Graduate Minors

The Department of Writing Studies offers three graduate minor options to students enrolled in University graduate programs.

Rhetoric and Scientific & Technical Communication

By taking 6 credits (for a master's minor) or 12 credits (for a doctoral minor), MA and PhD students outside the Department of Writing Studies can earn a graduate minor in rhetoric and scientific & technical communication. Graduate students in many disciplines can benefit from writing studies courses and seminars in our primary focus areas of:

  • rhetorical theory and history
  • technical communication
  • technology and culture
  • digital and new media studies
  • writing pedagogy

Requirements: Grad Minor in Rhetoric and Scientific & Technical Communication

Literacy & Rhetorical Studies

Housed in the Center for Writing, this interdisciplinary minor offers opportunities to interrogate issues related to writing and literacy with faculty members from disciplines across the University. Students in this graduate minor craft individualized programs to complement their primary degree programs and open new perspectives for scholarship and teaching. We encourage graduate students from the Department of Writing Studies as well as other departments to consider a literacy & rhetorical studies master's or doctoral minor, which require six or twelve credits, respectively.

Previous students' interests included (but were not limited to):

  • historical, feminist, and cultural analysis of literacy and rhetoric
  • theories and practices of writing pedagogy
  • reading and writing in non-academic settings
  • effects of technology on literacy practice

Requirements: Grad Minor in Literacy & Rhetorical Studies

Scientific & Technical Communication

The Scientific and Technical Communication minor enhances your master’s degree program with communication skills that are highly valued by industry. Courses in this fully-online minor train students to apply basic theory and research-driven approaches to create and adapt content to solve complex problems in technical and scientific communication. Coursework emphasizes collaboration with workplace professionals through client projects, virtual and global teamwork, mentorships, and emerging technologies.

Students in this minor take two courses (6 credits). Please contact the department for details.

Requirements: Grad Minor in Scientific & Technical Communication