Program Overview

English Writing and Rhetoric Degree

Overview

The English Writing and Rhetoric degree is a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) program that prepares students for careers requiring strong writing, communication, and analytical thinking skills.

Program Details

• Program Type: Major
• Format: On Campus
• Estimated Time to Complete: 4 years
• Credit Hours: 120

Why Earn an English Writing and Rhetoric Degree?

This undergraduate English major with an emphasis in Writing & Rhetoric deepens students' understanding of a range of writing situations, improves their writing abilities, and provides a solid background for various career paths, including professional and technical writing, teaching, creative writing, journalism, linguistics, graduate studies, and other careers where effective writing is important.

Marketable Skills

• Write clearly, concisely, and compellingly
• Communicate meaningfully to diverse audiences
• Develop solutions to complex problems
• Think critically, creatively, and independently
• Identify and evaluate credible sources

Program Highlights

• Faculty hail from top graduate programs in the country and are active scholars and researchers.
• Faculty honors include the BBC International Short Story Award, a $1 million U.S. State Department grant, and the National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry.
• Students can participate in student organizations, including the Sigma Tau Delta international English honor society.
• Opportunities to help faculty members with research projects or department journals.
• Class sizes are restricted to provide opportunities for collaboration and close interaction with professors.

Career Opportunities

A Bachelor of Arts degree in English prepares students for jobs that require strong writing, communication, and analytical thinking skills. Graduates choose careers in various fields, including law, publishing, education, advertising, journalism, or public relations.

Notable Alumni

• An editor with Rolling Stone magazine
• A curator in the Rare Book Division of the New York Public Library
• A member of the public relations staff at PricewaterhouseCoopers accounting firm
• Novelists Karleen Koen, David Lindsey, and Larry McMurtry
• Poets Chad Davidson and John Poch
• Screenplay writer and director Ken Harrison
• Various employees of government agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Government Printing Office

Course Examples

• Rhetorical History and Historiography (3 hrs)
• Studies in Writing (3 hrs)
• Studies in Modern Rhetoric (3 hrs)
• Advanced Studies in Writing (3 hrs)
• Special Topics in Rhetoric and Writing Studies (3 hrs)
• Academic Writing in the Humanities (3 hrs)