Clark University Paper Format & Writing Requirements

Clark University at a glance

A Worcester research university where Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung delivered their only American lectures in 1909, and where physics professor Robert Goddard's liquid-fuel rocket work is commemorated in the library that bears his name.

The campus sits in Worcester, Massachusetts, operates as a private institution, and enrolls about 4,100 students — a scale that directly shapes how writing support works. Founded in 1887 with an acceptance rate around 48%, Clark University pairs selective admissions with the large-course writing loads typical of its category.

Citation styles Clark University actually requires

Clark University courses predominantly require APA 7 or MLA 9 or CSE. 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
• CSE: 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

First-years take a writing-intensive seminar in their first semester, psychology and geography majors add lab and field reports, and the Writing Center in the Academic Commons at Goddard Library tutors everything from short essays to graduate theses.

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 Clark University papers that surprise new students

• Jonas Gilman Clark chartered the university in 1887 and opened it in 1889 as an all-graduate institution; undergraduates did not enroll until 1902.
• In September 1909 Freud and Jung delivered their only American lectures on the Clark campus, a visit the university still treats as a founding moment for American psychology.
• Robert Goddard, a Clark PhD and professor, launched the first liquid-fueled rocket from nearby Auburn on March 16, 1926, and the Goddard Library holds his papers.

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 Clark University students face most

• Research Paper — most frequently assigned across Clark University's programs
• Essay — most frequently assigned across Clark University's programs
• Literature Review — most frequently assigned across Clark University's programs
• Annotated Bibliography — most frequently assigned across Clark University's programs
• Case Study — most frequently assigned across Clark University's programs

Popular programs at Clark University include psychology, geography, biology — each pairs the assignment list above with its own capstone or practicum expectations, detailed on our subject pages.