The Writing Culture

Dickinson College is a diverse international and multilingual campus with many students whose first or primary language is not English. The Writing Program provides resources at all levels to support these multilingual writers in their academic writing for U.S. college classes. Students can enroll in courses that will give them practice and instruction in US academic writing conventions or stop by the Writing Center for individual meetings with trained writing tutors.

Writing Self-assessment and Directed Self-Placement: Prior to meeting for advising, incoming international students should complete a writing self-assessment checklist (below) to help them decide whether a Writing Program course would be an appropriate course selection in the fall. 

Writing Self-Evaluation

WRPG 101 Perspectives on a Multilingual United States: Based on the results of the self-assessment, international and multilingual writers may be recommended to enroll in WRPG 101, Perspectives on a Multilingual United States, which is designed to provide multilingual and international students' additional experience and practice with academic writing. WRPG 101 also fulfills the US Diversity graduation requirement. WRPG 101 is open to all international or multilingual writers at Dickinson. Click on the link below to see the syllabus for WRPG 101.

WRPG 101 (pdf)

English Writing Tutoring for Multilingual Writers:  All students at Dickinson are encouraged to work with undergraduate peer tutors at the Norman M. Eberly Multilingual Writing Center. Peer tutors in English have been prepared to work with all Dickinson students, including international and multilingual writers.  Peer tutors are able to provide feedback both on the global features of your writing (like your thesis or organization) as well as on specific grammar usage.

For more information, email John Katunich, Director of the Writing Program.