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Professional Writing (BHA Concentration)

Laura Donaldson, BHA Creative Writing Concentration Advisor (BH 259)

BHA Professional Writing Concentration

(84 units minimum)

Professional Writing combines liberal and professional education with a strong foundation in rhetorical studies. The concentration in Professional Writing has a strong career orientation and is specifically designed to prepare students for successful careers as writers and communications specialists in a range of fields: publishing, government, journalism, the non-profit sector, education, public and media relations, corporate communications, advocacy writing and the arts. The concentration is designed to develop articulate and reflective communications professionals with both the skills needed to enter and negotiate current work contexts (including writing for the web and other digital media) and the analytic and problem-solving skills needed to understand and keep pace with cultural and technological change.

Prerequisite English Elective                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Students with a concentration in Professional Writing must complete one perquisite course from the English Department’s offerings, which focuses on the relationships between texts and their cultural and historical contexts. The course must be at or above the 200 level. 76-270 Writing for the Professions, and 76-271 Introduction to Professional and Technical Writing may not count as English electives. Appropriate courses are advertised every semester in the English department’s “What Counts for What” list.

Foundation Courses (5 courses, 39 units)
Units
76-xxxOne Introductory Genre Writing Course (Nonfiction, Fiction, Poetry, TV Writing or Screenwriting)9
76-271Introduction to Professional and Technical Writing9
76-300Professional Seminar3
76-373Argument9
76-390Style9
Rhetoric Course (1 course, 9 units)

Students with a concentration in Professional Writing complete one course from designated Rhetoric courses offered and advertised each semester by the English Department. Rhetoric courses focus on understanding the role of language and language practices in both personal and professional contexts. Courses emphasize the relationships between texts and their contexts and pay particular attention to textual features, meaning, processes of reading and writing, and the ways in which language practices vary over time and across situations and cultures. The courses also equip students with explicit techniques for analyzing, understanding and exploring language practices. The Rhetoric courses may also be taken as part of the concentration requirements for three additional, Advanced Writing/Rhetoric courses and include but are not limited to the following list.

76-318Communicating in the Global Marketplace9
76-325Intertextuality9
76-327Equity & Communication: Strategies for Institutional Change9
76-384Race, Nation, and the Enemy9
76-388Coding for Humanists9
76-389Rhetorical Grammar9
76-395Science Writing9
76-415Mediated Power and Propaganda9
76-416Rhetorics of Race & Empire9
76-425Rhetoric, Science, and the Public Sphere9
76-473Rhetoric & the Construction of Race9
76-476Rhetoric of Science9
76-490Digital Rhetorics9
Advanced Writing/Rhetoric Courses (3 courses, 27 units minimum)

Students with a concentration in Professional Writing complete three Advanced Writing/Rhetoric courses at the 300- or 400-level at a minimum of 27 units, as some courses are only six units, while others are variable units. Options for these courses include all of the Rhetoric courses listed above plus the writing-focused courses listed below. Additional courses that fulfill these requirements are advertised on a semester-by-semester basis. For help in choosing which of the possible options are most appropriate for various professional goals – journalism, writing for new media, editing and publishing, public relations/corporate communications, or science and technical writing – consult your English Department advisor. All students with a concentration in PW, regardless of their career focus, are encouraged to take 76-391 Document & Information Design and 76-487 Information Architecture & Content Strategy/76-488 Information Architecture & Content Strategy Lab to extend their skills in writing for print to include information design for digital media. Both courses focus on the role of the writer in these specializations and provide lab instruction in the relevant software and related computer skills.

Courses include but are not limited to:

76-301Internship
(requires permission from program director)		Var.
76-314Data Stories9
76-354Watchdog Journalism9
76-366Grant and Proposal Writing9
76-372News Writing9
76-375Emerging Technologies in Writing9
76-380Methods in Humanities Analytics9
76-391Document & Information Design9
76-425Rhetoric, Science, and the Public Sphere9
76-464Creative Nonfiction Workshop9
76-474Software Documentation9
76-475Law, Performance, and Identity9
76-481Introduction to Multimedia Design12
76-483Research Methods in Technical & Professional Communication9
76-487Information Architecture & Content Strategy
(co-requisite with 76-488)		9
76-488Information Architecture & Content Strategy Lab
(co-requisite with 76-487)		3
76-494Healthcare Communications9
English Elective (1 course, 9 units minimum)

Students with a concentration in Professional Writing complete one additional course from the English Department’s offerings. This course should be one that focuses on the relationships between texts and their cultural and historical contexts. Courses in literature, cultural studies, rhetoric and film/media studies that meet this requirement are advertised on a semester-by-semester basis. The English Elective may be any course offered by the Department with the exception of 76-270 Writing for the Professions, which is designed for non-majors and overlaps with 76-271 Introduction to Professional and Technical Writing.

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