2. Students write poorly because they haven't had the opportunity to write. Because our WAC program will offer students more frequent opportunities to write, we believe it will improve student writing. The ability to write well is fundamental to academic success.

3. Different kinds of writing stimulate different kinds of thinking and learning.

4. Different kinds of writing stimulate different kinds of composing.

5. Disciplines have different ideas about what constitutes excellence in written expression and thought. Students are unfamiliar with the differences because they are not typically being challenged to write across the disciplines. Our WAC program will be designed to introduce students to disciplinary conventions.

6. Students will not appreciate the value of writing unless we acknowledge it and make room for it in our curriculum. As a result, our WAC program will require multiple drafting; an emphasis on rhetorical constraints (such as audience, voice, purpose, tone) rather than an emphasis on form; and facilitative as opposed to judgmental responses.

7. Writing is a lifetime apprenticeship.