English Minors

The minor in creative writing offers students the opportunity to engage deeply with their own writing and that of their peers in a graduated series of workshops led by professional writers of poetry and prose. Participants in the program take four workshops sequentially during their undergraduate careers, plus one upper-level English course of their choice focused on literary studies.

Eligibility for the Creative Writing minor requires either successful completion of the appropriate 200-level creative writing workshop with a grade of A+, A, or A-, or submission of an acceptable portfolio of work to the creative writing faculty.

15 credit hours consist of the following:

• 3 credits at the 200-level (ENGL271 or ENGL272 or ENGL273 or ENGL274)
• 3 credits at the 300-level (ENGL352 or ENGL353)
• 6 credits at the 400-level (two sections of ENGL498 or of ENGL499)
• 3 credits in any upper-level ENGL course focused on literary studies.

After admission to the minor, students choose to specialize in either prose (352, 498) or poetry (353, 499). Students admitted directly to a 300-level workshop must take 3 workshops (9 credits) at the 400 level.

Contact the English Undergraduate Studies Office (english@umd.edu) with questions about the minor.

1. A grade of C- or better is required in each of the courses making up the 15 credits of the minor.
2. No more than 6 of the 15 semester hours may be taken at an institution other than the University of Maryland, College Park.
3. No more than 6 of the 15 semester hours may count toward the student’s major or toward college requirements.
4. No course used to satisfy the requirements of another minor may count toward the Creative Writing minor.

Students in the Jiménez-Porter Writers’ House program who also wish to complete the Creative Writing minor should note the following:

• Students in the Jiménez-Porter Writers’ House program may substitute ARHU319 for 1 of the 400-level creative writing workshops (ENGL498 or ENGL 499).
• Students in the Jiménez-Porter Writers’ House program may also count their 3-credit supporting class toward the minor, provided that the supporting class is a 300- or 400-level English course focused on literary study.
• Students in the Jiménez-Porter Writers’ House program who are also English majors, and who wish to complete the Creative Writing minor may double count credits as explained above. They may not, however, “triple-count” credits; that is, they may not use any of the same credits to satisfy both the Jiménez-Porter Writers’ House program and the English major.

Participants in the Creative Writing minor will be advised in the English Undergraduate Studies Office, 1128 Tawes Hall.

Students who wish to apply to the Creative Writing minor should go to the ARHU minors page to complete a contact form. The completed form will be sent to the Creative Writing minor advisor in the English Undergraduate Studies Office who will contact you to schedule an advising appointment. Please note that you can only be admitted to the minor if you have fulfilled the prerequisites: either successful completion of the appropriate 200-level creative writing workshop with a grade of A or A- or submission of an acceptable portfolio of work to the creative writing faculty.

All minors in ARHU are open only to a limited number of students. Students will be enrolled in the Creative Writing minor as space permits according to the original time of submission of their contact form and completion of prerequisites.

There are currently two methods to gain permission to enroll in the intermediate fiction and poetry workshops, ENGL352 and ENGL353, respectively.

Learn more about enrolling in intermediate workshops.

The Digital Storytelling and Poetics minor prepares students to interpret, and to create, imaginative writing in digital and new media spaces. Students build the skills necessary to critically analyze digital culture, narrative, poetics, and rhetoric. They also learn how to craft creative expression in digital platforms. These skillsets are combined: a foundation in critical methods in English and new media studies provides a basis for the craft of digital writing and design. And understanding of the process of creating digital poetry and prose provides context and insight for effective critical analysis. During their coursework, students develop digital portfolios of critical and creative work as a means to showcase their career-facing knowledge and skills.

A total of 15 credits from a select list of courses, as well as submission of an electronic writing portfolio, are required.

The 15 credit hours are as follows:

• 3 credits of ENGL 295: Introduction to Digital Storytelling and Poetics
• 12 credits (4 courses) from the following courses, including at least one course from the Critical Analysis and Theory list, at least one course from the Craft and Creative Process list, and at least one course at the 400-level:

Critical Analysis and Theory:
COMM 498A: Black Discourse in Digital Communication
ENGL 318A: Machines Reading, Machines Writing
ENGL 355: Digital Fictions
ENGL 368K: The Art of Black Social Movements, From Marcus Garvey to Black Lives Matter
ENGL 376: The Speculative Imagination: Science Fiction on Page and Screen
ENGL 378P: Videogames and the Boundaries of Narrative
ENGL 378W: Deep Time: Memory, Media, and Ecological Imagination in the Americas
ENGL 378Z: Women and Memory in Material and Digital Worlds
ENGL 387: Visual Rhetoric
ENGL 438B: Black Digitalities
ENGL 463: Narrative Analysis Methods in English Studies
ENGL 491: Digital Rhetoric
IMDM 350: Advanced Digital Media Theory

Craft and Creative Process:
ENGL 355: Digital Fictions
ENGL 378C: How to Make a Magazine: Introduction to Literary Publishing
ENGL 378M: Digital Publishing with Minimal Computing: Humanities on a Global Scale (also CMLT 398M)
ENGL 378R: Storytelling with Code
ENGL 378W: Deep Time: Memory, Media, and Ecological Imagination in the Americas
ENGL 388D: Dickinson Electronic Archives Internship
ENGL 388T: Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities Internship (Also MITH 388)
ENGL 467: Creative Approaches to Digital Textuality
ENGL 477: BookLab
ENGL 479J: Flash Fictions
ENGL 492: Graphic Design and Rhetoric
IMDM 390: Collaborative Studio II: Experiential Computing

To earn the Digital Storytelling and Poetics Minor, a student must submit an electronic professional writing portfolio to the minor advisor during the student’s final semester. The portfolio must contain, at a minimum, the following materials: 

1. A welcome page.
2. Five finished, polished texts produced by the student in Digital Storytelling and Poetics minor’s courses, including a minimum of one critical essay and one creative work.
3. A reflective essay that analyzes how these texts demonstrate the student’s achievement of the minor’s learning outcomes. 

The minor advisor will confirm that each portfolio meets these minimum requirements. Portfolio submission deadlines are November 1 for fall semester graduation, April 1 for spring semester graduation, and August 1 for summer graduation. Students submit portfolios by emailing the URL to the Digital Storytelling and Poetics advisor at dspminor@umd.edu.

To declare the Digital Storytelling and Poetics minor, please visit the ARHU Minors page and submit the appropriate online form. 
Participants in the Digital Storytelling and Poetics minor will be advised in the English Undergraduate Studies Office, 1128 Tawes Hall. Questions about the minor should be emailed to dspminor@umd.edu.

The ARHU minor in Humanities, Health, and Medicine engages students in an interdisciplinary curriculum that applies the methods, perspectives, and insights of the arts and humanities to health and medical education as well as practice. Visit the Humanities, Health, and Medicine Minor page to find more information.

Through an exploration of human health and medicine using the inter-disciplinary questions and research methods of literary and cultural studies, as well as the arts, philosophy, communication, and history, the minor aims to develop and nurture skills such as empathy, ethical understanding, socio-cultural analysis, self-reflection and an appreciation of diversity and inclusion that are essential for humane and effective medical care as well as sound health policy. This minor is open to all Undergraduate students on campus, regardless of major.

The Professional Writing minor offers students opportunities to engage deeply with the theory and practice of writing, editing and designing print and digital documents for professional workplaces, civic organizations and community deliberations.

This minor provides undergraduates who have an interest in pursuing a writing career with a clear path for their coursework. The minor also benefits students across the entire campus who wish to enhance their marketable skills and broaden their post-graduate employment opportunities. In particular, students in STEM disciplines and public health will find that the Professional Writing minor complements their major course of study with theoretically grounded, project-based coursework that helps them learn how to communicate their disciplines to a range of audiences through writing.

The state of Maryland and the greater Washington, D.C. metro region are particularly fertile ground for professional writing-related internships and careers. The Professional Writing minor exposes students to a wide variety of these opportunities through:

• an introductory course that surveys the field in terms of its international, national, regional and local scope
• networking opportunities with alumni
• cultivating and facilitating students’ placement in professional writing internships in Washington, D.C. and throughout Maryland
• support in developing professional writing portfolios that showcase students’ writing, research, design and technological skills.

• A total of 15 credits from a select list of English department writing courses, as well as submission of an electronic writing portfolio, are required. 
• The 15 credit hours breakdown as follows:
  • 3 credits from ENGL297: “Introduction to Professional Writing”
  • 12 credits from the following courses, including at least 9 credits at the 300 or 400 levels (and of those 9 credits, at least 3 must be at the 400 level):

200-level courses:

• ENGL281: “Standard English Grammar, Usage, and Diction” (3 credits)
• ENGL282: “How Rhetoric Works: Persuasive Power and Strategies” (3 credits)
• ENGL289C: “Introduction to Health, Medicine, and the Humanities” (3 credits)
• ENGL291: “Writing, Revising, Persuading” (3 credits)
• ENGL292: “Writing for Change” (3 credits) [Also offered as ENGL388C; credit is only granted for either ENGL292 or ENGL388C]
• ENGL293: “Writing in the Wireless World” (3 credits)
• ENGL294: “Persuasion and Cleverness in Social Media” (3 credits)

300-level courses:

• ENGL 378C: "How to Make a Magazine: Introduction to Literary Publishing"
• ENGL381: “MGA Legislative Seminar” (3 credits)
• ENGL384: “Concepts of Grammar” (3 credits)
• ENGL378A: “Medical Humanities: Science, Rhetoric, and Literature”
• ENGL388C: “Writing for Change” (3 credits) [Also offered as ENGL292; credit is only granted for ENGL292 or ENGL388C]
• ENGL388M: “Writing Internship: Maryland General Assembly Pre-Professional Writing Internship” (6 credits)
• ENGL388P: “Writing Internship: Pre-Professional Writing Skills Internship” (1-6 credits)
• ENGL388V: “Writing Internship: Undergraduate Teaching Assistants in Writing Programs” (1-6 credits)
• ENGL388W: “Writing Internship: Writing Center Internship” (1-6 credits)
• ENGL390-395, 398: “Professional Writing Program Courses” (3 credits)

400-level courses:

• ENGL 461: “Qualitative Research Methods” (3 credits)
• ENGL487: “Principles and Practices of Rhetoric” (3 credits) (Note: Credit only granted for ENGL487 or COMM 401.)
• ENGL488: “Topics in Advanced Writing” (3 credits)
• ENGL489T: “Analyzing Conversation” (3 credits)
• ENGL 491: “Digital Rhetoric” (3 credits)
• ENGL492: “Graphic Design and Rhetoric” (3 credits)
• ENGL493: “Writing in Context” (3 credits)
• ENGL494: “Editing and Document Design” (3 credits)
   

• All courses presented for the minor must be passed with a grade of C- or better.
• Credit toward the minor will be granted for only 1 of these 2 courses: ENGL281 or ENGL384.
• A student cannot count toward the Professional Writing minor the course taken to fulfill the Fundamental Studies Professional Writing requirement.
• Students may satisfy up to 3 credits of the minor through a documented writing-intensive professional or internship experience (ENGL 388M, 388P, 388V, or 388W). Internship courses from departments other than English may be used with approval of the Professional Writing minor advisor.

During a student’s final semester, the student must submit a professional writing portfolio to the minor advisor. Minimum requirements for the portfolio are outlined in a section below.

To declare the Professional Writing minor, please visit the ARHU Minors page and submit the appropriate online form.

To earn the Professional Writing minor, a student must submit a professional writing portfolio to the minor advisor during the student’s final semester. The portfolio must contain, at minimum, the following materials:

• A welcome page
• 6 finished, polished texts written by the student in Professional Writing minor courses; 
• A reflective essay that analyzes how these documents demonstrate the student’s achievement of the Professional Writing minor learning outcomes.

Portfolio submission deadlines are November 1 for fall semester graduation, April 1 for spring semester graduation and August 1 for summer graduation. Students submit portfolios by emailing the URL to the Professional Writing minor advisor: pwminor@umd.edu.

You can send an email with Professional Writing Minor questions to pwminor@umd.edu or complete an ARHU Minor Contact Form.

The Rhetoric minor is an interdisciplinary program supported jointly by the Department of Communication and the Department of English and is open to undergraduates entering any discipline, field or career.

The minor educates students to understand and analyze the history, theory and criticism of civic discourse and cultural practices. Course offerings feature both applied and theoretical approaches. Knowledge and skills acquired through the minor empower graduates to engage with important social issues and take active leadership roles in their communities and careers.

Courses in the minor provide opportunities to practice applied skills in composing across media and to study rhetorical theory and methods of analysis across time periods. Students who minor in rhetoric acquire the knowledge and skills to take on a broad range of leadership roles in which they advocate for and communicate with others to address issues of social and political importance.

The Rhetoric minor may be especially valuable for those who plan careers in fields like business, education, government, law, nonprofits and others where persuasive writing and speaking skills are prized. The minor requires just 15 credits in a wide range of courses offered in both Communication and English.

Students wishing to pursue the minor should check the ARHU minors page. When enrollment in the minor is open, students can submit the online contact form to initiate the process of meeting with an advisor and officially declaring the minor.