Writing Proficiency Requirement

To be eligible for graduation, all St. Lawrence students must demonstrate throughout their college careers the ability to write prose that their professors judge to be proficient. 

1. Each semester when reporting grades, faculty members will submit a WP (Writing Proficiency) notation and a writing sample to the associate dean of academic advising for students who have not shown satisfactory writing skills. Students who receive one WP notation will receive an email from the Academic Advising office outlining writing support programs. 

2. Students who receive a second WP notation must either: 

1. pass ND 207, a .5-unit College Writing Workshop course within the next two semesters, or 

2. satisfactorily fulfill a plan for writing improvement as specified by the director of the WORD Studio. The student’s advisor also will be notified of the two WP notations and of the plan for improvement. Any student who does not develop and begin working on a plan for writing improvement in the semester following receipt of the second WP notation will receive an advising hold and be unable to register. That student must meet with the associate dean of academic advising to agree on a plan for writing improvement to be carried out in the upcoming semester. Any student who fails to fulfill a plan for writing improvement in the second semester after receipt of a second WP notation will be suspended.  

3. Any student who earns three or more WPs must take and pass the .5-unit College Writing Workshop course. If the student has already taken this course, they must create and execute a new plan for writing improvement with the director of the WORD Studio. 

4. The notations of WP are monitored by the registrar and the associate dean of academic advising and do not appear on a student’s official transcript. 

5. Two or more unresolved WPs will prevent a student from graduating.