Bradley University Paper Format & Writing Requirements

Bradley University at a glance

A Peoria university founded in 1897 by philanthropist Lydia Moss Bradley, with engineering and interactive media programs tied to Caterpillar's hometown headquarters and one of the first game-design curricula in the country.

The campus sits in Peoria, Illinois, operates as a private institution, and enrolls about 5,400 students — a scale that directly shapes how writing support works. Founded in 1897 with an acceptance rate around 75%, Bradley University pairs selective admissions with the large-course writing loads typical of its category.

Citation styles Bradley University actually requires

Bradley University courses predominantly require APA 7 or MLA 9 or Chicago 18. That is not a trivial preference: it decides your title page, heading levels, in-text punctuation and reference format on every graded document.

• APA 7: used across social science, nursing and business courses
• MLA 9: used across humanities and writing-sequence courses
• Chicago 18: used across the university's signature programs

Verify against the specific course syllabus anyway — instructors can override departmental defaults, and the first paper is where they enforce it.

The writing requirement, decoded

The first-year composition sequence (ENG 101) and speaking-designated courses set the base, and the Writing Center in the Cullom-Davis Library tutors case analyses, lab reports and interactive media design documents.

Plan the sequence early: composition requirements compound, and students who defer them discover the advanced seminars — where the writing-intensity lives — conflict with major courses later. The registrar's degree audit shows exactly which flags remain; check it each semester.

Three things about Bradley University papers that surprise new students

• Lydia Moss Bradley founded Bradley Polytechnic Institute in 1897 and directed that it educate young men and women alike, a rare coeducational charter for the era.
• Bradley met City College of New York in the 1950 NCAA title game at Madison Square Garden and lost 71-68; both programs were later implicated in the 1951 college point-shaving scandal.
• The interactive media major launched in 1996 as one of the first college game-design curricula, and Peoria's Caterpillar headquarters keeps the engineering co-op pipeline full.

None of these appear in the course description. All of them appear in the rubric. Students who learn them in week one report smoother first-semesters than students who meet them at the deadline.

Assignments Bradley University students face most

• Case Study — most frequently assigned across Bradley University's programs
• Research Paper — most frequently assigned across Bradley University's programs
• Essay — most frequently assigned across Bradley University's programs
• Coursework — most frequently assigned across Bradley University's programs

Popular programs at Bradley University include interactive media, mechanical engineering, nursing — each pairs the assignment list above with its own capstone or practicum expectations, detailed on our subject pages.