The First-year Writing Seminar Program, a core requirement for first-year students, has undergone changes to its curriculum for the 2024-25 school year. This new curriculum will feature two main essays as opposed to the standard three, and two additional assignments with the goal of making writing seminars more varied and manageable for first-year students.
The changes were tested through a faculty-initiated pilot in nine select writing seminars last academic year, which yielded successful feedback from students.
All first-years at the University are required to complete the Writing Seminar in the fall or spring of the freshman year, being the only required course for all students at the University. The offered seminars are wide ranging across disciplines and first-year students rank them according to preference prior to the start of their assigned Writing Seminar semester.
Writing Seminar has earned a stress-inducing reputation among students. “There were all these first-years coming up to me and saying ‘I’m really scared [for Writing Seminar]’” Lianne Chapin ‘26, who worked for the Writing Center table at the Academic Expo and is a Head Fellow at the Writing Center, told The Daily Princetonian.
Upperclassman often share their own negative opinions of the Writing Seminar. “I wasn’t learning any writing skills or tools that were applicable to my department, and once I realized this I stopped caring about the grade,” Ila Nako ‘26 told the ‘Prince.’
Dr. Chris Kupiewski, Associate Director of the Writing Seminars, noted that the Writing Seminar curriculum has often been revised and adjusted to reflect students’ capabilities. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Writing Seminar faculty noticed that “the [students’] level of frustration was reaching a new pitch,” Kupiewski told the ‘Prince.’
Kupiewski said that the program began to question whether it was necessary to have three writing assignments — with drafts and revisions for each — as the volume and pace of the seminars were seemingly the most stress-inducing aspects of the program.
Josie Veilleux ’27 recounted, “I felt very stressed about the workload.”
A fact sheet created by the Writing Center, “First-Year Writing Seminars: Many Paths to Shared Goals,” used to train Peer Academic Advisors (PAA) and new Writing Center Fellows, described the new four core assignments designed to the reduce workload. The first two foundational assignments are focused on creating curiosity through different assignments across seminars — speeches, responses to senior theses, literature reviews, among others — while the last two assignments use those skills to build a “mentored independent research project” featuring two essays with draft and revision processes.
Additionally, this flexibility allows professors to set different due dates for these four core assignments. The deadline for the revision of the final research paper remains Dean’s Date, yet this variability in timing will alleviate the schedule of Writing Center fellows. Near identical timelines for assignments across all writing seminars overwhelmed the Writing Center with appointments before an important deadline.
“There was a serious crunch time around draft and revision deadlines … all the conference rooms would be full and we would use classrooms throughout New South,” Chapin said.
This academic year yields a new experience for first-year students across the Writing Seminar Program. With curriculum changes tailored to faculty and student feedback, the writing seminars aim to be more varied, skill-building based, and manageable for first-year students with different levels of writing experience.
“Something mandatory shouldn’t be so scary,” Chapin said.
Caitlyn Tablada is a staff News writer for the ‘Prince’ from New York City who typically covers student life and academics.
Cynthia Torres is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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