The Rhetoric of Writing and Design
My goals in creating the major in Writing and Design are to learn how written communication is a combination of the content that is to be conveyed and the presentation of that content. I believe that the effective communication of ideas through writing involves both a command of the language being written in and the ability to layout and present the material in a way that draws the reader into the work. In order to learn how to synthesize these two elements, I believe a multi-disciplinary approach that explores both writing and design is required.
When reading a novel, critiquing an essay, hearing a speech, or viewing a web page we are looking at the final form of a written thought. Yet, even if the thought is the same in each, the way it is expressed is not. Each method of presenting the thought has different limitations and strengths. My intentions in designing and taking the major in Writing and Design are to learn how to write using the strengths of a chosen medium while avoiding its limits. I want to look at the process of writing while keeping the form of presentation that the writing will have in mind. I will examine writing as more than an act of communicating via the words I write, but also through the design tools inherent in the medium. I want to become aware of the interaction between the form and content of what I am writing; come to realize how form and content work together to express my ideas.
A minimum of thirteen courses are required for the major. At least ten of these must be upper division classes. At least three of the upper division courses should relate to the Theory of Writing and Design and three others relate to Production and technical skills needed by the writer. My planned schedule is given below as an example.
In addition, the student in Writing and Design will complete a final project which brings together the varied aspects of the major. As one example, I plan to create a web site as my final project. This site will demonstrate the technical skills gained through Computer Science courses, design principles gathered from Art and Journalism classes, and showcase written works created through writing courses taken at the University. The site will take advantage of some of the unique abilities of the Web (such as the ability to combine text and graphics.) while attempting to work around its shortcomings (Perhaps the most notable example being the need to break up large bodies of text. Unlike books, where pages allow you a way to segment how much you are going to read and give your eyes a break, the web gives the reader a continuos scrolling window that can quickly prove tiresome if not broken up.)
My intended courseload which can serve as an example:
Note1: Theory courses are marked with a °
Note2: °Creative Writing 52 and °Writing 101 were taken previous to the courses listed here.
| Fall 1996 | Winter 1997 | Spring 1997 |
|---|---|---|
| CIS186 | CIS186 | °CIS194 |
| °WRIT169 | °WRIT167 | °WRIT163 |
| °LITCR54 | WRIT191 | ART70 |
| Fall 1997 | Winter 1998 | Spring 1998 |
| °LITCR183 | °WRIT68 | Elective |
| SCIC120A | Gen Ed | °WRIT195 |
| ART111A | WRIT191 | WRIT191 |
In this example, theory and practice courses have the following breakdown:
| Theory | Production | |
|---|---|---|
| Lower Division | 3 | 1 |
| Upper Division | 7 | 6 |
|
| ||
| Total | 10 | 7 |
Some substitutions or additions may occur due to the fact that several of these courses are interview courses with limited enrollment. However, the number and type of classes will continue to fit within the specifications of the major stated earlier. (No less than thirteen classes, at least ten of which are upper division. Minimum of three upper division courses in Theory and three in Production.)
Relevant Course List
The courses listed below are all relevant to the major in Writing and Design. See the section Requirements for the Major above for an explanation of which courses must be taken in order to exit with a diploma in the major.
Note that I do not plan on taking all these courses, but have used them as a pool to put together a mixture of classes that I find suitable for learning
Writing Theory:
CIS185 Technical Writing
CIS194 (Group Tutorial) Web Page Design and Audience Analysis
CWL132 The History of Important Presses (2 credits)
LITCR52 Intermediate Fiction
LITCR53 Intermediate Poetry
LITCR180 Advanced Workshop in Fiction
LITCR183 Advanced Workshop in Poetry
THEA157 Playwriting
THEA159 Advanced Playwriting
WRIT68 Speech and Rhetoric
WRIT101 History and Theory of Rhetoric
WRIT161 Academic Writing and Research Methods
.WRIT163 Advanced Workshop in Expository Writing
WRIT167 Making the News
WRIT169 Tutoring Writing
WRIT180 Seminar in Editing and Publishing
WRIT195 Senior Thesis
WRIT199 Tutorial (For me, this is to be an independent study under Carol Freeman to unify some of the strands I pick up in my other classes. The tentative topic is how script, printing, and now hypertext on the web have affected and continue to affect the development of texts.
Production and Design:
ART70 Book Arts (concentrating on the History of books and the press)
ART111A Book Arts (concentrating on producing/printing a small book.)
CIS80K The Art of the Book in the Computer Age
CIS186: (Fall 1996) Online Publishing
CIS186: (Winter 1997) Multimedia and the Web
SCIC120A Information Graphics
SCIC120B Design of Information Graphics (3 credits)
SCIC120C Interactivity Information Graphics (3 credits)
WRIT191 Internships in journalism, publishing, and broadcasting