University of Denver Paper Format & Writing Requirements

University of Denver at a glance

The Rocky Mountain region's oldest private research university, famous for the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, a Pioneer hockey dynasty and a 1864 charter that predates Colorado statehood.

The campus sits in Denver, Colorado, operates as a private institution, and enrolls about 13,000 students — a scale that directly shapes how writing support works. Founded in 1864 with an acceptance rate around 78%, DU pairs selective admissions with the large-course writing loads typical of its category.

Citation styles University of Denver actually requires

DU courses predominantly require MLA 9 or APA 7. 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

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 common curriculum opens with a first-year seminar and the two-course writing sequence WRIT 1122 (The Writer's Voice) and WRIT 1133, both portfolio-graded; the University Writing Center in the Anderson Academic Commons books out around seminar deadlines.

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 University of Denver papers that surprise new students

• Condoleezza Rice earned her BA and PhD at the Korbel School, and Madeleine Albright taught there before becoming Secretary of State — portraits of both hang in the building.
• Pioneer hockey has won ten national championships, the most of any program in the modern era, and DU papers about it come from actual marketing students assigned to game-night analytics.
• The Anderson Academic Commons opened in 2013 to replace Penrose Library, and older advising guides still send students hunting for a library that is now a cafe floor.

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 University of Denver students face most

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

Popular programs at DU include international studies (korbel), business (daniels), hospitality and tourism management — each pairs the assignment list above with its own capstone or practicum expectations, detailed on our subject pages.