Writing and Narrative Arts

The Department of Writing and Narrative Arts welcomes students interested in the craft of writing and all forms of narrative activity across media. The Department’s disposition toward narrative arts such as film, literature, and theater invites students to devote time to deeper reflection and understanding of the human condition while developing marketable and flexible writing skills.  The Department invites students to think about how voice, identity, and narrative contribute to our perceptions and experiences of the world around us.

The lifelong skills nurtured in the Department of Writing and Narrative Arts include:

A major in Writing prepares students to write fluently in a number of creative and professional contexts.  Writing majors will learn the importance of the writing process while actively practicing meeting deadlines, working collaboratively in a creative environment, and producing high-quality final written products.  While this major is complete in itself, it is also a highly serviceable second major for any degree on campus, as writing is a highly flexible and marketable skill useful in almost any professional context. 

Each student in the major develops a strong basic foundation in the required core classes, which explore genre-based creative writing and provide practice writing and revising for a variety of audiences.  In consultation with their advisers, all students with a degree in Writing will select one of two tracks to best suit their needs and professional ambitions.  In addition, all students working toward a Writing degree are required to complete a three-credit internship in our University Writing Center or at another site approved by the Chair of Writing and Narrative Arts.  

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MAJOR IN WRITING:

Required Courses:

WNA 207 The Creative Eye
WNA 209  Introduction to Writing and the Narrative Arts
WNA 221 The Writing Process
WNA 299 Sophomore Professional Development
WNA 403 Senior Capstone
WNA 421 Applied Writing Internship

Total Credits for Required Courses 16

The Track choices are as follows:

Editing and Publications Track

The Writing and Publications track is appropriate for students who wish to strengthen and expand writing competencies while focusing on the writing process.  Students who graduate with a degree in Writing with an Editing and Publications track will enjoy a flexible skillset that makes them attractive candidates in a number of professional settings.  Students electing the Writing major will assume a significant role in the Department of Writing and the Narrative Arts Publications Program to enhance their professional portfolios. This work will include both writing and editorial responsibilities for the award-winning Woodcrest magazine website. 

Literary and Narrative Studies Track

Students who elect this track will engage in scholarly study of literature, film, television, and other media as vehicles for narrative art; the cultural, social, and political implications of narrative will also be examined. Combined with their writing electives, these students will achieve a foundational understanding of the unique characteristics of storytelling genres and their development over time and in a cultural context.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Students majoring in Writing will be able to demonstrate:

•     the ability to revise and edit writing through multiple drafts—both independently and collaboratively

•     the ability to engage with a literary text or other cultural artifacts, drawing upon the rhetorical, critical, aesthetic, and analytical skills appropriate for a member of the contemporary, liberally educated community

•     the ability to modify voice, tone, level of formality, genre, medium, and/or structure of writing to suit a variety of rhetorical purposes and audiences

•     information-literacy skills to find, retrieve, evaluate, and present information relevant to an issue or problem, using appropriate attribution

•     written command of the Writing and the Narrative Arts language that reflects    its potential as a communicative and creative medium

•     the ability to critically interrogate the social, historical, aesthetic, and ethical dimensions of literary and cultural artifacts

1. a minimum cumulative GPA in Writing and Literature studies of 3.5

2. a minimum cumulative overall GPA of 3.0

3. active membership in Sigma Tau Delta, the national honor society for Writing and the Narrative Arts

4. presentation of the student’s capstone paper or some other independent research project in a public forum.  The public presentation may include, but is not limited to, an oral or poster presentation of the paper or project as part of the College’s Undergraduate Arts, Research, and Scholarship Symposium, publication of creative work in the Woodcrest magazine, or presentation before the SEPCHE Honors colloquium.

Special Requirements

A QPA of 2.33 (C+) is required in Writing and the Narrative Arts for the major or minor. No course with a grade of “D+” or lower is counted toward the major.

   2022 - Gold Crown Award For Student Work - Collegiate Recipient

Recently Dr. Amy Persichetti, Chair – Writing and Narrative Arts Department shared, “It is my pleasure to announce that Woodcrest Magazine has won a Gold Crown, Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s highest honor, for its 2020-2021 edition.  Student Keziah Landis and recent graduate Sofia Domingot were the issue editors. 

Dr. Bret Shepard was the faculty adviser for Woodcrest Magazine.  Please keep in mind that this was his first year teaching the class and his first edition as adviser and his first year at Cabrini—not to mention he did this remotely during a pandemic with two young children at home.  I’d say congratulations are in order!

Please take a read through this year’s winning issue. You can read it at Woodcrest Magazine.  I am especially impressed by the section “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” which highlights the disruptive potential of good writing and art and its ability to reflect life in all its diversity.”