Depending on your major, every student must take 7-10 credits of Additional Writing (W) before they graduate (in addition to the Composition (C) credit, which many students earn in their first year).
The goal of the W credit is to help you get experience with the different modes of communication particular to a given discipline, whether that is your major discipline or another field that interests you. Although you do not have to fulfill all of your W credits within your major, we recommend finding W courses that speak to your interests.
Lots of students earn their W credit through classes in the English department, but you don't have to! There's a huge number of W courses offered across UW. On this page we describe a small selection of recent W courses so you can get a sense of the variety of options.
Hot Tips
If you sign up for a C course but have already satisfied your C requirement, that course can fulfill 5 credits of your Additional Writing ("W") requirement.
To find a list of W courses, click the “W” filter in MyPlan.
Check out these featured courses that offer W credit:
History of Landscape Architecture (L ARCH 352)
5 credits
Offered Autumn
In-person Lecture
Did you know landscapes tell stories? This course reveals how writing can uncover the hidden histories of the outdoor spaces we inhabit. Through reflection, research, and creative projects, you’ll explore how landscapes shape—and are shaped by—history.
Weekly reflections will help you connect diverse readings to class themes, while hands-on exercises, like observing campus trees, interviewing a family member about a memorable place, or walking with an app narrating Earth’s history, bring those themes to life. Your final project is a video storytelling project that reimagines the past, blending description, analysis, and interpretation for an audience of your peers.
Whether you’re drawn to history, design, or writing, this landscape architecture course equips you with skills to think critically, write creatively, and make history relevant today.
Lecturer
Landscape Architecture
Q&A with Elizabeth Umbanhowar
What kinds of writing do students do in this class?
In this course, writing is a process. You'll move from notetaking to reflections to research to analysis, learning the ways that your writing can be a tool for thinking, exploring, and communicating your ideas about landscape architecture.
Who are the intended students for this course?
Anyone who is interested in discovering the ways that landscapes are intertwined with history. History doesn't exist in and of itself; it is a process that is refined through observation and analysis. This course helps you develop an awareness of this interconnectedness through field work, analysis, and research.
Resilience and Wellness in College and Beyond (EDUC 215)
5 credits
Offered Autumn, Winter, and Spring
In-person Lecture + Quiz Section
Want to learn how to enhance your well-being in college and your life in general? Then try this class and equip yourself to withstand common difficulties in life. This course teaches you how to develop skills such as mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness. You will also learn about underlying stress, resilience, and related skill areas.
Take it from a student, who says the course is "basically 'DBT Yourself: The Course.' You learn a lot of hugely valuable skills in emotion management, distress tolerance, interpersonal skills, cognitive distortions, etc. I honestly think this material should be mandatory for everyone in the college."
Professor
College of Education
Q&A with James Mazza
What kinds of writing do students do in this class?
Students engage in a multi-page weekly homework post. In their written post, they reflect on the course content and discuss ways they can apply the course content and skills to their life in a meaningful way.
Who are the intended students for this course?
We welcome students from all majors for this course. Students who are pursuing the education studies major or minor can use this course for credit towards that major or minor.
Philosophy and Video Games: I Play Therefore I Am (PHIL 448)
5 credits
Offered Winter
In-person Lecture
Did you know that video games are philosophical texts? This course explains that video games are more than entertainment—they explore deep philosophical questions. In this course, you'll learn how video games themselves are acts of philosophy, not just objects to analyze.
Through daily reflections, small group work, and hands-on projects, you'll explore how game design engages with ethical dilemmas, questions of existence, and themes from philosophical texts. You'll even get to design your own philosophical video game! Using industry-standard Game Design Documents (GDDs), you'll combine storytelling, aesthetics, and sound to bring your ideas to life.
Whether you're a gamer, a philosophy enthusiast, or just curious about how creativity and critical thinking collide, this course invites you to think, write, and create in bold new ways.
Professor
Philosophy
Q&A with Ian Schnee
What kinds of writing do students do in this class?
In addition to reflections on philosophy and video games, students write industry-standard Game Design Documents (GDDs) and a series of mini essays.
Since video games are philosophical works, instead of just writing about games, students study philosophy through video game assignments, diverse writing projects, and group discussion.
What unique assignments do you use to engage students?
For a final project, students can either write a thesis-driven essay or they can create their own philosophical video game.
Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity (EDUC 251)
5 credits
Offered Autumn, Winter, and Spring
In-person Small Class (35 students or fewer)
Your story shapes your scholarship, and this course invites you to explore how personal storytelling connects with academic research to make your writing meaningful and justice-oriented.
Through weekly reflections using the “windows and mirrors” framework, you’ll learn to see texts as either reflections of your own life or perspectives into others’ worlds. This course helps you develop your voice, connect with others, and imagine your role in shaping the future through storytelling.
If you're ready to move beyond traditional assignments and engage deeply with your ideas and your peers, this class offers the tools to make your academic work personal, creative, and transformative.
Associate Professor
College of Education
Q&A with Jondou Chen
What kinds of writing do students do in this class?
Students write weekly reflections connecting texts to personal experiences (“mirrors”) or new perspectives (“windows”). The final project is an academic autobiography synthesizing personal storytelling with scholarly references. Students transform this into a multimodal gallery exhibit, incorporating images, audio, and hyperlinks to showcase their ideas.
Who are the intended students for this course?
This course is open to anyone wanting to move beyond doing the minimum for a grade; those who want to challenge themselves to embrace storytelling as a way to make sense of the past, present, and future.
