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BY JACQUELINE SMALL

In print | Published November 11, 2010

Writing courses at Swarthmore exist to help students learn how to express themselves clearly and intelligently. But the way they are currently structured is a source of frustration for many students.

A recent thread of comments on a Daily Gazette article revealed that, among other problems, several students think that writing courses are often mislabeled, and that some of them lack the emphasis on revision and meetings with Writing Associates that students expect.

According to the writing program’s website, writing courses should require “multiple writing assignments that total at least twenty pages of analytic writing during the semester.” A course that can fulfill the “W” requirement should emphasize developing a student’s abilities to construct, organize and develop a thesis and argument while collecting, presenting and analyzing evidence and documentation. Furthermore, the website states that, “It will pay explicit attention to the mechanics of writing and editing, issues of intended audience and author’s voice.”

But some students have found the lines distinguishing a writing course from a non-writing course to be particularly blurred.

Dougal Sutherland ’11 said, “I’ve taken a bunch [of writing courses] without even thinking about it. Some have had better focus on writing. The ones that used course WAs required at least some focus on revision process … but others had nothing. It’s pretty varied whether they’ll actually make you better at writing.”

Sutherland, who is editor in chief of the Gazette, was hopeful that administrators would take notice of the criticisms revealed in the comments online. The thread drew the attention of Martin Warner, the registrar, who followed and commented on it.

Warner said in an e-mail, “I learned a lot from the chat … and I am very sympathetic to the student concerns raised there. I decided the best thing I could do in response is to try to provide better advice to all students (and especially first-year students) about the Writing Course Requirement.” He published new information about the requirement online, with suggestions that students should take “W” courses as early as possible, and try to use them to fulfill distribution requirements.

But for students whose majors are highly structured, it can be hard just to find time to schedule in “W” courses. Rebecca Roelofs ’13 plans to major in engineering and has had trouble taking “W” classes in the humanities. “I basically only have one slot per semester in which I can work on fulfilling all my distribution requirements. Freshman year … none of my classes were writing classes,” she said in an e-mail.

The fall semester of her sophomore year, she planned to take an English class, but taking a writing credit was a requirement to take any class in the department except for first-year seminars. “I felt totally blocked out of the department without the writing credit, and I didn’t really have time in my schedule to take a writing class first and then an English class later. I thought that exploring subjects outside of your comfort zone was the very essence of Swarthmore, so it should be really easy to do!” Roelefs said.

Yet even for students who major in writing-intensive subjects, fulfilling the writing requirements can be difficult. Kat Clark ’12, an English major, never expected that fulfilling the writing requirement would be challenging for her. But the absence of middle and higher-level classes with the “W” designation limits her options.

“I took Intro to Ed and had a great WA experience, but since then I’ve had trouble finding W classes that I’m interested in,” Clark said. She pointed out that majoring in English requires her to write extensively, but “W” courses do not seem to acknowledge the amount of writing done by students.

William Nessly ’99, a visiting instructor in the English department who currently teaches a “W” class, a first-year seminar called “The Oriental Imagination,” said that the difference between a class that demands a lot of writing and a “W” class is the intent of the course. “Not just English classes but many humanities courses and science courses have demanding writing components. But that’s different from the self-conscious emphasis on writing that happens in designated ‘W’ courses,” he said.

The requirements have changed quite a bit since Nessly’s days as a student here. Until the 1990s, distribution requirements could only be fulfilled through taking specific courses called PDCs, primary distribution courses. PDCs were classes in the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences that had been recognized for meeting various criteria.

They were supposed to be suitable for students who intended to major in the field as well as non-majors, have an emphasis on the specific methodology essential for the subject and contain a significant writing component. Students were required to take two PDCs in each field, and could take one non-PDC.

The administration eventually decided to get rid of the PDC listing, but kept the emphasis on writing. Professors who wanted to designate their classes as Writing classes had to fill out an application, and the classes that were labeled “W” are almost all still considered to be “W” classes. Departments can, however, request that a class not be labeled “W” if, for example, the professor teaching the course changes and the emphasis shifts.

Constance Hungerford, provost of the college, said that with the upcoming Strategic Planning, it is possible the format of Writing courses will change once again. Until then, the solution to problems like Clark’s may lie with the professors. “Many people whose courses are not W courses nonetheless care very much about their students and their writing. I think more faculty can think about whether they want to make mid-level courses W courses,” Hungerford said.

Hungerford stressed, though, that requiring students to learn to write well will not change. “Writing well is a reflection of thinking well, and the ability to communicate is tremendously important. We want to find ways of ensuring our students are graduating with that skill honed,” she said.

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