What is digital writing and literature?
The digital writing and literature cognate will introduce you to the reading and writing skills necessary to succeed in the modern digital workplace. You’ll have the opportunity to focus on areas such as creative storytelling, business writing, digital reporting or teaching, and you’ll become adept at communicating in a variety of digital platforms. Combine this cognate with a major in business, science or the liberal arts to improve your skills in critical thinking, analysis and communication.
Why study digital writing and literature at UNH?
This cognate gives you a way to develop wide-ranging and adaptable professional skills while pursuing your major. You can gain valuable on-the-job experience through our internship option, and also compile a digital portfolio of your work. The English Department offers a number of institutes and programs that provide unique opportunities locally and abroad, as well as regular on-campus series featuring visiting writers, scholars and journalists.
Potential career areas
- Business
- Communications
- Journalism
- Marketing
- Public relations
- Social media
- Teaching
- Technology writing
- Web content production
Curriculum & Requirements
Many jobs nowadays require not only solid reading and writing skills; but also the ability to deploy and adapt these skills in a variety of electronic, professional, public and semi-public platforms. This cognate builds students' ability to comprehend and interpret difficult texts (including complex instructions); to edit, proofread and frame their work for different audiences and contexts; and to navigate rudimentary markup (code) and varied electronic interfaces with confidence and independence.
Contact the Department of English, 230F Hamilton Smith Hall or (603) 862-1313, with questions.
Credit toward the cognate will only be given for courses passed with C- or better, and a 2.00 grade-point average must be maintained in courses for the cognate. Courses taken on the pass/fail basis may not be used for the cognate.
In consultation with a program advisor, students may choose to pursue a "track": e.g., courses like ENGL 623 Creative Nonfiction and ENGL 712 Multimedia Storytelling may serve as a "creative" track for students interested in honing their digital storytelling and audio skills; while ENGL 693 Special Topics in Literature and ENGL #739 American Indian Literature may offer students a way in to cultural heritage management or nonprofit careers. Alternatively, students already focused on a particular course of study (e.g., journalism) may wish to learn how digital tools work in parallel fields (thus taking ENGL 631 Digital Reporting to enhance their digital reporting skills while also taking ENGL #739 American Indian Literature to learn how to edit Wikipedia).
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Required | ||
| ENGL 501 | Introduction to Creative Nonfiction | 4 |
| or ENGL 502 | Professional and Technical Writing | |
| Select two courses from the following: | 8 | |
ENGL 602 | Advanced Professional and Technical Writing | |
ENGL #620 | English Major Internship (Digital Archiving and Editing) | |
ENGL 623 | Creative Nonfiction (see advisor for help in identifying appropriate section) | |
ENGL 631 | Digital Reporting | |
ENGL 693 | Special Topics in Literature (Topic N, Introduction to Digital Humanities) | |
ENGL 712 | Multimedia Storytelling | |
ENGL #739 | American Indian Literature | |
ENGL 789 | Special Topics in English Teaching (Teaching English in the 21st Century) | |
| Total Credits | 12 | |
