The Merritt Writing Program (MWP) brings together faculty with wonderfully varied expertise in fields such as creative writing, educational theory and practice, library studies, literary studies, professional and technical writing, rhetorical theory, social work all with a range of pedagogical approaches including process pedagogy, expressivism, social epistemic rhetoric, social constructionism, genre-based pedagogy, writing across the curriculum, writing about writing, critical pedagogy, rhetorical genre studies, multimodal and digital composition, feminist pedagogy, translingual pedagogy, antiracist writing pedagogy, and hyrbid approaches to teaching and learning. That diversity in teaching approaches means students will encounter different perspectives, teaching styles, and ways of thinking about writing throughout the first year.
The program offers WRI 001, WRI 010, and WRI 010H, and students will sharpen deep reading skills and critical thinking while developing a voice as a writer and learning to communicate with all kinds of audiences and purposes.
Students share their work through a staged process in our writing classes, get real feedback from peers and the instructor of record, and complete revisions to strengthen written communication. Throughout the semester, students will often have chances to engage in metacognitive reflection on how they are learning about writing, thinking, and communication to better understand approaches to learning that work for each individual.
Our class sizes are small and personal, with about twenty students per section, so students get real-time interaction with faculty in class and two one-on-one conferences outside of class time each semester. Students can expect frequent feedback on writing and ideas. Class time is often collaborative and conversational with activities to learn course concepts, alongside peers.
Students will be expected to connect their writing to all sorts of fields, from Engineering, scientific exploration, and literacy to art and aesthetics. Each section of writing is intensive, with multiple drafts and genres, so students leave the course with durable skills that can transfer to other courses in the major.
