Technical and Professional Writing, Minor
Program Description
This interdisciplinary and flexible minor provides students in all majors with writing experiences, including problem-solving, communications (both online and face-to-face), team work and ethical decision making, that will enhance their education and prepare them to meet the demands of professional life, whatever their chosen career path. Students, in consultation with advisors, will design the series of minor courses to meet their needs and goals.
Students who select this minor must maintain an overall grade point average of 2.0 in courses in the minor. Students who select this minor must consult with an academic advisor in the College of Liberal Arts prior to completing 6 hours of coursework listed for the program.
The Technical and Professional Writing Minor can be completed fully online. Courses not designated as ENGL may not be offered online.
Program Requirements
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Required Courses | ||
| ENGL 3301 | Technical and Professional Writing | 3 |
| Select 9 hours from the following: | 9 | |
| Document Design and Publishing | ||
| Writing for the Web | ||
| Professional Writing Workshop | ||
| Grants and Proposals | ||
| Writing in the Nonprofit Agencies | ||
| Editing & Style | ||
| Applied Experience | ||
| Select 6 hours from above ENGL courses not taken or from the following courses relevant to technical and professional writing: | 6 | |
| Introduction to Media Production | ||
| Editing | ||
| New Media and Communication *,^ | ||
| Intercultural Communication | ||
| Photography I | ||
| Foundations of Graphic Design (for Non-Majors, Spring) | ||
| Photography II | ||
| Spanish for the Professions | ||
| Total Hours | 18 | |
- *
Online offering
- ^
Blended offering
Courses
ENGL 0099 Integrated Reading and Writing Non-Course Based Development
0 Semester Credit Hours
ENGL 0099 is designed to develop student's critical reading and academic writing skills on an individualized basis through tutoring. The course fulfills TSI requirements for reading and writing. TSI compliance staff will approve each student for this course. Approval is based on test score and/or by academic standing.
ENGL 0399 Integrated Reading and Writing
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
A portfolio-based course with required tutoring (lab) time focused on the writing and reading processes, including strategies for invention, revision, and editing, and techniques of active reading, such as analysis, inference, summary, and evaluating texts. Students will enter ENGL 0399 through Texas Success Initiative (TSI) mandated remediation. (Not counted toward graduation)
ENGL 1301 Writing and Rhetoric I
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
English 1301 introduces students to writing studies, rhetoric, academic research, and information literacy. Students will critically read and reflect on threshold concepts in writing studies. They will practice recursive writing and research processes for various situations. Sections will be offered both online and in person each semester.
TCCNS: ENGL 1301
ENGL 1302 Writing and Rhetoric II
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
English 1302 builds on the foundation in writing studies, rhetoric, academic research, and information literacy introduced in ENGL 1301. Students will read, apply, and reflect on the current research and scholarship in writing studies and rhetoric. Students will practice transferring, deepening, and extending their ability to use writing into discipline-specific, workplace, and civic contexts. Sections will be offered both online and in person each semester.
Prerequisite: ENGL 1301.
TCCNS: ENGL 1302
ENGL 2303 Introduction to Writing Studies
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
This course will review current scholarship on writing studies, including threshold concepts, activity theory, and genre studies. It will consider various perspectives on the uses of writing to provide students with an intellectual and practical understanding of writing. This course provides a starting point for the more specific studies of writing that occur in other writing studies courses.
ENGL 2316 Literature and Culture
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
Introduction to literatures that raise aesthetic, cultural, social, and/or political issues that affect and reflect the human condition across regions, cultures, and nations. Sample topics: Crossing Borders, The City in Literature, Islands and Islanders, Science and Fiction.
TCCNS: ENGL 2331
ENGL 2332 Literature of the Western World: From the Classics to the Renaissance
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
Study of important literary texts from the Ancient World to the Renaissance.
TCCNS: ENGL 2332
ENGL 2333 Literature of the Western World: From the Enlightenment to the Present
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
Study of important literary texts from the Enlightenment to the present.
TCCNS: ENGL 2333
ENGL 2360 Language and Gender
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
In this class, we explore how language reflects, and is reflected upon, one facet of our identities: gender. We will explore the complex relationships between gender and aspects of language such as conversation, narrative, pronunciation, grammar, and pragmatic norms. We will also discuss the intersection of gender and other social factors, such as race or culture, as manifested in the language use. Students will also have an opportunity to discuss how gender is represented in the media and online, as well as how gender is situated in institutional contexts, such as home, school, work, and law. There is no prior knowledge of linguistics or social theory required for this class. Course activities include lectures, class discussions, in-class article presentation, language observations, hands-on data analysis, and a final project.
ENGL 2370 Introduction to Literary Studies
3 Semester Credit Hours
An introduction to literary analysis and scholarship for the intermediate writer. Emphasis placed on genres of literature, literary research, and expository and analytical composition. Familiarizes students with the various disciplines and related conversations within English Studies. Should be taken by sophomore-level English majors in the Literary Studies emphasis, and by Literary Studies and Creative Writing minors.
Prerequisite: ENGL 1302.
ENGL 2371 Exploring Social Media
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
In this course we will examine and discuss current issues related to social media within a rhetorical framework. We will use different social media platforms to share and discuss in order to provide hands-on experience in these environments. Social media will be explored at the micro level as students will review their online social media presence to better understand how readers view them online. From the macro level we will identify current topics that affect the design and use of social media platforms and applications.
ENGL 3301 Technical and Professional Writing
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
A course designed to help students gain practical experience in finding and interpreting information and writing reports and documents for specialized audiences in the technical and professional world. ENGL 3301 will be held in a computer-assisted classroom.
ENGL 3302 Techniques of Creative Writing
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
Introduces students to the theoretical knowledge and practical experience used in creative writing. Focuses on poetry, creative nonfiction, and short fiction. For all majors.
ENGL 3310 Technical and Professional Writing for Computer Science
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
Designed specifically for computer science majors, this course focuses on developing students ability to (1) use writing to communicate effectively with a range of audiences about technology; (2) identify, analyze, and appropriately integrate relevant information in their writing; (3) make informed judgments about their uses of writing based on ACM's and IEEE's code of ethics; and (4) develop their ability to function effectively individually and as members of a team to establish goals, plan tasks, meet deadlines, manage risk, and produce deliverables.
ENGL 3321 Film and Literature
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
3 sem. hrs. Studies the connections between the formal elements of literature and of film, with emphasis on theme, narrative style, and genre. By viewing films based on literary sources, students will analyze how literature is adapted into film as well as identify strategies to view and read critically. For all majors.
ENGL 3323 Young Adult Fiction
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
Literary study of young adult literature through analysis, discussion, and interpretation. The course emphasizes literary issues connected with society, culture, history, and genre.
ENGL 3325 Literary Connections
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
In recent decades, it has become common to study literature in light of other disciplinary perspectives and to study other disciplines as they are depicted in literature. From these interdisciplinary approaches has emerged a distinct mode of analysis that examines texts within their broader social and cultural milieu. In this course students will earn to use cross-disciplinary methods to interpret literature and culture. Topics will vary, but may include Environmental Crisis, Religion, Medicine, and American Literature, Disability Narratives in the Eighteenth Century, Trauma and the City in Twentieth-Century Literature.
ENGL 3339 Introduction to Linguistics
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
Introductory survey course covering phonetics, morphology, syntax, semantics, sociolinguistics, neurolinguistics, and language acquisition.
ENGL 3340 Grammar
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
Presents a general descriptive overview of English grammar and provides a structural framework for analyzing English sentences.
ENGL 3345 British Literatures
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
Study of significant works of British poetry, drama, and prose with emphasis on historical context and the exploration of literary and cultural values through written texts.
ENGL 3348 Literary Genres
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
A genre-oriented study of literature, using a wide range of texts. Variable content.
ENGL 3355 American Literatures
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
Study of significant works of American poetry, drama, and prose with emphasis on historical context and the exploration of literary and cultural values through written texts.
ENGL 3360 Teaching Writing
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
Prepares prospective teachers to create developmentally appropriate learning environments and tasks that enable student success in writing and the study of literature in Language Arts and English courses. Prepares students to meet the increased writing and reading expectations in all subject areas, including their own writing.
ENGL 3361 Advanced Writing
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
Students will practice-writing in situated contexts (such as their majors, careers, and/or other professional interests) and across genres to develop more advanced and reflective writing strategies. By studying theories of writing; engaging in writing as a craft; and drafting, revising, and editing texts; students will refine and become more reflective in their writing processes.
ENGL 3362 Creative Writing Workshop: Survey and Practice of Genres
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
Develops students' skills as critics and writers of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction in a workshop setting. For all majors.
ENGL 3363 Foundations of Rhetoric
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
This course will study the historical and theoretical development of rhetoric through the works of principal thinkers. Students will analyze rhetorical concepts in their relation to civic, cultural, political, and pedagogical developments and the construction of knowledge and will use rhetorical concepts to produce logical, ethical, and moral arguments.
ENGL 3364 Writing Creative Nonfiction
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
The course focuses on writing creative nonfiction through contemporary published works of experienced writers in the field and through peer work-in-progress. The course explores the benefits of creative writing across different disciplines, while students practice memoir writing, the lyric essay, and literary journalism among other genres that make up this ever-evolving hybrid genre.
ENGL 3365 Second Language Acquisition
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
This course is an introduction to second language acquisition. The course is designed to be accessible to students from a wide variety of backgrounds and no basic knowledge of the linguistic structure of English will be assumed. This course will address issues related to how second language is learned by both children and adults.
ENGL 3366 Language in Society
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
An introduction to the study of language as a function of several societal variables. Introduces basic concepts of language such as linguistic varieties, dialect, speech communities, and linguistic attitudes.
ENGL 3367 TESOL Seminar
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
This course presents an introduction to and a critique of current and traditional methodologies of teaching English to speakers of other languages, with emphasis on aural comprehension; speaking, reading, and writing skills; testing and assessment; and linguistic-cultural differences. This course is open to all majors, but is required for students seeking the Certificate in TESOL.
Prerequisite: ENGL 3365.
ENGL 3369 Topics in Linguistics
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
Exploration of topics such as second language acquisition, language assessment, history of English, and contrastive analysis. May be repeated when topics vary.
ENGL 3378 Document Design and Publishing
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
Focuses on the integration of text and visual rhetoric, such as graphics, for all kinds of professional publications including technical documents, media, public relations pieces, and advertisements.
ENGL 3379 Writing for the Web
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
Emphasizes practical concepts related to writing and communication on the internet and the World Wide Web. Attention is given to finding and analyzing information; analyzing and designing WWW sites and other digital, hypertextual environments; and analyzing and composing hypertext-hypermedia materials for digital, networked environments. For all majors.
ENGL 3380 Visual Rhetoric
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
Focuses on the analysis, design, and production of visual representations and multi-modal texts that integrate visual elements.
ENGL 4300 Technologies and Cultures of the Book
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
Working with a range of print media, students will learn to analyze the interplay between the text's content and its formal features. Students will build the skills to think and write analytically about the materiality of texts.
ENGL 4305 Major Authors
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
This course studies the significant works of a major literary author. Texts are viewed through a variety of critical perspectives and placed in the context of the writer's life and of the society, culture, and history of the times. May be repeated once for credit when authors vary.
ENGL 4320 Professional Writing Workshop
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
This course is tailored for individual students' writing and publishing projects in their disciplines.
ENGL 4321 Grants and Proposals
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
This course will teach students the grant proposal writing process, including identifying sources of funding, conducting research to support funding applications, and tailoring each proposal to a specific funding agency. Students will receive experience writing actual proposals on behalf of local organizations and agencies.
ENGL 4322 Writing in the Nonprofit Agencies
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
Focuses on the specific kinds writing of professionals in the nonprofit world do, including internal communication in an agency, writing for the public, document creation, fund raising, board relations, and other relevant topics.
ENGL 4324 Editing & Style
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
Practice in methods, tools, and principles of editing for nonfiction and technical publications. Emphasis on a rhetorical understanding of levels of editing, managing the editorial process, and grammar and style.
ENGL 4325 Writing Popular Genres
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
Through writing, students will study how groups perceive, understand, and communicate with and about each other. The course may focus on a specific type of writing (cross cultural expository writing, travel writing, cross cultural writing in industry), or on the linguistic and rhetorical practices of a cross-cultural community (latino/a rhetoric, African-American rhetorics, etc).
ENGL 4335 Creative Writing Studio: Development of Craft
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
Develops students' skills as critics and writers of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction in a studio setting. Guides students to focus on a major project in one genre with sustained practice of techniques and revision. Open to students of all levels, from the novice to the advanced. For all majors.
ENGL 4350 Writing Poetry
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
Students practice poetry techniques across culturally diverse movements, from ancient to contemporary. The course explores how poets respond to their own social milieu and shape literary thought and form, intersecting with artists and scientists from different disciplines. Students write their own poems in traditional forms and innovation of form (i.e. their own spin and fusions).
ENGL 4351 Senior Capstone: Literature and Writing
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
A study of literature in English for graduating seniors in the Literary Studies Emphasis. Emphasis is placed on genre, research, and analytical expository writing.
ENGL 4352 Capstone in Writing Studies
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
This course is the culminating experience for the Writing Studies emphasis in English. Students review, reflect on, integrate, and apply their learning from previous courses and experiences. Students create digital portfolios for career and publishing opportunities, emphasizing selection, revision, reflection, and presentation. In addition, students identify, evaluate, and annotate texts and resources to include in a curated digital collection/publication that will be available for students in future Writing Studies courses.
ENGL 4360 Gender, Sexuality and Literature
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
This course introduces students to literature that explores issues of gender and sexuality. It focuses on relevant literary periods and conventions, as well as on the historical, social, and cultural contexts of artistic productions. Sample topics: women's literature, queer literature, literature and masculinity.
ENGL 4361 Race and Ethnicity in Literature
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
Topics focus on a variety of cross-cultural issues in historical and/or contemporary texts by Caribbean, British Indian, Native American, African American, Chicano/a, and/or other underrepresented authors.
ENGL 4380 Critical Approaches to Literature and Culture
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
A study of selected perspectives and critical approaches to literature and culture, including an examination of some of the theoretical assumptions upon which they are based, as well as their implications for the way we think about literature, human identity, and the power of language.
Prerequisite: ENGL 2370.
ENGL 4385 Literary Publication
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
The first half of the course is designed to help students develop a sense of craft as writers and editors while they work on all phases of production of the next volume of the Windward Review. The second half of the course is designed to help students revise their own creative projects and learn how to identify or create the literary publication markets most suitable for their own work.
ENGL 4390 Topics in Literary Studies
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
May be repeated when topics vary—see S.A.I.L. or advisor for further information.
ENGL 4391 Topics in Writing Studies
3 Semester Credit Hours (3 Lecture Hours)
May be repeated when topics vary--see S.A.I.L. or advisor for further information.
ENGL 4396 Directed Individual Study
1-3 Semester Credit Hours (1-3 Lecture Hours)
See College description.
ENGL 4398 Applied Experience
3 Semester Credit Hours
See College description.
ENGL 4399 TESOL Practicum
3 Semester Credit Hours
Practical experience teaching English to second language learners. Students will observe, plan, and teach ESL lessons. Instructional support provides opportunities to discuss and reflect upon teaching experiences and help students connect theory, methods, and practice. This course enhances the TESOL Certification, but is not required for it. Cannot be repeated for credit.