The use of reason and critical inquiry to enable students to see the interrelatedness of knowledge and the connections among academic disciplines is central to the mission of Whittier College. The Writing Program is reflective of this goal.
The Writing Program curriculum is writing-intensive, designed to teach students how to communicate effectively at each successive level of their major discipline, as well as to general audiences outside their chosen fields. In our writing courses, students are trained to read and listen critically and to construct supportable written arguments, integrating knowledge from within and without their chosen disciplines, through recursive, collaborative process.
All students begin their Whittier careers with First-Year Writing Seminars; these provide the fundamental instruction to enable students to generate, revise, and present their ideas to readers across the general campus community. Students progress to more discipline-specific Writing Intensive Courses, proceed through Writing across the Curriculum, and as part of their senior year experience, write a capstone Paper-in-the-Major.
