Mission
The B.A. in Writing & Rhetoric provides students with in-depth training in writing, rhetorical, and literacy studies, preparing them for active and ethical citizenship, graduate/ professional school in communication-related disciplines, and/or a range of writing-focused jobs that involve the analysis, creation, editing, and coordination of texts.
Student Learning Outcomes
Through their work in the B.A., students should learn to do the following:
- define rhetoric and demonstrate an understanding of rhetorical and writing theories;
- identify the relational components of rhetorical situations and the larger conversations, activities, and environments in which they are embedded;
- recognize and exemplify rhetorical features—including genres, language conventions, and methods of delivery—employed in civic and professional discourse communities;
- comparatively analyze rhetorical choices and writing strategies used in a variety of civic and professional discourse communities;
- develop carefully researched, rhetorically appropriate, and stylistically polished arguments for a range of audiences, forums, and occasions;
- write with and for various technologies and media, including digital, attending to the verbal and visual elements of the texts they produce;
- openly collaborate and negotiate with others to plan, produce, and evaluate professional and civic texts;
- be more aware of and reflective about writing identities, processes, rhetorical choices, and values;
- identify and make responsive choices concerning the cultural and ethical dimensions of writing, including the forms writing takes, the values it promotes, and the effects it enables;
- contribute to the responsible management of texts produced in discourse communities of which students are members;
- be prepared to apply and flexibly adapt rhetorical and writing knowledge to the changing dynamics of workplace and civic environments.