Seattle University Paper Format & Writing Requirements

Seattle University at a glance

A Jesuit university of about 7,200 students on Capitol Hill, famous for the Albers School of Business, a nursing program wired into Seattle's hospital network and the Steven Holl-designed Chapel of St. Ignatius.

The campus sits in Seattle, Washington, operates as a private (jesuit) institution, and enrolls about 7,200 students — a scale that directly shapes how writing support works. Founded in 1891 with an acceptance rate around 78%, Seattle University pairs selective admissions with the large-course writing loads typical of its category.

Citation styles Seattle University actually requires

Seattle 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 university core opens with a first-year writing course graded through sequenced drafts, and the Writing Center in the Lemieux Library and McGoldrick Learning Commons tutors papers across all colleges.

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 Seattle University papers that surprise new students

• Elgin Baylor, later an NBA Hall of Famer, led Seattle University to the 1958 NCAA championship game, still the deepest run in program history.
• The Chapel of St. Ignatius, designed by architect Steven Holl, won national architecture awards for its 'seven bottles of light' concept.
• The university dropped its Chieftain nickname for Redhawks in 1998, years before most programs faced similar mascot decisions.

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 Seattle University students face most

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

Popular programs at Seattle University include nursing, business (albers school), computer science — each pairs the assignment list above with its own capstone or practicum expectations, detailed on our subject pages.