Teaching Writing

Graduate Program Director: Shyam Sharma, Humanities Building 2109, (631) 632-9186

Program Assistant and Graduate Certificate Coordinator: Adam Schultheiss, Humanities Building 2005 (631) 632-7390

Program Website

The Program in Writing and Rhetoric, in conjunction with the English Department and the Linguistics Department, offers a course of study that leads to the Advanced Certificate in Teaching Writing. The certificate program, a 15-unit graduate program approved by the State University of New York, is designed to complement graduate work in rhetoric and composition, English, literacy studies, linguistics, or cultural analysis and theory, to name a few examples. The certificate also provides further professional development and mentoring for those already teaching writing at the secondary or college levels.

Learning to teach writing effectively requires study of a variety of fields. Our program draws on theories, research and practices from psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, cognitive psychology, language acquisition research, genre theory, rhetorical theory, media studies and linguistic anthropology.

Teachers who are grounded in this body of theory and research will be better equipped to implement effective teaching strategies or undertake doctoral studies.

Individuals who would benefit from this certificate program include MA and MAT candidates in English who are preparing for a teaching career in high school or community college teaching; PhD candidates in a range of disciplines who would like a broad-based degree program and want to do research in methods of teaching writing; and high school and college teachers seeking advanced training, accreditation, mentoring, or promotion.

Admission Requirements

Application Website

Admission to the Graduate Certificate Program in Teaching Writing is open to any student enrolled a graduate degree-granting program at Stony Brook University or to free-standing certificate students who have completed their BAs who meet the admissions criteria.

For applicants already admitted to the university, admission involves filling out a brief form. For admission to the free-standing Certificate Program in Teaching Writing, students are required to have earned a bachelor’s degree with a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 on a 4 point scale. The following must be submitted to the Program in Writing and Rhetoric for admission to the Certificate program:

1. A letter of application stating the purpose of study
2. A Graduate School application form
3. An official transcript of undergraduate record culminating in a bachelor’s degree and graduate degree transcript if applicable
4. Two letters of recommendation from teaching supervisors and/or professors. The forms and additional information are available through the Program in Writing and Rhetoric office:

Program in Writing and Rhetoric

Stony Brook University

Stony Brook, NY 11794-5340