Gonzaga University Paper Format & Writing Requirements

Gonzaga University at a glance

A Jesuit university of about 7,300 students in Spokane, famous for Bulldogs basketball's two national title game appearances, a nursing school with regional clinical ties and a business program loaded with Seattle and Portland recruiters.

The campus sits in Spokane, Washington, operates as a private (jesuit) institution, and enrolls about 7,300 students — a scale that directly shapes how writing support works. Founded in 1887 with an acceptance rate around 70%, GU pairs selective admissions with the large-course writing loads typical of its category.

Citation styles Gonzaga University actually requires

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

• MLA 9: used across humanities and writing-sequence courses
• APA 7: used across social science, nursing and business courses
• Chicago: used across history, fine arts and some social science seminars

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 core requires ENGL 101 and ENGL 102, a composition pair that culminates in a researched argument, and the Writing Center on the main floor of the Foley Center Library tutors drafts through senior 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 Gonzaga University papers that surprise new students

• Bing Crosby studied at Gonzaga in the 1920s, and a bronze statue of him holding a pipe stands near the library he used.
• John Stockton, the NBA's all-time assists leader, is a Gonzaga alumnus, and the student section that cheers the current Bulldogs is called the Kennel Club.
• The 2020-21 men's team entered the national title game 31-0 before losing to Baylor, the deepest undefeated run college basketball had seen in decades.

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 Gonzaga University students face most

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

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