Course Descriptions
Professional Writing Courses in Writing Programs
130A. Professional Writing: Digital Writing and Web Literacy
Emphasis on writing for digital environments such as websites, blogs, newsletters, and social media. Common professional settings for these skills include journalism, political campaigns, Internet marketing, and corporate communication.
130B. Professional Writing: Business and Entrepreneurship
Emphasis on developing written, oral, and visual communication skills for entrepreneurial settings. Common tasks include pitching an idea, seeking funding for a startup, and promoting a product or service.
130C. Professional Writing: Science and Technology
Emphasis on communicating complex technical concepts and scientific research findings in a clear and accessible way to non-specialist audiences.
130D. Professional Writing: Nonprofits and Public Engagement
Development of the ability to write persuasively and effectively in the nonprofit and public sectors. Writing genres include mission and vision statements, grant proposals, public service announcements, and outreach campaigns.
130E. Professional Writing: Arts and Entertainment
Emphasis on the ability to write about creative material and performances in fields such as film, TV, theater, music, art/design, podcasts, and videogames. Writing genres include critical reviews, recaps, promotional materials, treatments, and profiles.
131A. Specialized Writing: Law and Politics
This course will increase students’ capacity to think analytically and write compelling legal documents. It will emphasize students’ capacity to read legal texts, organize ideas, create and refine prose, and improve editing skills to write (and argue) persuasively in a legal context. Writing genres may include law office memos, case studies, contracts, appellate briefs, advocacy letters, and pleadings.
131C. Specialized Writing: Medicine and Public Health
Advanced writing course designed to help students develop stylistic, formal, and argumentative sophistication in various rhetorical contexts, including different sections that emphasize rhetorical values of major professions and research areas.
131E: Specialized Writing: Travel Writing
Lecture, four hours. Requisite: satisfaction of Entry-Level Writing and English Composition requirements. Designed for juniors/seniors. Advanced writing course designed to help students develop stylistic, formal, and argumentative sophistication in various rhetorical contexts, including different sections that emphasize rhetorical values of major professions and research areas. May be taken independently for credit. P/NP or letter grading.
132D. Topics in Rhetoric and Writing: Variable Topics
Study of specific topics in relationship between rhetoric/writing and social or political history.
133. Topics in Writing for Multimedia Environments
Special topics course in professional writing exploring current developments, issues or debates within the art, entertainment, social media, or videogame industries.
134. Topics in Science Writing
Special topics course in professional writing exploring current issues, developments or debates within a specific field of science or technology.
135: Podcasting
Lecture, four hours. Requisites: satisfaction of Entry-Level Writing requirement, course 3. Emphasis on writing for listening audiences such as podcasts and radio, building brand awareness to reach them, and engineering clean audio. Common professional settings for these skills include audio journalism, political campaigns, Internet marketing, and corporate communication.
136. Practical Writing and Editing
Focus on developing grammatical precision and rhetorical range in professional writing combined with experience proofreading and editing one’s own writing as well as that of others.
137. Writing for Public Speaking
Emphasis on careful preparation, rehearsal, and delivery of professional presentations including the design of effective visuals in a variety of multimodal forms. Student performances recorded for extensive self, peer, and instructor feedback.
M138. Topics in Creative Writing: Creative Non-Fiction (cross-listed with English)
Introductory workshop in writing creative non-fiction. May not be used to satisfy workshop requirements for English creative writing concentration.
195. Community or Corporate Internships in English Composition
Internship in supervised setting in community agency or business. Students meet on regular basis with instructor and provide periodic reports of their experience.
Professional Writing Courses in the English Department
110A. Writing in the English Major: Analytical
Furthers students’ abilities to write literary and cultural analyses by treating writing as a process: creating, revising, pondering, cutting, and seeking reactions.
110C. Public Readers, Public Writers
Broadens students’ concept of what it means to write about literature by exploring the what, why, and how of literary criticism for a general (rather than a specifically academic) 21st-century audience.
110E. Writing in the English Major: Advanced Essay
Seminar/workshop addressing advanced analytical writing about literature and culture; offers students the opportunity to explore and expand their skills at various kinds of complex critical thought.
110P. Writing in the English Major: Pre-Professional Portfolio
Invites students to assess their work in the English major and to anticipate and develop the kinds of writing pertinent to their transition into their professional lives, leading to the creation of a portfolio of each student’s work.
110V. Variable Topics in Professional Writing
Allows English Department faculty to design their own contributions to the Professional Writing Minor according to their special fields of interest and expertise; includes extensive opportunities for critical writing and research in a variety of forms and for a variety of audiences.
M138. Topics in Creative Writing: Creative Non-Fiction (cross-listed with Writing Programs)
Introductory workshop in writing creative non-fiction. May not be used to satisfy workshop requirements for English creative writing concentration.
M192. Undergraduate Practicum in English: Journals (cross-listed with Writing Programs)
Hands-on courses offering training and supervised practicum for undergraduates engaged in the publication of campus journals or other public-facing projects.
195CE. Community and Corporate Internships in English
Internship in corporate, governmental, or non-profit setting coordinated through Center for Community Learning, including weekly written assignments, biweekly meetings with graduate student coordinator, and final research project.
197. Individual Studies in English
Individual intensive study, with scheduled meetings to be arranged between faculty member and student. Assigned reading and tangible evidence of mastery of subject matter required.
199. Directed Research or Senior Project in English
Supervised individual literary research and creative projects under guidance of faculty mentor. Culminating paper or project required.