Please take the incoming-student writing placement survey if you are new to the College community! It asks about your past reading, writing, and research experiences. The director of Intensive Writing will analyze your responses, make Intensive Writing recommendations, and connect you to writing resources across campus during your first semester.
Intensive Writing (IW) courses provide unique opportunities for students to study and practice academic writing. While IW classes may have distinct themes, the main focus of all IW classes is writing itself. These courses aim to build students’ writing skills and confidence in expressing their own voices in argument, analysis, research, and more. In IW classes, students can expect frequent feedback and support from their professors in a small class environment.
Broadly speaking, they will learn about:
Amherst College does not have a first-year writing requirement beyond First Year Seminars, which are often tagged as writing attentive. The writing attentive label means that writing is one of the goals of the class. In contrast, writing is the main focus of an Intensive Writing class, and you can expect to spend a great deal of time working on your writing both inside and outside of class.
You will be able to tell the difference between these two types of classes because writing attentive tags are applied to many courses in a range of departments at all levels; there are often more than 100 courses at Amherst each semester that carry this tag. Intensive Writing courses are usually 100-level courses that accommodate 12-15 students and indicate that writing is the main topic of the course in both the title and the course description. There are usually only a few courses at Amherst each semester that carry this designation.
This course functions as an introduction to academic writing at Amherst College. As an intensive writing course, the main topic of the course is writing itself. Students will also study what it means to read and write and learn and teach both for ourselves and for others. Monday/Wednesday, 12:30-1:50 pm. Professor Reardon.
This course functions as an introduction to academic writing at Amherst College. As an intensive writing course, the main topic of the course is writing itself. Students will also study belonging and community in the college context, with a focus on reading and writing as part of a practice of making meaning of the college experience. Monday/Wednesday, 3-4:20 pm. Professor Reardon.
Amherst College has a number of places on campus that offer writing support and opportunities—and provide students the opportunity to reflect on their writing goals for college and beyond. Find where the these sites are located on our campus map.
Alongside The Creative Writing Program, the Writing Center, and The Common, the Intensive Writing Program co-sponsors monthly writing events to support student writers at any stage of the writing process.
Director of the Intensive Writing Program and Senior Lecturer in English
Kristina Reardon is a senior lecturer in English and Education Studies and serves as the director of Intensive Writing. Read Kristina’s faculty profile to learn more.