Writing and Rhetoric

The Program in Writing and Rhetoric, in conjunction with the English Department and the Linguistics Department, offers a course of study that leads to the Advanced Certificate in Teaching Writing. The certificate program, a 15-unit graduate program approved by the State University of New York, is designed to complement graduate work in rhetoric and composition, English, literacy studies, linguistics, or cultural analysis and theory, to name a few examples. The certificate also provides further professional development and mentoring for those already teaching writing at the secondary or college levels.

Learning to teach writing effectively requires study of a variety of fields. Our program draws on theories, research and practices from psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, cognitive psychology, language acquisition research, genre theory, rhetorical theory, media studies and linguistic anthropology.

Teachers who are grounded in this body of theory and research will be better equipped to implement effective teaching strategies or undertake doctoral studies.

Individuals who would benefit from this certificate program include MA and MAT candidates in English who are preparing for a teaching career in high school or community college teaching; PhD candidates in a range of disciplines who would like a broad-based degree program and want to do research in methods of teaching writing; and high school and college teachers seeking advanced training, accreditation, mentoring, or promotion.

An applicant must have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.00 on a 4.00 point scale. If the student attends a college that only gives Passes or Credits for the first year of study, then these grades will be evaluated as C for GPA admission purposes unless the student provides actual grades.

• Paper recommendations can be sent in, but you must use the paper recommendation form from your application portal and give it to your recommender. Paper recommendations must be sent directly to the graduate program you are applying to in sealed envelopes, signed across the seal by the recommender.
• In order to gain access to our recommendation forms, you must submit an application. Within your application, you can either send emails directing your recommenders to each submit a recommendation online, or you may download a paper recommendation form and give it to your recommender. Paper recommendations must be sent directly to the graduate program you are applying to in sealed envelopes, signed across the seal by the recommender.

All applications must be submitted electronically through our online application system. Once you create an account, you can save and update your material as often as necessary until you click the “Finalize Application” button. Once your application is submitted, you can log on to track its status.