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Degrees & Majors

Composition Studies (100% online)

Graduate Certificate in Composition Studies

About

This is an online program.

As a student in the IU Online Graduate Certificate in Composition Studies, you'll explore the core principles of writing and literature. You'll 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.

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 the 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

This certificate is of special interest to dual-credit and community college instructors needing to meet higher learning commission standards.

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 required English graduate classes to earn a master's in English.

Your IU Online Graduate Certificate in Composition Studies prepares you for such careers as:

  • Composition dual-credit teacher (high school)
  • Composition instructor (community college)

This 100% online, consortial program is taught by IU Bloomington, IU Indianapolis, IU East, IU Kokomo, IU Northwest, IU South Bend, and IU Southeast.

Ready for the next step?