The Minor in Writing is designed for undergraduate students who are interested in developing their disciplinary and professional writing abilities while pursuing concentrations across the liberal arts and sciences. This academic minor complements students' primary course of study by promoting discipline-specific writing competence expertise in new media and rhetorical awareness across a range of genres and modes. This academic minor is particularly advantageous for students who may already be completing writing-related coursework (or have an interest in completing such coursework) and wish to earn a credential that certifies their writing expertise to prospective employers and graduate programs.

Applications are accepted twice a year, in March and October. Students must apply to and be accepted by the Sweetland Center for Writing in order to declare the Minor in Writing.

Requirements for the application:

• Students must have completed their First-Year Writing Requirement with a grade of B or higher. Transfer students who completed the FYWR with a transfer course approved by Sweetland will need to show proof of receiving a grade of B or higher.
• Students must have declared a concentration by the end of the term they apply to the Minor in Writing.
• Students must have at least three full terms remaining in their academic program.
• Students must be able to enroll in WRITING 220: Introduction to the Minor in their first semester in the Minor.

Materials for application:

• Completed application form
• Letter of interest
• Writing sample from any college course
• Unofficial U-M transcript (available through Wolverine Access)

 Admission process and criteria:

• Submit all materials in hard copy to Sweetland Minor, 1310 North Quad, by 5:00pm, Friday, March 23, 2012. Please note: electronic copies will not be accepted.
• The admission process is competitive and space is limited.  Because space is limited students must complete the minor gateway course, Writing 220: Introduction to the Minor in Writing, in their first semester Minor.
• Application materials are reviewed by a committee of Sweetland faculty, who make admissions recommendations based upon the quality of the writing sample, the reasons given for applying to the minor, and student’s overall academic performance.
• Students are notified of the decision via email prior to the beginning of registration.

Download the application form today!

Students completing the Minor in Writing are required to develop an electronic portfolio (e-portfolio) of the writing they produce throughout their undergraduate career. The e-portfolio provides students with the opportunity to reflect on their development as writers, demonstrate their proficiency in visual rhetoric, and showcase their writing abilities. These e-portfolios are created in the gateway course, WRITING 220 and finalized in the capstone course, WRITING 400.

Minor In Writing Program: At least 15 credits of courses. Students must complete the following courses, with an average minimum GPA of 3.3 for courses applied toward the academic minor:

1. WRITING 220: Introduction to the Minor in Writing:  (3), which must be completed in the students’ first semester in the Minor
2. One of the following courses:
   • ENGLISH 225: Academic Argumentation (4), or
   • ENGLISH 229: Professional Writing (4), or
   • ENGLISH 325: Art of the Essay (3)
3. One Upper-Level Writing Requirement course in concentration, which may also satisfy a concentration requirement (3-4)
4. One additional Upper-Level Writing Requirement course, which cannot fulfill a concentration requirement (3-4)
5. WRITING 400: Advanced Rhetoric and Research (3)

Students who complete the Undergraduate Minor in Writing will demonstrate the ability to:

• Produce complex and well-supported arguments that matter in academic contexts.
• Use flexible strategies for organizing, revising, and proofreading writing of varying lengths and genres.
• Identify and implement rhetorical choices responsive to the demands of specific genres, audiences, and rhetorical situations, both academic and non-academic.
• Compose in a variety of modes, including a range of new media.
• Identify the expectations that characterize writing in their concentration, and use this knowledge to write effectively in a range of genres in that discipline.
• Use meta-language regarding writing processes, rhetorical choices, genre expectations, and disciplinary discourse to discuss writing-in-progress and writing development over time.
• Collaborate with other writers to improve writing-in-progress and produce co-authored documents.

The final eportfolio for the Sweetland Minor in Writing is drawn from the whole array of writing students have done and projects they have developed, both within, across, and independent of their undergraduate coursework.

In order to have access to this array, students are asked to archive their work during their four semesters in the Minor.  Students learn how to use this archive in the WRITING 220 gateway course. 

This archiving process provides multiple resources to choose from.  We call these artifacts – these can be textual (for example, a written essay), multimedia (for example, a video essay or podcast) or a hybrid (for example, a PowerPoint presentation). One way to imagine the relationship between the archive and the eportfolio is to think of the archive as a closet, filled with garments for every situation and climate, and the eportfolio as an actual outfit, artifacts selected and assembled from the archive/closet.  Part of what students learn in this program is how to design an eportfolio to meet the needs of various rhetorical occasions, like those presented by job interviews or grad school applications, as well as the final Minor portfolio itself.

The eportfolio will showcase students' selection of artifacts for the purpose of displaying the range and quality of their work, as well as their understanding of that work and how best to present it.

The final Minor in Writing portfolio will contain the following components:

• The Directed Self-Placement (DSP) essay 
• 1 major artifact from the First-Year Writing Requirement Course
• 1 major artifact from each course that fulfills the Minor requirement
  • The gateway course (WRITING 220)
  • An Upper-Level Writing Requirement course in the student's concentration
  • A second Upper-Level Writing Requirement course in the student's concentration or another field
  • An English department course (ENG 225, ENG 229, or ENG 325) 
  • The WRITING 400 course (students' major capstone project) 
• At least 3 writing artifacts produced outside of coursework in various modes
• At least 3 additional reflective artifacts of students' choosing
• A link to the writing blog to which students contributed over the course of the Minor
• An evidence-based reflective essay that introduces the student's final portfolio
• At least one artifact chosen must include all components of the writing process for that assignment, including:
  • some aspects of invention
  • rough drafts
  • peer and instructor feedback
  • responses to feedback
  • revisions, and
  • final draft 
• Of the artifacts included, at least three must be in various modes/media (such as an audio essay, or a peer critique letter, or a PowerPoint presentation, etc.).

Minor in Writing Blog

Over the course of the Minor, students will be contributing regularly to the Minor in Writing blog.

In the semesters between the gateway and capstone courses, we ask that students contribute to the blog two to three times each month on a topic of their choice related to writing.  We also hope that students will read and respond to their cohort’s posts as well.

To help students achieve their goals and assure their progress through the portfolio archiving process, students will meet at least once each semester with their advisor to plan, assess their progress, and get answers to any questions they may have.  Advisors will be available to review students' archives and portfolios, as well as their academic plans.