Professional Writing (Minor)

The Minor in Professional Writing, offered by the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, & Discourse (WRD), is available to any undergraduate student in the university. The department understands the term professional writing to refer broadly to the kinds of literate activities taken up by well-educated individuals whose work is creative, intellectually challenging, and ethically grounded. Core courses in the program are designed to prepare students as effective writers for any context in which writing is a key competency. Because nearly all professional writing today takes place in digital environments, digital writing—the combination of alphabetic text with other modes, such as sound and image—is central to the program core and an element of many electives.

The breadth of choices within the Minor in Professional Writing makes it an excellent complement to any major and a fine choice for students pursuing graduate school in any discipline, including law. The Professional Writing Minor allows a wide range of choices: you may take courses in which your own writing—in various genres and contexts—is the focus, or you may study theories of language, rhetoric (how to make effective choices as writers), and discourse (the way writing structures human activity) to develop an understanding of the role of the individual writer within communities of writers.

The program comprises two required core courses and sixteen hours of electives, which may be chosen from among all of the department's undergraduate offerings numbered 203-205 and 207-399.

Course Requirements​

Students majoring in Writing and Rhetoric (BA) are restricted from earning this minor.

Professional Writing Minor Online

The required courses in the Professional Writing minor and many WRD electives are also offered online. Interested students may therefore complete the Professional Writing minor entirely online.​

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