Writing Certificate
Students who would like to sign up for the Writing Certificate need to go to student services in the Dean's office of what ever college they are enrolled in (for example, the College of Business or the College of Arts and Sciences). They will request a form for enrolling in a certificate program. They will fill out the form (with help from student services if needed) and then bring it to the Director of the Writing Certificate, Dr. Jennie Nelson in English, Ellis Hall 360, for her signature. Finally, they will return the signed form to student services at their college's dean's office.
Course structure for the Writing Certificate (28 credit-hour minimum):
Core Courses: choose three of the following (12 hours).
ENG 280: Expository Writing and the Research Paper (4) Practice in library research, techniques of documentation, and writing research papers. Topics or thematic focus may vary.
ENG 282: Writing About Literature (4) Students will address works of literature from a rhetorical perspective. Sections might focus on specific literary genres such as the novel, short fiction, plays, poetry, the essay, etc., or they might use a mixture of genres. The courses will engage students in formal and informal writing, writing to learn, critical reading, and critical thinking.
ENG 284: Writing About Culture and Society (4) Students will write about cultural issues and artifacts and how they function rhetorically in our society. Different sections might focus on particular issues or artifacts—popular culture, sports, sexuality, etc. The course will engage students in formal writings, informal writing, writing to learn, critical reading, and critical thinking.
ENG 382: Rhetorical Approaches to Writing (4) sophomore or above Students will apply rhetorical theories and methods to various genres of writing, using rhetorical perspectives to analyze genres and produce texts. Examples might include speeches, memoir, web sites, email, visual texts, editorials, and reviews, etc. The focus is on how different genres make persuasive appeals given their rhetorical situations and history. The course will engage students in formal and informal writing, writing to learn, critical reading, and critical thinking.
Students may select only one “J” course as part of the required 12 hours.
- ART 300J: Criticism in the Visual Arts (4)
- BA 325J: Social Responsibility of Business (4)
- ENG 306J: Women and Writing (4) jr. or sr. only
- ENG 307J: Writing and Research in English Studies (4) jr. or sr. only
- ENG 308J: Writing and Rhetoric II (4) jr. or sr. only
- ENG 309J: Writing in the Sciences (4) jr. or sr. only
- ENG 384J: Writing, Reading, and Rhetoric in the Professions (4) jr. or sr. only
- ENG 309J: Writing in the Sciences (4) jr. or sr. only
- FILM 344J: The Practice of Film Criticism (4)
- HLTH 370J: Writing for Health Sciences (4) jr. or sr. only
- HIST 301J: Historical Research and Writing (4) jr. or sr. only
- IART 360J: Writing in the Arts (4)
- JOUR 441J Magazine Feature Writing (4)
- ML 321J: Writing in Two Languages (4)
- ML 370J: Translation as Writing (4)
- PBIO 418J: Writing for the Science Researcher (4)
- PCRM 325J: Business Communication (4)
- POLS 305J: Writing on Political Science Topics (4)
- REC 370J: Writing for Recreation Studies (4) jr. or sr. only
- SW 370J: Writing for Social Workers (4)
NOTE: Junior composition exemptions, such as those based on exemption exams, transfer credit, Honor’s Tutorial exemption, or AP English scores do not count towards the credits required for the Writing Certificate. Upon completion of the Writing Certificate, students must have a GPA of 3.0 or higher in classes that will be counted toward the Writing Certificate. English majors cannot participate in the Writing Certificate Program.
Electives:
Complete 16 hours from two or more academic areas listed below. There is not a minimum number of different courses needed in the academic areas listed as electives for the Writing Certificate. For example, a student majoring in Anthropology could complete three of the electives from Anthropology and then choose to take GEOG 348: Gender, Environment and Development. A student majoring in Communication Studies could complete COMS 353: Contemporary Culture and Rhetoric and COMS 303: Rhetorical Analysis and Criticism, and then elect to take ENG 363: Creative Writing-Nonfiction and HIST 314E: American Social Thought 1815-1915. The following courses may have prerequisites requiring students to be juniors or seniors or requiring students to take additional courses as prerequisites prior to enrolling. Some of these prerequisites will fulfill a Tier II requirement. Students are responsible for checking with the departments regarding prerequisites and confirming with their major/minor departments regarding which classes fill their major/minor/specialty area requirements.
Academic Areas – Electives
- AH 412: Queer Theory and Visual Arts (4)
- AH 438: Contemporary Theory and Criticism (4)
- ANTH 385: Cultures of Southeast Asia (4)
- ANTH 386: Problems in Southeast Asian Anthropology (4)
- ANTH 455: Seminar in Methodology and Field Research (4 to 8)
- ANTH 472: History of Anthropological Thought (4)
- ANTH 494A: Seminar in Cultural Anthropology (4)
- CHEM 431/4 : Chemical Separation Methods (3)
- CHEM 432/435: Chemical Instrumentation and Electrochemistry (3)
- CHEM 433/6: Spectrochemical Analysis (3)
- CHEM 487 A/B: Forensic Chemistry (3)
- CLAS 234: Classical Mythology (4)
- CLAS 253: Alexander the Great and the Helenistic World (4)
- CLAS 255: Pagan to Christian (4)
- ClAS 312: Greek Tragedy (4)
- CLAS 404A: Roman Slavery (4)
- CLWR 222: Difficult Dialogues: Religion, Gender and Sexuality (4)
- CLWR 311: Islam (4)
- CLWR 321: Hinduism (4)
- CLWR 387: Theories of Religion (4)
- CLWR 412: Political Islam (4)
- CLWR 413: Sufism – Mysticism (4)
- CLWR 483: Contemporary Religious Thought (4)
- COMS 448: Rhetoric and Electronic Media (4) jr. or sr. only
- COMS 303: Rhetorical Analysis and Criticism (4)
- COMS 353: Contemporary Culture and Rhetoric (4)
- DANC 170: The Language of Dance (4)
- ENG 361: Creative Writing: Fiction (4)
- ENG 362: Creative Writing: Poetry (4)
- ENG 363: Creative Writing: Nonfiction (4)
- ENG 491: English Internship
- FILM 201: Introduction to Film I (4)
- FILM 202: Introduction to Film II (4)
- FILM 203: Introduction to Film III (4)
- FILM 343: Scriptwriting (4)
- FILM 451: Theory and Criticism I (4)
- FILM 452: Theory and Criticism II (4)
- FILM 453: Theory and Criticism III (4)
- GEOG 325: Urban Geography (4)
- GEOG 331: Geography of Africa (4)
- GEOG 348: Gender, Environment, and Development (4)
- GEOL 283: Geology for Engineers (4)
- GEOL 350: Stratigraphy-Sedimentology (4)
- GEOL 446: Earth Systems Evolution (4)
- GEOL 451: Diagenesis (4)
- GEOL 452: Depositional Environments (4)
- GEOL 495: Thesis
- HIST 314E: American Social Thought 1815-1915 (4) soph. or higher
- HIST 320C: Women's Health and Medicine in U.S. History (4) soph. or higher
- JOUR 363 Reviewing and Criticism (3)
- JOUR 450 Advertising Copy writing (3)
- LAT 351: Latin Prose and Poetry I (4)
- LAT 352: Latin Prose and Poetry II (4)
- LAT 353: Lating Prose and Poetry III (4)
- MDIA 430: Script Analysis (4) note: this course will change to 230 soon
- PBIO 109: Americans and Their Forests (4)
- PBIO 114: Foundations of Plant Biology (5)
- PBIO 210: Plant Physiology (4)
- PBIO 301: Lab in Cell and Molecular Plant Physiology (3)
- PBIO 406: Undergrad Res./Writ. Pres (2)
- PBIO 416: Problem Solving with Bioinformatics Tools (4)
- PBIO 499H: Thesis (3-6 hrs)
- TCOM 231: Short-form Media Scriptwriting (4)
- THAR 151: Fundamentals of Play writing (3)
- THAR 250: Play writing I (4)
- THAR 350: Play writing II (4)
- THAR 450: Advanced Play writing (4)
- THAR 451: Play writing Workshop (3-9)
- WGS 481: Writing Gender (4)
- WGS 480: Capstone in Women's Studies