Drake University Paper Format & Writing Requirements

Drake University at a glance

A private university of about 4,900 students in Iowa's capital, famous for the Drake Relays track meet, one of the oldest journalism schools in the country and a law school within walking distance of the state capitol.

The campus sits in Des Moines, Iowa, operates as a private institution, and enrolls about 4,900 students — a scale that directly shapes how writing support works. Founded in 1881 with an acceptance rate around 65%, Drake University pairs selective admissions with the large-course writing loads typical of its category.

Citation styles Drake University actually requires

Drake University courses predominantly require APA 7 or MLA 9. 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

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 Drake Curriculum's first-year seminar ends in a graded research portfolio, and the Speaking and Writing Center in Cowles Library tutors both the seminar paper and later major capstones.

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 Drake University papers that surprise new students

• The Drake Relays have run since 1910 and still draw Olympic champions to Des Moines every April, with class schedules bent around the meet.
• The Beautiful Bulldog Contest each Relays week crowns a bulldog as the meet's honorary mascot, and winners ride in the opening parade.
• The university is named for Francis Marion Drake, a Civil War general and railroad baron who became Iowa's governor after funding the campus.

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 Drake University students face most

• Essay — most frequently assigned across Drake University's programs
• Research Paper — most frequently assigned across Drake University's programs
• Term Paper — most frequently assigned across Drake University's programs
• Literature Review — most frequently assigned across Drake University's programs

Popular programs at Drake University include journalism and mass communication, pharmacy and health sciences, business (cbpa) — each pairs the assignment list above with its own capstone or practicum expectations, detailed on our subject pages.