Writing & Rhetoric at Stanford

Our People

The Program in Writing and Rhetoric is a lively community of teachers and scholars with a commitment to fostering cultures of writing at Stanford University.

Our Courses

Taught in seminar/workshop style and limited to 15 students each, PWR courses emphasize the development of each student's analytical and research-based writing.

Our Program

At the heart of PWR is the undergraduate writing curriculum, which ensures that students acquire, develop, and refine rhetorical skills throughout their undergraduate careers.

Students complete the following writing requirements:

• Freshman year: completion of a WR 1 course through PWR, focusing on careful analysis of complex arguments and developing mastery of the conventions of academic discourse
• Sophomore year: completion of a WR 2 course through PWR or an academic department, focusing on communicating research-based argument through writing, oral presentation, and multimedia
• Junior or Senior year: completion of a Writing in the Major (WIM) course through an academic department, focusing on the specialized conversations of disciplinary discourse

Students may pursue further work in Writing and Rhetoric through advanced electives offered by PWR.

The Hume Writing Center supports the writing of all members of the Stanford community, from first-year undergraduates to advanced PhD students. 

Through these PWR experiences, Stanford students can work on their writing and research every year of their undergraduate education.

Note: Those students enrolled in Stanford Liberal Education (SLE) complete their WR 1 and WR 2 writing requirements through that program.

Our Partners

PWR is a unit within the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education (VPUE) and maintains a strong connection to the Department of English. Additionally, our instructors and students work closely with librarians at Green Library and with the Oral Communication Program.

Along with Introduction to the Humanities (IHUM), Stanford Introductory Seminars, and September Studies at Stanford, PWR is part of Stanford Introductory Studies (SIS). SIS strives to build a strong academic foundation for students in their first two years by giving them the chance to work closely with faculty, to engage in serious critical inquiry and research, and to expand and develop their intellectual interests early in their academic careers. PWR also works closely with the English Department’s Director of Graduate Studies to ensure that the PWR training and teaching opportunities for graduate students in their second year effectively extend the TA training and teaching experiences of the first year.

Above right, PWR instructor Christine Alfano works with students at a collaboration station in one of the tech classrooms in Wallenberg Hall. Above left, PWR instructor Susan Wyle's class visits Stanford's Special Collections & University Archives.