9-21-05

 

GUIDELINES FOR WRITING COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

 

Course descriptions should be developed in the following order and inserted in the appropriate area of the course proposal form based on this guide. 

 

Items 1-4 are required for all courses.

      

1. Prefix:  Always include the prefix of the course. (Concentration areas in the Schools of Art and Music courses carry the ART or MUSC prefix, respectively. Indicate concentration area under which the course is to be listed in parenthesis between prefix and number.  If course is cross-listed under more than one area, indicate both areas.)

 

2. Number:  Include course number as approved by the registrar’s office. If course and lab will typically be taken together, combine into one course listing and submitted on the same form.  If lab may be taken with another course, include a separate listing/form for lab.

 

3. Title:  The course title should reflect the overall intent of the course and will be listed in the registrar’s office as approved.

 

4. Semester Hour Credit: Indicate the number of s.h. credit for the course by placing the Arabic numeral in parenthesis.  If the course listing consists of more than one course number, enter the s.h. credit for both, separated by a comma.

 

Example:  ABCD (Art History) 1234, 8765. Ancient Art and Laboratory (3,1)

 

Items 5-9, if applicable. 

 

5. General Education Credit: If the course counts in more than one area (i.e., logic for humanities or mathematics), use both codes, (e.g., GE:HU or MA). If a higher-level course counts as general education, but the number of hours required in prerequisites for higher-level course meet general education requirement for area, do not include the code.   

 

(GE:EN) English

(GE:HL) Health

(GE:SC) Science

(GE:EX) Exercise and Sport Science

(GE:HU) Humanities

(GE:SO) Social Science

(GE:FA) Fine Arts

(GE:MA) Mathematics

 

 

6. Writing Intensive Credit:  Use (WI) to indicate that all sections of the courses will be taught as writing intensive and (WI*) to indicate that some of the sections will be taught as writing intensive.  However, it is important to note that before a course is listed as writing intensive in the catalog or by the registrar, it must be approved as such by the Writing Across the Curriculum Committee (WAC). 

 

 

7. Semesters: The semesters during which a course may be offered should be included in parenthesis, using the following key.  This information is optional and may be updated on a yearly basis prior to catalog publication.

 

F = Fall Semester

If the course is offered in even or odd numbered years only, include the following abbreviation with the semester abbreviation, separated by a hyphen.

 OY = Odd Year; EY = Even Year  Example: (F-EY, S-OY)

If the course is offered only occasionally, include the semester abbreviation followed by the last two digits of the year in which it will be offered.  Example: (F05, S06)

S = Spring Semester

SS = Summer Session

 

8. Formerly:  If a course is being renumbered, include the previous course prefix and number (e.g., Formerly ABCD 1204).

 

9. Same As: If a course is cross-listed in the catalog under another prefix include the other listings of the course.

 

Example:  ABCD (Art History) 1234, 8765. Ancient Art and Laboratory (3,1) (GE:HU) (WI*) (F,S02,SS) Formerly ABCD 4321, 5678 Same as KLMN 1234, 8765 

 

Items 10 and 11, if applicable.

 

10. Other Info: There is a vast amount of information that might be included at this point in the course.  In the example that follows at the end of this subsection, not all of the following items will appear; however, if more than one of the areas below is to be included in the course description, they should appear in the order that follows:

 

May be taken concurrently. (If more than one course is listed.)

3 lecture and 2 lab hours per week. (This wording may be used for lectures, labs, field placement and internship hours.)

Not open to CHEM majors or minors. (Use prefix for appropriate major or minor if the prefix clearly indicates the title of the major degree program or minor.)

Conferences with program director may be required.

May be repeated for maximum of 6 s.h. (This means that a 3 s.h. course may be taken twice for credit; if the course is repeated beyond this, then no credit will be given.)

May count toward either the SOCI major or minor or general education social sciences requirement. (May use prefix for minor if the prefix clearly indicates the title of the minor.)

May not count toward general education humanities requirement. (Insert appropriate general education area from the above list.)

May not count toward BIOL major or minor. (Use prefix for appropriate major or minor if the prefix clearly indicates the title of the major degree program or minor.)

May receive credit for only one of MATH 1065, 1066.

Students normally expected to provide personal transportation to field site.

No previous knowledge of French required.

Taught in German.

 

If there is information to be entered in this field that is not covered above, please submit concise wording at this point.

 

11. Prerequisites: List prerequisites in alpha numeric order.  Major/minor, class-level, or GPA stipulations precede course prerequisites.

 

Abbreviations to indicate course prerequisites, corequisites, etc., should be indicated in the following order.

 

P: = Prerequisites

RP: = Recommended Prerequisites

P/C: = Prerequisites or Corequisites

RP/C: = Recommended Prerequisites or Corequisites

C: = Corequisites

RC: = Recommended Corequisites

 

Pre/corequisites should be listed, as applicable, in the alphabetical and numerical order by    prefix and number as follows. The semicolon between prerequisites indicates “and,” unless followed by the word “or.”  When granting consent by the departmental chairperson, use the abbreviation chair.

 

P: JUST major; junior standing; minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA; ASLS 2020; BIOL 1030; 1080, 1081; or 1100, 1101; PHIL 1500; PSYC 3206; or consent of program director or chair or instructor.

 

Explanation:    ASLS 2020 is required.

                          BIOL 1030 is required.

                          BIOL 1080 and 1081 or BIOL 1100 and 1101 are required.

                          PHIL 1500 is required.

                          PSYC 3206 is required.**

                                 Or consent of program director (indicates that all prerequisites may be waived if the program director desires to grant enrollment in the course without the listed prerequisites.  If written as PSYC 3206 or consent of program director, the program director could waive only the PSYC 3206 requirement.)

 

**Special Note Regarding the Listing of Courses as Prerequisites:

     In the example given above, there is actually a hidden prerequisite.  The criminal justice faculty also require a prerequisite of PSYC 1000 or 1060; however, since PSYC 3206 requires a prerequisite of PSYC 1000 or 1060, this requirement does not need to be included as a part of the prerequisite for the course under development. 

 

 

 

Example:  ABCD (Art History) 1234, 8765. Ancient Art and Laboratory (3,1) (GE:HU) (WI*) (F,S02,SS) Formerly ABCD 4321, 5678 Same as KLMN 1234, 8765 3 lecture and 2 lab hours per week. May not count toward general education humanities requirement. P: JUST major; junior standing; minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA; ASLS 2020; BIOL 1030; 1080, 1081; or 1100, 1101; PHIL 1500; PSYC 3206; or consent of program director; RC: ABCD 4567.

 

Item 12 is required for most courses.

 

12. Content Description:  A standard pattern of writing that reduces the number of articles (the, these, this, etc.) is always used when writing the content description. The Chicago Manual of Style, the university standard, is used for capitalization.  The course title should not be repeated as opening words of description.  Use only one space between punctuation and the next word.  Please do not begin the description with “This course….”

 

The completed course proposal form would list the example course as follows:

 

     ABCD (Art History) 1234, 8765. Ancient Art and Laboratory (3,1) (GE:HU) (WI*) (F,S02,SS) Formerly ABCD 4321, 5678 Same as KLMN 1234, 8765 3 lecture and 2 lab hours per week. May not count toward general education humanities requirement. P: JUST major; junior standing; minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA; ASLS 2020; BIOL 1030; 1080, 1081; or 1100, 1101; PHIL 1500; PSYC 3206; or consent of program director; RC: ABCD 4567. Techniques and principles.

 

Note: (Art History) would not appear in catalog as part of description.

 

Other examples of course descriptions written by guidelines:

 

BIOS 1500. Introduction to Biostatistics (3) (F,S) P: MATH 1065 or equivalent or consent of instructor. Applies statistics to health field. Topics include organization and display of different types of data, elementary probability, and statistical inference for one- and two-sample problems.

 

COAD 1000.   Student Development and Learning in Higher Education (1) (F,S) 2 classroom hours per week. P: Enrolled in first 2 semesters at ECU or consent of instructor. Introduces student life at ECU. Focus on development of academic skills, learning processes, career decision-making, and personal attributes essential for student success.