In every section of the Tier 1 writing courses, students produce at least five major writing projects over the course of the semester. Assignments may range from formal academic essays to digital writing projects. In all classes, students practice a variety of types of invention, arrangement, revision, style and delivery strategies meant to enhance the ability to write in a variety of situations. Students can also expect to do a significant amount of informal writing throughout the semester. The shared learning goals for Tier I Writing require a high level of engagement. Writing activities and practices are at the center of the course and writing performance constitutes the majority of each individual student’s grade for the course.

To help students engage in writing situations that require use of scholarly sources, one of the major projects is focused specifically on creating academic essays that go beyond mere reporting of information to add something new to the conversations taken up in that work. During the source-based academic essay project , students are introduced to materials such as library databases and learn basic research strategies through video modules.