Guidelines for Narrative Writing
At Midlands Technical College, our goal for completing narratives is to demonstrate compliance with the
principle. We accomplish this by: stating that we are in compliance with the principle and why, where
applicable we relate our statement of compliance to our institutional mission, address the relevant
questions for consideration, attach any and all documentation that support our statements, and attach
required documentation.
Our approach to narrative writing is to:
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Read the SACSCOC Resource manual, individual principle and any other SACSCOC
documentation before writing narrative
o If you are starting with your re-affirmation narratives, determine if/how the principle
has changed from the re-affirmation
State compliance with the principle
o This is accomplished with an opening paragraph(s) that broadly addresses the principle
o The opening paragraph is a “30 thousand foot view”
o Link your statement of compliance back to your institutional mission statement (where
applicable)
Address all relevant questions for consideration as noted in each principle
o When reviewing your narratives identify where the relevant questions for consideration
are addressed in the narrative
Attach all required documentation (if applicable) and examples of other types of supporting
documentation (if applicable)
o When reviewing your narratives identify required and supporting documentation
Only the Facts
o Leave out any and all additional information from the narrative that does not directly
relate to the principle and or relevant questions for consideration
o Only include documentation if it supports your narrative statements or if it is requested
in principle.
Write narratives from the perspective of a SACSCOC evaluator
o Write clear concise sentences stating why you are in compliance and provide supporting
documentation
o Do not assume that SACSCOC evaluators know how your institution works
o SACSCOC evaluators are experts in their field, explain to them in the narrative(s) how
you are in compliance
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Other tips for narrative writing:
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Working with champions
o Give champions the materials they need to return a “complete” narrative. This includes
the SACSCOC Resource manual, narrative from previous re-affirmation and writing
guidelines. This will help them return a more complete narrative.
o First draft from champions. When reviewing the first draft from the champions identify,
 If the narrative states compliance with the principle
 If the narrative addresses all the relevant questions for consideration
 If the narrative provides all required and supporting documentation
o Don’t ask champions to re-write the narrative again. If we identified a narrative that did
not completely address a relevant question for consideration, we would send an email
to them asking for further detail.
 For example CS 2.8, Please provide another paragraph(s) on how “full-time
faculty supports the adequacy of the mission of the institution?”
Be prepared to read, edit and re-write numerous times
When in doubt about how a narrative should be structured, ask colleagues at other institutions
how they structured their narratives
o Research the internet to view how other colleges have written their principle narratives.
Convert all reference documents to PDF format
o When referencing a document in your narrative, ensure that when the PDF document is
opened by the reviewer that it opens to the specific page you are referencing. For
example, if you are referencing page 63 of your academic catalog in PDF format do not
have the document open to the title and force the reviewer to navigate to the page.
Convert all website references to PDF format using a screenshot capture program.
o We used Fireshot to capture the entire website and convert to PDF format.
 FireShot is an extension for Google Chrome. It helps you capture web page
screenshots, perform quick edits, add text annotations, and save the captures as
a PDF or image file, send to e-mail, print or copy to clipboard, export, share on
the WWW or upload to FTP.
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