WID Student Resources

Benefits of WID Courses

WID courses are designed to help students prepare for their careers by using academic writing as a tool to explore and learn more about their discipline. WID courses help familiarize students with the language, information, and format within their discipline. In addition, it strengthens their analytical and communication skills to excel throughout their career trajectory.

Typically, WD courses are those upper-level (perhaps capstone) courses that include writing assignments with discipline-specific concepts, genres, and conventions. In this case, it might be what writing scholar James Britton calls “transactional writing” meaning writing to accomplish something specific to inform, persuade, or instruct in a particular field.

• "W" COURSES
  • Refers to courses that are:
    • Writing to Learn (WTL)
    • Writing Intensive (WI)
    • Writing Enhanced (WE)

  • Located throughout the university in which instructors are writing tasks to help students analyze or understand concepts.

  • Characteristics include:
    • Created to facilitate students' ability to think.
    • Shorter and less formal at early stages.
    • Designed to explore course concepts.
    • Lower-stakes grades often scaffolded into course assignments.
    • Ungraded or completion grades only.

  • 50% of course grades are derived from assignments that ask students to engage writing to help think through course concepts.
• "WID" COURSES
  • "Refers to courses that are:"WID" refers to Writing in the Disciplines courses in which writing assignments are used to enable students to practice writing conventions of a specific discipline to understand:
    • Values of the discipline
    • Genres of the dicipline
    • Formats of the discipline
    • The thinking and writing of that discipline

  • Typically, upper-level (i.e., capstone) courses.

  • Designed to help students write professionally acceptableprose in a particular field of study.

  • Emphasis on professional communication; students should demonstrate a mastery of the conventions of writing in a specific discipline.

  • Faculty and peer feedback is highly recommended throughout these courses.

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How do I know if my course is a WID Course?

A designator will be next to the course when you register. A "WID" or "WD" designator indicates that the course is a WID course. A "W" designator indicates that the course is a Writing to Learn course.

Note: WID Courses are typically upper-level courses.

Where do I go for help?

The Academic Success Center is here to help!
• Resources/handouts available
• Appointments available in person or online
• Tutoring and Peer Mentoring are available