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DeVry Writing Center: Writing that Matters

Writing is ubiquitous and essential for all academic and professional communications. You'll need writing skills whether you are coding for a website, preparing corporate tax documentation, or discussing in a Calculus class. This page provides resources for specific academic and professional writing applications. 

  • The Writing Genres section addresses the most common types or styles of traditional academic writing. While your course may require writing in a specific genre, communicating outside of academia typically combines multiple genres, so it's good to be familiar with as many as possible!
  • Writing for the Workplace and Professional Fields is where we make everything relevant to your professional pathway. How will comparison skills help me in a healthcare career? Why is research writing useful in business? It's all here!
  • Writing for Courses connects skills to specific DeVry courses and course areas. Writing for MGMT303 looks different than writing for LAS432. 

Writing Genres

Academic writing assignments tend to require a specific genre or type of writing applying a recognizeable pattern to accomplish a specific purpose. Writing tasks outside of college often employ multiple genres in a single piece of writing. Every writing task from poetry to proposals and annotated bibliographies to analysis essays could be considered different genres, but these are the most general categories of writing:

  • Descriptive
  • Narrative
  • Informative or Expository
  • Persuasive or Argumentative
  •  Creative

Some class and professional applications of genres include:

  • Comparison and Contrast
  • Cause and Effect
  • Problem and Solution
  • Proposal/Recommendation
  • Report

Writing for the Workplace and Professional Fields

Coming soon:

  • Professional Communication
  • Healthcare Fields
  • Technology Fields
  • Business Fields

Writing for Courses

Coming soon:

Reading assignments & rubrics 

Applying course content to the assignment

Applying the assignment to the professions

ENGL composition and other writing-intensive CoLAS courses

Business and Management courses

Health Sciences courses

Engineering and Information Sciences courses

 

The DeVry Writing Center (DWC) provides writing and communication resources to support students, faculty, colleagues and alumni. It is open to the public, though some resources have restricted access. Resource sharing and adaptation are permitted in line with the Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 deed. The DWC is a collaborative effort by the DeVry University's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Library, with the support of other departments from Admissions to Alumni Relations. 

See our Goals and Development Plans here.

Share new resources, feedback, or suggestions with the Writing Center Coordinator.
Michael Dufresne, Professor, CoLAS National Faculty - MDufresne@DeVry.edu

 Dufresne

Quick Links & Contacts

  • Research, citations, integrity and more: The Ask A Librarian page offers live chat, phone, and email support
  • Tutoring: You have multiple options for tutoring support!
  • Advising & Career Services: Access support via your Learn.DeVry.edu student portal
  • IT Help Desk: 877-306-4283
  • DWC: Share new resources, feedback, or suggestions with the Writing Center Coordinator.
    Michael Dufresne, Professor, CoLAS National Faculty - MDufresne@DeVry.edu