Graduate English Writing Requirement

Graduate Students STARTING in Fall 2020 or Later:

All CME graduate students must satisfy the graduate writing requirement (GWAR). This is a CSU wide requirement. A GWAR course must be taken before you can enroll in ChE/MatE 281. All CME graduate students are required to take the CME GWAR course, ChE 200.  Students who do not pass the GWAR portion in ChE 200 will be required to use SJSU writing resources designated by their graduate advisor, such as enroll in ENGR 90W during their ChE/MatE 281 semester, use the SJSU writing center, or take extra classes such as Engr 200W, until such time as the GWAR is passed.  All students who complete ChE 200 with a grade of B or better can enroll in ChE/MatE 281 in a subsequent semester.  Students who do not pass the GWAR portion will need to work with their graduate advisor to determine their appropriate course sequence, and these graduate students can use their ChE/MatE 281 proposal report to demonstrate that they have met the GWAR.  Only students who have passed the GWAR can enroll in ChE/MatE 298 or 299.

 

Graduate Students following Pre-Fall 2020 guidelines:

All CME graduate students must satisfy the graduate writing requirement (GWAR). This is a CSU wide requirement. This must be satisfied before you can enroll in ChE/MatE 281.

You can satisfy this in one of 4 ways:

  1. You need to get a B or better in Engr 200W. We accept 100W as a substitute. This is a pre-requisite for 281 and these classes fill up so take it as early in the program as you can.
  2. If you graduated from a CSU school, you have already satisfied the GWAR and you are all set. You don't need to do anything.
  3. If you have taken a technical writing course at a US University and are going to petition to use that course to meet the writing requirement, you MUST meet with your graduate advisor in order to fill out a petition that must be approved by GAPE.
    The class must have been a upper division (junior/senior) technical writing course taught in the College of Science or Engineering with documented 32 pages of writing and a required literature review or referencing of technical articles. They will not accept an English class or a lab class.
    You need to supply a description of the course you took (from the web is fine), syllabus (from when you took it if you have it, is not from the most recent semester), a copy of your transcript with the grade you obtained in the course highlighted, and a copy of graded writing form the class if you still have it.
    You MUST have obtained a B or better in a Technical Writing Course in order to petition.
  4. Sole author on a published technical journal article. If so, bring the article to your graduate advisor to submit a petition.