Web Resource Links
This collection of web resources is for faculty and GTAs teaching writing courses and is derived from Writing Across Curriculum (WAC) and Writing In the Discipline (WID) programs across the country. Writing topics are arranged by category and resources for specific disciplines/subject areas can be found near the end.
If you have additional resources that we can add or would like to see an additional topic addressed, please contact Julianne Zvolensky.
The WAC Clearinghouse, in partnership with the International Network of Writing Across the Curriculum Programs , publishes journals, books, and other resources for teachers who use writing in their courses. These are two notable and extensive resources.
Colorado State WAC Clearinghouse
International WAC Network
University of Minnesota: Online Grammar Handbook (a comprehensive collection of videos, Power-point presentations, & handouts on the entire writing process from a variety of institutions)
General Writing Across Curriculum Information and Writing Resources
Colorado State: An Introduction to Writing Across Curriculum
University of Minnesota: WAC & WID (Writing in Disciplines) Basic Principles
University of Richmond: Writer's Web; and the National Writing Project
Purdue Online Writing Lab
Manoa Writing Program at Univ. of Hawaii, Manoa Writing Matters
Journals
The WAC Journal
Across the Disciplines
CompPile: an inventory/searchable database of publications in writing studies, including post-secondary composition, rhetoric, technical writing, ESL, and discourse analysis
Course and Assignment and Design
These websites offer assistance in drafting course structure and assignment prompts.
Manoa Writing Program at Univ. of Hawaii, Manoa: Designing Writing Assignments
Colorado State: Teaching Guide: Planning a Class
University of Minnesota: Designing Effective Writing Assignments
Colorado State: What Makes a Good Writing Assignment?
University of Missouri: Assignment Genres
George Mason University: Writing & Research: Creating Clear Assignments
University of Minnesota: Teaching Writing in Large Classes
Writing to Learn Activities
Generally, writing-to-learn activities are short, impromptu or otherwise informal writing tasks that help students think through key concepts or ideas presented in a course.
Colorado State University: What is Writing to Learn?
Manoa Writing Program at Univ. of Hawaii, Manoa: Helping Students Make Connections
University of Richmond: Write-to-Learn Activities
University of Hawaii at Manoa: Writing Activities to get Students Thinking and Learning
University of Minnesota: Assignments and Activities: Approaches and Samples
University of Wisconsin-Madison: Designing Assignments and Courses
Manoa Writing Program at Univ. of Hawaii, Manoa: Using Writing to Improve Reading
Manoa Writing Program at Univ. of Hawaii, Manoa: Writing & Research
Commenting, Evaluating, and Grading
These sources give information about various commenting strategies that aim at formative feedback to help improve students' writing.
Colorado State: Evaluating Writing Assignments
Colorado State: Teaching in the Margins: Commenting on Student Writing
University of Minnesota: Responding and Grading: Approaches and Samples
George-Mason University: Managing the Paper load and Responding Effectively to Student Writing
George-Mason University: Return on Investment: 4 Core Strategies for Commenting on Student Essays
Washington University, St. Louis: Tips for Commenting on Student Writing
Peer Review
Peer-review workshops serve many useful functions for student writers. Most notably, they provide writers with real readers who must make sense of the writing, they help writers improve their reading/critical analysis skills, and they help writers improve their writing skills and final products.
Colorado State: Teaching Guide: Using Student Peer Review
Washington University, St. Louis: Using Peer Review to Help Students Improve Their Writing
George Mason University: How to Help Students Give Effective Peer Response
University of Wisconsin-Madison: Peer Review Across Disciplines
MIT: No One Writes Alone: Peer Review in the Classroom, A guide for Instructors
Revision
Most arguments, especially research-based arguments, require careful revision to be fully effective. These sources offer information for both instructors and students about the revision process.
Colorado State: Reviewing and Revising an Argument
Colorado State: Questions to ask as you revise your essay
Colorado State: Revision: History Theory, and Practice
Purdue OWL: Higher and Lower Order of Concerns
Purdue OWL: Steps for Revising Your Paper
Grammar, Editing, and Proofreading
Students who use a system for tracking their individual patterns of error and are held accountable for using that system to proofread their papers are more likely to improve their sentence-level errors over the course of the term. Below are some resources to help them achieve such ends.
Colorado State: Teaching Guide: Error Pattern Analysis
Colorado State: Editing and Proofreading Strategies
University of Minnesota: Approaches to to teaching grammar and mechanics
University of Minnesota: Online Grammar Handbook
Texas A&M: Handouts & Guides
Purdue OWL: Proofreading: Where do I begin?
Purdue OWL: Finding Common Errors
Specific Disciplines
In this section, find websites that target specific subject areas or topics directly as well as some that compile a variety of examples of syllabi and assignments from various subject areas.
University of Minnesota: Additional Resources: Browse by Discipline
Texas A&M:
What are you Writing?
North Carolina State:
LabWrite: Improving Lab Reports
Bowdoin College:
Reading, Writing, and Researching in History: A guide for colleg
e students
University of Richmond:
Writer's Web: Examples of writing in different discipline
s
Electronic Communication Across the Curriculum
Electonic Communication Across the Curriculum:
Tips for Generating Engaged Online Discussions
Colorado State:
Teaching Guide: Teaching with Technology
Colorado State:
Teaching Guide: Conducting Online Discussions
Rice University:
How to Read a Scientific Article
University of North Carolina:
How to incorporate figures and charts into your writing
Student Resources
Colorado State:
Questions to ask as you Revise your essay
Purdue:
Online Writing Lab
Swarthmore:
Student Resources on different parts of the Writing Process
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign:
Writer Resources: Grammar Handbook
University of Minnesota:
Online Grammar Handbook
Plagiarism
University of Minnesota: Writing with Sources
Colorado State: Teaching Guide:
Dealing with Plagiarism
George Mason: Helping Student Avoid Plagiarism
ESL Students
Manoa Writing Program at Univ. of Hawaii, Manoa: Working with ESL Students' Writing: Opportunities for Language Learning
Six Hour WAC Training Application
Summer Training
Department Grants (No longert offered)
The Writing Across the Curriculum Program at FAU now offers Department Development Grants of $2,000 on a competitive basis to faculty teams who plan to integrate effective writing activities and assignments throughout their departments’ curricula. Two such grants are currently available on an annual basis.
Successful grants will:
- Involve at least three faculty from a department
- Present a clear plan for long-term curriculum change
- Collaborate with the University WAC Director and Coordinator
- Provide a justified budget (excluding funds for equipment, travel support, or food)
Proposal Guidelines
- Arrange a required pre-proposal meeting with WAC Director.
- Prepare a proposal for a Department Development Grant (3 to 5 pages). Include the following items.
- Potential impact (need, benefits for students, number of students benefited)
- Project objectives
- Project Plan (including plans for working with the Center’s staff)
- Assessment strategy
- Team members
- Schedule
- Budget
- Commitment to writing a report and making a presentation to the university community
- Signature of department chair
Examples that are likely to receive funding include:
- Converting a multi-section course to a WAC course
- Introductory level course for all students entering a major
- Critical thinking initiatives that use case-based writing projects
- Assessment project that determines the effectiveness of a WAC component of departmental curricula.
- Integrating writing into a series of courses
Deadline Friday, April 6th, 2012
Program
In the spring semester of 2007, FAU implemented its Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program to strengthen the teaching and learning of writing in undergraduate education. The WAC program mandates that:
- Writing counts for at least 50 percent of the course grade;
- Some class time be devoted to discussing strategies for improving student writing;
- WAC courses include at least one substantial revision of a graded paper;
- Substantive feedback be provided on all writing that leads to a grade.
The 2000 - 4000 level WAC courses are listed here and identified as WAC in the course schedule. A small number of WAC courses have been certified to substitute for College Writing 2. These 1000 level courses have the same requirements as ENC 1102, but are taught by specially trained faculty who use disciplinary readings. The current courses that substitute for ENC 1102 are listed here and identified as WAC courses in the course schedule.
The University's WAC program promotes the teaching of writing across all levels and all disciplines. WAC asserts that writing-to-learn activities have proven effective in developing critical thinking skills, learning discipline-specific content, and understanding and building competence in the modes of inquiry and writing for various disciplines and professions.
Faculty who teach WAC classes have been specially trained to develop courses that provide frequent and significant opportunities to write, revise, and discuss their writing. As more courses become WAC-certified, students will have increased opportunities to develop their writing and critical thinking skills from the freshman year through graduation, whatever their major course of study.
For more information, contact the University Center for Excellence in Writing or call at 561-297-3498.
WAC Training Seminars
WAC offers a Faculty Training Seminar in support of innovation and instructional improvement in general education. Eligible participants are adjuncts, instructors, or tenure-track faculty who teach or plan to teach a WAC-designated course within six months of participating in the seminar. Interested faculty should review the criteria for College Writing II Replacement Courses and 2000-4000 level Writing Across the Curriculum courses before the seminar.
Participants need to complete all the requirements of the seminar in order to receive credit and the stipend.
Previous Seminar topics have included Designing Writing Assignments , Responding to and Grading Student Writing , and Presentations of a Revised Assignment .
Spring 2026: Please contact Prof. Sipai Klein (WAC Director) or Julianne Zvolensky (WAC Assistant Director) with questions about WAC's faculty training.
As you may know, FAU formalized its Writing Across Curriculum program in spring 2007. At that time, the Faculty Senate approved a policy that beginning spring 2008, all faculty (including adjuncts and instructors) who teach WAC designated courses “may do so without training, but only for a single semester.” Those faculty members must participate in a WAC seminar before teaching another WAC course.
Faculty must receive WAC training within one semester of teaching their first WAC course. Thus, if instructors are currently teaching a WAC course without training, they will not be able to teach a WAC course again until they participate in a WAC seminar.
WAC Summer Training Application
Six Hour WAC Training
Program description from University Catalog Degree Requirements
FAU implemented its Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program to strengthen the teaching and learning of writing in undergraduate education. The WAC program satisfies the College-Level Communication requirement (formerly Gordon Rule) for writing and communication by mandating that:
- Writing counts for at least 80 percent of the course grade in ENC 1101, ENC 1102 and ENC 1102-substitute courses. For the 2000-to-4000-level WAC courses, writing counts for at least 50 percent of the course grade;
- Writing assignments engage students in intellectual activities central to the course objectives;
- Some class time is devoted to discussing strategies for improving student writing;
- WAC courses include at least one substantial revision of a graded paper;
- Substantive feedback be provided on all writing that leads to a grade.
A small number of WAC courses have been certified to substitute for College Writing 2. These 1000-level courses have the same requirements as ENC 1102, but are taught by specially trained faculty who use disciplinary readings. The current courses that substitute for ENC 1102 are listed in the University Catalog (linked here) and are identified as WAC (formerly Gordon Rule) courses in the course schedule. WAC courses in the 2000, 3000 and 4000 level are also listed in the University Catalog and as WAC (formerly Gordon Rule) in the schedule.
The University's WAC program promotes the teaching of writing across all levels and all disciplines. WAC asserts that writing-to-learn activities have proven effective in developing critical thinking skills, learning discipline-specific content and understanding and building competence in the modes of inquiry and writing for various disciplines and professions.
Faculty who teach WAC classes have been specially trained to develop courses that provide frequent and significant opportunities for students to write, revise and discuss their writing. As more courses become WAC-certified, students will have increased opportunities to develop their writing and critical thinking skills from the freshman year through graduation, whatever their major course of study. For more information, contact the University Center for Excellence in Writing by clicking here or calling 561-297-3498.
For a list of WAC courses offered through the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, see that section in the University Catalog.