In addition, the University Writing Committee reviews all JYW courses every three years to ensure quality. JYWP courses respond to the educational and professional needs of students by encouraging both writing that is used in the specific field, and writing as an instrument for thinking and learning. Each department or school determines the kinds of writing competency its majors need, but the following guidelines are intended to help JYW representatives and instructors to design or upgrade programs. Because writing is both a skill and an art, and is best learned through extensive practice, JYW instructors seek a balance between quantity and quality of writing. Students may develop professional writing portfolios that contain samples of various documents.
Portfolios are very helpful for grading.
Grading reflects writing styles as well as content and correctness, and it also reflects process as well as product. A mix of informal, lower stakes writing for the sake of learning and grappling with course concepts and knowledge, along with more careful, higher-stakes writing similar to that which novice professionals in the field would produce . It is appropriate to demand high standards of correctness in usage and mechanics in final drafts, provided, of course, that students can develop their thinking in early drafts without being distracted by surface or mechanical elements. The practice of drafting is encouraged, because students' writing can deteriorate when an assignment asks them to grapple with new or unfamiliar concepts in the discipline. JYWP Mission and Guidelines.