The University Writing Program assists students with writing throughout their career at GW. During the sophomore and junior year, students take two Writing in the Disciplines (WID) courses. WID courses, intended as follow-up courses to UW20, are designed to facilitate student involvement with particular bodies of knowledge, their methods of scholarship, and modes of communication. These discipline-based courses have a significant writing component, but are not designed to teach students basic writing skills. Rather, the function of WID courses is to engage students in writing frequently and intensively with editing and rewriting to improve both learning and communication.

Number of WID Courses

You are required to take two (2) WID courses in separate semesters to fulfill your literacy requirement. You may take as many WID courses concurrently as you wish; however, only one per semester may be used to fulfill your WID requirements.

Earning WID Credit

In order to earn WID credit, you must complete UW20 before enrolling in a WID course.

For more information, contact:

NEW WID Funding Initiatives

• Writing Handbooks Program = $1,500 to participating WID faculty
  A new funding initiative as of AY 2008-09, this program is designed to encourage both new and continuing WID faculty to reflect systematically about writing in their field and to provide practical, written guidance for undergraduate students in the goals, purposes, methods, and standards of research and writing in their discipline (and related disciplines) and in their own WID courses in particular.  Faculty will attend two workshops, draft a 6-10 page handbook and receive feedback from colleagues in their own or related disciplines before submitting a final version, preferably an online e-version, to the WID Director.  Handbooks may be designed for particular courses or for a range of courses in a given department or discipline.  In future offerings of the course(s) in question, copies of the handbook, again preferably an online e-version, will be made available to students to help in the preparation of writing assignments.  Interested faculty should submit a letter of application including a one-paragraph description of their preliminary ideas for a student-centered writing handbook to Professor Chris Sten ( csten@gwu.edu ) by September 30th, 2008.  The two workshops will be scheduled in October and January.  This funding initiative will also be offered in Spring 2009.

In addition, the WID program is seeking proposals for the following dedicated WID initiatives:

1. Special Resources and GTA Training for Large Lecture Courses - a new program whereby incentives and training are provided for departments who use their own GTAs to support large-enrollment WID courses. . . click here for Call for Proposal as a Word doc
2. Sophomore Courses: Seminar or Gateway  - support for new seminars or existing gateway courses redesigned to meet WID purposes. . . click here for Call for Proposal as a Word doc
3. Peer Writing Preceptors - a unique opportunity for select undergraduate students to participate in WID courses by providing individualized instruction to students, under the supervision of a faculty mentor . . . click here for Call for Proposal as a Word doc
4. Instructional Assistants - graduate students supporting the
   writing components of WID courses . . . click here for Call for Proposal as a Word doc