Housed in the Department of Writing Studies and Rhetoric, Hofstra’s new writing studies major will help you develop the writing, design, and critical thinking skills you need to express yourself personally, succeed professionally, and help transform the community in which you live.
The Importance of Writing Studies
It is not enough today to know how to write well. Students must also know how writing works in an increasingly global and networked society. This knowledge is essential for professional and academic advancement in fields such as business, communications, education, engineering, law, medicine, and all social services. In fact, most major professional exams, such as the MCAT and LSAT, require successful completion of a writing assignment.
A major in writing studies may be paired with virtually any other major or minor to strengthen students' academic skills and enhance their readiness for the workplace or graduate school.
What Will I Learn?
Writing studies focuses on how writing works to make meaning and to persuade. Students engage in primary undergraduate research, internships, and/or Writing Center experience.
The major places emphasis on the following areas:
Introduction to Writing Studies
Professional Writing
(including Writing for Work and the World, Activist Writing, Scientific Writing, Healthcare Communication, and Technical Writing)
Composition and Rhetoric
(including Examining Narrative Medicine, Resistance Writing, Writing the Past in the Present, Strategies of Writing Against Power, and Rhetoric of Comic Books)
Digital Rhetoric
(including The Story of Writing, Memes and Trolls, Digital Rhetoric, Visual Rhetoric)
About the Major
The BA in Writing Studies is an excellent path to the working world and to advanced graduate and professional programs.
A minor in writing studies is also available.
Pair Us With Another Major
If you have already selected your major at Hofstra, consider a dual major or minor in writing studies. Our programs complement studies in arts and humanities, business, communications, the natural sciences, and social sciences. Students learn various modes of composition, including textual, digital, advocacy, technical, and visual. Writing studies scholars explore questions related to composition’s role in society, education, and professional spheres. Our courses combine the practical and theoretical aspects of writing. Our offerings range from the underappreciated work of grammar and the power of advocacy to considerations of online manipulation and science in public culture. We study how writing works politically, socially, and technically.
In the Classroom
Learn from the Experts
Working closely with professors in small, discussion-oriented, or workshop-style classes, you’ll receive expert guidance in creating and analyzing a wide array of texts.
We Practice What We Teach!
Keep up with our news! The writing studies faculty and students maintain a blog, and every spring there is an essay contest open to all Hofstra undergraduates.
The Outlook
According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, strong writing skills are among the attributes most valued by employers. Additionally, a LinkedIn survey, "The Top 16 In-demand Soft Skills for 2022 You Need to Master," found that employers consider a job candidate's communication skills, digital literacy, time management, ability to think critically and collaborate when hiring new talent. These skills are cultivated by writing studies courses.
As many economic commentators note, jobs with an emphasis on these skills are likely to survive automation and artificial intelligence.
- Editing and publishing
- Education
- Health administration
- Law
- Marketing and advertising
- Media
- Public relations
In a survey of 2020-2021 alumni, 100% of students who majored in Writing Studies reported that they were employed and/or attending or planning to attend graduate school within a year of completing their studies at Hofstra.
Of those alumni reporting employment, 100% landed their positions within three months of graduation. The average mean salary of recent alumni from the School of Humanities, Fine and Performing Arts was reported as $49,000.
More on alumni outcomes
The Hofstra Writing Center
The Hofstra University Writing Center works with current Hofstra undergraduate and graduate student-writers of varying experience, learning styles, and linguistic backgrounds. We support students’ growth as writers through one-to-one sessions with tutors trained in collaborative learning practices.
Writing Center tutors can assist students with:
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Essays
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Literature reviews
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Research papers
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Creative writing
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Presentations
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Proposals
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Business writing
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Capstone projects
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Blog posts
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Outlines or notes
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Scripts
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Application essays/personal statements
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and APA/MLA citations
Contact Us
Department Chair
Ethna Lay
Room 125 Mason Hall
516-463-0074
Send an Email
Associate Chair
Daisy Miller
Room 108 Mason Hall
516-463-5456
Send an Email
Assistant to the Chair
Diane Cecere
Room 125 Mason Hall
516-463-4871
Send an Email