Teaching Resources

Writing Activities & Assignment Ideas

• Integrating Writing into Any Course: A Starting Point (WAC Clearinghouse)
• What Makes a Good Writing Assignment? (WAC Clearinghouse)
• Not Your Usual 3 to 5 Page Paper (WAC Clearinghouse)
• Informal, In-Class Writing Activities (University of MN)
• Aligning Assignments with Learning Goals (DePaul Teaching Commons)
• Cultivating Reflection and Metacognition (University of MI)
• Sequencing and Scaffolding Assignments (University of MI)

Grading & Responding to Student Writing

• Giving Meaningful Feedback (University of MT)
• John Bean's Hierarchy Chart for Responding to Student Writing (from DePaul University)
• Writing Comments on Students' Papers (from Bean's Engaging Ideas)
• Managing the Paper Load (George Mason University)
• Dealing with Grammar (WAC Clearinghouse)
• Preventing Plagiarism (WAC Clearinghouse)
• Using Peer Review to Improve Student Writing (University of MI)
• Save Time by Making One-on-One Conferences as Efficient as Possible (University of WI)
• In-Class Discussions of Student Writing: Maximizing the Effectiveness of Your Writing Lessons and Minimizing the Class Time You Use for Them (University of WI)
• CUI Written Communication Rubric
  Adjust language of rubric as needed to fit specific writing assignments

Motivating Students to Read, Write, & Revise

• Motivating Students to Read and Write in All Disciplines (University of MI)
• Motivating Students to Grow as Writers (University of WI)
• Why Learning to Write in College is Difficult (University of WI)
• Helping Your Students Improve Their Writing and Their Learning (University of WI)
• Techniques to Encourage Revision (WAC Clearinghouse)
• Tutorials: Working with Student Writers (WAC Clearinghouse)

Working with Multilingual Writers

• Providing Feedback and Grades to Second Language Students (University of MI)
• Working with Multilingual Student Writers: A Faculty Guide (Purdue Writing Lab)

What is Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC), and How Does it Benefit Students?

According to the Statement of WAC Principles and Practices, endorsed by the International Network of WAC Programs (INWAC),

WAC refers to the notion that writing should be an integral part of the learning process throughout a student’s education, not merely in required writing courses but across the entire curriculum. Further, it is based on the premise that writing is highly situated and tied to a field’s discourse and ways of knowing, and therefore writing in the disciplines (WID) is most effectively guided by those with expertise in that discipline. WAC also recognizes that students come to the classroom with a wide range of literacy, linguistic, technological, and educational experiences, but that all students can learn to become more proficient writers.

WAC as an initiative can be transformative for learning, teaching, and research. For students, WAC promotes engaged student learning, critical thinking, and greater facility with written communication across rhetorical situations. For teachers, WAC promotes thoughtful pedagogy and curriculum design as well as community among faculty that transcends disciplinary boundaries. For researchers in writing studies and across the disciplines, WAC promotes cross-disciplinary scholarship on teaching and learning, as well as scholarship on the values and ways of thinking in the disciplines and the ways those ideas and actions are communicated in writing.

Read the entire Statement of WAC Principles and Practices

Additional Information about WAC