A Georgetown University course in English writing for academic purposes for foreign linguistics graduate students is described. The Writing Lab was conceived as a discussion session to accompany two commonly selected linguistics courses in which much writing is required. The initial class consisted of seven Japanese and two Taiwanese students with a variety of English skill levels and skill needs. Faculty teaching graduate linguistics courses were surveyed concerning the kinds of writing required and problems encountered with students of English as a Second Language (ESL). The course's primary objective became general instruction in appropriate accepted academic discourse for writing. Insights for course design were drawn from research in English for special purposes, writing instruction, and second language learning. Syllabus development consisted of pairing writing topics with writing tasks, sequenced to cover stages of the writing process from planning to revision and from short paragraphs to research papers. Some alterations were made in the second offering of the course due to different student needs. The greatest strength of the Writing Lab is seen in the personal contact and individualized work during student-faculty conferences. Appended are a report on a questionnaire survey of writing tasks assigned in linguistics courses, a summary of responses to a graduate writing questionnaire, and the Writing Lab course syllabus. Contains 15 references. (MSE)