Writing Intensive Course Resources

Eloquentia Perfecta

Eloquentia Perfecta Writing Intensive courses are part of Saint Louis University’s rigorous and cohesive set of courses designed to cultivate “perfect eloquence” in writing, speaking and other forms of creative public expression in alignment with the foundational goals of the Jesuit Ratio Studiorum. Courses that satisfy the Eloquentia Perfecta: Writing Intensive requirement build students’ ability to write effective prose within the context of a specific Core or disciplinary inquiry.

This section of The Saint Louis Story contains projects, resources, and assignments that will help faculty at SLU satisfy writing intensive requirements, while supporting the Jesuit mission of social justice and SLU’s pursuit of place-based racial equity and justice.

Discipline specific resources.

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STEM

For those teaching in the STEM fields.

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Humanities

For those teaching in the humanities.

Black female scientist in lab.

Health Sciences

For those teaching in the health fields.

Requirements for a writing intensive course.

  • The course must include assignments that lead to the following outcomes:

    1. Student will be able to write effectively for specific purposes and audiences

    2. Students will be able to analyze and synthesize claims from a variety of sources

    3. Students will be able to synthesize, summarize, paraphrase, and quote from a variety of appropriate sources in support of specific claims

    4. Students will be able to engage in processes of invention and revision that enable evaluation of their own and other’s rhetorical choices in written messages and arguments

    5. Students will be ale to reflect on the ways in which rhetorically proficient written communication contributes to ethical public discourse

  • All instructors must meet the following criteria:

    1. Instructors must receive training in best practices in writing pedagogy prior to teaching a course attributed as “Writing Intensive”

    2. All sections must be taught at a maximum 20:1 student/instructor ratio (per standards for writing courses set by national professional organizations (e.g., Conference on College Composition and Communication) and best practices benchmarks for post-graduate programs (e.g. University of Missouri medical school); courses may use teaching assistants to manage the student/instructor ratio

    3. Writing assignments must be spread throughout the term

    4. Collaborative or group writing assignments may be part of the assigned writing for the course

    5. Writing assignments may be discipline-specific (e.g. professional, technical, or scientific writing)

    6. Students must have the opportunity to develop written arguments through processes that involve several stages of invention and revision

    7. By course end, students must have produced a minimum of 5000 words of formal and/or informal argumentative prose. Total word count may include outlines or drafts as well as final written projects

    8. The Associate Director of Eloquentia Perfecta: Written and Visual Communication and the associated subcommittee will be responsible for working with instructors to accommodate the criteria listed above to specific disciplinary parameters (e.g. intensive-writing courses in languages other than English; technical or professional writing in capstone courses)

  • This course/experience is part of an integrated university-wide Core curriculum designed to facilitate student achievement of SLU’s nine University Core SLOs. Below, you will find listed the 2 University Core-level student learning outcomes associated with this Core component area.

    SLO 3: Students will be able to assess evidence and draw reasoned conclusions (Achieve)

    SLO 4: Students will be able to communicate effectively in writing, speech, and visual media (Achieve)