College Writing Programs
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Elena Zhukova

We are the heart of writing instruction at UC Berkeley

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Welcome to College Writing Programs

Please explore our site to find out about our amazing faculty, a group that includes essayists, novelists, poets, journalists, academic writers, translators, playwrights, and more. You can also learn about our different programs, such as the Chiang Research Festival, Berkeley Writers at Work, or the Summer Reading List. Most importantly, you can discover how we help students at all levels write and communicate. If you don’t find what you are looking for here, please be sure to contact us.

Maggie Sokolik

Director

Give to College Writing Programs

Support Fund

Berkeley Writing Assessment

Formerly Analytical Writing Placement Exam

Our Events

Chiang Research Festival

The Chiang Research Festival is a celebration of student research, giving students the opportunity to present their research to an audience of peers and develop an academic community larger and richer than any one classroom. Hosting more than 300 students with each iteration, the Chiang Research Festival runs online during the Fall and Spring semester on Monday of RRR Week.

Summer Reading List for New Students

Every April, College Writing Programs and the Library collaborate to bring out the Summer Reading List for New Students, a collection of suggested readings for incoming first-year and transfer students as well as the broader campus community. Check out the excellent lists of reading recommendations at reading.berkeley.edu.

CWP 30 Year Celebration

College Writing Programs was created in 1992 to provide first-year writing instruction to Berkeley students, helping them meet the entry level and first year writing requirements while developing writing and critical thinking skills required for academic work at the university.

Berkeley Writers at Work

The Berkeley Writers at Work series was begun in 1997 as a forum for campus writers of note to discuss their writing process. Berkeley Writers at Work differs from other forums in that we focus (although not exclusively) on writers of nonfiction, and then on the process, rather than the content, to the extent that these can be separated.