Academic Program in Writing and Communication

Curriculum Overview

Courses in the writing and communication department are for writers at all levels, including those who want to improve their skills as well as those who already consider themselves good writers. Writing and communication courses encourage you to understand writing as a means of discovery, reflection, and critical thinking; in short, our courses help students negotiate the demands of academic writing at the college level.

Our mission is to support Oberlin’s writing requirement, which applies to students in the College of Arts and Sciences and the Double Degree Program. We accomplish this through a system of writing and communication courses and through the Writing Intensive and Writing Advanced courses offered by faculty across the curriculum. Writing and communication faculty also teach in the First-Year Seminar Program.

We also offer courses in more specific genres and topics of inquiry, including journalism, grant and proposal writing, advanced scholarly writing, travel writing, narrative nonfiction, and composition theory and pedagogy.

In all of our courses, students’ work takes center stage and students receive individual attention. We also offer a minor in writing and communication, as students often pair the program with a major in English, sociology, politics, or creative writing.