Program in Writing and Rhetoric

How to Meet the WR 2 Requirement

Students fulfill the WR 2 requirement by taking a course focused on writing, research and oral presentation before the end of their sophomore year. Although most students take a PWR 2 course to fulfill the requirement, there are other courses students may take.

Additional WRITE 2 Courses

These classes are non-PWR 2 seminars, taught by faculty, that fulfill WR 2 for Stanford University's Writing and Rhetoric General Education requirement. They are courses with a dual character: they are classes about a subject; they are also classes about writing and oral presentation. As they are not PWR 2 courses, they do not appear on the preference selection form. They often have enrollment constrictions: students must have already fulfilled the WR1 requirement, cannot have already fulfilled WR2, and may need to either apply (as is the case for IntroSems) or contact instructor for permission.

Prerequisite for students: the completion of PWR 1 or other WR 1 course. 

Follow the links below for WRITE 2 courses for the 2025-2026 academic year. (This list may not be complete. You can also search in Navigate.)

Special note about WRITE 2 IntroSems:
Offered throughout the year. Students must apply. (Make sure to check that course is tagged as fulfilling the WR 2 requirement.) Students can apply to a WRITE 2 IntroSem any quarter offered, regardless of the student's PWR 2 assigned quarter. If accepted into a WR2 IntroSem, a students PWR 2 preferences/section assignment are forfeited. The WR2 IntroSem placement takes precedence.

Write 2 Course Details

  • carry at least 3 units of credit (although all PWR 2s are 4 units, students can take a WR 2 offered for 3 units and will still fulfill the WR2 requirement)
  • are generally seminar courses
  • provide writing, research, and oral presentation assignments and include opportunities for students to present the results of scholarly inquiry in varying forms (e.g. in print, on the web, before a live audience)
  • offer students consistent opportunities for practice and revision of major written assignments and oral presentations, with feedback provided by faculty
  • provide instruction in writing and oral communication keyed to standards appropriate to university-level work, including attention to integrating the writing and oral communication instruction with the content of the course
  • require that students produce 18-25 pages of writing and 15-20 minutes of speaking

Further, it is recommended that WRITE 2 courses:

  • incorporate peer review into the students' process of preparing and revising written assignments and oral presentations
  • give students opportunities to work collaboratively on presentations
  • supplement feedback from faculty with support or coaching from other sources, which could include videotaping and/or tutoring support from the Hume Center for Writing and Speaking