The Writing Program

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Associate Professor Drake
Assistant Professor Simshaw

The Writing Program seeks to establish and support a strong culture of writing at The Claremont Colleges. Courses emphasize writing as a process that involves creative imagining, drafting, revision, public sharing, and then further revision. Writing faculty teach in a number of genres, including the academic essay, creative nonfiction, professional writing (grants and non-profit writing, journalism), and creative writing, and our Mary Routt Chair of Writing position brings a critically acclaimed writer to campus each spring to teach a workshop in his or her genre of choice. Small seminars create writing communities that extend beyond the classroom in forms such as public readings, student and faculty workshops, writing awards, and the student-edited literary magazine The Scripps Journal. The Writing Program offers the support and the individual attention necessary for students to express themselves with clarity, grace, and force.

Learning Outcomes of the Writing Program

Department Goals and/or Objectives

Goals are broad statements that describe what the program wants to accomplish

1. Students will develop their critical reading, writing, and thinking skills.
2. Students will develop their rhetorical/argumentative skills.
3. Students will practice college-level writing and research processes.
4. Students will learn to transfer writing skills across genres and media.

Student Learning Outcomes

Outcomes describe specific knowledge, abilities, values, and attitudes students should demonstrate

SLO1: Students’ work demonstrates engagement with language and ideas from a variety of texts.
SLO2: Students can define and respond to significant problems, questions, or projects, making original arguments in ways appropriate to the genre.
SLO3: Students will demonstrate writing as a recursive process, using multiple drafts and relevant resources in developing their own work.
SLO4: Students demonstrate control over standard written English and develop voice, tone, and level of formality appropriate to the assignment, making felicitous style choices.
SLO5: Students are able to analyze primary sources and accurately summarize and evaluate secondary sources and use either/both to contribute to a scholarly or literary conversation.
 

Programs

• Courses in The Writing Program

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