GE Writing Experience Literacy

I. Regulations

Davis Division Regulation 522 sets forth the Baccalaureate Degree Requirements in General Education. Literacy with Words and Images (522.C.1) is a component of Core Literacies and requires 20 units of work in specified categories. A minimum of 6 units of courses that provide writing experience is required; in lieu of an oral skills course, a student may elect to take 3 or more additional units with writing experience.

Regulation 523.C.1 states: “A course providing writing experience promotes the student’s ability to think clearly and communicate effectively about the course material through guided writing assignments completed in stages. Guidance may take the form of class discussions, peer feedback, individual or small group conferences, or written (including online) feedback. Students must be given feedback designed to promote improvement in writing in the course. Feedback may occur in the context of one or more successive, refined submissions of a single assignment, or over a series of multiple assignments.

Students receive the current version of the handout on plagiarism from the Office of Student Support and Judicial Affairs. Grading criteria are articulated in advance of the due date. The writing is evaluated for content, clarity, organization, and logic. A 1-unit course requires a minimum of 5 pages of writing; a course of 2 or more units requires a minimum of 10 pages, possibly in a series of staged tasks or shorter assignments.

Approval may be sought for shorter assignments that total fewer than 5 or 10 pages when they are appropriate and clearly justified.”

II. Interpretation

The objective of Writing Experience Literacy is to ensure that all students become proficient writers across a range of academic and real-world contexts. Courses that meet the writing literacy must place significant emphasis on developing a complex written work within a given academic discipline. As important as the page quantities specified below is the integration of writing assignments that progressively develop critical thinking and that model effective writing strategies such as transferring feedback on one piece of writing to the next; developing a longer work through a series of shorter pieces; or drafting, getting feedback, and revising. Assignments to be included in the minimum page count must include opportunities for student improvement through the integration of instructor feedback through successive, refined submissions of a single assignment or through a series of multiple assignments. Most exams do not meet these criteria.

Departments and programs are encouraged to incorporate writing experience units within existing courses and to develop courses that emphasize the department’s or program’s distinctive disciplinary uses of formal writing.

Minimum Elements Checklist

Courses in the Writing Experience Literacy must:

ME1) Demonstrate that writing is a central component of the course.

ME2) Show that students are trained in the writing conventions of the relevant discipline.

ME3) Assure that model texts are provided and discussed.

ME4) Demonstrate that the 5/10 page (1500/3000 words) writing assignment(s) requirement is met. Revisions are encouraged, but revisions of past submissions do not count toward the 10-page minimum.

ME5) Provide specific demonstration and explanation of the evaluation criteria.

ME6) Demonstrate that individual feedback from instructors or teaching assistants is integrated into the course in a manner designed to promote improvement in writing.

ME7) Show that guidance on plagiarism is provided.

ME8) Demonstrate that the learning objectives of the literacy are an integral part of the class.

III. ICMS Submission Requirements

The Committee on Courses of Instruction (COCI) evaluates whether the course proposal satisfies the minimum elements checklist above. COCI uses the information provided in the answers to the General Education literacy justification questions and the Expanded Course Description. Departments requesting that a course be approved for this GE literacy must answer the following questions in the Integrated Curriculum Management System (ICMS).

For this literacy, COCI evaluates the minimum elements as follows:

  • ME1: ICMS literacy question 1 and the Expanded Course Description
  • ME2: ICMS literacy question 1 and the Expanded Course Description
  • ME3: Expanded Course Description
  • ME4: ICMS literacy question 1
  • ME5: ICMS literacy question 2
  • ME6: ICMS literacy question 3
  • ME7: ICMS literacy question 2
  • ME8: Expanded Course Description
  1. Briefly describe the requirements for written assignments by each student in the course, including the total number of assignments and the nature and expected length of each assignment.
  2. Briefly describe the grading criteria that will be provided to students (along with the current version of the handout on plagiarism from the Office of Student Support and Judicial Affairs) in advance of the due date.
  3. Briefly describe how students will be given feedback designed to promote improvement in writing in the course.
  4. How will the instructors assess student competency in this GE literacy?

Departments may leave the “ICMS Justification” field blank, or use it to provide any additional information about the GE literacy for this course that may be helpful as COCI reviews the request.

Last revised and approved by Undergraduate Council
August 20, 2020