Marquette University Paper Format & Writing Requirements

Marquette University at a glance

A Jesuit university in Milwaukee famous for direct-admission nursing, Wisconsin's only dental school and the Diederich College of Communication.

The campus sits in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, operates as a private (jesuit) institution, and enrolls about 11,000 students — a scale that directly shapes how writing support works. Founded in 1881 with an acceptance rate around 83%, Marquette University pairs selective admissions with the large-course writing loads typical of its category.

Citation styles Marquette University actually requires

Marquette University courses predominantly require APA 7 or MLA 9 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.

• APA 7: used across social science, nursing and business courses
• MLA 9: used across humanities and writing-sequence 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 Marquette Core Curriculum requires Rhetoric and Composition (ENGL 1001/1002) plus Discovery Tier courses graded on argumentative essays; the Ott Memorial Writing Center tutors every year of every program.

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 Marquette University papers that surprise new students

• Every student — nursing to engineering — takes theology and philosophy seminars graded on long argumentative papers, so pre-med students write exegesis next to organic chemistry labs.
• Diederich students staff the Marquette Tribune, a weekly print paper since 1916, and newsroom shifts count toward reporting-course grades.
• Marquette runs D2L Brightspace rather than Canvas, and several core courses weight weekly discussion-board replies into the final grade.

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 Marquette University students face most

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

Popular programs at Marquette University include nursing (direct admission), physical therapy, journalism (diederich) — each pairs the assignment list above with its own capstone or practicum expectations, detailed on our subject pages.