The Undergraduate Writing Major

The perception of rhetoric as a field is still a very new concept.  Thus, its study as an academic major for universities is very immature, too.  Rhetoric and composition is still being defined and continues to establish an identity in education.  Conventionally, "writing" is the term used for high school and even undergraduate studies, while rhetoric usually refers to post-graduate courses.  But our new major is now introducing professional writing to students earlier.  So essentially, there are two main types of writing majors, liberal arts writing and professional/rhetorical writing.  Problems arise with creating a new major within English departments, though.  Especially with rhetoric, it is hard to legitimize the major if compositional studies is considered an afterthought.  Also, many perceive the major as nothing more than offering service courses.

So, tactics to craft and nurture the major beyond these concerns include: address common student concerns, provide a framework of how the writing major contributes to society, goals of students, potential careers a graduate might delve into, and an exposition of writing foundations.