University Studies Program

WRT and CONNECT

Students in the university studies program are required to complete a First-Year College Writing (WRT) class during their first year. Students develop their writing, critical reading and critical thinking skills in this course by exploring a single topic in depth. Students are expected to participate actively in their own learning through class discussions and group activities. The theme will vary, depending on the instructor.

Connect is the advanced writing course that will immerse students in the process of creating texts for different audiences and focus on developing the skills of rhetorical awareness, analytical reading, research, synthesis, and argumentation. Students will reflect and write about the personal and public roles of liberal education and their learning experiences in the University Studies Program. In addition, they will work to synthesize the USP’s three Signature Questions in the context of significant public issues.

WRT Resources

Sample Syllabi

The following are actual syllabi used by instructors for their WRT Courses, They have kindly shared their work for our use with their permission.

• WRT 188: Remembering the Holocaust
  Signature Question: Civic Engagement
  Cary Henson, English, COLS
• WRT 188: America’s Great Migration
  Signature Question: Intercultural Knowledge and Competence
  Joanna Morey, English, COLS

Course Development

• Elements of a WRT Syllabus provides detailed information for creating a first-year-student friendly syllabus for WRT students.
• Five Traits of Writing includes additional questions, a rubric for evaluation, and a rubric for self assessment.
• Information Literacy Resources for Quest Writing and Speaking Courses, compiled by librarian Ted Mulvey, provides information on what Polk can do for you, your students, and your classes to instruct students on information literacy.

Rubrics

WRT courses include learning outcomes from both the “Oral and Written Communication” and the “Information Literacy” categories of the Essential Learning Outcomes. Speaking and writing instructors may find the American Association of Colleges and Universities “Written Communication,” “Oral Communication,” and “Information Literacy” rubrics useful in their course development and on-going dialogues.

• AAC&U Written Communication Rubric
• AAC&U Oral Communication Rubric
• AAC&U Information Literacy Rubric

Connect Resources

Course Development

NOTE: English 300 is now WRT 288 and English 312 is now WRT 287

• Advanced Writing/Connect
• Advanced Writing/Connect: Texts About Liberal Education (June 2013)

Rubrics

• AAC&U Integrative Learning (Synthesis)