Fall 2025 Topic Form

Students are able to see topic titles on their MyBU class schedules but not topic descriptions. They’ll be directed to www.bu.edu/writingprogram/schedule to view a class schedule that includes 100-word topic descriptions.

Topic Guidelines 

• Topic titles have a max of 30 characters including spaces.
• Topic titles should make the basic subject clear to students. 
• Note that topic titles will appear on student transcripts now. 
• Titles must be unique unless instructors are teaching the exact same topic with the same description. If you submit the same title as someone else, you’ll be asked to differentiate the titles.
• Topic descriptions should be 100 words max . 
• Use present tense (previously we used future tense) 
• Avoid very narrowly focused topics (ex. topics about a single author’s work only)
• Avoid specialized language and jargon (keep a first-year student reader in mind)
• Use “we” when referring to students (ex. “We explore”)
• Delete lists of specific texts. Those are no longer required.
• Include only description of the topic subject and not of the types of assignments all WR courses of that level share (ex. you can cut “we do an oral presentation” or “we write a longer research paper”).