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:

  1. define rhetoric and demonstrate an understanding of rhetorical and writing theories;
  2. identify the relational components of rhetorical situations and the larger conversations, activities, and environments in which they are embedded;
  3. recognize and exemplify rhetorical features—including genres, language conventions, and methods of delivery—employed in civic and professional discourse communities;
  4. comparatively analyze rhetorical choices and writing strategies used in a variety of civic and professional discourse communities;
  5. develop carefully researched, rhetorically appropriate, and stylistically polished arguments for a range of audiences, forums, and occasions;
  6. write with and for various technologies and media, including digital, attending to the verbal and visual elements of the texts they produce;
  7. openly collaborate and negotiate with others to plan, produce, and evaluate professional and civic texts;
  8. be more aware of and reflective about writing identities, processes, rhetorical choices, and values;
  9. 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;
  10. contribute to the responsible management of texts produced in discourse communities of which students are members;
  11. be prepared to apply and flexibly adapt rhetorical and writing knowledge to the changing dynamics of workplace and civic environments.