Writing Across the Curriculum in a College of Business and Economics

A recent study examined how written communication concepts and skills have been integrated into core courses in the College of Business and Economics at California State University, Northridge. Writing-across-the-curriculum programs have met with mixed success. We wanted to see how elements of such a program were working at our university. Through a survey of faculty, we found the pres ence of both formal and informal writing policies, differences in standards for writ ing in upper-division core courses, differences in assignments, differences in assess ment strategies and in the results of such assessments, and, finally, differences in perceptions about whether WAC is a good idea. In general, faculty do provide opportunities for students to write, but many feel students write poorly and thus can handle only easy assignments, and many faculty consider themselves ineffec tive teachers of writing. Based on this study we recommend the implementation of team-taught, interdisciplinary courses; the development of standards for writing and assessment ; and training programs for faculty who want to integrate writing into their courses.