WRDS 200 Writing and Communication Foundations

Course overview

This course invites students to explore key approaches to writing and communication by critically examining an array of texts—from podcasts to policy briefs, from memes to news articles, from Reddit posts to research articles, from Tik Tok videos to testimonials—and how these are used in context to produce knowledge, build worlds, construct identities, and exercise power. The course introduces students to writing and communication as a field of study: It introduces students to key principles that underpin the field, to enduring and pressing issues that are transforming the field, and to methods of analysis widely used in the field to make sense of how writing and communication are produced, circulated, and used in different cultural, academic, and professional contexts.

Throughout the course we explore knowledge about writing and communication and a range of issues related to writing, multi-modal communication, audience and situation, social (inter-)action, knowledge-making, identity construction, ideology and power, colonization and Indigenization, and disciplinary and professional practice. We move between different levels of analysis—from close attention to detailed choices of language and visual presentation, to community-shaped genres and their social functions, to pragmatic (real-world) effects across texts and situations — to analyze a variety of writing and communication case studies. Students learn about writing and communication using active and blended learning activities and by completing individual and team-based assignments along the way; these involve writing but are not writing intensive.

Course Structure

The course is organized into 5 modules. Each module focuses on 1 key principle in writing and communication and a set of related ideas and claims. Through instructor-led and student-led workshops, presentations, and reflections that accompany each module, students learn about writing and communication principles, processes, and issues and critically examine writing- and communication-related case studies associated with them.

Students will learn in the first week of each module through a series of instructor-led activities: curated readings, interactive quizzes, lectures, and a writing- and communication-related case study (consisting of one or several texts and their context), including an analysis of the case study modeled by the instructor. In the second week of each module, students will learn by working with each other and with the instructor to select further case studies — that speak to key principles explored in the course and to student experiences within and outside the course — and by sharing them with the class, facilitating short analysis workshops, and summarizing and synthesizing key lessons learned and issues raised.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, engaged learners will be able to:

[LO1] Identify and explain key principles about writing and communication, including but not limited to the following: writing and communication

are social and rhetorical activities;
are knowledge- and meaning-making activities;
are implicated in processes of colonization, decolonization, Indigenization, and reconciliation;
enact and create ideologies and (embodied) identities;
act through recognizable forms and multiple modes.

[LO2] Recognize how these key principles apply to a range of writing and communication case studies curated by the course instructor and the learners themselves.
[LO3] Analyze these case studies using analytic methods commonly used in writing and communication: e.g., content analysis, multimodal analysis, rhetorical analysis, discourse analysis, genre analysis.
[LO4] Engage in constructive and collaborative dialogue and inquiry about course concepts via peer discussions, workshops, writing, and reviewing.

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View up-to-date course information for 2025/26 Winter Term 1 and Term 2 on Workday Student, UBC’s new student information system, by logging into MyWorkday.

Interested in the Minor in Writing & Communication?

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WRDS 150 Writing and Research in the Disciplines

Students studying outside of the Faculty of Arts at UBC can take WRDS 150 (formerly WRDS 150B until September 2025) in order to meet three credits of the communication requirement for their faculties.

Course overview

WRDS 150 is designed to introduce you to many aspects of research and writing in university, including how to:

Conduct research
Write about research
Recognize, analyze, and employ specific features of discourse in academic writing (i.e. contextualized language use)

WRDS 150 is a foundational research and writing course at UBC where you receive an apprenticeship into academic research and writing while learning fundamental concepts and practices from active and experienced scholars. Additionally, WRDS 150 uses research areas that can be approached from at least three disciplinary perspectives, including non-Arts disciplines.

Learning Objectives

WRDS 150 aims to teach students two main objectives: read and work with academic sources in context, and to engage in apprentice scholarly research.

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Reading and working with academic sources in context

In order to read and work with academic sources, our students will:

Read, summarize, compare, and critically evaluate scholarly articles, to retain the key arguments/findings and emphases of the originals.
Recognize forms of argumentation and identify the rhetorical practices made by members of specific academic research disciplines, including positioning, definition, attribution, hedging, and presupposition/assertion.
Recognize the goals, methods, and citation practices of specific academic research disciplines.

Engaging in apprentice scholarly research

Those who can engage in scholarly research will:

Develop a research project that addresses a gap in knowledge within a particular research community, and which implements relevant language and rhetorical practices in a variety of genres, including a research proposal and working bibliography, a presentation (oral or poster), and a final paper.
Gather relevant and credible primary and secondary sources, using appropriate tools and methods, including UBC Library resources. - Engage responsibly with and within research communities, using appropriate citation practices that meet the expectations of academic integrity and adhering to ethical standards of data collection with research collaborators.
Engage in constructive and collaborative practices of knowledge production, including performing peer review and integrating feedback.

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Course Topics

2025S WRDS 150 (formerly 150B) Course Topics

Interested in the Minor in Writing & Communication?

Declare your interest and reach out to an Advisor.

WRDS 151 Writing and Research in the Disciplines

Students in the Faculty of Arts can take WRDS 151 (formerly WRDS 150A) in order to meet the Writing Requirement in the Faculty of Arts.

Course name will change to WRDS 151 starting in September 2025.

Course overview

WRDS 151 is designed to introduce you to many aspects of research and writing in university, including how to:

Conduct research
Write about research
Recognize, analyze, and employ specific features of discourse in academic writing (i.e. contextualized language use)

WRDS 151 is a foundational research and writing course at UBC where you receive an apprenticeship into academic research and writing while learning fundamental concepts and practices from active and experienced scholars. To illustrate how different types of knowledge about a single issue can be made by research in different disciplines, each section of WRDS 151 has a “research area” chosen by the instructor.

Learning Outcomes

WRDS 151 aims to teach students two main objectives: read and work with academic sources in context, and to engage in apprentice scholarly research.

Expand all

Collapse all

Reading and working with academic sources in context

In order to read and work with academic sources, our students will:

Read, summarize, compare, and critically evaluate scholarly articles, to retain the key arguments/findings and emphases of the originals.
Recognize forms of argumentation and identify the rhetorical practices made by members of specific academic research disciplines, including positioning, definition, attribution, hedging, and presupposition/assertion.
Recognize the goals, methods, and citation practices of specific academic research disciplines.

Engaging in apprentice scholarly research

Those who can engage in scholarly research will:

Develop a research project that addresses a gap in knowledge within a particular research community, and which implements relevant language and rhetorical practices in a variety of genres, including a research proposal and working bibliography, a presentation (oral or poster), and a final paper.
Gather relevant and credible primary and secondary sources, using appropriate tools and methods, including UBC Library resources.
Engage responsibly with and within research communities, using appropriate citation practices that meet the expectations of academic integrity and adhering to ethical standards of data collection with research collaborators.
Engage in constructive and collaborative practices of knowledge production, including performing peer review and integrating feedback.

WRDS151 for Music

In conjunction with the Department of Music, we offer a specialized section of WRDS 151 to coordinate with first-year Bachelor of Music students’ schedules and address their particular interests. This specialized section of WRDS 151 will explore differences and intersections between scholarly and musical discourses. Most importantly, Bachelor of Music students will engage with and produce knowledge that will strengthen their development as musicians and members of UBC’s scholarly community.

WRDS151 for Bachelor of International Economics (BIE)

In consultation with the Vancouver School of Economics, we have designed a special version of WRDS 151 for students registered in the Bachelor of International Economics (BIE) program. As members of the BIE program, you will begin to participate and produce work within the discipline of economics. Therefore the topics explored in the class relate to economics, development studies, geography, education, sociology, health policy, women’s studies, marketing, media and cultural studies, environmental science, and sociology.

Quick Links

Course Topics

2025S WRDS 151 (formerly 150A) Course Topics

Interested in the Minor in Writing & Communication?

Declare your interest and reach out to an Advisor.

WL 2026S Summer Session WRDS Communications and Events Coordinator

The School of Journalism, Writing, and Media (JWAM) is inviting applications for the WRDS Communications and Events Coordinator for the 2026S Summer Session.

The WRDS Communications and Events Coordinator will assist with projects relating to the programs offered by the School specifically in Writing, Research, and Discourse Studies (WRDS). The Communications and Events Coordinator will be responsible for a range of duties, which will result in valuable learning and professional development opportunities.

Some Duties of the position can be found below with the complete list and qualifications being found on Careers Online:

helping plan and coordinate WRDS public and educational events;
writing and disseminating WRDS event announcements via multiple communication channels (with a focus on web-based, digital, and social media channels);
assisting with the implementation of WRDS web/digital communication strategies;
supporting the upkeep of web pages relating to WRDS programs, courses, events, achievements, and initiatives;
assisting with the research, writing, and preparation of web, digital, and social media content relating to WRDS programs, courses, events, achievements, and initiatives
carrying out copy assignments that support the WRDS web/digital communication strategy, which involves working with faculty and students to create consistent, high impact material for digital media
writing and disseminating feature stories relevant to WRDS programs, courses, events, achievements, and initiatives via multiple communication channels (with a focus on web-based, digital, and social media channels);
creating high-impact banners and posters to promote WRDS events, programs, and courses on campus and at student information sessions (print & digital signage);
creating and maintaining procedural guides for creating WRDS communications and events materials, for succession planning (e.g., social media templates, guidelines for sourcing images, guidelines for making communications/marketing requests via UBC channels).

Applications will be accepted through Careers Online until March 25th, 2026,

JWAM is committed to research and pedagogy that responds to and addresses historic inequities and therefore welcomes applicants who would contribute to our ongoing efforts to create an open and diverse community, one that fosters the inclusion of voices that have been underrepresented or discouraged in the fields of journalism, writing, and academia in general.

Equity and diversity are essential to academic excellence. An open and diverse community fosters the inclusion of voices that have been underrepresented or discouraged. We encourage applications from members of groups that have been marginalized on any grounds enumerated under the B.C. Human Rights Code, including sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, racialization, disability, political belief, religion, marital or family status, age, and/or status as a First Nation, Métis, Inuit, or Indigenous person. We encourage all qualified persons to apply.

WRDS 200 Writing and Communication Foundations