Academic Programs

Introduction

• The primary purpose of the course description is to clarify course content. They are used by students, prospective employers, and transfer articulators at other institutions. For ease of reading in the Catalog and to ensure clarity and succinctness, limit the course description to 50-100 words.
• Special topics courses do not include a course description because the content changes each term.
• Blanket courses do not include a course description because the course title should indicate the nature of the content (e.g., thesis/dissertation, internship/work experience).
• Sequential courses may use the same description.

What to include in the course description:

• A summary of learning outcomes to demonstrate what students will be able to do effectively at the end of the course
• References to other courses to explain how content will be built upon (e.g., “uses techniques learned in XXX to explore…”). Do not reference other courses if a course is slash-listed because graduate students may not have completed the same courses as undergraduate students.
• Courses that meet the Bacc Core or Liberal Arts Core requirement should be indicated in parentheses at the end of the description (e.g., (Bacc Core Course); (FA))
  • Not counted in the word limit
• Crosslisted courses should be indicated at the end of the description (e.g., CROSSLISTED as FE 307/FOR 307)
  • Not counted in the word limit
• Sentences starting with action words like explores, examines, emphasizes, and builds. See Bloom's Taxonomy for a list of verbs.
• Words such as “including” when listing multiple items (instead of “etc”)
• Clarification of language, if relevant for the content (e.g., “Taught in German")

Visit the Writing Course Descriptions page, for examples of course descriptions that meet these criteria.

What not to include in the course description:

• Sentences starting with “This course…” or Students will…”
• Departmental jargon or university acronyms
• Pronouns such as, "I", "we", "you" or gendered pronouns such as “he/she”
• Unnecessary words, such as “Introduction to” or “Advanced study of” if they duplicate the course title
• Unnecessary articles (a, an, the) and introductory phrases or clauses (e.g., “Survey of,” “Study of,” “Introduces”)
• Advising information about the fine points of requirements, exceptions, substitutions, waivers, or options
• Equivalents, prerequisites, co-requisites, credits, recommended prior knowledge, or repeatability because these items will appear next to the course in the catalog
• Registration restrictions (e.g. junior standing, XX majors, campus location), modality, fees, equipment or other requirements (e.g. CPR/first aid certificate) because they display in the Schedule of Classes and should be added to the CRN at the time of scheduling
• Content for specific groups of students (e.g., "This course is for College of Liberal Arts students")
• Material that does not clarify course content (e.g., "see Schedule of Classes," "fulfills Baccalaureate Core requirement")
• References to admissions requirements (e.g., "Meets deficiency in a foreign language requirement")
• Negation words (e.g., "but," "does not")

Catalog

• All course descriptions are listed in the OSU Academic Catalog.
• Minor changes, such as correcting typos, can be made to courses throughout the year, but all requests must be sent to the Catalog Coordinator in the Office of the Registrar for review.
• Course descriptions for the catalog must match the syllabus course description exactly.
• See the Academic Catalog for additional information about what is included in the course description.