The writing and rhetoric major focuses on different genres and practices of writing as enacted in specific historical and cultural contexts. Students write in a wide range of genres: advanced argument, research writing, digital writing, civic writing, professional writing, technical writing, creative nonfiction and the public essay. In the process of exploring and practicing these genres, students study and analyze the interaction of diverse rhetorical traditions and writing technologies and assess how these factors shape the nature, scope, and impact of writing in a variety of contexts. The major also asks students to examine writing and rhetoric as embedded in culture, and looks at writing identities, their emergences in cultures and subgroups, and the relations among writing, rhetoric, identity, literacy and power.

Graduates of the writing and rhetoric major will be well equipped for public and private sector careers that require knowledge of advanced communication strategies and writing skills. The major is open to any Syracuse University student, and may be especially useful to students pursuing careers in teaching, the law, business, public advocacy, and editing and publishing.