Degree Programs:

School of Humanities and Social Sciences

Department of English and Language Studies

Certificate in Professional Writing

To be successful in today’s digital workplace, writers must be masters of many genres and media: memos, emails, proposals, reports, multimodal presentations, and a wide variety of digital media. They must also be able to shift their focus efficiently and effectively–writing for different audiences and adapting information and research accordingly–and capable of researching, summarizing, and reporting on complex ideas in ways that are understandable by diverse audiences. The PWC is a 12-credit-hour certificate program that provides students with the skills necessary to write effectively for the workplace, for the web, and for advanced study in graduate and professional school. Students take three core courses and one elective from the list below. All courses are three credit hours unless otherwise noted.  

Core Courses (choose 3) 9 cr.

  • ENG-W 231 Professional Writing Skills (3 cr.)
  • ENG-W 315 Writing for the Web (3 cr.)
  • ENG-W 365 Technical Editing  (3 cr.)

Electives: (choose 1) 3 cr.

  • ENG-W 210 Literacy and Public Life (3 cr.)
  • ENG-W 215 Intro to Rhetoric (3 cr.)
  • ENG-W 221 Writing in the Disciplines (3 cr.) 
  • ENG-W 302 Screenwriting (3 cr.)
  • ENG-W 311 Writing Creative Nonfiction (3 cr.)
  • ENG-W 321 Advanced Technical Writing (3 cr.)
  • ENG-W 350 Advanced Expository Writing (3 cr.)

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