University Writing - 150
Program Purpose
University Writing is a program, housed in the English department, that serves BYU's general education program by offering first-year writing (WRTG 150) and advanced writing courses (WRTG 311, 312, 313, 315, and 316). University Writing also works to improve writing instruction across campus through programs designed for faculty, including Writing Across the Curriculum workshops, an annual writing symposium, a biennial conference, and ongoing training. Our goal is to help students become effective communicators, critical thinkers, and careful readers. We achieve these aims by developing theoretically and pedagogically sound curricula and supporting teaching innovation and excellence.
In short, UW provides writing courses that fulfill GE requirements and help students achieve the outcomes described in GE foundation documents; University Writing also helps faculty across campus design curricula that support students in becoming better writers.
This stewardship report concerns a single course, WRTG 150, not University Writing as a program. Thus, the following assessment material should be read in conjunction with other assessment documents for Undergraduate Education.
Learning Outcomes
The following outcomes come from the First-Year Writing foundation document approved by the Faculty General Education Council in November, 2024, and updated in April, 2026.
- Rhetorical and Genre Knowledge. Students will be able to analyze rhetorical situations, use and adapt genres, write for a specified audience and purpose, and adopt a style, tone, and level of formality suited to the purpose and audience.
- Processes of Writing. Students will be able to use productive and flexible individual and collaborative writing processes, including prewriting, drafting, revising, editing and proofreading, reflecting, and employing writing technologies like generative artificial intelligence effectively and ethically.
- Inquiry and Reading. Students will be able to engage in inquiry as an iterative process as they understand and participate in ongoing scholarly conversations, suspending judgment until larger contexts are understood. They will be able to read and use written materials in a variety of genres and from a variety of sources, including information gathered from digital sources like databases, search engines, online sources, and generative artificial intelligence.
- Processes of Library Research and Information Literacy. In collaboration with the library, students will begin to develop the ability to critically evaluate sources; construct effective search strategies; and investigate, analyze, interpret, and synthesize information from diverse perspectives to ask questions, learn, generate new knowledge, and solve problems.
- Style and Knowledge of Conventions. Students will be able to use appropriate language, genre conventions, and citation practices to write effectively in different contexts.
- Reflection. Students will be able to practice a systematic reflective process that includes describing prior or current writing experiences; evaluating the meaning and relevance of those experiences, including the consequences of their writing choices; and thinking ahead to future writing contexts.