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 295 | Argument 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 301 | Writing Art and Writing As Art | 4 units |
| CTSJ 215/WRD 215 | Critical Discourse Analysis | 4 units |
| CTSJ 265 | Feminist Rhetoric and Social Change | 4 units |
| ENGL 280 | Creative Writing | 4 units |
| ENGL 281 | Creative Writing: Poetry | 4 units |
| ENGL 290 | Introduction to Literary Methods | 4 units |
| ENGL 380 | Creative Writing: Writing Identity | 4 units |
| ENGL 382 | Advanced Creative Writing | 4 units |
| MAC 220 | Narrative Practices | 4 units |
| MAC 320 | Advanced Narrative Practices | 4 units |
| THEA 201 | Alternative Voices in American Theater | 4 units |
| THEA 380 | Playwriting | 4 units |
| WRD 235 | Visual Rhetoric: Communication through Pictures and/or Words | 4 units |
| WRD 250 | Writing with the Community | 4 units |
| WRD 285 | Principles of Journalism I: Newswriting | 4 units |
| WRD 286 | Principles of Journalism II: Narrative Journalism | 4 units |
| WRD 287 | Rhetorical Fault Lines: Journalism, Persuasion, and Propaganda | 4 units |
| WRD 295 | Argument and Rhetoric Across the Disciplines | 4 units |
| WRD 301 | Creative Nonfiction | 4 units |
| WRD 395 | Theory and Pedagogy of Writing | 2 units |
Faculty
Affiliated Faculty
Julie Prebel, chair
Associate Professor, Writing and Rhetoric; Director of Writing Center & Programs
B.A., U.C. Berkeley; M.A., C.S.U. San Francisco; Ph.D., University of Washington
Thomas Burkdall
Associate Professor, Writing and Rhetoric
B.A., Pitzer College; M.A., Ph.D., U.C. 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
B.A., Occidental College; M.F.A., U.C. Los Angeles
John Swift
Professor, English
B.A., Middlebury College M.A., Ph.D., University of Virginia