Professional Writing

The Professional Writing Minor prepares students to work in writing-intensive professions within a wide variety of workplaces. Throughout the minor, students learn skills of effective communication by approaching each writing task from a rhetorical standpoint, with an audience-centered focus. Students in this minor learn professional standards for evaluating and emulating workplace-specific expectations for style, editing, and document design.

Students who earn the Professional Writing Minor can fill an array of workplace roles, such as editor, technical communicator, copywriter, health communicator, research analyst, proofreader, grant writer, corporate communications specialist, science writer, web content developer, and—with further schooling—professor of composition and rhetoric. In completing the five courses required for the minor, students create a professional portfolio to display their skill at developing and polishing texts in many of the genres that are commonly used in professional settings.

Since every workplace values employees who exhibit strong writing skills, this minor can complement any major in the humanities, sciences, business, education, and the arts. Professors working within the minor continue to develop opportunities for students to take cross-listed courses and increase their understanding of how to write for many different audiences and contexts. Past courses have cross-listed with African American Studies, Business, Environmental Studies, and Peace and Justice Studies.

The professional writing minor is composed of 15 credit hours.

Core Concepts

• Learning valuable written communication skills
• Developing an audience-centered focus
• Understanding workplace writing
• Employing effective Document design