In the Fall of 1996, York College established the College-Wide Writing Program, which is comprised of three courses focusing on research writing in the disciplines. All students at York, including transfer students with associate’s degrees, complete one of the courses as part of their upper-division coursework: Writing 301, Research and Writing for the Major (Humanities and Social Sciences); Writing 302, Research and Writing for the Sciences (Natural Sciences and Mathematics); and Writing 303, Research and Writing for Professional Programs (all other majors and programs).

These courses introduce students to the art of research in the best way possible--by having them pursue a self-chosen research question related to their own disciplines and/or career paths. The course is rigorous, requiring students to apply the reading, writing, and critical thinking skills they have developed in their general education courses to their own research agendas. During the semester, they find and narrow a research question; find and read source materials from a variety of source types; determine an organization for their papers that appropriately addresses their questions; and prepare a final paper that conforms to the style conventions of their particular fields. Along the way, they are taught to analyze and synthesize source material to develop their own arguments. They also revise and hone their papers based on feedback from professors and fellow students. The result is a wealth of thoughtful papers on topics as diverse as the environment, social services, education, history, scientific advances, mathematical applications, health sciences, and other disciplines represented here at York College.

To date, the privilege of reading the quality student research produced in the courses has been limited to course professors and fellow students. This inaugural issue of The York Scholar is part of an effort to disseminate the fruits of student research more widely. Each year, the College-Wide Writing Program will publish exemplary student papers in this journal. By laying bare the kind of research and writing students do in the Writing Program, we hope to stimulate a dialogue among faculty and students about other aspects of education at York. How do our freshman composition courses, our writing-enhanced general education courses, and our writing-intensive courses complement and/or extend the kinds of intellectual work required in the Writing Program courses? How are the reading, writing and critical thinking abilities exercised in this course related to other intellectual abilities fostered in our majors? We believe that an integrated college education, one in which various aspects of curricula dovetail and complement one another, can encourage our students to become life-long learners.