Writing and Rhetoric
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
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
84%
of Writing and Rhetoric graduates were employed, continuing their education or not seeking employment after graduation.
The Bachelor of Arts in Writing and Rhetoric focuses on the development and expression of ideas in writing—the very foundation of the liberal arts, and more broadly, contemporary democratic culture. Our lives are increasingly mediated by digital technologies that use writing to organize sound and image in interactive spaces like the World Wide Web. And through text messaging, email, and social networking, individual identity and interpersonal relationships are progressively bound up with writing. At the same time, we face growing demands for communicating across national, cultural, and linguistic borders, requiring us to rethink many assumptions we may have about written communication and expression.
Writing and Rhetoric majors explore theories of language, rhetoric (how to make effective choices as writers), and discourse (the way writing structures human activity) as they develop understanding of the role of the individual writer within communities of writers. They write in a great variety of contexts and genres in preparation for a full range of dynamic and rewarding careers grounded in written communication.
WRD faculty members are published specialists in the fields that make up writing studies—rhetoric, technical and professional writing, new media studies, and linguistics—allowing students to learn from leading scholars.
| Program Requirements | Quarter Hours |
|---|---|
| Liberal Studies Requirements | 84 |
| ?Major Requirements | 56 |
| ?Open Electives | 52 |
| Total hours required | 192 |
