2018-2019 Catalog

Interdisciplinary Writing

Overview

Writing classes provide students with the intellectual and technical frameworks that enable them to approach course materials and disciplines critically. Writing well is not a skill-set to be mastered, but an intricate interaction of cognitive and rhetorical processes performed for a variety of purposes, in multiple circumstances, and for diverse audiences. This minor allows students to practice these processes in a range of writing situations, and exposes students to comparative approaches to modes of writing: prose, creative nonfiction, playwriting, poetry, journalism, screenwriting, professional writing, and multimedia.

The interdisciplinary approach of this minor helps students develop strong writing skills, techniques, and practices through varied pedagogical styles and methods. A main benefit of this minor is that students will have opportunities to learn from faculty in different disciplines, gaining knowledge of those disciplines while writing in various genres. These courses provide a strong writing foundation for students interested in any number of academic and career fields.

Minor Requirements

The Interdisciplinary Writing minor is a five-course program consisting of one required 200-level core class (WRD 295) and four electives, described as follows. 

Note: No more than three courses from one department can be counted towards the minor.

COURSEWORK

Core Courses

WRD 295Argument and Rhetoric Across the Disciplines

4 units

Electives

The below courses are offered regularly in the Interdisciplinary minor, though some may not be offered every year. Check Course Counts for the available courses each semester.

ARTS 301Writing Art and Writing As Art

4 units

CTSJ 215/WRD 215Critical Discourse Analysis

4 units

CTSJ 265Feminist Rhetoric and Social Change

4 units

ENGL 280Creative Writing

4 units

ENGL 281Creative Writing: Poetry

4 units

ENGL 290Introduction to Literary Methods

4 units

ENGL 380Creative Writing: Writing Identity

4 units

ENGL 382Advanced Creative Writing

4 units

MAC 220Narrative Practices

4 units

MAC 230Narrative Design and Worldbuilding for Media

4 units

MAC 320Advanced Narrative Practices

4 units

THEA 201Alternative Voices in American Theater

4 units

THEA 380Playwriting

4 units

WRD 235Visual Rhetoric: Communication through Pictures and/or Words

4 units

WRD 250Writing with the Community

4 units

WRD 285Principles of Journalism I: Covering News Across Media

4 units

WRD 286Principles of Journalism II: Narrative Nonfiction: True Stories Told Well

4 units

WRD 287Rhetorical Fault Lines: Journalism, Persuasion, Propaganda

4 units

WRD 295Argument and Rhetoric Across the Disciplines

4 units

WRD 301Creative Nonfiction

4 units

WRD 395Theory and Pedagogy of Writing

2 units

Faculty

Affiliated Faculty

Julie Prebel, chair

Associate Professor, Writing and Rhetoric; Director of Writing Center & Programs

B.A., University of California, Berkeley; M.A., California State University, San Francisco; Ph.D., University of Washington

Thomas Burkdall

Associate Professor, Writing and Rhetoric

B.A., Pitzer College; M.A., Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles

Broderick Fox

Associate Professor, Media Arts and Culture

B.A., Harvard University; M.F.A., Ph.D., University of Southern California

Susan Gratch

Professor, Theater

B.A., M.F.A., University of Michigan

Laural Meade

Full-time Non-Tenure Track Associate Professor, Theater

A.B., Occidental College; M.F.A., University of California, Los Angeles

John Swift

Professor, English

B.A., Middlebury College M.A., Ph.D., University of Virginia