2018-19 Catalogs

Minor in Writing

The English Department offers a minor in writing for both English majors and non-majors. The minor consists of tracks in poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and journalism. The goal of the writing minor is to direct student attention to writing offerings while recommending a productive sequence of writing courses and collateral craft-oriented textual studies courses.

The minimum number of credits (exclusive of the University's Core curriculum) required for the writing minor: 19.

Students enter the writing minor by meeting with the Department's coordinator of advising. Candidates must be eligible for pre-registration and/or admission to upper-level workshops and should have completed six hours of 200- or 300-level writing classes. Students who are writing minors or English majors will have priority for registration in writing classes.

No more than six credits from the minor in Writing can be used to fulfill the requirements for the English major.

Each writing minor program must meet the following specific requirements beyond College Writing and ENG 140 or waivers: 

  • ENG 201 Creative Writing (3 credit hours)
  • One of the following: ENG 244, 245, 262, 263 or 264 (3 credit hours)
  • One of the following courses (3 credit hours)
    (Note: These courses are required for admission to writing workshops.)
    • ENG 202 Memoir and Autobiography
    • ENG 300 Fiction Writing
    • ENG 301 Poetry Writing
    • ENG 305 Rhetoric, Syntax, and Style
    • ENG 309 Newswriting
  • Workshops (6 credit hours)*
    • ENG 302 Fiction Workshop
    • ENG 303 Poetry Workshop
    • ENG 304 Advanced Memoir
    • ENG 306 Writing the Novel 

         * Workshops may be repeated for credit.

  • Elective courses (3 credit hours)
    • Courses selected from English Department offerings must be 300- or 400-level.
  • ENG 401 Writing Minor Thesis (1 credit hour)
    The minor requires a thesis comparable to an M.F.A. application portfolio. Before enrolling in Writing Minor Thesis (ENG 401), students must get permission from a thesis advisor with whom they wish to work. During the course, students will produce ten to fifteen poems or twenty-five to fifty pages of fiction or nonfiction. The thesis may be completed in the second upper-level workshop.
  • Optional Internship (3 credit hours)
    • Internships provide students the opportunity to earn course credit through professional experience in writing or editing for an organization, primarily in journalism or the arts. The English Department currently offers the Internship in Professional Writing (ENG 409).

Further information about the writing minor is available from the English Department.