Composition Studies

Are you a high school or community college teacher looking to boost your qualifications to teach dual credit courses in English language arts?

The Graduate Certificate program in composition studies explores the core principles of composition. You will learn to teach students to craft sound arguments using close attention to logic, context and audience, You will also develop a fluency with the current debates, schools and theories of writing instruction.

Specific areas of focus include:

  • Contemporary theory on the pedagogy of composition and literature
  • Linguistic structures and history of the English language
  • Reading strategies and literary analysis, with attention to close reading, style, form, genre, and rhetorical practices
  • Approaches to composition and writing instruction, including the identification and evaluation of sources, use of evidence, generation of ideas, and development and organization of argument
  • Fostering discussion and developing presentation skills in a seminar setting
  • Developing archival research skills and facility with electronic resources
  • Developments, trends, and frontiers in the digital humanities

The certificate requires five classes for a total of 20 credit hours.

The stand-alone Certificate in Composition Studies provides the requisite number of discipline-specific graduate credits for those who already hold a master’s degree. Students who need both the discipline-specific coursework and a master’s degree may take the additional English graduate classes required to earn a master’s in English.

Core Courses
DEPT./COURSETITLECREDIT HOURS
ENG-W 509Writing and Literacy Studies4
or
ENG-W 500Teaching Composition: Issues & Approaches4
ENG-W 510Computers in Composition4
or
ENG-W 590Teaching Composition: Theories & Applications4
or
ENG-W 620Advanced Argumentative Writing4
ENG-G 660Stylistics4
or
ENG-L 646Readings in Media/Literature/Culture4
ENG-W 501Teaching College Writing4
or
ENG-W 600Topics in Rhetoric & Composition4
ENG-R 546Rhetoric and Culture4
or
ENG-W 600Topics in Rhetoric & Composition4
or
ENG-W 602Special Topics in Rhetoric and Composition4
or
ENG-W 682Special Topics: Rhetoric & Composition4

To enroll in this program, you must either possess a BA in English (or related bachelor’s degree in education with an English specialization, concentration, or outside area) or two years of secondary teaching experience in literature or composition classes.

NOTE: If you choose to pursue the IU Online MA in English, these certificate courses may apply to (“stack into”) your degree requirements. Admission to the Graduate Certificate in Literature does not constitute admission into any the face-to-face graduate programs in English at the participating campuses.

Apply for admission online

Interested in learning more or are you ready to apply?