Rhetoric and Professional Writing

Director of First-Year Reading and Writing Program Richards
Director of Center for Reading and Writing Morelli
Associate Professors Highberg (Chair), Jones
Instructor Richards

The Department of Rhetoric and Professional Writing (RPW) administers two writing programs: the first-year Reading and Writing program, which prepares students for college-level reading, writing, and critical thinking; and the Rhetoric and Professional Writing program, which trains majors, minors, and certificate students for writing in the workplace after college.

Reading and writing are twin literacies that should be developed throughout every student’s undergraduate education. Most undergraduates are required to take two preliminary writing courses, RPW 110 and RPW 111 ; students in the College of Arts and Sciences must also take two upper-level writing-intensive courses. Students also can enhance their major in one subject (such as English, politics, biology, engineering, and computer sciences) by adding a minor or a second major in rhetoric and professional writing. Most students who can document their writing abilities enjoy great success attracting the attention of prospective employers after graduation.

Reading and Writing Program

The two writing courses required in almost every college at the University (CETA demands only RPW 110 , and A&S requires RPW 110 and RPW 210 ) teach students to read challenging texts, to write effectively, and to research independently. Students learn the principles of rhetoric (to write persuasively for a particular audience), the fundamentals of language (to follow the conventions of grammar and usage), and the influence of culture (to analyze the social expectations upon which persuasion and grammar depend). These courses (RPW 110 -RPW 111 ) are offered in four different forms to meet the needs of diverse students. Sections of RPW 110 -RPW 111 are offered as bilingual for international and ESL (English as a second language) students, intensive for those who struggled in high school English courses, regular for students of average abilities, and honors for those who excelled in demanding high school English courses.

Starting with RPW 110 , students learn to manage the process of writing more effectively and to fulfill their audience’s expectations of style, form, and content. Students learn to read texts more critically and write with reference to sources by paraphrasing, quoting, and citing properly. The diverse forms of academic writing (such as exposition, analysis, and synthesis), as well as the variation of disciplinary conventions, are addressed.

In RPW 111 , students engage in independent research using print and electronic sources. They learn to write a research essay, one that supports a thesis effectively through convincing analysis and compelling argumentation. Writing is taught as a rhetorical act, a persuasive effort, in which the writer must use language carefully and be aware of the reader’s culture.

After taking these two required courses, students are encouraged to continue their development as writers through further course work.

Rhetoric and Professional Writing Program

Skilled professional writers are needed in almost every business and industry—large and small, public and private, corporate, for-profit and nonprofit—to write print, digital, and online texts. The undergraduate major in rhetoric and professional writing (RPW) prepares students to write in the workplace through a constant combination of theory and practice. Students learn many concepts of rhetoric and professional writing while also being engaged in the realistic production of a wide variety of professional texts.

Through a careful sequence of courses and assignments, student learn to write memos, letters, instructions, brochures, proposals, grants, informational reports, and simple Web documents. They also learn to address an audience persuasively and to argue ethically; to employ processes of writing, revising, and editing appropriately; to manage clients, research, and collaboration effectively; and to vary discourses and document designs strategically. Through their senior-year portfolios, students create an array of their exemplary texts and learn to articulate their development as rhetoricians and professional writers.

This program includes a major as well as a minor in RPW. Majors must pursue a second major or minor, and RPW minors must have another subject major. With study in other subjects ranging, for example, from politics and creative writing to biology, engineering, and music, students become more capable professionals through their training in rhetoric and writing. Through internships as well as senior portfolios, RPW students are prepared for the initial challenges of workplace writing as well as later career advancement.

The program also includes a certificate in RPW designed for those who are already employed in workplace writing and can advance their careers through formal training in RPW. The study of rhetoric and professional writing is as old as ancient Greece and as current as today’s blogs and podcasts.

Programs

Undergraduate Major

Rhetoric and Professional Writing, B.A.

Minor

Rhetoric and Professional Writing Minor

Certification

Rhetoric and Professional Writing Certificate

Rhetoric and Professional Writing

Reading and Writing Program

Rhetoric and Professional Writing Program

Programs

Courses