In addition to offering courses that fulfill campus writing requirements, the Writing Program offers elective undergraduate courses. Writing 169, which is a course in writing center pedagogy (tutor training), is regularly offered. The Writing Program also offers other courses, most of which meet GE requirements, as it is able (typically 1-3 courses each academic year).
Courses:
Writing 106: Public Speaking: Explores the theory and practice of rhetoric as it applies to writing for oral delivery. Students will analyze and produce instances of public speaking in a variety of genres to different audiences. (Note: This is the current, updated course description. Current catalog link has not been updated.)
Writing 107: Technical and Business Writing – An Overview: An exploration of the conventions and formats of business and technical writing. Coursework involves writing technical instructions, data visualizations, proposals, high level company reports, and the fundamentals of accessible design. (Note: This is the current, updated course description. Current catalog link has not been updated.) Prerequisite(s): satisfaction of the Entry Level Writing Requirements (ELWR).
Writing 130: Writing and Identity: Explores how discourse (spoken and written) constructs, maintains, marginalizes, and contests our various and intersecting identities such as race and ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, regionality, and social class. Using interdisciplinary theories and methods and drawing upon linguistic anthropology, semiotics, sociology, education, and rhetoric, students explore the social processes of systemic identity formation. Students will reflect upon, and write about, the social forces at work constructing their own identities and the identities of their various social and cultural communities. (Note: Course will appear in the 2025-26 catalog.)
Writing 140: Dangerous Rhetorics: Explores rhetoric’s role in shaping history and society, with a particular focus on texts and rhetorical activity that have disrupted societal norms and driven significant social transformations. Students will examine rhetoric as a tool for understanding human cognition, emotions, and behaviors and will use rhetorical methodologies to examine how rhetorical actions can influence public opinion and human interaction. (Note: Course will appear in the 2025-26 catalog.) Prerequisite: satisfaction of the Entry Level Writing Requirements (ELWR). Satisfies the Perspectives: Human Behavior (PE-H) GE.
Writing 150: Composing Change: Examines the use of writing as a tool for social change. Course features readings and assignments based around developing a biography of an activist, composing an autoethnography, and planning an advocacy-focused event. Overall, the course will feature various writing projects composed in multiple modalities. Students critique, and collaboratively produce, writing projects that facilitate social change. (Note: Course will appear in the 2025-26 catalog.) Prerequisite: satisfaction of the Entry Level Writing Requirements (ELWR). Satisfies Practice: Collaborative Endeavour (PR-E).
Writing 160: Writing, Design, and Technology: Examines the use of writing as a technology that has fundamentally shaped the world, human cognition, human interaction with each other and the world. Topics covered include rhetorical concepts germane to the analysis of writing as a technology and corresponding rhetorical practices. Prerequisite: satisfaction of the Entry Level Writing Requirements (ELWR). Satisfies the Perspectives: Technology and Society (PE-T) GE.
Writing 161: Academic Writing and Research Methods: Combines rhetorical concepts and research methods commonly used in writing studies. Students design an original project using primary and secondary research methods, develop research questions, create data collection tools, analyze findings rhetorically, and produce scholarly writing contributing to the field. (Note: This is the current, updated course description. Current catalog link has not been updated.) Prerequisites: satisfaction of the Entry Level Writing Requirements (ELWR); C requirement.
Writing 163: Creative Rhetoric and Composition: Course provides advanced study in composition, including analytical writing and university-level research, drafting and revising, and creative nonfiction. It continues the work of composition, building upon what is learned in Writing 2. Course is appropriate for all undergraduates and may be beneficial for transfer students wanting more training in university research and writing. (Note: This is the current, updated course description. Current catalog link has not been updated.) Prerequisites: satisfaction of the Entry Level Writing Requirements (ELWR); C requirement. Satisfies Practice – Creative Process (PR-C) GE.
Writing 169: Theory and Practice of Teaching Writing: Course offers an introduction to the theories and practices of peer tutoring in writing with an emphasis on developing effective strategies for serving UC Santa Cruz’s diverse undergraduate population. Students engage in service learning by conducting observations of tutoring sessions and, eventually, by leading tutoring sessions. This course is ideal for students interested in writing pedagogy, education, and tutoring. Prerequisite(s): C Requirement and enrollment by permission of the instructor. Satisfies the Process: Service Learning (PR-S).
Writing 170: Rhetoric, Language, and Power: Examines the ways that language use shapes, influences, and reflects societal power structures. The curriculum moves beyond a singular perspective and encourages students to engage with a diversity of rhetorical practices and traditions. (Note: Course will appear in the 2025-26 catalog.)Prerequisite: satisfaction of the Entry Level Writing Requirements (ELWR). Satisfies the Perspectives: Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC).
Writing 175: Disability Rhetoric: Course draws on disability studies scholarship and rhetorical theory to study textual representations of disability, how disabled people are often positioned as unqualified for authorship, and approaches to making texts accessible to disabled audiences. (Note: Course will appear in the 2025-26 catalog.) Prerequisite: satisfaction of the Entry Level Writing Requirements (ELWR).
Writing 180: Writing and Editing for Publishing: A seminar in producing and evaluating writing for various news media with a critical and rhetorical approach. Learners focus on publishing research-informed and source-validated written pieces in multiple modes of communication. (Note: This is the current, updated course description. Current catalog link has not been updated.) Prerequisites: satisfaction of the Entry Level Writing Requirements (ELWR); C requirement.
Writing 189: Methods of Teaching Writing: Examines scholarship from rhetoric, composition, and writing studies focused on the teaching of writing. Drawing on theoretical and applied research, students examine, and begin developing, pedagogical approaches to teaching writing at the K-12 and college levels. Attention is given to curriculum development, process pedagogy, linguistic justice, and related topics. (Note: This is the current, updated course description. Current catalog link has not been updated.)
The Writing Program also offers graduate courses in writing pedagogy.