Writing happens everywhere, inside and outside of class. What’s different about all Writing & Communication (FA1) courses across the disciplines is that discussing, practicing, and reflecting on the writing process are integrated into the work of the course itself, from what you do in class to how you engage with the course material. 

Krieger students fulfill these Writing & Communication (FA1) requirements to earn the bachelor’s degree: 

• Reintroduction to Writing, as part of the First-Year Foundation

• 6 Writing & Communication credits in your major  

• 9 additional Writing & Communication credits (you’ll find FA1 courses across the Krieger School; browse advanced UWP courses here).

Types of Courses

Reintroduction to Writing

The UWP curriculum begins with Reintroduction to Writing, which is required of all Krieger students and open to Whiting students as well. Reintro helps students rethink writing in ways that will help their academic, professional, and personal trajectories as well as in their civic responsibilities in a democracy. This course helps you become an agile, curious, creative, and resilient writer. To learn more, click here. 

Reintro for first-year students is offered year-round; Reintro for students at the sophomore level and above is offered in fall semesters only. Transfer students take Reintro in their first semester at Hopkins.  

Advanced UWP courses

Our advanced courses build on the work of Reintro: we continue to approach writing as an adaptable process of inquiry and action, as deeply informed by reading, and as reflective, embodied, and always emerging.  

We center these classes around different approaches to writing:  

• On Genres  

• Writing Methods  

• Place-Based Writing 

• Special Topics in Writing  

• Community-Engaged Writing

Writing & Communication (FA1) courses across the disciplines

You’ll find FA1 courses across Krieger departments and programs. To find out more about how they overlap with other Foundational Abilities, please click here. 

What makes a class a Writing & Communication (FA1) course? 

• Multiple substantial writing projects, ranging from traditional papers to a wide variety of other forms, distributed throughout the semester  

• A mix of high and low stakes writing, meaning that students have the chance write in informal, low-pressure – even ungraded – contexts, as well as producing larger, more formal assignments  

• Direct engagement with writing in the classroom, including class discussions, workshop, faculty/TA lectures, and class materials (for instance, strong and weak examples of the assigned genre)  

• Expectations that are conveyed clearly through assignment descriptions, including the genre and audience of the assigned writing, and evaluative criteria  

• Feedback to students on their writing, in written and/or verbal form, from faculty, teaching assistants, and/or peers  

• At least one opportunity to revise 

How does Reintroduction to Writing fit in among Writing & Communication (FA1) courses? 

Reintro is part of the First-Year Foundation. It has all the features of FA1 courses listed above. In addition, Reintro courses: 

• Include at least three major assignments, including but not limited to academic writing  

• Ask students to write in at least three distinct genres and to at least two different audiences, inclusive of major and minor assignments, including potentially to public audiences. 

These additional features are how we ensure that Reintro helps students to become agile writers, while continuing the work of the First-Year Seminars by building community and your sense of belonging at Homewood. 

Reintro classes help students become agile writers by centering shared learning outcomes. After Reintro, all students will be able to: 

• Identify and employ iterative writing processes to generate ideas and draft texts, to review and revise their own and other’s texts, and to adopt new ideas, organizational strategies, and language choices (Processes)   

• Integrate critical thinking strategies into their reading, writing, and speaking through work with summary, interpretation, synthesis, response, argument, source evaluation, citation, and more (Critical Thinking, Reading, and Composing)  

• Analyze, choose, and apply rhetorical strategies and genre conventions to inform or persuade specific audiences (Rhetoric and Genre) 

• Critically reflect on relationships among language, standardization, power, and justice; explore how languages and their varieties inform writing, speaking, and interpretative choices (Linguistic Diversity & Complexity) 

Transferring Writing & Communication (FA1) Credit 

If you have taken courses at other institutions and had them accepted at JHU for transfer credit, you can request that they be considered for FA1 credit. You can transfer up to 6 FA1 credits.  

New transfer students: Please upload requests before July 1. Current students: Please upload requests by September 30 for it to be considered in time for spring registration; likewise, by February 15 to have a response in time for fall registration.