This paper argues that all students, whatever their linguistic identities, can benefit from an explicit and structured introduction to academic writing. It argues that this tuition should no longer be seen as support, and therefore marginalised, but as a transformative process of acculturation that needs to be located in the mainstream of the university. For illustration, it examines a course that does precisely this and which, in a radical departure from other practices, is embedded in the curriculum as a requirement. It discusses the theoretical contexts of the course and shows how the content and methodology is underpinned and informed by new understandings of the cultural, linguistic and epistemological aspects of acquiring academic literacies.