Course Search

WGS455H5 • Queer Theory

This course examines the theories, histories and experiences of 'queer' in Canada and transnationally. It incorporates the diversity of emergent cultural expressions of LGBTQ sexuality understood beyond definitions of social identities.

Prerequisites: WGS200Y5 and 1.0 WGS 300+ level credits
Exclusions: WGS376H1
Recommended Preparation: WGS202H5 or WGS370H5

Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Total Instructional Hours: 24S
Mode of Delivery: In Class

WGS455H5 | Program Area: Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies

WGS470H5 • Politicizing Culture: Pop Feminism and Representation

This course examines the intricate relationships among feminism, culture, power and representation. Major themes include: the construction of gendered, sexualized, and racialized subjectivities; ideologies and the media; bio-and communication technologies; neoliberalism and neocolonialism; and counter interpretations, reclamations, and remixes of hegemonic cultural forms.

Prerequisites: WGS200Y5 and 1.5 WGS 300+ level credits
Recommended Preparation: WGS101H5 or WGS202H5 or WGS205H5

Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Total Instructional Hours: 24S
Mode of Delivery: Online, In Class

WGS470H5 | Program Area: Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies

WGS497Y5 • Independent Reading

Student-initiated project of reading and research, supervised by a member of the Department. Primarily intended for students in a Major program. After obtaining a supervisor, a student must apply to the Department of Historical Studies. A maximum of 1.0 credit in a reading course is permitted.


Distribution Requirement: Humanities
Mode of Delivery: In Class

WGS497Y5 | Program Area: Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies

WRI173H5 • Creative Non-Fiction

This course is an introduction to creative nonfiction as both a genre and a methodological tool for a variety of fields. It explores creative narrative approaches by professional writers in the form of journalism, documentary, ethnography, memoir, and narrative essay. This course also serves to begin and/or strengthen students’ own writing practice through craft-oriented workshops. Students explore ideas about product and process, form and meaning. Students will experiment with syntactic structures to explore how the form of language serves, or fails to serve, intention and the expression of meaning that may be understood and interpreted by others.

Exclusions: WRI203H5

Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Total Instructional Hours: 24L
Mode of Delivery: In Class

WRI173H5 | Program Area: Communication, Culture, Information and Technology

WRI225H5 • Community and Writing

Writing communication is a social act that both shapes and is shaped by community. Students in this course develop a narrative portfolio based on research into the experiences of individuals within a community that interests them. The course aims to enhance students’ storytelling by incorporating aspects of community such as unwritten rules, community language and nomenclature, rituals, history, ironic juxtaposition, and profiles of community members. Readings include a mix of student-authored and contemporary professional works.

Prerequisites: WRI173H5 or WRI203H5
Exclusions: WRI325H5

Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Total Instructional Hours: 24L
Mode of Delivery: In Class

WRI225H5 | Program Area: Communication, Culture, Information and Technology

WRI227H5 • Social Media and Content Creation

Examines theory and offers practice in creating content for Social Media. The course explores the growth of the Web, from information gathering to interactive and cooperative information/opinion dissemination. Students will critically examine the rhetorical practices of Social Media users and how these practices currently shape communications. Students will create and maintain individual content creation projects.

Prerequisites: WRI173H5 or WRI203H5
Exclusions: WRI327H5

Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Total Instructional Hours: 24L
Mode of Delivery: In Class

WRI227H5 | Program Area: Communication, Culture, Information and Technology

WRI273H5 • Specialized Prose

Examines theory and offers practice in nonfiction narrative with a specialized purpose. Students will explore conceptions of genre and the way genre shapes, and is shaped by, the social context of communications.

Prerequisites: WRI173H5 or WRI203H5
Exclusions: WRI303H5

Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Total Instructional Hours: 24L
Mode of Delivery: In Class

WRI273H5 | Program Area: Communication, Culture, Information and Technology

WRI291H5 • Introduction to Journalism

This course provides an introduction to journalism and examines journalism’s role in a democratic society. Students learn the fundamentals of journalistic writing, with a focus on news and reporting. The course examines news formats and styles, sources, interviews, research, structure, and other fundamentals. The course functions as a newsroom, with students producing several reported articles throughout the term, and includes guest talks and workshops with practicing journalists.

Prerequisites: WRI173H5 or WRI203H5
Exclusions: WRI378H5

Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Total Instructional Hours: 24L
Mode of Delivery: In Class

WRI291H5 | Program Area: Communication, Culture, Information and Technology

WRI292H5 • Narrative Inquiry

In this course, students design and carry out writing through a series of research techniques. Students learn to select and evaluate expert and scientific information from primary sources and produce content for an array of different media. A critical reading program exposes students to research-based writing. Assignments are aimed at developing professional skills across different forms and topics.

Prerequisites: WRI173H5 or WRI203H5
Exclusions: WRI392H5

Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Total Instructional Hours: 24L
Mode of Delivery: In Class

WRI292H5 | Program Area: Communication, Culture, Information and Technology

WRI293H5 • Introduction to Technical Communication

Introduction to Technical Communication serves as an introduction to the academic and professional fields of technical writing and communication. It explores strategies for analyzing organizational contexts, including professional audiences, professional purposes for writing, and organizational cultures. Assignments will build skills in technical writing, document design, documentation, accessibility, and ethical considerations for communication in professional settings.

Prerequisites: WRI173H5 or WRI203H5 or CCT110H5

Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Total Instructional Hours: 24L
Mode of Delivery: In Class

WRI293H5 | Program Area: Communication, Culture, Information and Technology

WRI299H5 • Research Opportunity Program (ROP)

This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 299H course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.

Exclusions: WRI299Y5

Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Mode of Delivery: In Class

WRI299H5 | Program Area: Communication, Culture, Information and Technology

WRI299Y5 • Research Opportunity Program

This courses provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 299Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.


Course Experience: University-Based Experience
Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Mode of Delivery: In Class

WRI299Y5 | Program Area: Communication, Culture, Information and Technology

WRI306H5 • Writing for the Academic Sciences

Examines conventions and standard practices when scientists write for other scientists in academic science journals, in conference and poster presentations, and in grant applications. This course focuses on presenting primary and secondary research. Humanities and social science students will gain specialized skills in technical writing and editing. Science students will learn the writing practices expected in professional labs and research groups. Students will present an article-length paper presenting primary research findings and a conference poster presenting the same findings to a scientific audience.

Prerequisites: Completion of 8.0 credits with a minimum CGPA of 2.0
Exclusions: WRI490H5

Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Total Instructional Hours: 24L
Mode of Delivery: In Class

WRI306H5 | Program Area: Communication, Culture, Information and Technology

WRI307H5 • Writing about Science

Examines the best practices of science writers and journalists who, based on research published in science journals, communicate scientific information to an educated audience which lacks specialized training. Science students will learn techniques for educating and informing public audiences. Humanities and social science students will learn to access and present current scientific information in engaging narrative. This course examines scientific writing and journalistic writing about science.


Prerequisites: Completion of 8.0 credits with a minimumCGPA of 2.0

Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Total Instructional Hours: 24L
Mode of Delivery: In Class, Online (Summer only)

WRI307H5 | Program Area: Communication, Culture, Information and Technology

WRI310H5 • Social and Professional Languages

Examines language by approaching it through its social users -- ethnic groups, genders, and social classes -- and its contextualized usages -- the languages of publishing, advertising, law, technical communications, academe and the electronic media. The course explores the functions of these languages and the roles of such forces as dictionaries, social change, and new communications technologies in the evolution of these languages.

Prerequisites: WRI227H5 or WRI273H5 or WRI291H5 or WRI292H5 or WRI293H5 

Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Total Instructional Hours: 24L
Mode of Delivery: In Class

WRI310H5 | Program Area: Communication, Culture, Information and Technology

WRI320H5 • History and Writing

Examines written history as rhetoric and considers various conceptions of history and procedures for historical research and writing with reference to a range for models from Thucydides to contemporary writers of specialized and local histories. Students will conceptualize, design, and carry out primary source historical research to produce original history using locally available sources and materials.

Prerequisites: Completion of 8.0 credits with a minimum CGPA of 2.0

Course Experience: University-Based Experience
Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Total Instructional Hours: 24L
Mode of Delivery: In Class

WRI320H5 | Program Area: Communication, Culture, Information and Technology

WRI330H5 • Oral Rhetoric

Examines the rhetoric of speech drawing on theorists from Plato to Havelock to Ong, and considers implications of "great leap models" that present orality and literacy on a continuum. This course considers a range of oral practices from informal to formal, and from spontaneous to research-based and examines a range of rhetorical modes: dialogue, storytelling, reporting, debate and presentational address. Significant course time will be devoted to students' oral performance, both individual and team-based.

Prerequisites: WRI227H5 or WRI273H5 or WRI291H5 or WRI292H5 or WRI293H5

Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Total Instructional Hours: 24L
Mode of Delivery: In Class

WRI330H5 | Program Area: Communication, Culture, Information and Technology

WRI340H5 • Critical Reading and Listening

This course approaches reading and listening as time-bound processes by which we sense and make sense of the world around us. Reading and listening are not to be reduced merely to how we consume written or aural texts, but rather will be explored as the perceptual and cognitive activities that structure our sense of time, space, self and environment. We will place a particular emphasis on reading and listening in contemporary digital culture by engaging selectively with fundamental concepts in critical theory, as well as recent work in media and sound studies.

Prerequisites: WRI227H5 or WRI273H5 or WRI291H5 or WRI292H5 or WRI293H5

Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Total Instructional Hours: 24L
Mode of Delivery: In Class

WRI340H5 | Program Area: Communication, Culture, Information and Technology

WRI360H5 • Finance and Writing

Examines organizational discourse with special attention to financial analysis and financial documents as rhetorical elements. Students will design and carry out primary research into organizations such as publicly listed companies and non-profit organizations and will examine different modes for reporting research findings. Principles of discourse analysis and genre theory provide a conceptual framework. Students do not need backgrounds in accounting or finance to manage this course.

Prerequisites: Completion of 8.0 credits with a minimum CGPA of 2.0

Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Total Instructional Hours: 24L
Mode of Delivery: In Class

WRI360H5 | Program Area: Communication, Culture, Information and Technology

WRI363H5 • Communicating in a World of Data

This course examines how professionals in a variety of contexts communicate data. The course explores the growing relevance and allure of data in all its forms. Students will learn to interpret data to tell a story through numbers by creating infographics, writing informative articles from their own data mining, and presenting further findings at the end of the semester.

Prerequisites: Completion of 8.0 credits with a minimum CGPA of 2.0

Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Total Instructional Hours: 24L
Mode of Delivery: In Class

WRI363H5 | Program Area: Communication, Culture, Information and Technology

WRI365Y5 • Editing: Principles and Practice

Examines theory and practice of editing in a professional communications environment. The course will consider principles of editing and the editorial process as it applies to various forms of writing, from daily news, to magazines, books, web pages and blogs. Study will include examination of the building blocks of an editor's skills - grammar, spelling, syntax, punctuation - and the means employed by an editor working with a writer to achieve clarity, accuracy and immediate comprehension.

Prerequisites: WRI227H5 or WRI273H5 or WRI291H5 or WRI292H5 or WRI293H5
Exclusions: WRI365H5

Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Total Instructional Hours: 48L
Mode of Delivery: In Class

WRI365Y5 | Program Area: Communication, Culture, Information and Technology

WRI370H5 • Writing about Place

Examines writing about geographic places and the multiple rhetorics --- scientific, historical, geographical, social, political, economic --- that come into play. Students will design and carry out original primary research to develop their writing projects.

Prerequisites: WRI227H5 or WRI273H5 or WRI291H5 or WRI292H5 or WRI293H5

Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Total Instructional Hours: 24L
Mode of Delivery: In Class

WRI370H5 | Program Area: Communication, Culture, Information and Technology

WRI375H5 • Writing about Environment and Ecology

Examines the evolving rhetoric of scientific, journalistic, legal and political writing about environmental issues. The course will consider eco-linguistic theory and eco-critical discourse analysis. Through theory and applied research, including primary research, and writing, students will consider protocols, research standards, and ethics in writing about environment and appraise current issues around the emerging language of sustainability.

Prerequisites: Completion of 8.0 credits with a minimum CGPA of 2.0

Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Total Instructional Hours: 24L
Mode of Delivery: In Class

WRI375H5 | Program Area: Communication, Culture, Information and Technology

WRI380H5 • Podcasting

This course offers the skills and techniques needed to script, record and publish podcasts to the Web. Students will design and carry out original primary research to script, edit and produce independent podcasts. The course also explores the growing popularity of podcasts, and modern societies’ shift into a secondary orality.

Prerequisites: Completion of 8.0 credits with a minimum CGPA of 2.0

Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Total Instructional Hours: 24L
Mode of Delivery: In Class

WRI380H5 | Program Area: Communication, Culture, Information and Technology

WRI390H5 • Independent Studies

A research/writing project designed by the student in consultation with a faculty member. Independent Study students will produce a substantial body of writing at a high professional standard submitted in weekly installments and will develop their drafts in editing sessions with other Independent Studies students. Students will also design and carry out a reading program. Students may not take WRI390H5 and WRI391H5 in the same term.

Prerequisites: 8.0 credits including 1.5 WRI credits with a mark of 77% or higher in each and permission of course instructor or the PWC Director.

Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Mode of Delivery: In Class

WRI390H5 | Program Area: Communication, Culture, Information and Technology

WRI391H5 • Independent Studies

A research/writing project designed by the student in consultation with a faculty member. Independent Study students will produce a substantial body of writing at a high professional standard submitted in weekly installments and will develop their drafts in editing sessions with other Independent Studies students. Students will also design and carry out a reading program. The Project Supervisor will be chosen in consultation with the Program Coordinator. Students may not take WRI390H5 and WRI391H5 in the same term.

Prerequisites: 8.0 credits including 1.5 WRI credits with a mark of 77% or higher in each and permission of instructor or the PWC Director.

Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Mode of Delivery: In Class

WRI391H5 | Program Area: Communication, Culture, Information and Technology

WRI395H5 • Re-languaging: Writing Across Cultures and Languages

Explores the practice and experience of writing across cultures, languages, and space. We examine writing as inflected through questions of translation, migration, colonialism, and social identity. Students will consider these themes through a historical and theoretical lens to sharpen analytic and writerly skills.

Prerequisites: Completion of 8.0 credits with a minimum CGPA of 2.0

Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Total Instructional Hours: 24L
Mode of Delivery: In Class

WRI395H5 | Program Area: Communication, Culture, Information and Technology

WRI399H5 • Research Opportunity Program (ROP)

This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their third year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 399H course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.

Prerequisites: A minimum of 10.0 credits or permission of instructor.
Exclusions: WRI399Y5

Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Mode of Delivery: In Class

WRI399H5 | Program Area: Communication, Culture, Information and Technology

WRI399Y5 • Research Opportunity Program

This courses provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their third year to work in the research project of a professor in return for 399Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.

Prerequisites: A minimum of 10.0 credits or permission of instructor

Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Mode of Delivery: In Class

WRI399Y5 | Program Area: Communication, Culture, Information and Technology

WRI410H5 • Professional Writing and Communication Internship 1

This course is a practical internship and is available only upon application from PWC Majors. Through a placement, students will apply their expertise in writing, editing and communications. Students must plan well in advance for their placement and work closely with CCIT/PWC placement officer to determine eligibility and suitability. A report of the placement, samples of work completed on the placement and a presentation about it will be required at the end of the placement. These, and the employer's assessment, will determine the course mark.

Prerequisites: Completion of 13.0 credits with a minimum CGPA of 2.5 and approval of the internship coordinator/instructor, and evidence of additional career development (e.g. workshops, networking events, and professional communication with faculty, librarians, staff, and peers).
Exclusions: CCT410H5 and CCT409H5

Distribution Requirement: Social Science
Mode of Delivery: In Class

WRI410H5 | Program Area: Communication, Culture, Information and Technology