Writing, Rhetoric, and Discourse

Programs

McGaw

First-Year Writing Program

The First-Year Writing Program seeks to help students improve as readers, writers, and thinkers within the contexts of university discourse(s) and of the multiple discourses in the world beyond the university. Undergraduate students entering DePaul take at least two courses in the first-year writing sequence, and their work culminates in the production of writing portfolios.

Minor in Professional Writing

The Minor in Professional Writing is available to any student in the university. Courses in the program are designed to enhance students' capacity to excel as writers in their major programs and prepare students as effective writers in any occupation they may go on to pursue. The program is comprised of two required core courses and four electives chosen from among the department's undergraduate offerings.

Master of Arts

The M.A. in Writing, Rhetoric, and Discourse (WRD) combines a strong theoretical foundation in rhetoric and discourse with practical training in the areas of Teaching Writing & Language and Professional & Technical Writing. This particular mix of theory and practice prepares students to become future teachers of post-secondary writing, to work as professional and technical writers in Chicago's corporate and non-profit sectors, and to study rhetorical theory and history, literate practices in contemporary culture, and language and style as it informs non-literary textual production. Our students go on to teach writing in post-secondary contexts; to work as writers in professional, technical, and other workplace contexts; and to continue their academic study in Ph.D. programs.