Writing

• FACULTY
• LEARNING AIMS
• MAJOR IN WRITING
• INTERDISCIPLINARY MAJOR IN WRITING
• MINOR IN WRITING
• COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

FACULTY

Chair: Peggy O'Neill, Professor

Professors: Brian Murray; Peggy O'Neill; Ron Tanner

Associate Professors: Karen Fish; Daniel M. McGuiness; Ilona M. McGuiness; Cindy Moore; Jane Satterfield

Assistant Professors: H. Allen Brizee; Margaret Musgrove; Terre Ryan; Lisa Zimmerelli

Affiliate Faculty: Ned Balbo; Matthew Hobson; Timothy D. Houghton; Andrea M. Leary; Elizabeth Leik; Lia Purpura

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Students interested in writing can pursue the Major in Writing; the Interdisciplinary Major in Writing, which allows students to divide their time evenly between writing and another discipline; or the Minor in Writing. In short, there is great flexibility in a student's program. Those who choose either major will enter a community in which they develop expertise in a broad array of skills and genres. What is more, the Writing Department affords students many opportunities for internships, cocurricular activities, and pre-professional development. Writing majors typically go on to become editors, desktop publishers, teachers, lawyers, reviewers, newsletter managers, and consultants, as well as published authors.

LEARNING AIMS

In writing courses, students read widely across genres, cultures, disciplines, and media to:

• develop knowledge of the world beyond the self;
• develop a language of cultivated response;
• discern rhetorical and stylistic strategies that best suit particular arguments, situations, and audiences;
• develop an appreciation of language.

In order to produce finished, polished texts that show competence in the standards of English usage and style, students:

• write widely across genres and for a variety of purposes, showing an ability to adjust style appropriately to audience and situation;
• develop a distinctive voice with original ideas through frequent practice;
• situate themselves in a larger intellectual conversation by developing and researching ideas;
• write multiple drafts of extended works in order to extend the rhetorical strategies addressed in Effective Writing (WR100);
• develop an ability to critique other's writing constructively and to use the same to effectively work collaboratively through frequent group exercise (workshops) and conferences;
• learn to use technology to the best advantage of their writing through daily exposure, understanding both the various forms of media and their rhetorical effects.

MAJOR IN WRITING

Requirements for the major and an example of a typical program of courses are as follows:

• WR100 or WR101 or HN210
• WR200 or WR201
• WR220 or WR221
• WR230 or WR231
• Nine 300- or 400-level electives (exclusive of WR400)
• Senior Seminar: New Writers (WR400)

Bachelor of Arts

Freshman Year

Fall Term

Spring Term

Sophomore Year

Fall Term

Spring Term

Junior Year

Fall Term

Spring Term

Senior Year

Fall Term

Spring Term

* Required for major.

1. WR100 or WR101 is the prerequisite for most upper-level writing courses and must be taken in the freshman year. (Honors students fulfill this prerequisite through HN210.)
2. All WR300-level courses include a course-appropriate research component.
3. Students must complete the diversity requirement through a designated diversity core, major, or elective course (see Diversity Requirement under Curriculum and Policies).

INTERDISCIPLINARY MAJOR IN WRITING

Requirements for the major and an example of a typical program of courses are listed below. Within the typical program, "Type A" courses stand for writing courses, and "Type B" courses stand for courses in the second discipline.

• WR100 or WR101 or HN210
• WR200 or WR201
• WR220 or WR221
• WR230 or WR231
• Four WR300- or 400-level courses
• Five (usually) upper-level courses in another discipline (e.g., English, art, history, modern languages, philosophy, political science, etc.)
• Senior Seminar: New Writers (WR400)

Bachelor of Arts

Freshman Year

Fall Term

Spring Term

Sophomore Year

Fall Term

Spring Term

Junior Year

Fall Term

Spring Term

Senior Year

Fall Term

Spring Term

* Required for major.

1. WR100 or WR101 is the prerequisite for most upper-level writing courses and must be taken in the freshman year. (Honors students fulfill this prerequisite through HN210.)
2. All WR300-level courses include a course-appropriate research component.
3. Students who choose the Interdisciplinary Major in Writing and Communication will not be allowed to count any courses twice.
4. Students must complete the diversity requirement through a designated diversity core, major, or elective course (see Diversity Requirement under Curriculum and Policies).

MINOR IN WRITING

• WR200 or WR201
• Five additional WR courses
• Senior Seminar: New Writers (WR400)