Multimedia and Digital Writing Major
Explore the impact and richness of English and multimodal digital media
The English major concentration in multimedia and digital writing helps you develop analytical skills by focusing on a diverse range of hybrid forms that integrate spoken and written language, expressive typography and layout, voice and sound, image and film–forms created for various historical and cultural contexts. You'll explore the social and expressive power of these works and learn how to use multimodal digital media ethically and impactfully as you prepare for active public citizenship in today's digital world.
The program will give you the opportunity to expand your creative expression and develop effective communication through different media. Whether you're interested in public writing, digital storytelling, or multimedia production, our program offers valuable opportunities.
As a part of your concentration in multimedia you might choose courses like Gothic Monsters, where you explore monsters that stalk the night in literature and compare that to Caribbean Literature where you'll study off-campus in the Bahamas to immerse yourself in the literature's cultural home. Then stretch your viewpoints with an Introduction to Film studies, or Video Games as Literature. So many options.
Explore more aspects of creative writing.
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Creative writing courses and degree requirements
The coursework for this concentration within the English major will lead you on a journey of reading, viewing, and analyzing a wide range of Anglophone works and their social impact. You’ll use what you learn to inform your own writing skills and voice for print, creative and academic digital publishing, video, and even video game design based on where your interests lead you. You’ll also be able to incorporate your choice of multimedia courses from departments in the arts, languages, and history.
Capstone experience
In your junior year you will identify an advanced project that you wish to pursue as your capstone project. This may be an internship program, participation in Cornell’s Summer Research Institute, an honors project, or a research seminar that contains a multimedia component.
Research opportunities in multimedia and digital writing
Students may have the opportunity to participate in the Cornell Summer Research Institute on a multimedia project like the one undertaken by India Smith under the mentorship of Professor Katie Sagal, which culminated in an interactive website, showcasing the botanical textbooks of long-neglected pioneering scientist and educator Almira Hart Lincoln Phelps. Other CSRI multimedia projects include Kylie Berry’s and Hannah Kalbrener’s work, supervised by Professor Katy Stavreva and designed as companion to a forthcoming edition of academic essays co-edited by her for Arden Bloomsbury–a multi-layered digital map of the theatre performance and film distribution circuits of East European Shakespeare adaptations whose popularity has transcended national borders.
Such projects give students experience in writing for expansive audiences in a variety of media, exploring new and exciting topics in established and emerging fields. They also allow student researchers to develop impressive work to set themselves apart in the pursuit of future jobs and graduate school applications.
Off-campus study opportunities
Many courses allow you to get out of the classroom and get lost in the archives or explore the world. You will have a variety of opportunities to work on and design projects that combine academic inquiry and creative practice. Our program regularly offers off-campus courses to study Chicago’s vibrant literary scene, literary and theatre history in the UK, creative writing in the Bahamas, and nature writing in local and regional nature preserves.
Internship opportunities in multimedia and digital writing
As a student and writer for the digital era, you’ll want to explore different styles of writing and how your writing, design, and editing skills can be used in the wider world. The Berry Career Institute and the Ingenuity in Action program can help you identify opportunities, assist with funding for qualified experiences, and help you prepare your internship applications and resume.
What are Cornell students doing in internships? Check out their blogs
Career opportunities in multimedia and digital writing
Having effective skills as a writer and an understanding of the different approaches to writing for multimedia opens up a wide range of opportunities for your future career. You might work as a narrative designer for video games, a screenwriter, a journalist, or a social media manager. Or maybe you’ll choose to pass on what you’ve learned with others as a K-12 English or language arts educator, or continue your studies in a masters or PhD program.
The Berry Career Institute can help you identify what you’ll pursue with your knowledge of effective communication through digital media.