This study identified courses associated with improvements in the writing skills of 455 first semester, freshman undergraduates at a large research university. Secondarily, faculty who taught these courses were interviewed to explore their teaching practices, course designs, and evaluation techniques. The same group of students was invited back for reassessment at the end of the freshman year (N=374) and at the end of the sophomore year (N=265). Students completed the writing assessment model from the Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency each time. Student courses attended were linked with the results of the assessments to determine the change over time. Student result comparisons were made by class size and academic college. The most notable finding from the faculty interviews was that nearly one-half stated that writing was not a course goal, although most believed it should be an important part of the class and of the student's development; blame was placed on large class sizes. As for students, certain courses were found to be associated with gains in students' writing skills: foreign languages, music, philosophy, sociology, and communications. However, it was also found that, overall, students's writing skills declined during the freshmen year and never increased beyond their original level of writing skills. (NAV)