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Background:
The University Writing Requirement (UWR) described herein applies to undergraduate students at California State University East Bay as required by CSU EO 665 and subsequent updates to EO 665.
University Writing Requirement Guidelines:
Similar to overlays, a student may satisfy the University Writing Requirement (UWR) in a variety of ways without increasing unit requirements for students in high-unit majors.
- Students will fulfill the University Writing Requirement by earning a CR, C- or better in an upper-division course approved for this purpose.
- There will be no standardized testing of writing prior to enrolling in a UWR course.
- The prerequisites for UWR courses are completion of the CSUEB second composition requirement.
- A program may decide to require a specific UWR course for their majors, or students may fulfill this requirement with a course offered in other disciplines, including but not limited to upper-division general education and English, so as not to increase the units requirements for students in high-unit degree programs.
- UWR courses for majors only may be 4 units; all other UWR courses must be 3 units. (See EO 665).
- UWR courses will demonstrate an integrated approach to course content and writing instruction by adhering to approved course learning outcomes and characteristics.
- UWR courses will be incorporated into the long-term ILO assessment plan. UWR courses will typically be assessed when the ILO in written communication is assessed by the campus. Departments offering UWR courses are required to provide samples of student work for institutional level assessment.
- UWR courses shall not enroll more than 30 students and a course cap of 25 is strongly recommended.
- Courses meeting the UWR requirement shall be designated by a W suffix in the schedule of classes and the University Catalog.
Learning Outcomes for UWR Courses:
The following statement of student learning outcomes must appear in the syllabus of a certified UWR course.
This is a course that meets the University Writing Requirement. By the end of the course, students will be able to
- Complete a variety of reading and writing tasks that incorporate subject-matter knowledge;
- Adjust their writing for different audiences, showing awareness of expectations for academic writing in general and adhering to discipline-specific conventions when appropriate;
- Demonstrate critical thinking and logical reasoning, including strategies common in a discipline, in the development and organization of ideas in written texts;
- Take into account multiple perspectives and key disciplinary concepts when presenting their ideas in writing;
- Revise their writing in response to feedback in order to improve idea development, clarity, coherence, and correctness.
Characteristics of UWR Courses:
- Ongoing and substantive instruction addresses various aspects of writing, through scaffolded activities including strategies for generating ideas and organizing information as well as editing and following disciplinary conventions.
- Students have opportunities to revise multi-draft writing in response to feedback on drafts in progress.
- Two or more multi-draft major writing assignments, occurring throughout the course. These assignments may include multiple parts of a large, final coherent work, e.g., “chapters” of a semester-long research paper. These major assignments together must collectively total at least 4,000 words. The 4,000 word requirement applies specifically to these major writing assignments and can include the scaffolding assignments such as a detailed outline or annotated bibliography.
UWR Course Certification Process:
- A UWR course proposal is submitted to the Writing Subcommittee (WS). (If a course is also being considered for GEOC approval, it moves through the General Education, Overlay, and CODE (GEOC) Subcommittee first for approval. Once approved by GEOC, it moves to the Writing Subcommittee for review.
- If the proposal is approved by a majority of the Writing Subcommittee, the proposal shall be forwarded to CIC (in a joint memo from GEOC if applicable).
- If the proposal is approved by a majority of CIC, the proposal shall proceed to the Academic Senate.
- If the proposal is approved by a majority of the Academic Senate, the proposal shall proceed to the President (or designee).
- The Writing Subcommittee requires that all UWR courses be recertified every five years starting in AY 2028-29.
16-17 CIC 85 amended: Policy for Renewal of All University-Wide Graduation Requirements will be applied to UWR course certification. UWR course certifications will last for five years and may be subject to review during that five-year period. UWR course recertification proposals will be due during the fifth year of a certification cycle and must be launched in Curriculog by September 15 of that year. UWR courses that fail to address the learning outcomes and/or course characteristics will lose their certification.
*The Writing Subcommittee will begin recertification for all UWR courses in Fall 2028, in order to keep all UWR courses on the same cycle.
Courses that satisfy the UWR have a “W” suffix in the course number (e.g., ENGL 300W). Courses approved to satisfy UWR in this Catalog are:
Other breadth requirements are indicated in parentheses above. Any course offered that is numbered “396W” will also satisfy the UWR. That number is for a one-time-only course offering that was created after Catalog deadlines.
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