"Read over your compositions and, when you meet a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out." -Samuel Johnson

The Writing 125 Requirement

Writing is central to academic life at Wellesley and will continue to play an important role in most students' lives after they graduate, whether they choose majors in the sciences, the social sciences, or the humanities. Writing 125 provides a common introductory experience in college-level thinking and writing for all students at Wellesley and is also assumed to provide the base for writing assigned in later courses. Writing 125 courses are taught by faculty from many departments as well as by a team of writing professionals; all Writing 125 faculty view writing as an important part of their own professional lives and are committed to helping Wellesley students learn to use writing as a powerful tool of thought and expression, a way to gain entrance to public discourse.

All Writing 125 courses have the primary goal of helping students establish a useful writing process, from developing ideas through revision. All sections provide instruction in analysis and interpretation, in argument and the use of evidence, in the development of voice, and in the conventions of academic writing, including writing from sources. Students may choose to take a standard Writing 125 course (meeting two periods a week and addressing a small, well-defined topic related to the instructor's expertise), or to study writing as part of an introductory course in another department (these "combined courses" are designated with a slash in the course title; all carry one unit of credit, fulfill distribution and/or major requirements, and meet for at least three periods each week).

All students are required to take Writing 125 in either the fall or spring semester of their first year at Wellesley. Students who lack confidence in their writing are advised to take Writing 125 in the fall and to select one of the sections designated for underconfident writers (10,12,14, in semester I). Sections 11 and 13 are reserved for students who have chosen to enroll in the Wellesley Plus Program.

All first-year students at Wellesley are eligible to take Writing 125 courses; we regret that, because we have only a limited number of spaces available in these required courses, we cannot open them to auditors.

Students who wish to pursue the study of writing beyond Writing 125 may select independent study in writing (Writing 250 for a full unit or Writing 250H for a half unit of credit) with a member of the Writing Program staff, but they should also be aware that many courses at Wellesley are taught writing intensively, offering the opportunity to study writing as part of their disciplinary study.

PLEASE NOTE: Students may not take a second semester of Writing 125 unless they have the written consent of the Director of the Writing Program.

• Lynne Viti and Wini Wood
• Wellesley College Writing Program
• Created by: Karyn Lu '01
• Date Created: June 29, 2000
• Expires: June 30, 2008

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