University of Redlands Paper Format & Writing Requirements

University of Redlands at a glance

A private university between the San Bernardino Mountains and Southern California's Inland Empire, known for the self-designed Johnston Center with narrative evaluations, a spatial studies program tied to nearby Esri, and Bulldogs teams in the SCIAC.

The campus sits in Redlands, California, operates as a private institution, and enrolls about 5,000 students — a scale that directly shapes how writing support works. Founded in 1907 with an acceptance rate around 78%, University of Redlands pairs selective admissions with the large-course writing loads typical of its category.

Citation styles University of Redlands actually requires

University of Redlands 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

A first-year seminar and writing-intensive distribution requirements carry into Johnston self-designed senior theses, spatial studies project reports and business case analyses; the Writing Center tutors in Armacost Library.

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 Redlands papers that surprise new students

• Founded in 1907 by Baptists with an endowment built on Southern California citrus wealth, the university opened its Memorial Chapel the year before the campus's first full class graduated.
• The Johnston Center for Integrative Studies lets students design their own majors and graduate with faculty-written narrative evaluations instead of letter grades.
• Esri, the world's leading geographic information systems company, is headquartered in Redlands, and the university's spatial studies program feeds directly into that industry pipeline.

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 Redlands students face most

• Essay — most frequently assigned across University of Redlands's programs
• Research Paper — most frequently assigned across University of Redlands's programs
• Coursework — most frequently assigned across University of Redlands's programs
• Thesis (Senior/Honors) — most frequently assigned across University of Redlands's programs

Popular programs at University of Redlands include business administration, biology, psychology — each pairs the assignment list above with its own capstone or practicum expectations, detailed on our subject pages.