Santa Clara University Paper Format & Writing Requirements

Santa Clara University at a glance

California's oldest operating private university, founded in 1851 on the site of Mission Santa Clara de Asis, famous for the Leavey School of Business, engineering programs and the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.

The campus sits in Santa Clara, California, operates as a private (jesuit) institution, and enrolls about 9,000 students — a scale that directly shapes how writing support works. Founded in 1851 with an acceptance rate around 49%, SCU pairs selective admissions with the large-course writing loads typical of its category.

Citation styles Santa Clara University actually requires

SCU 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 sequence CTW 1 and CTW 2 (Critical Thinking and Writing) trains students on moral-analysis essays, and the Writing Center tutors drafts from CTW courses through Leavey case reports and senior 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 Santa Clara University papers that surprise new students

• The current Mission Santa Clara church on campus is a 1920s replica built after fire destroyed its predecessor, and its facade faces the main quad.
• The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics was endowed by Mike Markkula, Apple's early investor and second chief executive, and its ethics frameworks circulate in Silicon Valley boardrooms.
• Levi's Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers and multiple Super Bowls, sits directly across the street from 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 Santa Clara University students face most

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

Popular programs at SCU include business (leavey school), computer science and engineering, finance — each pairs the assignment list above with its own capstone or practicum expectations, detailed on our subject pages.