Since Grinnell College aims to teach students how to write, many courses across the curriculum require writing. This page contains an inventory of the writing required in individual courses. Use these descriptions only as a guide as they may change at the instructor's discretion during the course of the semester. In addition, this inventory lists a professor's full roster of courses and therefore is not a perfect match with the registrar's schedule of courses. For this reason, advisers should work from the current schedule to the inventory, not the other way around.

Some courses are designated "writing intensive." A writing intensive course encourages students to use writing to understand course materials, develop critical thinking skills, and communicate ideas effectively. Such a course satisfies the spirit of these guidelines:

• Regular Writing: Students work on writing assignments--formal or informal, graded or ungraded--throughout the semester. They need not complete written assignments every week, but do complete a substantial number.
• Regular Feedback: Although not all written work receives instructor feedback, students receive frequent suggestions for improvement.
• Revision: Students are encouraged to revise at least one, and ideally more, of their assignments.
• Clear Expectations: The instructor provides clear written instructions for all assignments.
• Grading: A substantial part of the course grade depends on the quality of written work. Instructors make explicit their criteria for evaluating written work.

Instructors may find the writing inventory form at: Writing Inventory Form .

In the following inventory, writing intensive courses are marked with an (*).

These PDF documents require the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Students: To compare writing assignments for two or three courses from different departments, click here:
Writing Inventory Comparison