English Specialization

Welcome!

 

 

Welcome to the Writing and Rhetoric track in the English Specialization at NOVA! If you are interested in this track, you most likely are intrigued in considering how diverse texts (written, visual, performative, digital) are created and presented to audiences for various purposes (persuasion, informational sharing, emotional connections, etc.).  You may find yourself thinking about how texts you read, hear, see, and interact with could be improved with more ideas, better evidence, or sharper images and sounds to create stronger connections to audiences.  Offering feedback on how texts could be strengthened in these ways is something you find yourself engaging in.  You also enjoy writing and have a love of language when you are choosing the best words to get a point across or paint a picture for a specific audience.

What Will I Do in the Writing and Rhetoric Track?

The Writing and Rhetoric track in the English Specialization invites you to keep following your love of language and writing through offering a wide variety of courses where you explore writing strategies and why writers used them, create your own texts (written, visual, performative, digital), and deeply study ways to revise and rethink your writing in terms of purpose, audience and style when confronted with different writing situations.  You will also learn how to give meaningful feedback to your classmates’ writing, as well how to craft an argument that will best appeal to an audience you are trying to reach.  For example, while creating texts in some courses, you may consider the best medium (Prezi presentation, song, YouTube video, speech, performance, etc.) needed for an audience to understand your message. In another course, you could examine closely how an audience would respond to the level of word choice and variety of sentence structure you use in your writing. You will also be encouraged to consider how your experiences and knowledge you bring with you to the classroom can offer variety and new perspectives to your writing!  Writing  and Rhetoric is a challenging field where you are invited to develop your own voice as a writer and we as English faculty are excited to support you on this endeavor!

What Courses Can I Take? 

So you may now be wondering: what courses can I choose from when pursuing the Writing and Rhetoric track? The Writing and Rhetoric track has many courses you can select. A course that focuses on helping you develop your voice and style in your writing and consider how to publish your work is English 210: Advanced Composition.  If you are interested in studying the scientific parts of language, as well as how language is used in different social contexts, English 200: Introduction to Linguistics would be a great course for you to explore.  English 221: Advanced Journalism I allows you to learn to write for news and media sources and also try out elements of feature writing.  Still other courses like English 205: Technical Editing invite you to learn specific writing skills for documents and reports that you’ll encounter in the Professional Writing world.  When choosing your courses in the track, you want to select ones that really get you excited about pursuing what you are interested in!

Selection of Courses

Below is a list of courses you can take in the Writing and Rhetoric track. You can find course content descriptions of these in the NOVA Catalogue at the following link: https://www.nvcc.edu/catalog/cat2018/

English 200: Introduction to Linguistics

English 205: Technical Editing

English 210: Advanced Composition

English 221: Advanced Journalism I

English 222: Advanced Journalism II

English 280: Writing User Manuals

 

What Will I Learn That I Can Take With Me From Writing and Rhetoric Courses?

 

No matter what Writing and Rhetoric courses you choose to complete, you will have meaningful knowledge you learn that you can transfer to other courses at NOVA, as well as English B.A. programs at other colleges or universities. After completing any of our Writing and Rhetoric courses, you will be able to:

  • write to a wide variety of audiences for different purposes,
  • develop your own style and voice in your writing,
  • learn how to craft different arguments with various rhetorical strategies and research,
  • consider the best medium (Prezi presentation, song, YouTube video, speech, performance, etc.) to deliver the messages in your writing,
  • create texts in a variety of mediums and consider what are the benefits of these mediums in relationship to your purpose,
  • learn about document design and rhetorical expectations for specific types of writing (such as Scientific or Technical writing), and
  • consider how writing can offer new perspectives that can lead to positive changes in the world.