Writing & Linguistics Department

Creative Writing Linguistics Professional & Technical Writing Writing Studies

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Writing Studies
 B.A. in Writing and Linguistics

Writing Studies, What is it?

With a Writing Studies Concentration, you will study not only the process of writing – how people write, how people learn to write, how writing both records and transmits meaning – but also the concrete effects that writing has and continues to have on our world.  Writing Studies students learn how to build and critique arguments, how to participate in a critical democracy through writing, and how to investigate and produce writing in its 21st century forms, including Web texts, autobiographies, graphic novels, blogs, wikis, videos, and multimedia presentations.  Your work in Writing Studies will prepare you for employment in publishing houses, newspapers, trade organizations, and large companies in a variety of editing, writing, advertising, and publication positions, or you can use this concentration as a first step toward further graduate study in law, rhetoric/composition, communication, international business, ESL, or library science, or non-profit work.

Faculty members in this concentration focus their scholarly inquiry in the following areas: writing center theory; race, gender and class in Writing Studies; writing and memory; rhetoric and argument; critical and student-centered pedagogy; and the ways in which writing systems have shaped and been shaped by the needs of social, cultural, political, economic, and professional communities.

Courses in Writing Studies 

Courses in this area focus on issues such as argumentation, teaching methods, identity and literacy, rhetoric and writing, minority writing, ecocomposition, globalization and writing, health and writing, race theory, writing center theory, intellectual property, and research methods:

WRIT 3030/5030 Selected Topics (examples for 2009 year: Tutoring Writing, Minority Rhetorics)

WRIT 3131 Teaching Writing

WRIT 3430 Linguistics & Grammar for Teachers

WRIT 3433 Comic Book Writing

WRIT 3435 Writing & Healing

WRIT 3520 Revision, Grammar, and Culture

WRIT 3531 Introduction to Writing Studies

WRIT 4550 Literacy & Identity

WRIT 4560 Writing Argument

WRIT 4570 Writing, Rhetoric & Culture

WRIT 5633 Writing the Body

 

Why should you choose Writing & Culture as a concentration?

A focus on Writing Studies will prepare you for a wide variety of career paths and make you especially attractive to potential employers and/or graduate schools. You will be qualified to seek employment with newspapers, publishing houses, trade organizations, non-profits, and large companies in a variety of editing, writing, advertising, and publication positions. Additionally, this degree concentration prepares you for the following professional options:

  • With a B.A. and a teaching certificate, you can teach in the public schools at the secondary level, and a strong background in writing instruction will make you a prized candidate.
     
  • With a B.A. you are qualified to enter a Master's program. With M.A. in writing or English you are qualified to teach at the college level, from community college to university.
  • With a B.A. and training in writing instruction, you can teach English as a foreign language while living in foreign countries. 
  • You can use this concentration as a strong base for your admission into professional degree programs such as law school or medical school (with 30 hrs. of science).
  • You can use this concentration as a first step toward further graduate study in areas such as communications, rhetoric/composition, international business, anthropology, ESL, or library science. Job prospects for students with Ph.D.s in rhetoric/composition are superlative, as students with these qualifications are currently in great demand.
For More Information:

If you would like to know more, please contact Dr. Michael Pemberton at (912) 478-1383 and michaelp@GeorgiaSouthern.edu or Dr. Lisa Costello at (912) 478-5561 andlacostello@GeorgiaSouthern.edu in the Department of Writing and Linguistics.

(*Please note:this revised program for the Writing Studies concentration is in the process of being approved by the Georgia Board of Regents)