Study the craft of storytelling

Our writing and rhetoric program is dedicated to writing degree students who will study literate activity across time and culture, and produce effective writing in contemporary settings—from the personal to the professional.

Because our lives are increasingly mediated by digital technologies that combine writing, sound and image in interactive spaces, you’ll explore what it means to live and work as a digital writer.

Faculty members who teach in the writing degree program are published specialists in rhetoric, writing studies, English as a second language (ESL), technical and professional writing, and new media studies.

As you work toward your writing degree, you will have the option to earn a combined bachelor’s + master’s degree that combines your writing and rhetoric major with a graduate program, including our master’s program in Writing, Rhetoric and Discourse. We also offer a combined bachelor’s + master’s in Writing and Rhetoric and Secondary Education in English degree. All of these programs allow you to complete a bachelor’s degree and a graduate degree in as few as five years.

Additionally, we offer the 3+3 BA/JD, which allows high-achieving first-year undergraduate students to be admitted simultaneously to the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (LAS) and the College of Law (LAW). You’ll complete your first three years in LAS and your final three years in LAW.

 

Online Degree Options

An online Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Writing and Rhetoric from DePaul’s College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (LAS) focuses on the development and expression of ideas in writing. Here, you’ll explore theories of language, rhetoric and write in a variety of contexts and genres covering a wide range of relevant topic areas.

You can complete this program entirely online, either in real time or on your time. Tailored to meet the needs of your busy schedule, you'll achieve the same learning outcomes as in-person classes through collaborative and engaged learning.

Classes

Coursework

• Style for Writers
• History of Literacies and Writing
• Digital Storytelling
• Writing in Workplace Contexts
• Ghostwriting
• Digital Writing
• Writing with Photographs
• Visual Rhetoric

Resources

• Major Requirements
• Schedule of Classes
• College Website

• Combined bachelor’s + master’s degree offered

Career Options

Common Career Areas

• Content development, strategy, management and administration
• Publishing and editing
• Social media writing and management
• Technical writing
• Digital marketing
• Legal, technical, medical/health writing
• Ghostwriting
• Non-profit communications

More career info

84%

of Writing and Rhetoric graduates were employed, continuing their education or not seeking employm

Major Requirements

We offer the Writing and Rhetoric BA in two modalities: on-campus and fully online.

Major requirements for each modality are unique. On-campus major requirements are listed below, and online major requirements are listed in the Academic Catalog.

View online requirements in the Catalog

Course Requirements

Fifty-six quarter hours distributed as follows:

Core (4 courses)

Course	Title	Quarter Hours
WRD 201	DIGITAL WRITING	4
WRD 203	STYLE FOR WRITERS	4
WRD 210	CULTURAL RHETORICS	4
WRD 264	LANGUAGE, SELF AND SOCIETY	4

WRD Elective Categories

One course is required from each of the two following WRD elective categories:

Writing in Communities and Professions

Course	Title	Quarter Hours
Select one of the following:		4
WRD 204	TECHNICAL WRITING
WRD 206	PROFESSIONAL WRITING
WRD 240	ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING
WRD 241	THE ESSAY FROM PRINT TO NEW MEDIA
WRD 280	WRITING IN THE SCIENCES
WRD 282	ETHICS OF PUBLIC AND PROFESSIONAL WRITING
WRD 283	ENVIRONMENTAL WRITING
WRD 284	SPORTS WRITING IN AMERICA: MYTHS, MEMORIES, HEROES AND VILLAINS
WRD 286	WRITING WITH PHOTOGRAPHS
WRD 300	COMPOSITION AND STYLE
WRD 309	TOPICS IN WRITING, RHETORIC AND DISCOURSE 1
WRD 320	TOPICS IN PROFESSIONAL WRITING 1
WRD 321	WRITING IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION
WRD 322	WRITING AND METADATA
WRD 323	EDITING
WRD 324	WRITING FOR PUBLIC HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE
WRD 340	WRITING AND REVISING
WRD 345	GHOSTWRITING
WRD 371	MENTORING YOUTH IN COMMUNITY WRITING GROUPS (EL/LSP EL)
WRD 372	DIGITAL STORYTELLING
WRD 376	FIELDWORK IN ARTS WRITING (EL/LSP EL)
WRD 377	WRITING AND SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT (EL/LSP EL) 1
WRD 395	WRITING CENTER THEORY & PEDAGOGY (EL/LSP EL)
WRD 396	WRITING FELLOWS THEORY AND PRACTICE (EL)

1

May be repeated for credit when the topic is different.

Rhetorical History, Theory, and Analysis

Course	Title	Quarter Hours
Select one of the following:		4
WRD 208	INTRODUCTION TO REASONED DISCOURSE
WRD 231	GOOGLING GOD: RELIGIOUS PRACTICES IN DIGITAL CULTURE
WRD 232	THE LANGUAGE OF DISABILITY
WRD 260	RHETORICAL ANALYSIS
WRD 261	DIGITAL CULTURE
WRD 262	THE RHETORIC OF EVERYDAY TEXTS
WRD 263	READING BETWEEN THE GROOVES: THE RHETORICAL POWER OF POPULAR MUSIC
WRD 265	SOCIAL MOVEMENT, SOCIAL MEDIA, AND AMERICAN IDENTITIES
WRD 266	LEVELING UP: THE SOCIAL RHETORIC OF VIDEO GAMES
WRD 281	WRITING CENSORSHIP
WRD 285	TRUTH IN DISGUISE: THE RHETORIC OF SATIRE
WRD 287	THE COMIC BOOK AS VISUAL ARGUMENT
WRD 288	RHETORIC AND POPULAR CULTURE
WRD 330	LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS
WRD 360	TOPICS IN RHETORIC 1
WRD 361	TOPICS IN ALTERNATIVE RHETORICS 1
WRD 362	SEMIOTICS
WRD 363	VISUAL RHETORIC
WRD 364	CHICAGO WOMEN RHETORS
WRD 368	GLOBAL ENGLISHES
WRD 378	TEACHING ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE IN CHICAGO (EL/LSP EL)
WRD 390	RHETORIC AND PUBLIC WRITING

1

May be repeated for credit when the topic is different.

Major Field Electives

The equivalent of eight additional four-hour electives may be drawn from either of the elective categories above and from the following:

Course	Title	Quarter Hours
WRD 207	INTRODUCTION TO WRITING AND RHETORIC
WRD 290	WRITER'S TOOLS WORKSHOP (2 hr course, may be repeated for major-field elective credit as long as topic differs)
WRD 291	THE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH POSTER
WRD 398	INTERNSHIP (EL/LSP EL)
WRD 399	INDEPENDENT STUDY

Experiential Learning (EL) Requirement

All Writing and Rhetoric majors are required to take one EL-designated course within the major. WRD courses designated both EL and LSP EL will fulfill the major’s EL requirement and the Liberal Studies Experiential Learning requirement simultaneously. A LSP EL course taken outside of WRD will not count toward the EL major requirement.

Open Electives

Open elective credit also is required to meet the minimum graduation requirement of 192 hours.

Content displayed from this DePaul University catalog page.