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 submit a form indicating their interest level.

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

Follow the links below for WRITE 2 courses for the 2023-2024 academic year.

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.

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