RWID Courses and Structure
The Emory Writing Program received approval for a new Minor in Rhetoric, Writing, and Information Design (RWID) and proposals for courses included in the minor, which will be implemented in Fall 2021.
The RWID Minor, as we envision it, dovetails with the writing requirements already in place through our general education program in the College. To these general-education requirements, the minor adds historical, theoretical, applied, and reflective components students will undertake in tandem with the research and writing they do in their primary major. Faculty in other disciplines will find that their majors with a RWID Minor bring their rhetorical skills to bear on the projects they do in those classes.
The minor is constructed with a gateway and capstone course of one-credit each. These courses are designed to foster reflective thinking as a tool for growth, as well as the practical and useful habit of editing and curating their work for purposes of beyond their Emory experience. The gateway and capstone also introduce, reinforce, and enable students to apply key terms and ideas that infuse courses in the minor.
To complete a three-credit triad, in addition to the gateway and capstone, each student takes the one-credit course Rhetorical Grammar. This course ensures that students have a solid foundation in style, revision, and editing.
Comprising the core of the minor are three writing-intensive courses that students select from two areas of emphasis: 1) Study and Practice in Rhetoric and 2) Applied Writing. This breadth of experience will help students craft (with the help of an advisor in the program) their remaining courses toward an emphasis—such as professional writing or preparation for advanced writing in college—which they will ultimately articulate in conjunction with their capstone portfolio.
Current Courses and Examples of Past Special Topics
| ENGRD 201W | Multimedia Journalism |
| ENGRD 219 | Gateway—Portfolio |
| ENGRD 220W | Rhetorical Studies |
| ENGRD 221RW | Advanced Writing Workshop |
| ENGRD 223 | Rhetorical Grammar |
| ENGRD 230W | Professional Writing |
| ENGRD 302W | Technical Writing |
| ENGRD 316W | Literacy and the Rhetorics of Resistance |
| ENGRD 328W | Race, Gender, Media Making |
| ENGRD 349W | Writing for Publication |
| ENGRD 367W | Writing for Games and Interactive Media |
| ENGRD 380RW | Topics in Rhetoric, Writing, or Literacy
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| ENGRD 397 | Advanced Writing Lab |
| ENGRD 399RW | Independent Study (under development) |
| ENGRD 411W | History and Theory of Rhetoric/Writing/Literacy |
| ENGRD 415 | Capstone in RWID |
| ENGRD 469RW | Internship in RWID |
Structure
The RWID Minor will allow students to engage in a systematized program of study in which they encounter the rich body of rhetorical history and theory and apply that learning to contemporary contexts for communication.
RWID Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
The RWID program will produce graduates who will
1 | Enumerate and evaluate theories of rhetoric and composing. |
2 | Articulate and practice the complex nature of writing as a process. |
3 | Use reflective learning to improve their writing. |
4 | Engage in speech acts in an array of contexts with varying audiences and purposes. |
5 | Analyze and produce texts using conventions and methods common to various fields of study. |
6 | Deepen their understanding of the ethics of communication through critical thinking, reading, and practice. |
7 | Explain how writing is both an activity and subject of study. |
RWID Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)
In undertaking a program of study in the Writing and Rhetoric Minor, students will
Key Term | # | Outcome Description |
Rhetoric | 1 | Develop the identity of rhetor—to begin to think as a rhetor and to perform as rhetor by engaging in the art of composing rhetorical acts for college and for post-college roles. |
Rhetoric | 2 | Apply major rhetorical theories as they discuss, interpret, and analyze visual and verbal arguments. |
Reflection Transfer | 3 | Synthesize and integrate insights from one project into another through reflective learning. |
Reflection | 4 | Learn and use the language of rhetoric and writing, employing important key terms in their reflective writing. |
Genre/ Style | 5 | Differentiate and illustrate conventions of academic and professional writing, including genre, informational design, and elements of style. |
Genre | 5 | Compose texts using a range of technologies and modes, demonstrating understanding of the impact of writing technologies on text creation. |
Audience | 7 | Apply effective, flexible strategies for generating, revising, and editing texts for various audiences. |
Audience | 8 | Appraise the complexity of verbal and visual literacy by assessing audience expectations and the social aspects of multimodal composing |
Ethics | 9 | Interpret literacy as a complex process by assessing historical, cultural, professional, and technological contexts. |