Stanford
TeachingWriting

Teaching Writing in the Major

Writing in the Major (WIM) courses provide students with opportunities to develop writing skills in the context of their major fields. At Stanford, WIM is a crucial part of the process of teaching undergraduates to write effectively in discipline-specific formats and styles.

In these pages, we make suggestions based on research in writing pedagogy.

WIM courses

  • require a substantial amount of writing, with assignments sequenced to build on each other to expand students’ understanding of writing in the field 
  • schedule writing at regular intervals throughout the quarter via multiple short papers and/or assigning a larger project in stages; a single major writing assignment should have clearly-articulated parts
  • emphasize the process of rewriting, with individualized feedback and coaching from the instructor/TA 
  • devote attention to specialized standards of writing through the use of examples of strong writing in the field
  • draw on the conventions of writing in several areas of study when designed for students in IDPs, giving students practice in meeting the complex challenges of working across traditional disciplinary boundaries for a range of audiences and purposes
  • integrate writing concerns into classroom activities 
  • are situated in the overall curriculum of the major to contribute most effectively to students' training in the field; WIM courses placed early in the major will orient students to the standards of writing in the field and should lead to additional writing experiences later in the major, while WIM courses placed late in the major should challenge students to work at a sophisticated level based on their earlier courses and writing experiences

Ready to propose a WIM course?

Once you're ready to propose a new WIM course, write to writinginthemajor@stanford.edu to request a link to the proposal form. As part of the proposal process, you will need to upload the course syllabus. Ideally this would be the syllabus as you would present it for a WIM course; if you do not have time to fully revise the syllabus for WIM, please include a framing paragraph for how you would address the WIM component aspect of the course if it is approved. Once your proposal and syllabus are received they will be reviewed by WIM Director, Marvin Diogenes, who will offer revision notes as needed. Departments can (and should) revise the proposal/syllabus as suggested for the best chance of receiving approval from the Writing & Rhetoric Requirement (WRR) Govenrnance Board. Proposals should be submitted in the Academic Year prior to the year a department plans on teaching the new course. If this is not possible, the Board needs to see a proposal at least a quarter prior to the proposed teaching quarter. Please don't plan on teaching a course in the fall that has not yet been approved by the Board.