Minor in Writing

Through its courses and experiential learning opportunities, the Minor in Writing teaches undergraduates to become powerful and flexible communicators. Students learn how writing works across contexts and practice writing in established and emerging genres for local and global audiences. Opportunities include community-engaged writing, tutoring, and capstone projects. The minor fulfills Intellectual Toolkit and Communication Hub requirements and includes interdisciplinary electives that allow students to tailor the minor to their own personal, academic, and professional goals. Please contact writing@bu.edu to add this minor to your degree plan.

Learning Outcomes

Students who complete the Minor in Writing will be able to:

• Demonstrate understanding of the relationship between audience, purpose, genre, and style in crafting effective texts.
• Analyze how language, identity, and power shape written communication across multiple contexts.
• Use research to recognize the social, cultural, disciplinary and/or professional functions of writing.
• Apply rhetorical knowledge to write flexibly across various genres, meeting audience expectations and context-specific goals.
• Use a range of writing technologies and digital tools ethically and effectively, in ways appropriate to the rhetorical situation.
• Apply knowledge of the writing process to offer effective feedback to other writers.

Requirements

A minimum grade of C is required for a course to count toward the minor.

Five 4-unit courses (or a total of 20 units) are required to complete the minor:

• At least three 200–500-level CAS WR courses
• Up to two electives, chosen from the following:
  • CAS EN 202 Introduction to Creative Writing
  • CAS EN 304 Writing of Poetry
  • CAS EN 305 Writing of Fiction
  • CAS EN 306 Introduction to Playwriting
  • CAS EN 403 Advanced Writing of Poetry
  • CAS EN 406 Advanced Writing of Fiction
  • CAS EN 481 Performative Text and Design
  • CAS EN 502 Reading and Writing Literary Nonfiction
  • CAS EN 513 Modern English Grammar and Style
  • CAS EN 515 History of the English Language 1
  • CAS EN 516 History of the English Language 2
  • CAS HI 529 History Media Lab: Producing Public-Facing History
  • CAS LC 486 Workshop on Translating and Interpreting Chinese
  • CAS LG 310 German Translation and Interpretation Workshop
  • CAS LJ 386 Japanese Translation/Interpretation Workshop
  • CAS LK 470 Korean in Translation and Interpretation Workshop
  • CAS LS 306 Spanish Translation
  • CAS LY 572 Arabic Translation & Interpreting
  • CAS NE 370 Neuroscience Communication
  • CAS PH 320 Making Ideas: Historical & Philosophical Perspectives on Reading, Note-Taking & Writing
  • CAS TL 500 History and Theory of Translation
  • CAS TL 505 Literary Style Workshop
  • CAS TL 540 Translation Seminar
  • CAS TL 541 Translation Today
  • CAS TL 551 Topics in Translation
  • One Writing Intensive (WIN) class in the student’s major

Other classes may be approved as electives at the Writing Program’s discretion.