into their own writing.


WRITE 311: Writing for Admission and Scholarship Applications

In this course, students are introduced to strategies for writing personal statements using rhetorical inquiry, reflection, and peer review. The course is particularly suited for students seeking scholarships, pursuing advanced degrees or programs, or applying for jobs that require professional statements. Students can expect to receive ample individualized attention during development and revision of drafts and to complete relevant readings and group work.


WRITE 405: Writing Tutorial for Syntactic Structures in Professional and Academic Contexts

This course offers individualized and small group instruction focusing on sentence and paragraph structure for professional and academic purposes. Students are guided in considering the disciplinary conventions and rhetoric of their major and their future careers and then implementing what they’ve learned into the writing they do in their other courses.

Course Prerequisite: Junior standing.



Courses supporting writing tutors

WRITE 431: Writing Center Theory and Practice

This specialized course provides the education and training necessary for work in the WSU Undergraduate Writing Center. With a focus on the scholarship of the discipline, students explore the history of writing center work, the critiques and turns within the field, and the contemporary best practices and their underlying concepts and theories. Just as writing center work is open to students from all disciplines, this course is designed for students from any and all majors.

Course Prerequisite: Writing Center employment.