The UW English Comp Requirement
Options for Honors students
- Overview and description of the UW “C” requirement
- Assessing yourself as a writer
- Choosing a course for “C” credit
Overview
In the Undergraduate Honors Program, faculty and students are engaged in all sorts of writing. The practice of articulating, expressing, and exploring ideas is central to our belief that an excellent college experience is interdisciplinary and collaborative in nature. Writing is one of the most powerful tools we have to map our own learning. It also offers us opportunities to inquire into subjects we are studying and to make links between our personal and scholarly experiences.
We want our students to develop a wide range of writing strategies and know when to use them. Whether a project calls for a research paper, an opinion-editorial in a newspaper, a letter to the editor, a blog, an admissions essay for medical school, a position paper, a work memo, or an email to a legislator, students in the honors program will learn how to follow through on the best possible format for the scenario at hand.
Because the Honors Program understands writing as a learning priority that takes practice, writing opportunities are embedded in many of the courses we offer. But the UW also requires that students in all schools and colleges complete one 5-credit composition course. (In addition to the 5-credit composition course, the UW requires the completion of 7-10 credits of “writing-intensive” courses. All 5-credit courses with the HONORS prefix are considered “writing intensive”. Students who complete at least two of these courses will fulfill the additional “W” requirement.)
More information about the “W” requirement is available on the UW Gateway Center website »
To fulfill the composition (“C”) requirement, you will need to complete, with a grade of 2.0 or higher, one of the composition courses available to UW students. All of these courses are open to all UW students, while the Honors courses are restricted.
This site is meant to give you the information you need about each composition course offered at the UW and its learning outcomes so that you can make an informed decision about what course will best meet your needs.