Requirement and Rationale:

Writing and speaking are fundamental to all disciplinary and scholarly work, also serving as powerful ways of learning and evaluating learning in the disciplines. Each undergraduate curriculum must be designed and taught so that the Major enhances students' learning through writing and speaking activities and helps students to communicate competently for academic and professional contexts. Because effective communication in these contexts often demands proficiency in the use of information technologies and resources, students must gain a basic understanding of how information is identified, organized, and accessed, in both the print and digital environments.

Associate deans are responsible for providing evidence that their college's curricula are designed to comply with this requirement's rationale and objectives and ensuring that academic programs assess and report student achievement of the objectives.

Special Note:  If a student changes a General Education course except for HES courses from a letter grade to credit-only (S/U), then the course will not satisfy the GEP requirements.  Consult your academic advisor if you have questions.

Category Objectives:

Each undergraduate curriculum must be designed to provide instruction and ample opportunities for guided practice that enable students to:

1. Learn more deeply and effectively through the use of writing and speaking activities, and
2. Master the kinds of writing and speaking that are appropriate to their academic or professional majors, and
3. Use information technologies and search strategies appropriate to their academic or professional majors to identify and access information and then to evaluate, synthesize, and incorporate that information effectively in their writing and speaking.