While the major appeals to students with strong professional interests, elective requirements encourage writers to develop the broad intellectual background one expects from a university education. In choosing these electives, students are encouraged to explore courses from across the university. This concentration will frequently be defined as three courses in a single discipline but may take a number of forms. A student interested in journalism, for example, would be encouraged to take courses in history and political science, while one interested in writing for health-related fields would be pointed toward courses in biology and chemistry. Other possible concentrations include graphic design, the arts, psychology, or economics and business.
Interdepartmental concentrations are also possible.
A student interested in electronic publishing or computer interface design, for example, might plan a concentration including cognitive psychology, graphic design, and computer-related courses. The point of the concentration is to encourage both a broadly liberal education and expertise in subject matter related to the student's field of interest. Various opportunities to gain professional experience and accumulate material for their writing portfolios are available to writing majors through campus publications, internships, and other writing-related employment on and off campus. The weekly campus newspapers, The Tartan and The Student Union , both completely student-run, provide opportunities for students to publish and to gain experience in skills ranging from editing, to layout, to production, to selling ads or managing business affairs. Students can also write for the faculty newspaper, Focus .