Minor in Writing
About the Minor
The Minor in Writing provides a foundation of advanced writing knowledge and practice while also allowing a focus on areas of writing you find most interesting, enjoyable, or relevant to your goals.
The Minor in Writing can help you:
- develop rhetorical awareness and knowledge that will help you write and communicate successfully in new contexts
- acquire writing habits and practices that will help you in college classes as well as in professional, civic, and personal life
- write and think creatively and critically in a variety of genres
- develop a portfolio of work that helps demonstrate your skill and experience as a writer
- engage with ideas and modes of expression you care about and find rewarding
Choose from a selection of core courses, and then customize your experience in the minor by selecting one course from the Literacies and Theories category and three courses (or nine credits) from an extensive list of Writing Practices.
All prospective students should meet with an advisor from the College as soon as possible.
Program Requirements
| Core Courses | ||
| Choose one from each pair: | ||
| WRIT 195 | Threshold Concepts in Writing Studies | 3.0 |
| or WRIT 200 | Language Puzzles and Word Games: Issues in Modern Grammar | |
| WRIT 210 [WI] | The Peer Reader in Context | 3.0 |
| or WRIT 211 | Advanced Composition | |
| WRIT 225 [WI] | Creative Writing | 3.0 |
| or WRIT 212 | Intro to Rhetorical Theory | |
| WRIT 312 [WI] | Writing for Target Audiences | 3.0 |
| or WRIT 315 | Writing for Social Change | |
| Literacies and Readings | ||
| Choose one course focused on reading or learning about writing in a particular genre or context: | 3.0 | |
| Media Anthropology | ||
| Theory and Models of Communication | ||
| Qualitative Research Methods | ||
| Ethnography of Communication | ||
| Early Literacy I | ||
| Language Arts Processes | ||
| Classical to Medieval Literature | ||
| Renaissance to the Enlightenment | ||
| Romanticism to Modernism | ||
| Survey of World Literature | ||
| Post-Colonial Literature | ||
| American Literature I | ||
| American Literature II | ||
| African American Literature | ||
| British Literature I | ||
| British Literature II | ||
| Readings in Fiction | ||
| Readings in Poetry | ||
| Readings in Drama | ||
| Intro to Digital Humanities | ||
| Introduction to Linguistics | ||
| Language and Society | ||
| Critical Reasoning | ||
| Ethics and the Media | ||
| Public Opinion & Propaganda | ||
| Political Communication | ||
| Threshold Concepts in Writing Studies * | ||
| Language Puzzles and Word Games: Issues in Modern Grammar * | ||
| The Peer Reader in Context * | ||
| Advanced Composition * | ||
| Intro to Rhetorical Theory * | ||
| Forms Seminar | ||
| Writing Practices | ||
| Choose three courses that allow you to practice writing in specific genres or contexts: | 9.0 | |
| Introduction to Journalism | ||
| Business Communication | ||
| Technical Communication | ||
| Science Writing | ||
| Digital Publishing | ||
| Food Writing | ||
| Playwriting I | ||
| Playwriting II | ||
| Screenwriting I | ||
| Screenwriting II | ||
| TV Writers' Room | ||
| TV Drama Practicum | ||
| TV News Writing | ||
| Story Medicine | ||
| Creative Nonfiction Writing | ||
| Creative Writing * | ||
| Writing in Public Spaces | ||
| The Writers Room Lab Credit | ||
| Writers Room Experience | ||
| Writing Poetry | ||
| Writing Fiction | ||
| Writing Humor and Comedy | ||
| Life is Beautiful | ||
| Writing About the Media | ||
| Writing Your Novel | ||
| Literary Editing & Publication | ||
| Writing and Reading the Memoir | ||
| Writing for Target Audiences * | ||
| Writing for Social Change * | ||
| Publishing Veterans’ Memoirs for the Library of Congress | ||
| Writing and Contexts | ||
| Writing in Cyberspace: Writing for/about the Web * | ||
| Advanced Poetry Workshop | ||
| Advanced Fiction Workshop | ||
| Internship in Publishing | ||
| Special Topics in Writing | ||
| Special Topics in Writing | ||
| Special Topics in Writing | ||
| Total Credits | 24.0 | |
- *
Courses marked with an asterisk are also listed as options for core courses for the minor. A student who elects to take one of these courses may not count it twice (once as a core course and once as an elective in the Literacies and Theories category or in the Writing Practices category). For example, a student who chooses to take WRIT 212 Argument and Rhetoric as a core course may not count it again as a Literacies and Theories course; however, this student could take WRIT 225 [WI] Creative Writing and count it as a Writing Practices course.
Writing-Intensive Course Requirements
In order to graduate, all students must pass three writing-intensive courses after their freshman year. Two writing-intensive courses must be in a student's major. The third can be in any discipline. Students are advised to take one writing-intensive class each year, beginning with the sophomore year, and to avoid “clustering” these courses near the end of their matriculation. Transfer students need to meet with an academic advisor to review the number of writing-intensive courses required to graduate.
A "WI" next to a course in this catalog may indicate that this course can fulfill a writing-intensive requirement. For the most up-to-date list of writing-intensive courses being offered, students should check the Writing Intensive Course List at the University Writing Program. Students scheduling their courses can also conduct a search for courses with the attribute "WI" to bring up a list of all writing-intensive courses available that term.