Graduation Writing Requirement (GWR)
The university shall take an incremental approach to approving proposals for GWR-certified upper-division courses in both GE and major degree programs
The university shall adopt the following procedure for certifying GWR upper-division courses across the curriculum.
The university shall adopt the following criteria for GWR course certification (see below).
The university shall establish a GWR Advisory Board to serve in an advisory capacity to the ASCC and the GEGB, which will decide on course modifications and new course proposals for upper-division courses seeking the GWR designation.
The GWR Advisory Board shall manage GWR-certified course-related faculty support and GWR program assessment.
The Academic Senate Executive Committee shall appoints to the GWR Advisory Board one faculty member from each of the six colleges and one representative from Professional Consultative Services, each of whom is familiar with writing for audiences across the disciplines, to serve a two-year term.
The Provost shall appoint to the GWR Advisory Board the Writing and Rhetoric Center director, who serves as GWR coordinator; the TT/tenured English Department faculty member, who serves as first-year composition coordinator; and the CTLT writing instruction specialist, whose primary role is to support faculty across the curriculum in developing writing pedagogies.
Associated Students, Inc., shall appoint to the GWR Advisory Board one student representative to serve a one-year term.
Voting members of the GWR Advisory Board shall include the Writing and Rhetoric Center director, who serves as the GWR Coordinator; the TT/tenured English Department faculty member, who serves as first-year composition coordinator; a faculty representative from each of the six colleges; one representative from Professional Consultative Services; and one ASI student representative or designee. The Ex Officio non-voting member shall be the CTLT writing instruction specialist or designee.
The Writing and Rhetoric Center director, who serves as GWR coordinator, shall act as chair of the GWR Advisory Board; is the direct point of contact for GWR-related questions; calls advisory board meetings; facilitates work related to course modifications and proposals, GWR course-related faculty support, and GWR program assessment; and drafts reports on the work of the advisory board.
The chair of the GWR Advisory Board shall report to the Senate at large a summary of the work of the advisory board, including the results from all GWR-related reviews, on an annual basis.
Criteria for GWR-Certified Upper-Division Courses Across the Curriculum
A.) Course Capacity
The recommended course capacity for all GWR-certified upper-division courses is 25 or less, with a maximum capacity of 30, as currently practiced in GWR-approved English courses. Any GWR-certified section of a course with a history of being scheduled with a capacity over 30 will lose its GWR designation.
B.) Enrollment Eligibility
Students must have junior class standing and have completed GE Area A with grades of C- or better in order to be eligible to fulfill the GWR in a certified upper division course. [At Cal Poly, any student with 90 completed units has junior class standing; in the case of fulfilling the GWR, if a second-year student has 90 or more completed units, that student is eligible to fulfill the requirement.]
C.) Course Proposal Requirements and Process
• All proposals for GWR-certified upper-division courses shall express commitment to two or three of the GWR-related student learning outcomes as listed under the newly developed GWR category in the curricular management process, and an explanation of how those outcomes will be met in the course must be included in the proposal;
• Proposals for GWR certification in online upper-division courses shall follow guidelines and standards as outlined in the Resolution on eLearning Policy (AS-750- 12) and consult with both the CTLT writing instruction specialist and an online instructional designer about best practices for teaching writing courses online;
• The workflow process for attaining GWR course designation will be similar to the process adopted by the new USCP committee: proposals first will be sent to the GWR Advisory Board, who will evaluate course modifications and new course proposals seeking the GWR designation for coherence with criteria, consult with the proposer(s) to improve the submission as needed, and advance the course modification or proposal in the workflow to the GEGB or, for non-GE courses, the ASCC for final approval;
• Proposals for GWR-certified upper-division courses will be approved by ASCC in all cases following recommendation from the GWR Advisory Board, and the GEGB when applicable.
D.) Curricular Requirements
All approved GWR-certified courses must be at the 300- or 400-level and must include the following:
• A minimum count of 3,000 total written words for the quarter
• Opportunities during the course for both low- and high-stakes writing (minor and major writing assignments):
o Low-stakes writing opportunities may include but are not limited to blog posts, journal entries, and short (potentially ungraded) in-class written responses to help students make meaning of course concepts;
o High-stakes writing should require more sophisticated uses of language and should elicit instructor feedback that addresses both the form and the content of the student's work. High stakes assignments should ask students to engage in complex rhetorical tasks that build on Area A courses, such as synthesizing information, developing evidence-based arguments, catering a text for a specific audience, etc.;
• The equivalent of at least two hours devoted to overt writing instruction that could include combinations of any of the following:
o Applying key rhetorical concepts into course content, such as those with which students are familiar from Al and A3, to assignments (e.g. rhetorical appeals, logical fallacies, etc.);
o Explaining the purposes and expectations of a writing assignment;
o Discussing the disciplinary conventions and contexts of an assignment;
o Examining models of written work to help students understand how best to successfully complete an assignment;
o Assessing a wide variety of sources and navigating the library's research tools;
o Learning and following specific citation style guidelines (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.) for research-based assignments;
o Identifying and accommodating the needs of a specific audience;
o Reading and commenting on peers' works with instructor guidance.
• One major writing assignment with a word count between 1,250 and 1,750 that incorporates a process-oriented approach including the submission of one or more drafts upon which students receive feedback during peer review (recommended) arid/or from the instructor (required) and are given an opportunity for revision; Note: An in-class essay exam may not be used to assess writing proficiency for GWR certification;
• Partnership with the UWRC Center to encourage student use of peer writing tutoring during the revision process and/or to embed writing tutors into the course on a one-time or ongoing basis (optional);
• The following course policies for end-of-term GWR Certification:
o Students must earn a C or better on the major writing assignment; and
o Students must earn a final course grade of C or better with at least 35% of the final grade based on the cumulative grade of all writing projects. [This is driven by CSU policy guidelines.]
E.) Instructor Requirements
After the GWR designation is approved for an upper-division course, the department scheduling a GWR class will ensure that assigned faculty adhere to the following:
• Completion of a CTLT-designed workshop series on best practices in writing instruction prior to the start of the course and/or a department-designed workshop series in consultation with the CTLT Writing Instruction Specialist (Note: All instructors who currently teach GWR-approved courses will be required to complete an information session and will be invited to offer insights on best practices during CTLT workshops for other instructors);
• Adoption of all GWR-certified curricular requirements and course policies, including the following:
o Commitment to enriching the course with writing practices that support writing as a process to learning and meaning-making, as outlined above;
o Writing assignment evaluation methods aligned with GWR outcomes;
• Clear communication about GWR requirements and policies to students (e.g., students must have 90 completed units in order to be eligible to fulfill the GWR in a course, and 2) students are aware that GWR completion is dependent upon a grade of C or better both on the designated writing assignment and in the course);
• Timely submission of grade rosters for all GWR-certified upper-division courses to the UWRC with clear notation of students who have completed/not fulfilled the GWR in the course
F.) Requirements for Ongoing Course Review
• All scheduled GWR-certified upper-division courses may be audited by the campus wide GWR Advisory Board at any time (but at least every 4-5 years) to ensure that outcomes continue to be met;
• Instructors of GWR-certified upper-division courses will be expected to participate in aggregate assessment of student performance periodically, on a random basis, by the campus-wide GWR Advisory Board in an effort to inform continuous improvement of course design, foster ongoing professional development, evaluate the GWR program, and ensure alignment between the GWR and the assessment of writing as a core competency;
• Instructors of GWR-certified upper-division courses will be expected to engage in CTLT-designed renewal/refresher workshops and/or department-designed renewal/refresher workshops offered in partnership with CTLTon a reguiar basis.
G.) Implementation Plan
• Upon Senate approval, six or more of the upper-division courses from across the curriculum proposed to certify the GWR will be approved as part of Phase I of the incremental rollout to offer GWR certification across a broad range of upper division courses;
• All courses selected for Phase I will be required 1) to engage in discussion during and at the end of the quarter with the GWR Advisory Board, and 2) to submit students' major writing assignment to the GWR Advisory Board at the end of the quarter, both of which will inform any necessary revisions to the workflow, professional development program, and/or course criteria;
• A timeline will be established to approve additional courses as resources allow.
Source:
Academic Senate Resolution: AS-858-18 "Resolution on Course Criteria for GWR-Certified Upper-Division Courses Across the Curriculum" (PDF). Adopted 27 November 2018.
References:
CSU Executive Order: EO 0665 Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement Determination of Competence in English. Effective 10 September 2024.
Cal Poly Website: Graduation Writing Requirement
Updated: 7/2/25