Serving All Northwestern Students: Cook Family Writing Program

Serving All Northwestern Students

Our Commitments

Writing is a collaborative practice that benefits from the insights and experiences of others. Our classrooms are composed of students who come from diverse writing, language, and educational backgrounds that shape their understanding of the writing process and their written expressions. We believe that diversity is beneficial to the classroom environment and to students’ success. Fostering diverse ideas and discussion improves critical thinking and writing by creating conditions that support meaningful response and revision. It allows students to take different approaches, provide different perspectives, learn how to communicate with multiple audiences, and collaborate with one another.

To facilitate diverse classrooms, whenever readings, examples, discussion topics, or projects are used in class, we strive to select from a divergent set of materials and voices. Likewise, we welcome and respect all identities including gender, sexuality, disability, age, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, race, political affiliation, nationality, and religion. As writers, we understand that words matter; we endorse recommendations put forth by the National Council of the Teachers of English and the International Writing Centers Association on the use of gender-fair language and the singular they. We encourage students to share with us ways to make our classrooms, course materials, and assessment practices as inclusive as possible.

The Bobbie and Stanton Cook Family Writing Program is an independent unit officially located in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, but our courses and resources are designed to serve students throughout the university. For undergraduates, we offer a sequence of composition courses at the introductory, intermediate, and advanced levels: English 105, 205, and 305. All of these are small seminars taught by experienced writing faculty and limited to 15 or 16 students so that instructors can comment extensively on students’ papers and meet regularly with students in individual or small group conferences. In addition, Writing Program faculty teach many first-year seminars (English 105-6) in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and the required communication course (English 282)—"Writing and Speaking in Business"—for the Business Institutions Minor in the Harvey Kapnick Center for Business Institutions. Writing Program faculty also teach the foundational communication course, English 106, in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. English106 is taught in conjunction with Design 106, known more commonly as Design Thinking and Communication. Courses at every level emphasize revision, with the goal of strengthening each student’s ability to read critically, think clearly, analyze carefully, argue persuasively, and communicate effectively.

The Writing Program also operates the Writing Place, a center open to all Northwestern students that provides free composition tutoring and consultation. Located in University Library, the Writing Place is open most mornings, afternoons, and evenings during the academic year. Students may make appointments for in-person or online consultations through our online scheduling system. An offshoot of the Writing Place, the Graduate Writing Place offers peer consulting, writing groups, workshops, and writing retreats for graduate students and postdocs across the University.

In addition, the Writing Program helps to oversee writing requirements – and thus provides writing advising – for undergraduates in Weinberg College, the McCormick School, and the Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music. Members of the Writing Program faculty teach specialized courses and workshops as needed. The Program has collaborated extensively with other University programs and departments, developing new ways to integrate writing instruction with instruction in other disciplines, such as engineering design and law. In all its courses and special offerings, the Writing Program concentrates on helping students develop skill, confidence, and insight as writers.