Writing Intensive (WI) Courses for Academic Majors

Compliance Certification and Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP)

Southern Wesleyan is required by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, the University’s regional accreditation body, to comply with all standards within the Principles of Accreditation, including the implementation of the QEP.  The QEP is defined by SACSCOC as a topic identified through ongoing, comprehensive and evaluation processes with broad-based support of institutional constituencies that focuses on improving specific student learning outcomes and/or student successes and commits resources for initiation and implementation.  The QEP reflects and affirms Southern Wesleyan’s commitment to enhance overall institutional quality and effectiveness.  The focus of Southern Wesleyan’s QEP is to enhance Baccalaureate-seeking student learning by improving student writing.  In response, the University designed student learning outcomes and an undergraduate curricular structure that fosters writing skills and opportunities for practice throughout the curriculum to prepare students for meeting the writing intensive requirement.

The curricular structure is made up of a series of existing SWU courses that integrate writing-intensive (WI) content. These designated WI courses are offered in tiers throughout each student’s degree program: two Core Curriculum/General Education Tier One courses and two Tier Two courses required in each student’s major of study.

Students must earn a passing grade in courses containing the writing-intensive components within each tier to meet QEP requirement as follows:

• Complete the QEP Intensive Writing Standard by earning the minimum passing grades in: two Core Curriculum/General Education  courses containing the WI intensive writing components, or transfer equivalents;* and two major courses (typically 3000-4999 level courses) containing the WI intensive writing components.**

* Exemption from the Tier One requirement may be achieved through the transfer of equivalent courses; earned test credit through Advanced Placement (AP), DSST (DANTES Subject Standardized Tests), College-Level Examination Program (CLEP), or International Baccalaureate Programme (IB); earned equivalent military credit; or through a combination of these methods of transfer of credit for a minimum of 30 transfer credit hours of general education courses.

** Transfer credit may not be used for exemption from the Tier Two requirement.

QEP Tier One and Tier Two Writing Intensive (WI) Courses