The Writing Intensive Program began in 1997 with the goal of improving the nature and quality of the undergraduate academic experience at the University of Georgia. Writing intensive courses provide students with writing opportunities and instruction beyond the First-year Composition experience and throughout a student’s academic career in all disciplines. The Writing Intensive Program recognizes that writing is more important than ever, not only to students’ academic endeavors but to the post-university work for which they are preparing.
In Theory
Writing is the academic dialogue that the University of Georgia faculty, as educators, aim to introduce to students. To teach writing is to teach the “ways of knowing” unique to any discipline: the methodology of inquiry, the conventions of evidence, the mode of presentation. Thus, the most effective way to improve student writing is to do so within the context of disciplinary demands under the tutelage of committed faculty across the campus, who are willing and able to articulate those conventions.
In Practice
The program trains discipline-specific graduate students to serve as teaching assistants to support Writing Intensive Program courses. Each Writing Intensive Program course, competitively selected, is provided with a specially trained TA to support participating faculty as a “writing coach.”
