The "Advanced W"
in Communication Studies
What is it? 
  As a requirement for graduation, students must present a portfolio of three samples of their writing for review. This portfolio must consist of at least 20 pages of material demonstrating the student's writing proficiency.
What is the Big Deal?
  Students are often surprised when they do not pass the advanced W on their first try, even though their portfolio consists of coursework for which they have gotten very good grades. The basic reason this happens is because the purpose of a writing review is somewhat different from that of a class assignment. On any given paper for a class you might make routine grammatical errors that do not affect your grade very much because the professor is reading for content. But in the context of a writing review, a few slipped commas may cause your work to be held up for a rewrite. So the best way to make sure you will pass the advanced W on the first run is simply to do a careful reread of your work before including it in the portfolio. Then, of course, there are those students who throw away all their old assignments....
What Goes in it?
 

The Advanced W portfolio consists of at least three writing samples for a total of 20 typed pages. These samples consist of writing assignments from students' Communication Studies courses. Each of the papers in the portfolio should meet the following format requirements:

  • Include a title page with the student's name, course in which the paper
    was assigned, and the Advanced W category ("Category A", "Category B", "Category C")
  • All papers should be double spaced and typed in Times New Roman font.
  • All papers should have one inch margins
  • All pages should be numbered
  • All sources should be cited in either APA or MLA format

Note: Portfolios that do not meet the format requirements described above will be returned unread.
When is it Due?
  Students turn in their writing portfolios about a month into the spring semester of their senior year. It usually takes the faculty a month to work through the portfolios, and notices to students go out about midway through the semester. As a general rule, faculty will not read revisions of the Advanced W submitted after April 15th, so all corrections and changes must be completed by that time if the student expects to graduate in the spring.
What are the Categories?
Mass Communication Track

Category A: One paper from any one of the following courses.

COMM210: Mass Comm. Past, Present & Future
COMM330: Critical Issues in Mass Communication
COMM384: Mass Communication Law

Category B: One paper from any one of the following courses.

COMM302: History and Criticism of Public Address
COMM308: Persuasion
COMM312: Argumentation

Category C: Supplemental Writing Examples

Writing samples from any elective Communication Studies courses for a portfolio total of 20 pages.

Speech Communication Track

Category A: One paper from any one
of the following courses.

COMM200: Interpersonal Communication
COMM210: Mass Comm. Past, Present & Future
COMM307: Organizational Communication
COMM350: Intercultural Communication

Category B: One paper from any one of the following courses.

COMM302: History and Criticism of Public Address
COMM308: Persuasion
COMM312: Argumentation

Category C: Supplemental Writing Examples

Writing samples from any elective Communication
Studies courses for a portfolio total of 20 pages.