Writing Across the Curriculum

Writing Across the Curriculum

Since 1984, Salisbury University has been committed to assisting our students to improve their writing via writing assignments in every academic course per a national program known as Writing Across the Curriculum.

Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) seminars are offered every fall and spring semester. The 8-week seminar changes focus based on participant feedback and requests for specific topics around writing. Anyone who is teaching a course at any level is welcome to attend, and a stipend is provided for participants. Campus-wide email announcements will indicate the theme each semester. If you have questions or are interested in attending a seminar, please contact Dr. Melissa Bugdal at mebugdal@salisbury.edu. 

All participants receive a stipend for completing the seminar.

The Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) seminars are returning for Fall 2021! This semester, the 7-week seminar will focus specifically on creating or revising writing assignments and providing feedback on student’s writing. Anyone who is teaching a course at any level this semester is welcome to attend, and a stipend is provided for participants. If you are interested in attending a seminar, please contact Dr. Melissa Bugdal at mebugdal@salisbury.edu.

By endorsing Writing Across the Curriculum, SU faculty assumes responsibility to help students explore and perfect their thoughts through writing. In our classes we use writing as a means by which students can explore ideas and clarify their thoughts. Consequently, we often use informal (frequently un-graded) writing-to-learn activities in our classes, as well as formal (usually graded) written assignments where we pay particular attention to their writing skills.

• The act of writing enhances knowing: retrieving information, organizing it, and expressing it in writing seems to improve understanding and retention. *
• Writing is an active learning process and active learning seems to be more effective than passive reception.
• Writing is a way of making knowledge personal. The writer brings to bear a subjective point of view and reinterprets personally what has been learned.
• Writing focuses attention on a topic or subject
• Writing seems to facilitate thinking about a subject. The act of writing enables the writer to discern new relationships and make new connections.
• Writing is a way of sharing what is known. Students can use writing to share with classmates what they have learned.
• Writing provides immediate feedback to the learner and to the teacher about what has been learned—and what has not been learned.
• Writing is a self-paced mode of learning; the pace of writing seems to match better the pace of learning, slowing down the process of those who might be inclined to finish a learning task too quickly.
• Each discipline has its own way of knowing and its own modes of communicating knowledge; students should have a broad knowledge of how writing is used in several diverse disciplines. For example, a scientist reporting the results of a scientific inquiry uses objective language to communicate results; a literary critic evaluating a novel uses more subjective language to discuss personal reactions.

* Adapted from Writing to Learn, LaSalle University, Philadelphia, PA

• All students will be exposed to a range of writing experiences before graduation.
• All students will demonstrate a range of writing-to-learn strategies.
• All students will use writing to show evidence of critical thinking, problem solving, and logical thinking skills.
• All students will be competent with writing formats and styles necessary for their disciplines.