WRD 98 | PREPARATION FOR COLLEGE READING | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
For students who need extra preparation in the development of college reading skills. Emphasizes development of reading strategies suitable for understanding a range of texts.
WRD 102 | BASIC WRITING II | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
WRD 102 prepares students for college-level writing by examining composing processes and the way writers function in a community of other writers and readers. The course helps students increase the effectiveness of their writing practices and develop a sense of confidence in themselves as writers. The course is ideal for students with less writing experience or those who want more exposure before taking WRD 103.
WRD 102X | BASIC WRITING (FOR NON-NATIVE SPEAKERS) | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
WRD 102x prepares students for college-level writing by examining composing processes and the way writers function in a community of other writers and readers. The course helps students increase the effectiveness of their writing practices and develop a sense of confidence in themselves as writers. The course is ideal for students with less writing experience or those who want more exposure before taking WRD 103 or 103x. X sections are specifically designed for students whose first or dominant language is not English. Students have the opportunity to focus on writing challenges that are unique to writing English as a second or additional language, including increased attention to language skills and to the cultural expectations of U.S. academic audiences. The lower enrollment capacity allows for greater attention to students' individual writing needs. WRD 102x addresses the same learning outcomes as WRD 102.
WRD 103 | COMPOSITION AND RHETORIC I | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An introduction to the forms, expectations, and conventions of writing at the college level. Emphasis on audience analysis, rhetorical stance, and the nature of the composing process.
WRD 103X | COMPOSITION AND RHETORIC I (FOR NON-NATIVE SPEAKERS) | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An introduction to the forms, expectations, and conventions of writing at the college level. Emphasis on audience analysis, rhetorical stance, and the nature of the composing process. X sections are specifically designed for students whose first or dominant language is not English. Students have the opportunity to focus on writing challenges that are unique to writing English as a second or additional language, including increased attention to language skills and to the cultural expectations of U.S. academic audiences. The lower enrollment capacity allows for greater attention to students' individual writing needs. WRD 103x addresses the same learning outcomes as WRD 103.
WRD 104 | COMPOSITION AND RHETORIC II | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Developing a convincing argument with information and evidence drawn from a variety of sources. Emphasis on effective research strategies and professional use of sources.
WRD 103 (C- or better required) or HON 100 is a prerequisite for this course.
WRD 104X | COMPOSITION & RHETORIC II (FOR NON-NATIVE SPEAKERS) | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Developing a convincing argument with information and evidence drawn from a variety of sources. Emphasis on effective research strategies and professional use of sources. X sections are specifically designed for students whose first or dominant language is not English. Students have the opportunity to focus on writing challenges that are unique to writing English as a second or additional language, including increased attention to language skills and to the cultural expectations of U.S. academic audiences. The lower enrollment capacity allows for greater attention to students' individual writing needs. WRD 104x addresses the same learning outcomes as WRD 104.
WRD 103 or WRD 103X or equivalent is a prerequisite for this class. A grade of C- or better is required in the prerequisite class.
WRD 108 | COLLEGE READING | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Devoted to the acquisition and development of analytical, critical, and interactive reading skills essential to continued success in college, regardless of intended major. Emphasizes effective reading techniques, vocabulary development, and comprehension improvement applicable to all academic disciplines.
WRD 111 | TRANSITION DEPAUL | 2 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course prepares new international transfer students for academic success at DePaul. It serves as an introduction to academic support services and opportunities available at DePaul, and the conventions of US academic culture, and the City of Chicago as an academic and culture resource. Topics include differences in approaches to teaching and learning; creating and sustaining productive student-faculty relationships; successful study patterns; and the relationship between liberal and professional education in American culture. Students will do assigned reading on course topics, keep a reflective journal, and engage with each other through discussion and presentation.
WRD 200 | WRITING IN THE DISCIPLINES | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Preparation for writing in academic disciplines. Special attention to forms, conventions, and expectations in university writing at the intermediate level.
WRD 201 | DIGITAL WRITING | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An introduction to the study and practice of writing in the digital age. Students will consider a range of digital text types, such as web pages, social media, blogs, online videos, and interactive media, to better understand the technologies, rhetorical conventions, and practices that contribute to and emerge from digital texts. Students will also produce digital texts of their own. No prior digital production experience is necessary.
WRD 103 (C- or better required) or HON 100 is a prerequisite for this course.
WRD 202 | PROFESSIONAL WRITING FOR BUSINESS | 2 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Effective organization and design of documents common in business life - letters, memos, reports, and resumes. Attention to audience, purpose, and style. Two quarter hours credit.
WRD 202X | PROFESSIONAL WRITING FOR BUSINESS (FOR NON-NATIVE SPEAKERS) | 2 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Effective organization and design of documents common in business life - letters, memos, reports, and resumes. Attention to audience, purpose, and style. These sections are specifically designed for students whose first or dominant language is not English. Students will have the opportunity to focus on writing challenges that are unique to writing in a second or additional language, including increased attention to language skills and to the cultural expectations of both U.S.and international business audiences. These sections address the same course objectives all WRD 202 sections. Two quarter hours credit.
WRD 203 | STYLE FOR WRITERS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course provides students with opportunities to explore stylistic choices in written prose. Students will examine both published work and their own writing to explore how to manipulate language in specific contexts to achieve specific ends. Writing workshops will help students provide and receive constructive comments aimed at revision of drafts.
WRD 204 | TECHNICAL WRITING | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
In this course, students learn to communicate and interpret specialized information for readers' practical use. The course highlights the action-orientated goals of technical writing and the importance of accurately communicating information to users. The course provides an overview of key issues related to technical writing such as usability, audience analysis, designing pages and screens, effective collaboration with peers, interpreting and presenting data, and writing clearly and persuasively. Students learn to write, revise and present common technical writing genres such as instructions, tutorials, manuals, reports, product/process descriptions, proposals, and oral presentations.
WRD 205 | HISTORY OF LITERACIES AND WRITING | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Literacy is traditionally defined as the ability to read and write. This course will expand that definition to also explore the technological, cultural, and political aspects of literacy from the earliest archeological record of writing to modern information technology and digital literacy. Students will examine practices and narratives surrounding literacy, learn how both physical media and social power constrain what information gets recorded and how, and question the implications of these constraints on the ways we define and engage literacy and writing.
WRD 206 | PROFESSIONAL WRITING | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
In this introductory course, students learn fundamentals of professional writing, with a special focus on distinguishing academic writing from workplace writing. The course provides a solid foundation that students can build on as they develop specializations in their professional fields. Through a series of short assignments, students explore the structure and format of typical professional writing documents, examine a variety of workplace writing situations, and begin developing a clear and concise style appropriate for professional settings. Students analyze and write a number of workplace genres, such as memos, emails, letters, resumes, short reports, web documents, and professional presentations.
WRD 207 | INTRODUCTION TO WRITING AND RHETORIC | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An introduction to key concepts in the history of rhetoric, the development and current state of rhetoric and writing, and the impact of rhetoric on contemporary life. The course aims at understanding rhetoric as a theoretical approach, a set of practices, and a discipline.
WRD 208 | INTRODUCTION TO REASONED DISCOURSE | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Study of the problems of reasoned discourse, emphasizing invention and construction of arguments for varied audiences.
WRD 209 | GENRE AND DISCOURSE | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
In this class, students examine how discourse and genres are used to frame issues and instantiate values and beliefs. Students will explore theories of genre and discourse, learn to analyze how genre and discourse operate, understand the relationship of formal features to beliefs and practices, and produce texts in a variety of genres.
WRD 210 | CULTURAL RHETORICS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
In this course, students examine how systemic power impacts cultural-rhetorical production for individuals and communities. Students will explore how rhetoric and culture are overlapping and interdependent concepts. Students will also examine of how culture and meaning-making are produced through relationships, symbols, material conditions, locations, and ordinary day-to-day practices.
WRD 103 (C- or better required) or HON 100 is a prerequisite for this course.
WRD 220 | HOW LANGUAGE WORKS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
The focus of this course is on linguistics as the study of how language works in the minds and brains of its speakers, taking an approach that focuses on the mental representation of language. We develop a theory of language knowledge that includes knowledge of sound systems, sentence structure, and meaning, and along the way we investigate data from diverse languages to illustrate how linguists think and reason. We also draw connections between linguistic knowledge and other types of cognition, as well as connections between linguistics and related fields, including philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience.
WRD 227 | WRITING RESEARCH WITH IDENTITY | 2 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An introduction to exploring the relationship between identity and research and its effect on writing research papers. Students will reflect on how their cultural and socioeconomic background intersects with their desire to write research papers. The course is specifically designed for students in DePaul's Arnold Mitchem Fellows Program.
WRD 228 | WRITING AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY | 2 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
In this course, student will learn how to create annotated bibliographies that align with their research identity. Students will identify a research topic, develop a preliminary question, and analyze sources to create an annotated bibliography. The course is specifically designed for students in DePaul's Arnold Mitchem Fellows Program.
WRD 229 | WRITING A LITERATURE REVIEW | 2 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
In this course, students will learn how to write literature reviews that align with their research identity. Using their annotated bibliography create from WRD 228 students will outline, draft, and finalize a literature review that improves their understanding of a research topic in preparation for future research projects. The course is specifically designed for students in DePaul's Arnold Mitchem Fellows Program.
WRD 231 | GOOGLING GOD: RELIGIOUS PRACTICES IN DIGITAL CULTURE | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course examines how religious rituals and practices, in both historical and contemporary contexts, have been adopted and adapted in digital culture and by new media technologies. By exploring the intersections of religious and digital practices, students will consider the relationship between spiritual transcendence and secular technologies and will identify diverse religious perspectives and evaluate ethical positions on the relationship of religion, technology, and culture.
WRD 232 | THE LANGUAGE OF DISABILITY | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course considers a variety of texts, such as scholarly works, symbols, and expressions in popular culture, to explore the critical role language plays in determining disability and related concepts. We will consider how both dominant and dissenting cultural discourses regulate actions we take on behalf of-or against those-defined as disabled. The course will explore how rhetorical dynamics in varied professions shape the implications of disability, making it appropriate to students with a wide range of academic and career interests.
WRD 103 (C- or better required) or HON 100 is a prerequisite for this course.
WRD 240 | ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Students in this course will learn techniques for constructing argumentative writing, working with rhetorical methods of inventing and arranging written arguments. Students will examine different genres of argument, but the focus in the course will be on student production and revision. This course builds on and extends skills in argumentative writing that students gain in the first-year writing program.
WRD 241 | THE ESSAY FROM PRINT TO NEW MEDIA | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An introduction to one of the most elastic of artistic forms, this course explores the history of the essay from its origins in alphabetic text to contemporary renditions in film, audio, and interactive media. With close attention to social, political, and historical contexts, students will consider how essayists join content with form to simultaneously meet aesthetic and persuasive ends. By composing their own essays in varied media, students will explore the essay as both a work of art and a work of social action.
WRD 260 | RHETORICAL ANALYSIS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course will introduce students to methods for analyzing symbolic acts and artifacts in order to understand the perspectives and motivations which shaped them. Students will analyze a variety of rhetorical artifacts from several perspectives including classical rhetoric, argumentation, metaphor, feminism, dramatism, and ethics. Through analysis, students will learn how messages are constructed in order to produce certain effects as well as how to question and respond critically to communication.
WRD 261 | DIGITAL CULTURE | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Digital information technologies proliferate in our culture, significantly impacting the rhetorical contexts in which we work and play. This course will explore a variety of topics related to the expansion of digital culture and rhetoric such as the development of the Internet; gaming; the construction of personal and group identity; media convergence; the distribution of work; community, group, and subculture formation online; political and policy issues; cyberterrorism; privacy, and the representation of technology in popular media.
WRD 262 | THE RHETORIC OF EVERYDAY TEXTS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
From transit signs to nutritional information, to tagging, to social media posts, we encounter "everyday texts" continually in our day-to-day lives. This course examines the social, rhetorical, and technological contexts that form and are formed by such texts, while examining how and why such texts can and do become notable or even extraordinary. The course considers print, digital, and hybrid platforms for both readers and writers. No prior experience with production technologies is necessary.
WRD 263 | READING BETWEEN THE GROOVES: THE RHETORICAL POWER OF POPULAR MUSIC | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
How do songs from rock, hip hop, R&B, country, folk, and other genres make arguments? How do performances by popular musicians offer perspectives on society, politics, and culture? This course takes up these and other questions as it analyzes the power of popular music, guided by the premise that it is both serious and rhetorically complex. The course explores the cultural work of diverse genres, and students may apply what they learn to artists of their choice in papers and projects.
WRD 264 | LANGUAGE, SELF AND SOCIETY | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course will explore the way language fundamentally shapes culture and identity. The course will focus particular attention on how we use language and its relationship to thought and power.
WRD 103 (C- or better required) or HON 100 is a prerequisite for this course.
WRD 265 | SOCIAL MOVEMENT, SOCIAL MEDIA, AND AMERICAN IDENTITIES | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
From civil rights and black power movements to women's liberation and gay rights judicial activism, Americans have participated in social movements to protest precarious conditions and achieve a more livable life. This course introduces students to the study of social movements from a rhetorical perspective and explores ways that social media has reoriented American political participation by democratizing access to information, disrupting old models of power distribution, and allowing for rapid, broad coalition building and immediate moments of multimodal protest.
WRD 103 (C- or better required) or HON 100 is a prerequisite for this course.
WRD 266 | LEVELING UP: THE SOCIAL RHETORIC OF VIDEO GAMES | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Since the 1980s, the culture of video games has evolved from the arcade to the Internet. So too has the way gamers communicate about themselves and their games among themselves. This course will explore video games as both a reflection and engine of culture, as seen through gamers' rhetorical action. We will consider video games and identity, the rhetorical context of games and online spaces, games as artistic and persuasive texts, and the discourse communities surrounding various gaming genres. You will analyze games themselves, the writing that surrounds them, and the larger cultural moments games both occupy and create. WRD 104 or its equivalent is recommended as a prerequisite.
WRD 270 | ACADEMIC READING FOR INTERNATIONAL/MULTILINGUAL STUDENTS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course prepares international/multilingual students to become more efficient, effective, and critical readers. By developing a range of focused reading strategies, and a deeper awareness of how academic texts function rhetorically within scholarly conversations, students will strengthen their abilities to understand, analyze, and respond to academic readings. Students will practice applying critical reading skills to selected texts from their specific majors. WRD 103 is recommended.
WRD 280 | WRITING IN THE SCIENCES | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course examines the relationship between writing and knowledge-building in the physical sciences, exploring both the historical development of written scientific argument and contemporary genres of writing in the sciences. Students will read, analyze, and discuss a range of scientific genres, including scientific articles, policy reports, public science writing, and presentation formats, while also producing a variety of scientific writing styles. WRD 104 is recommended as a prerequisite.
WRD 281 | WRITING CENSORSHIP | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An introduction to censorship as both a mechanism of social control and a fundamental element of all rhetorical situations. Explores the history of censorship in the West and engages theoretical questions about the power of language and its suppression as a force for violence. Affords students opportunities to experiment with effective strategies of resistance by writing under varied conditions of censorship.
WRD 103 (C- or better required) or HON 100 is a prerequisite for this course.
WRD 282 | ETHICS OF PUBLIC AND PROFESSIONAL WRITING | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course introduces a critical moral philosophical framework for the study of public and professional writing. Students will learn to critique historic and contemporary texts from an ethical perspective. Students will also explore contemporary ethical issues for writing in digital environments and varied professional contexts.
WRD 103 (C- or better required) or HON 100 is a prerequisite for this course.
WRD 283 | ENVIRONMENTAL WRITING | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
In this class, students will develop knowledge, critical thinking skills, and multi-modal literacies that define writing practices in the environmental community. In order to become more proficient writers, students will analyze and practice a range of genres relevant to environmental issues in the workplace and the larger public sphere, from professional documents such as proposals and reports to research articles aimed at the general public and published in traditional or electronic media. Students will also analyze various new-media genres as indicators of public interests and as tools for reaching and engaging diverse audiences. WRD 104 is recommended.
WRD 284 | SPORTS WRITING IN AMERICA: MYTHS, MEMORIES, HEROES AND VILLAINS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course explores the role of writing within and across multiple sports, viewed through historic, cultural, social, and economic lenses. Students will read, analyze, and discuss multiple genres, including reporting, memoir/nonfiction, and argument, and draft and revise their own writing in these genres on the sports of their choice. WRD 104 is recommended.
WRD 103 (C- or better required) or HON 100 is a prerequisite for this course.
WRD 285 | TRUTH IN DISGUISE: THE RHETORIC OF SATIRE | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Attention to satire as a rhetorical strategy used to persuade, convince, inform, and provoke change or action. Examination of the use of satire to comment on social and political issues across multiple modes and media through the study of particular satirical texts in contemporary and historical contexts. Through the study and composition of satire, students will develop a critical attitude toward satire and the capacity to use satire with rhetorical awareness.
WRD 103 (C- or better required) or HON 100 is a prerequisite for this course.
WRD 286 | WRITING WITH PHOTOGRAPHS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course explores how writers can use photographs and photography in their writing process and in their texts. Students will use writing to engage with photographs from their personal archives and from public collections, as well as shoot their own photographs and write accompanying text. The course also introduces literary, documentary, and theoretical works that model how photographs and language can work together. No prior experience with photography is necessary, though students must have access to a camera or camera phone.
WRD 287 | THE COMIC BOOK AS VISUAL ARGUMENT | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course explores the rhetorical interplay between text and image in the medium of the comic book. The study of the rhetorical art of graphic discourse and the various techniques used by authors and artists working in the medium. Students will examine how the genre of the comic combines text and image to introduce real social questions and argue for interpretations of historical events. Students will move from written analysis of texts to production of their own visual texts in the graphic medium using digital applications.
WRD 288 | RHETORIC AND POPULAR CULTURE | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
In this class, students will learn to think critically about works of popular culture, including how writers use various rhetorical strategies to explore, examine, and draw conclusions about works of art, the context in which they were created, and the culture that created them. Working in a variety of media, genres, and formats, students will apply these lessons to their own writing about cultural products, composing arguments about and evaluations of cultural products and events including music, art, books/comics, television, movies, sports, restaurants, and more. By reading and composing criticisms of pop culture with attention to rhetorical context and genre awareness, students will hone their ability to engage with and respond meaningfully to the cultural phenomena that surround us daily, becoming more purposeful consumers of popular culture in the process.
WRD 289 | WRITING ABOUT RIGHTS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Rights claims are a central part of public discourse today. In this course, students learn how to examine such claims from the perspective of rhetoric and language studies. Students will explore the common rhetorical and linguistic features in rights-based arguments, as well as the underlying assumptions that give rights arguments their force. In addition to reading about and discussing examples of rights-based arguments, students write about rights themselves, both by analyzing contemporary rights claims, and by building arguments in favor of rights that they believe are of special importance.
WRD 103 (C- or better required) or HON 100 is a prerequisite for this course.
WRD 290 | WRITER'S TOOLS WORKSHOP | 2 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Introduction to and practical engagement with specific digital technologies and/or multimodal environments. Two Credit Hours. Tools/topics vary. Can be repeated for credit as topics vary.
WRD 291 | THE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH POSTER | 2 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An introduction to the poster as a mode for presenting scientific research in conference settings. In-class workshops will step students through the poster writing and design process, including modules on project planning, the composition and organization of written content, data visualization, fundamentals of visual design and how to talk about your poster with conference attendees. Students will compose and design a poster on a timeline to present at DePaul's annual Natural Science, Mathematics and Technology Showcase.
WRD 300 | COMPOSITION AND STYLE | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Advanced instruction in invention, arrangement, and style, toward developing clear and effective prose styles.
WRD 301 | WORKPLACE WRITING: THEORY AND PRACTICE | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Students examine the roles of writing (transactional, informative, and persuasive) in professional contexts and learn common features of workplace writing situations (internal vs. external documents, collaboration, distribution of expertise and authority, content management, globalization) and strategies for responding to them. They will also learn about stylistic conventions common to workplace genres (building an effective professional persona through writing - tone, document design) and their typical formats. Theory and analysis will ground discussions of production and production-based projects.
WRD 306 | RHETORICAL TRADITIONS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
In this historical survey course, students examine a variety of traditions in rhetorical thought. Students will become familiar with key concepts in the Western rhetorical traditional, while also interrogating the centrality of that tradition by examining marginalized or resistant currents in rhetorical thought.
WRD 309 | TOPICS IN WRITING, RHETORIC AND DISCOURSE | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
May be repeated for credit as topics vary. See schedule for current offerings.
WRD 103 (C- or better required) or HON 100 is a prerequisite for this course.
WRD 320 | TOPICS IN PROFESSIONAL WRITING | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
May be repeated for credit as topics vary. This course provides students opportunities to explore concepts in depth and apply specialized practices related to a rotating selection of dedicated topics in technical and professional writing.
WRD 321 | WRITING IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course explores the role of writing, thinking, and problem-solving in legal contexts. Students will gain an understanding of the principles involved in writing effective narrative and persuasive prose for a variety of legal purposes, and be able to apply these principles to their own writing. Students who completed this course as WRD 320, Topics in Professional Writing, may not take the course as WRD 321.
WRD 322 | WRITING AND METADATA | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Writing in digital environments often involves layers of information beyond the written text itself, ranging from the markup languages that identify and structure the text, to hashtags and similar grouping data. Students in this class explore the way those additional layers shape meaning and rhetorical strategies in for both human and machine readers in digital environments; the semantic elements of markup languages; and cultural understandings of metadata, machine reading, and privacy.
WRD 323 | EDITING | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Students will explore a range of practices associated with the revision of prose for publication. Students will learn to edit for style and consistency at the document, paragraph, and sentence levels. They will also compare and learn to apply differing style guides, learn technologies central to modern editorial practice, and examine related topics such as the Plain Language Movement and preparing documents for translation.
WRD 324 | WRITING FOR PUBLIC HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course will explore writing in public health and health care. You will analyze contemporary writing produced by government and NGOs, research organizations, public and professional forums and related sites of action. You will apply what you learn to a health writing project on a topic of your own choice.
WRD 325 | RHETORIC IN CRISIS CONTEXTS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course explores the theory and practice of rhetoric as applied to occasions of crisis, such as public responses to natural and human-made disasters, damage to brands, and historical crises. Students will consider both classic and contemporary case studies of crisis rhetoric, applying dominant disciplinary theories and considering how insights might apply to future crises in both individual and professional contexts. WRD 104 or its equivalent is recommended as a prerequisite.
WRD 327 | CONTENT WRITING | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course provides a broad overview of content writing and coaches students to produce their own content. The course also highlights in-demand content writing skills and types of content-writing workplaces. Students learn the history of content writing, engage in practical activities to hone their skills, create effective content across a range of writing situations and platforms, and usability test their own writing.
WRD 330 | LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course introduces students to major concepts in and approaches to studying language, covering topics such as language structure, language acquisition, dialect variation, language and identity, language policy, and literacy. The course presumes no prior knowledge of linguistics and will be relevant to students studying in a wide variety of majors.
WRD 340 | WRITING AND REVISING | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course operates on the assumption that the secret to strong writing is revision. Students will learn about theories of revision, studying how successful writers revise, and will then put those techniques into practice. The goal of the course is to develop strategies and understanding of the rhetorical situations of writing in different contexts. Students will work on developing voice, taking ownership of work, and creating strong, well supported arguments.
WRD 345 | GHOSTWRITING | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course explores the phenomenon of ghostwriting and affords students opportunities to develop ghostwritten projects. Considers the appearance of ghostwriting across historical and contemporary genres, in print and online, in academic, professional, and imaginative contexts. An introduction to interview as research method and attention to related ethical questions will inform students' own ghostwriting.
WRD 103 (C- or better required) or HON 100 is a prerequisite for this course.
WRD 360 | TOPICS IN RHETORIC | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
May be repeated for credit as topics vary. This course provides students opportunities to explore concepts in depth and apply specialized practices related to a rotating selection of dedicated topics in the theory and history of rhetoric.
WRD 361 | TOPICS IN ALTERNATIVE RHETORICS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Women, ethnic minorities, gay/lesbian/and transgender writers, and individuals with disabilities are forced to navigate the dominant culture through strategies that draw upon and transform dominant cultural practices. Courses in this topics category will consider questions raised by alternative rhetorics and examine the way rhetorical acts construct such categories and shape the ways in which people are included or excluded from social groups and movements through language use. Students will examine and assess these mediation strategies while also developing theoretical frameworks to analyze and understand them. May be repeated for credit as topics vary.
WRD 362 | SEMIOTICS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
The study of "the sign," semiotics extends the notion of "text" beyond the written page to any artifact that can "stand for" something else: not only pictures, sounds, gestures, and body language, but also objects and even the spaces between them! Semiotics is therefore the study of making meaning (both "encoding" and "decoding") in its widest possible sense. You will be invited to explore in course projects: drawing on the full range of media and signifying practices the value of semiotic principles to your program of study and/or non-academic area/s of interest.
WRD 363 | VISUAL RHETORIC | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
As both consumers and producers, we engage daily with a variety of textual and graphical elements. Participation in this course encourages critical consideration of such encounters. Students will examine the assumptions and practices that inform the authorship and interpretation of both print-based and electronic texts. The course will explore cultural and rhetorical frameworks for understanding, evaluating, and composing visual elements in various media.
WRD 364 | CHICAGO WOMEN RHETORS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
What is the history of women's speaking in Chicago? How have women rhetors made their mark on our city? And how much of this history is widely known? This course asks these questions, looking at how women have made their voices heard, and how women have been remembered by the publics they spoke to. Students will learn about the past and think about how this past has been and can continue to be remembered and interpreted.
WRD 368 | GLOBAL ENGLISHES | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
At the start of the 21st century, English is a global language used in commerce, technology, research, education, and even popular culture around the world. This course explores the role and nature of the English language in a global context. Course readings and discussions will examine the historical context and cultural legacy of the spread of English, global varieties of English, uses and contexts of English, issues of ownership and identity, and the future of English.
WRD 371 | MENTORING YOUTH IN COMMUNITY WRITING GROUPS | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course is for any student who is interested in both mentoring young writers and understanding how writing in community functions as an identity-building process. In this class, you will have the opportunity to not only provide extensive online feedback for middle school writers engaged in writing projects, but also to pay occasional visits to them at their school. Course readings will address the value of writing groups and communities, attention to writing as a process, and best practices for effective and empowering feedback on writing. You will also reflect extensively on the intersection of identity, community, and mentoring through writing.
WRD 103 (C- or better required) or HON 100 is a prerequisite for this course.
WRD 372 | DIGITAL STORYTELLING | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course is an introduction to the theory and practice of digital storytelling, a workshop-based community arts process in which trained facilitators help individuals to write and produce short videos that combine personal photographs with a meaningful personal narrative. In recent years, communities and organizations worldwide have used digital storytelling initiatives to start important community discussions and create powerful media for outreach and advocacy. Students will read and discuss foundational digital storytelling texts, create their own digital story, and facilitate a digital storytelling workshop for members of a Chicago-area community group.
WRD 376 | FIELDWORK IN ARTS WRITING | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
The study and production of writing about art as social engagement, this course explores various genres of arts writing and their functions from the perspective of critic and artist. Combines fieldwork in the Chicago arts scene "collaborating and conversing with artists and professional writers" with classroom-based discussion. Students produce a portfolio of writing about art in a variety of genres including the critical, informative, and reflective.
WRD 377 | WRITING AND SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Using writing within community service. See schedule for current offerings.
WRD 378 | TEACHING ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE IN CHICAGO | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Students explore the theory and practice of learning and teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) through readings and classroom discussion while teaching or tutoring adult ESL learners at a Chicago-area community center. Classroom and service experiences together help students develop an understanding of second language learning, teaching strategies and approaches, and issues of immigration and language policy in both U.S. and global contexts. (Can count for both JYEL credit and minor credit.)
WRD 390 | RHETORIC AND PUBLIC WRITING | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
This course encourages a reflective stance on the development of the individual writer through the educational process, particularly as that relates to the interplay of the Liberal Studies experience and the WRD major. Students will be asked to look back for the purpose of looking forward, to consider how this broad preparation to excel at rhetorical action across communities of discourse prepares one for public life as a writer. Students will develop a reflective portfolio of prior work and prepare new writing for contexts beyond undergraduate life.
WRD 395 | WRITING CENTER THEORY & PEDAGOGY | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Introduction to current theories and practices in writing instruction; prepares students to develop and administer writing centers and to work as writing consultants. (Writing Center practicum required).
WRD 396 | WRITING FELLOWS THEORY AND PRACTICE | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
A seminar on tutoring writing across the curriculum. Students will read articles and do writing assignments designed to familiarize Fellows with theories of writing and tutoring and to stimulate thinking about the issues these theories raise. This course will also help develop tutoring skills, including practice writing comments on sample papers, participating in mock conferences, and sharing specifics from students' experiences as Fellows.
WRD 398 | INTERNSHIP | 4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
An approved internship obtained in consultation with the department's Internship Coordinator. In addition to internship duties, students will produce weekly journal entries that reflect on internship activities and related coursework; and compile a portfolio of written work product developed during the internship. May be repeated for credit.
WRD 399 | INDEPENDENT STUDY | 1-4 quarter hours
(Undergraduate)
Independent study guided by a faculty member. Written permission of supervising faculty member and by department chair required before registration. May be repeated for credit.
WRD 500 | PROSEMINAR | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
An introduction to the intellectual/scholarly traditions of writing studies, rhetorical theory, and discourse. Students learn different theoretical perspectives as well as the field's lexical-conceptual vocabulary, providing a gateway to the field and the program's concentration areas.
Status as a Graduate Writing, Rhetoric and Discourse student is a prerequisite for this class.
WRD 503 | ANCIENT RHETORICS | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
A survey of rhetorical theory from ancient Greece and Rome and as well as various Eastern traditions. The course examines important definitions and discussions of rhetoric from Plato to Augustine, with attention to their implications for an understanding of the roles of rhetoric and writing in modern society.
WRD 505 | CONTEMPORARY RHETORICS | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
A survey of theories and practices in 19th- and 20th-century rhetoric. Examines psychological, social and philosophical roots of contemporary rhetorics and the influence of scientific and literary studies on theories of discourse.
WRD 506 | MULTICULTURAL RHETORICS | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
An introduction to written rhetoric and culture. Explores competing conceptions of culture and meanings of literacy, particularly as they relate to American literacy education.
WRD 507 | GLOBAL ENGLISHES | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Explores the role and nature of the English language in a global context, focusing on the historical context and cultural legacy of the spread of English, global varieties of English, uses and contexts of English, issues of ownership and identity, and writing and language instruction. Course content draws upon theoretical models of World Englishes, scholarly debates, descriptions of spoken and written English around the world, and artifacts of global Englishes.
WRD 508 | DISCOURSE AND STYLE | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Explores discourse theory and practice in examining features of style, including linguistic and rhetorical perspectives.
WRD 509 | GENRE THEORY AND PRACTICE | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
An overview of the study of non-literary genres, focusing on contemporary theories and practices of genre and genre learning. Students become familiar with various disciplinary perspectives on genre theory, methods for analyzing non-literary genres, and pedagogical approaches to teaching genre in the writing classroom. Explores genres from textual, social, and critical perspectives, considering how genres within social and institutional contexts such as the academy, the workplace, and the public sphere.
WRD 510 | TOPICS IN RHETORICAL HISTORY | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Explores topics in rhetorical history. May be repeated for credit as topics vary.
WRD 511 | TOPICS IN COMMUNITY, CULTURE AND IDENTITY | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Explores topics related to community, culture, and identity from the perspectives of rhetoric and discourse. May be repeated for credit as topics vary.
WRD 512 | TOPICS IN LANGUAGE | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Explores topics related to language and its intersections with rhetoric and discourse. May be repeated for credit as topics vary.
WRD 513 | SEMIOTICS | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
An introduction to semiotics, or the study of 'the sign'; a theory of meaning that is concerned with anything intended to or interpreted to stand for something else, including objects, pictures, sounds, gestures, and body language. The course examines the construction of meaning in manifold contexts, extending the notion of 'text' beyond the written page to any artifact that functions as a 'message' embodied in a genre and a medium.
WRD 514 | SOCIOLINGUISTICS | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
An introduction to the study of language in social contexts. Explores the principles of language variation and change within social contexts.
WRD 515 | THE ESSAY | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Explores the history of the essay as genre from the Renaissance to the present, compares and contrasts literary essays with those written in most school settings, and offers students the opportunity to write their own extended essays on personal and professional topics.
WRD 521 | TECHNICAL WRITING | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
An introduction to various aspects of technical writing, including readability, document design, editing and usability.
WRD 522 | WRITING IN THE PROFESSIONS | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
This course introduces concepts important to professional writing and provides opportunities to practice creating professional texts. Students write workplace documents such as emails, memos, and reports with a focus on developing rhetorically appropriate content, structure, style, and design. To build conceptual foundations and critical awareness, students also read research on workplace writing and investigate writing practices in particular professions.
WRD 523 | EDITING | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
An introduction to editing principles and practices in professional and technical fields.
WRD 524 | DOCUMENT DESIGN | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Theories, concepts, and components of effective document design, including the interrelation of visual displays and written texts across a range of electronic and print genres.
WRD 525 | WRITING FOR THE WEB | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
An introduction to various genres of web-based communication and the roles played by writers, readers, and users of web sites. Includes analysis, design, and revision of web-based writing as well as practice producing written documents which accompany the development of web information.
WRD 526 | GRANT AND PROPOSAL WRITING | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
This course introduces students to the purpose and structure of grant proposals and other forms of professional proposals. Through analysis of real-world documents and typical grant- and proposal-writing situations, as well as guided writing practice, students will develop the research and writing skills necessary to compose these common workplace genres. The course typically features a client project, in which students work on teams to develop grant proposals for nonprofit organizations.
WRD 530 | TOPICS IN PROFESSIONAL AND DIGITAL WRITING | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Explores topics in professional, digital, and/or technical writing. May be repeated for credit as topics vary.
WRD 531 | DIGITAL STORYTELLING | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
This course introduces the genres, principles, and techniques most important to writers tasked with creating digital stories in workplace settings. Students analyze conventional and innovative examples of profiles, testimonials, and other narrative forms, and practice using digital tools to create stories suitable for workplace purposes. The course also provides conceptual frameworks for strategizing effective and ethical distribution of digital stories.
WRD 532 | CONTENT STRATEGY | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
This course examines the practice of content strategy in professional settings. Students learn how to assess existing organizational content, how to develop a content strategy, and how to create guidelines and governance documents to manage organizational content. The course features a substantial client project---students work on a team to develop a content strategy for a nonprofit organization.
WRD 533 | WRITING ACROSS MEDIA | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
This course explores the rhetorical potential of different modes available to writers today, including written text, sound, images, and video. Through theoretical readings, analysis of new media texts, and production projects---which may include infographics, podcasts, short videos, and other web-based text---students develop their ability to compose multimodal digital content.
WRD 540 | TEACHING WRITING | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Introduction to teaching composition at the secondary and college undergraduate levels. The course helps students develop methods of teaching composition based on modern theories of rhetoric, reading and language acquisition.
WRD 541 | COMPOSITION THEORY | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Explores the development of contemporary theories of written composition; focuses on contexts for writing, the writing process, and reader-writer relationships.
WRD 542 | URBAN LITERACIES | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Explores the multiple definitions of literacy with a special emphasis on adult literacy in an urban environment. Students examine the relationship between theory and practice, reading about theories of literacy from psychology, cognitive science, education, composition & rhetoric and linguistics while engaging in literacy tutoring at Chicago-area literacy sites.
WRD 543 | TEACHING ESL WRITING | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Provides an overview of the theory and practice of writing in a second language. Examines distinctions between first and second language writing and major issues and dilemmas within the field, including composing processes, error correction and feedback, contrastive rhetoric, culture, course design, plagiarism, and U.S. composition classrooms.
WRD 544 | TEACHING ENGLISH AS A SECOND OR FOREIGN LANGUAGE | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
A survey course in the teaching and learning of English as a Second Language (ESL). Familiarizes students with theoretical foundations and basic principles of second language learning and teaching, the components of the major language skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing), and the social and political dimensions of teaching and learning ESL.
WRD 545 | TEACHING WRITING ONLINE | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Explores the teaching of writing in online-supported distance-learning. Introduces students to challenges and best practices and techniques for specific technologies.
WRD 546 | PEDAGOGICAL GRAMMAR | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
An introduction to grammar instruction for language and writing classrooms. Introduces students to current research in grammar instruction and applies that research to develop strategies for the instruction of a range of aspects of English grammar, with an emphasis on rhetoric and context.
WRD 547 | AP INSTITUTE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
A workshop designed to help Advanced Placement teachers prepare their students for the AP exam in English Language and Composition and for the demands of college writing. The institute is a week-long, full-day intensive workshop that covers teaching, reading, writing, style, assessment, and argumentation in accelerated high school classes. This course is offered in the summer only.
WRD 550 | TOPICS IN TEACHING WRITING AND LANGUAGE | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Explores topics related to teaching writing and language. May be repeated for credit as topics vary.
WRD 551 | TEACHING APPRENTICESHIP PRACTICUM | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Ongoing support in instructional practice to include grading and responding to student work; facilitating in-class activities such as discussion and peer workshopping; student-teacher conferencing; classroom management; and related topics. Available only to MA in WRD students admitted to the Teaching Apprenticeship Program.
WRD 540 is a prerequisite for this course.
WRD 580 | MARKUP AND TEXT ENCODING IN THE HUMANITIES | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
This course introduces students to the digital encoding and analysis of text in the humanities. Students will explore theoretical and methodological discussions related to digital encoding and analysis while working with typical encoding languages (XML and TEI) and text analysis tools. Students gain a broad understanding of digital humanities tools and methods while developing hands-on skills encoding and analyzing humanities texts.
WRD 582 | WRITING CENTER THEORY AND PEDAGOGY | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Introduction to current theories and practices in writing instruction; prepares students to develop and administer writing centers and to work as writing consultants. (Writing Center practicum required.)
WRD 587 | AMERICAN ACADEMIC CULTURE FOR INTERNATIONAL GRADUATE STUDENTS | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
This course is intended for international graduate students from across the university who want to participate successfully in American academic culture. Through advanced readings and discussions, students will learn how to navigate the writing conventions, classroom practices, and research expectations that shape American academic life both broadly and within their chosen fields. Class projects will allow students to investigate genres in their specific areas of study and practice the kinds of writing that define their disciplines.
WRD 590 | INTERNSHIP IN PROFESSIONAL AND DIGITAL WRITING | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Internship in professional and/or digital and/or technical writing. May be repeated for credit.
WRD 591 | INTERNSHIP IN TEACHING WRITING AND LANGUAGE | 2-4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Internship in teaching writing and/or language. May be repeated for credit.
WRD 595 | INDEPENDENT STUDY | 1-8 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Independent study guided by a faculty member. May be repeated for credit.
WRD 596 | CANDIDACY CONTINUATION | 0 quarter hours
(Graduate)
This 0-credit hour course is available to master's degree candidates who are actively working toward the completion of a thesis, project, or portfolio. Enrollment in this course is limited to three quarters and requires thesis/project advisor and graduate director approval and demonstration to them of work each quarter. Enrollment in this course allows access to the library and other campus facilities. This course carries and requires the equivalent of half-time enrollment status. The student may be eligible for loan deferment and student loans. This course is graded as pass/fail. (0 credit hours)
WRD 597 | CANDIDACY MAINTENANCE | 0 quarter hours
(Graduate)
This 0-credit hour course is available to graduate students who are not registered for a course in a given quarter but need to maintain active university status. Enrollment in this course is limited to three quarters and requires permission of the graduate director. Enrollment in this course allows access to the library and other campus facilities. This course does not carry an equivalent enrollment status and students in it are not eligible for loan deferment or student loans. This course is not graded. (0 credit hours)
WRD 598 | THESIS RESEARCH | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Independent thesis research guided by a WRD faculty member. Written permission of supervising faculty member and of graduate director required before registration. This course may be taken up to two times for credit.
WRD 599 | PORTFOLIO | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
A capstone seminar course in which students select, revise, and write supplementary documentation for a collection of their work appropriate to a job search in their area of concentration or for doctoral program application.