Including Student Essays in Japanese University-Level EAP Writing Texts

English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses focused on writing have long faced limitations regarding the availability of materials on courses conducted outside of native English-speaking country environments. There is a dearth of high-level academic texts that are written for specific EFL contexts, as that sort of writing instruction was traditionally found only in ESL contexts. However, the steady proliferation of EMI institutions and programmes in non-English-speaking countries has created a need for such writing texts tailored for specific national groups. Presently, the only way of providing students with textbooks that are appropriate in both focus and level is to develop them in-house. But what sorts of material should be compiled in such textbooks, and how would they be collected? This chapter details the development of a second edition of an in-house textbook for EAP writing coursework in an English-medium university in rural Japan (i.e., Bennett in Readings for academic writing, 2nd edn. Akita International University Press, 2022; Williams et al. in Readings for academic writing. Akita International University Press, 2016). The chapter focuses on two specific features of the book: (1) model essays (conforming to the requirements of specific in-class essay assignments) written by a variety of faculty members across many departments in the university and (2) model essays written by students formerly enrolled in the university writing courses. The aims and rationale for inclusion—including both theoretical and practical perspectives—are discussed at length, and a full description of how the materials were solicited, pooled, and edited for the final manuscript is included. Finally, the chapter details how these model essays are employed in typical classroom scenarios to expand creative and effective pedagogical approaches.