It is the responsibility of the University to ensure that their graduates communicate effectively and write proficiently. A minor in writing explicitly engages students in the writing process and fosters their development as writers in academic and pre-professional contexts.
Writing courses for the minor train students in academic discourse and provide them with extensive opportunities for professional development within and across disciplines. Emphasizing writing as a process, writing minor courses offer challenging curricula that develop students’ abilities to research, synthesize, and innovate. Within these courses, students demonstrate individual and collaborative responsibility, applying their studies from other courses. The analytical approaches they practice in writing courses are applicable to any course that they take at the University.
The writing minor enhances students’ understanding of the theoretical, interdisciplinary and professional aspects of writing, and helps them develop the vocabulary, syntax, style and voice appropriate to the practice of composition in diverse fields. By using the writing process to strengthen their ideas, students develop strategies for participating in research, policy-making, professional advancement, and creative expression. The writing minor fosters respect for language, for the contributions of peers, and for the value of effective communication.
The minor in writing is open to—and appropriate for—students majoring in any field, and prepares those proceeding on to graduate work for the challenges of advanced academic writing. By representing the student’s intensive work in writing, the minor also signals to prospective employers the student’s distinguished preparation for the demands of the professional workplace.
