WRITE 2 Courses

WRITE 2 (sometimes referred to as DWR 2) classes are seminars, taught by faculty, that fulfill the PWR 2 part of Stanford University's Writing and Rhetoric General Education requirement. They are courses with a dual character: they are classes about a subject; they are also classes about writing and oral presentation.

Prerequisite for students: the completion of PWR 1. 

Prerequisite for faculty: the course must be approved as a WRITE 2 by the WRR Governance Board during the academic year before the course is to be taught.

WRITE 2 courses:

  • carry at least 3 units of credit
  • are generally seminar courses
  • provide writing, research, and oral presentation assignments and include opportunities for students to present the results of scholarly inquiry in varying forms (e.g. in print, on the web, before a live audience)
  • offer students consistent opportunities for practice and revision of major written assignments and oral presentations, with feedback provided by faculty
  • provide instruction in writing and oral communication keyed to standards appropriate to university-level work, including attention to integrating the writing and oral communication instruction with the content of the course
  • require that students produce 18-25 pages of writing and 15-20 minutes of speaking

Further, it is recommended that WRITE 2 courses:

  • incorporate peer review into the students' process of preparing and revising written assignments and oral presentations
  • give students opportunities to work collaboratively on presentations
  • supplement feedback from faculty with support or coaching from other sources, which could include videotaping and/or tutoring support from the Writing Center and the Oral Communication Program

Notes to faculty preparing WRITE 2 course proposals

Joyce Moser (moser@stanford.edu), Associate Director of Stanford Introductory Studies, is available by email and appointment to work with faculty as they craft their WRITE 2 course proposals; she can also assist faculty with timing their work in order to meet deadlines for submission of WRITE 2 proposals to the WRR Governance Board.

WRITE 2 classes are often also Introductory Seminars; students apply via the usual Introductory Seminar process — they submit an application which includes a statement of interest, and faculty read the applications and select the students for the class.

In the proposed syllabus the WRR Governance Board will need to see the writing and oral communication assignments in detail, their placement within the work for the quarter, and the way these assignments are integrated into the course materials.

WRITE 2 courses will be re-submitted to the WRR Board every three years; the Board will review the current syllabus to ensure that the key writing and oral presentation elements of the course are still in place. The Board will also review course evaluations annually to assess students' experiences in WRITE 2.