Programs and Areas
Rhetoric, Composition and Literacy
Undergraduate Program Information: Questions and Answers
What is rhetoric and composition, anyway?
Folks in Rhetoric, Composition, and Literacy Studies study how symbolic artifacts (we can just call them texts) make meaning, and how people learn to make texts. That means we attend equally to the processes and products of writing and communicating, as well as to the social contexts in which they occur. And it means that we examine everyday processes and products of language use in communities, cultures, workplaces, professions, and classrooms as in literary works.In this way, Rhetoric, Composition, and Literacy Studies differs from many literary areas that focus especially on a particular type of product called the literary text. If you are interested in how language users learn about and use discourse to address audiences and make meaning, and to do so effectively, persuasively, powerfully, then you might want to do a focus area in rhetoric and composition.
How do you study a process of writing?
The writing process can be studied by examining the structure of language itself (like linguistics), or by looking at the technologies and forms of writing as a physical act (like printing or web-authoring), or by exploring how students learn to write in classroom settings (like Composition or ESL), or how language users learn to communicate outside the classroom (like workplace literacies or the literacy practices of specific cultural groups).Thus, an interest in process can focus on individuals or cultures or social settings, on historical periods or genres, on the language itself or its medium, or a host of other factors, producing an endless range of questions: Do women write differently from men? How do oral traditions influence literacy practices? How do corporate annual reports get written?
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Can I still read Literature?
Yes. In fact, because of the program's flexibility, students have the opportunity to custom design a program of study (in, for example, the rhetoric of narrative), with the help of a Rhetoric, Composition, and Literacy Studies adviser. So you can combine your work in Rhetoric, Composition, and Literacy Studies with work in folklore, or creative writing, or a literary period or genre, as well your work in other disciplines, like Women's Studies, Communication, Education, African and African-American Studies, or Comparative Studies.This intra- and inter-disciplinary approach enables our students to do work that matters to them, and it enables our program to receive national attention as a model across multiple areas in composition, rhetoric, and literacy and language study.
What are the areas within Rhetoric and Composition?
Some areas that you might study here include:- Rhetorical theory and criticism
- History of rhetoric
- Business, technical, and professional communication
- Composition theory
- Pedagogy and the teaching of writing
- History of writing
- Linguistics
- History and theory of language
- English as a Second Language
- Research Methods
- Computers in writing and literature
- Ethics of language use
- Literacy studies
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Where will a rhetoric and composition focus get me?
Far! Graduates of OSU's Rhetoric and Composition program are prepared to become (and have in fact become) active contributors in research, scholarship and teaching in a variety of academic and non-academic settings. English students focus on Rhetoric, Composition, and Literacy Studies with a variety of goals in mind, including business and technical writing, teaching writing and literature in public schools, gaining knowledge in the areas of linguistics, language and literacy, and preparing for graduate study in rhetoric and composition.To address these goals, rhetoric and composition offers a broad range of courses relating to the history, theory, practice and teaching of language, courses that prepare undergraduates for a wide variety of vocations and avocations, including law, business, editing, teaching, and consulting, to name just a few.
Our faculty is committed to the quality of the undergraduate experience. We want to make it intellectually stimulating and useful. Collaboration, not competition, is key in our students' cross-area preparation. Through coursework activities, including a variety of community and university service opportunities, and through extracurricular activities, including conference presentations and Undergraduate English Forum participation, our students learn from and with each other, by working together as researchers, speakers, peers, tutors and as students.
What can I take?
Courses on Writing Theory and Instruction567 Rhetoric and Community Service
574 History and Theories of Writing
571 Studies in the English Language
572 Traditional Grammar and Usage
576 Studies in Critical Theory
579 Studies in Nonfiction
580 Studies in Gay and Lesbian Language and Literature
582 Studies in African-American Literature
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Whom can I talk to?
If you are interested in rhetoric and composition, you can consult:Vice-Chair of Rhetoric, Composition, and Literacy Studies
Office: Denney Hall 402
Phone:(614) 292-2468
Email: halasek.1@osu.edu
Where can I find out more?
For more information on undergraduate or graduate study in Rhetoric, Composition, and Literacy Studies, write or call: Rhetoric, Composition, and Literacy Studies, Department of English, 164 W. 17th Avenue, The Ohio State University, Columbus OH 43210-1370. phone: (614) 292-6740 email: rhetcomp@osu.edu.Top of Page.
