Writing, Rhetoric & Digital Studies

Rhetoric is the study of written, oral, and digital communication. Rhetoric teaches you how to argue, persuade, inform, and express for a variety of professional and personal reasons. Rhetoric teaches you how to invent, organize, arrange, and produce knowledge. Rhetoric teaches you how to create and share meaning. Rhetoric is the basis of all writing we do.  Web pages are rhetorical. Technical documents are rhetorical. Movies are rhetorical. Video games are rhetorical. Ads are rhetorical. Medical documents are rhetorical. Legal briefs are rhetorical. Rhetoric is everywhere we engage with ideas and content! WRD is  dedicated to the study and teaching of writing practices, public rhetoric, and digital media. With 18 faculty and 1 staff member, we serve over 5,000 undergraduates each year. The WRD BA/BS major offers students three tracks: 

• Professional Writing and Editing (for those who want careers in editing and publishing or writing for/within a nonprofit or business)
• Rhetorical Theory and Practice (for those who want to get involved in public advocacy, government, or law)
• Digital Studies (for those who want to write and produce content for electronic spaces and understand how those spaces are designed).

• Freshman Admission: Applicants who have not attended a college or university upon completion of secondary school AND who have met all requirements including English proficiency as noted below.
• Transfer Admission : Applicants who have attended a college or university upon completion of secondary school AND met all requirements including English proficiency as noted below.
• Non-degree Admission: Applicants who are exchange or visiting students.

• Conditional Admission: Applicants who meet UK’s academic requirements for admission but do not meet the minimum language proficiency requirement or the departmental specific requirements (such as certain SAT/ACT math scores for Engineering and Nursing).
  • Students who are offered conditional admission because of English may either resubmit a higher TOEFL/IELTS score or enroll in UK's Center for English as a Second Language program. The duration of these courses will depend on placement test results and individual student progress. Upon successful completion of the English language course(s), the student will move seamlessly into a degree program at UK. This means no TOEFL/IELTS scores will be required if students complete CESL.
  • Students who require a higher math score for Engineering may submit a higher score or switch their intended major to a program that does not have specific requirements.
  • No additional application is required for Conditional Admission.

Grow Your Future

Majoring or minoring in WRD allows you the oppertunity to pursue a number of career options

Career opportunities in Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies

• Specific Industries as a content creator or writer
• Media relations
• Media relations
• Documentation design
• Government (technical documentation, lobbying, politics
• Research specialists (think tanks, legal bodies, industry)
• Creative content (video game development, entertainment)
• Education (writing for education companies or agencies)
• Social media
• Website design
• App creation
• Technical writing
• Health industry (documentation, medical information, app development)
• Public advocacy (NGO work, non-profit)
• Public policy (organizations that require analytical and research skills)
• Grant writing
• Speech writing
• Science writing
• Teaching