Declaring a Minor in English or in Writing

There are no admission requirements and no prerequisites for minors at the UW. Any undergraduate student with at least sophomore standing (45 credits completed) who is officially declared in any major may declare a minor with his or her major adviser's permission. If you have not yet declared a major (i.e., if you are still in "premajor" status), you are not yet eligible to declare a UW minor. (This does not mean that you cannot begin to take classes now that will eventually apply toward the minor, however.)

To declare a minor, meet with your own adviser in your own major's advising office. Only the adviser in your major department may sign the form to declare a minor; this is to ensure that students meet satisfactory progress requirements. Since English is not your major, an English Department adviser cannot sign your form to declare the English minor. Please take the Change of Major/Minor form to your own major's advising office. There are no deadlines for declaring minors, except that you cannot declare a minor after the deadline for applying to graduate. In other words, you cannot declare a minor after the third week of the quarter in which you intend to graduate. For more information, see the UW's policies on minors.

English majors are not eligible to declare an English Minor or a Writing Minor per UW policy.

English Minor Requirements

The English minor requires a minimum of 30 credits in English courses taken at the 200, 300, or 400 level:

• any 200-, 300-, or 400-level English course may count, with the exceptions of ENGL 295 and 491, which may not be applied to the minor;
• at least 20 credits applied to the minor must be taken at the 300 or 400 level;
• at least 20 credits applied to the minor must be taken in residence at the UW Seattle;
• an average GPA of 2.00 must be maintained among all ENGL courses being applied to the English minor.
• No more than five credits may be counted from Creative Writing courses.

Notes:
No 100-level courses may apply toward the English minor.
Some courses may be restricted during Registration Period 1 to majors only; we're not generally able to override these restrictions, so those pursuing the minor must in most cases wait until Period 2 registration to enroll. See the Time Schedule notes for individual course restrictions. Those few courses that are restricted to majors only will have a note that reads, "English majors only PER 1." By UW policy, English majors may not add a minor in English.

Writing Minor Requirements

The Writing Minor is designed to provide students with concentrated study of and practice
in writing, language, and rhetoric. The minor is most appropriate for students entering
writing-intensive careers such as journalism, business, marketing, law, publishing, editing,
education, and public relations or for students interested in enhancing their writing, analytic, and communication skills.

*Note: Although it is possible to count one creative writing course toward the minor, this is not a creative writing minor.

Requirements:

• 25 credit hours at the 200-level or above, of which 15 must be at the 300-level or above
• 15 credits from approved list of courses in academic, professional, and creative writing
• 10 credits from approved list of courses in theory, history, and design
• No more than five credits may be counted from Creative Writing or from courses outside the English department

Curriculum:

Academic, Professional, and Creative Writing (15 credits)
other writing courses considered by petition

ENGL 281 Intermediate Expository Writing
ENGL 282 Composing for the Web
*ENGL 283 Beginning Verse Writing
*ENGL 284 Beginning Short Story Writing
*ENGL 285 Writers on Writing
ENGL 297 Intermediate Interdisciplinary Writing – Humanities
ENGL 298 Intermediate Interdisciplinary Writing - Social Sciences
ENGL 299 Intermediate Interdisciplinary Writing - Natural Sciences
ENGL 381 Advanced Expository Writing
ENGL 382 Writing for the Web
ENGL 481 Special Studies in Expository Writing
*COM 359 Writing for Mass Media
*COM 362 Community Journalism (News Lab)
*COM 459 Narrative Journalism
*COM 460 Special Reporting Topics
*COM 464 Writing with Voice

Theory, History, and Design (10 credits)

ENGL 206 Rhetoric in Everyday Life
ENGL 270 Language and Society
ENGL 306 Introduction to Rhetoric
ENGL 369 Research Methods in Language and Rhetoric
ENGL 370 English Language Study
ENGL 372 World Englishes
ENGL 373 History of the English Language
ENGL 374 The Language of Literature
ENGL 375 Rhetorical Genre Theory and Practice
ENGL 471 Theory and Practice of Teaching Writing
ENGL 472 Language Learning
ENGL 473 Current Developments in English Studies
ENGL 478 Language and Social Policy
ENGL 479 Language Variation and Language Policy in North America

*A maximum of five credits may be applied from Creative Writing or from classes
outside the English department.

Courses and Advising

An English adviser will be happy to meet with you at any time during our drop-in advising hours if you'd like to discuss a minor and your options for courses, English-related internships, your related career or other post-graduation plans, possible intellectual trajectories you may hope to pursue within your minor, and so forth. Some possible themes individual students may be interested in exploring could be language & rhetoric, expository or creative writing, genre studies, historical literary periods, literary theory & criticism, cultural studies, multicultural literature, literary modernism/postmodernism, gender studies, etc.

You can find detailed course descriptions for each quarter posted to our quarterly course offerings. These will provide you with information about teaching faculty, themes, texts, etc.

You may also want to look at what qualities the Writing Minor is designed to help you practice and the goals that the writing minor has in mind for students.

Staying Connected

We hope you'll consider yourself part of the UW's English Department community. Please feel free to subscribe yourself to the English e-mail list, "like" us on Facebook, and seek assistance from our department at any time.