Professional Writing, B.A.
The B.A. in Professional Writing
Professional Writing (PW) is grounded in rigorous study of rhetoric, argument, and genre, preparing students to create clear and effective communication for diverse audiences and real-world contexts — skills that remain foundational as communication platforms and professional contexts continue to evolve.
The major is deliberately structured as a flexible degree, allowing students to tailor their coursework to their own interests and goals. Students build professional experience and develop their portfolios through campus publications, internships, and writing-related work on and off campus. The combination of applied experience and rigorous rhetorical training prepares graduates for diverse careers in writing and communication, including corporate communication, public and media relations, marketing, editing and publishing, journalism, and advocacy writing. The degree also prepares graduates for advanced study in fields such as law, medicine, and rhetoric and writing.
Program Learning Outcomes
- Professional Writing Proficiency: Produce professional documents across standard genres (correspondence, reports, instructions, proposals) and platforms (print and digital media) that demonstrate mastery of writing conventions, including grammar, clarity, concision, and organization.
- Rhetorical Knowledge and Analysis: Apply rhetorical theory and principles to analyze communication as a complex rhetorical process; evaluate existing documents, identify strengths and weaknesses, and adapt information for different audiences, purposes, and contexts.
-
Professional and Ethical Practice: Apply professional writing ethics, particularly the responsible use of information; and demonstrate professional workplace behaviors including collaborating effectively, meeting deadlines, and addressing organizational concerns in communications
Curriculum
In addition to fulfilling all of the Dietrich College of the Humanities & Social Sciences degree requirements for B.A. candidates, Professional Writing majors must fulfill 13 courses for a minimum of 111 units.
Professional Writing Core (10 courses)84 units
Departmental Core Requirement (1 course)9 units
| Introductory Genre Writing Course | Units | |
| 76-212 | Introduction to TV Writing | 9 |
| 76-260 | Introduction to Writing Fiction | 9 |
| 76-261 | Intro to Writing Creative Nonfiction | 9 |
| 76-265 | Introduction to Writing Poetry | 9 |
| 76-269 | Introduction to Screenwriting | 9 |
Professional Writing Core Requirements (4 courses)30 units
| Professional Writing Core Courses | ||
| 76-271 | Introduction to Professional and Technical Writing | 9 |
| 76-300 | Professional Seminar | 3 |
| 76-373 | Argument | 9 |
| 76-390 | Style | 9 |
Rhetoric Requirement (1 course)9 units
Complete one course from a set of varied offerings in Rhetoric. These courses focus explicitly on language and discourse as objects of study and emphasize the relationships of language, text structure, and meaning within specific contexts. Courses include but are not limited to the following:
| Rhetoric Courses | ||
| 76-219 | Law & Blame | 9 |
| 76-318 | Communicating in the Global Marketplace | 9 |
| 76-325 | Intertextuality | 9 |
| 76-327 | Equity & Communication: Strategies for Institutional Change | 9 |
| 76-384 | Race, Nation, and the Enemy | 9 |
| 76-389 | Rhetorical Grammar | 9 |
| 76-393 | Narrative & Argument | 9 |
| 76-415 | Mediated Power and Propaganda | 9 |
| 76-416 | Rhetorics of Race & Empire | 9 |
| 76-425 | Rhetoric, Science, and the Public Sphere | 9 |
| 76-427 | Topics in Rhetoric: Audience | 9 |
| 76-473 | Rhetoric & the Construction of Race | 9 |
| 76-475 | Law, Performance, and Identity | 9 |
| 76-476 | Rhetoric of Science | 9 |
| 76-479 | Model Minorities? Race, Rhetoric, & Identity in Asian America | 9 |
| 76-490 | Digital Rhetorics | 9 |
| 76-492 | Rhetoric of Public Policy | 9 |
Advanced Writing/Rhetoric Courses (4 courses)36-42 units
Complete four courses from a set of varied offerings in Advanced Writing/Rhetoric offered by the Department of English. Options include all courses that fulfill the Rhetoric requirement above, plus additional courses in specialized areas of professional writing listed directly below. Students should select courses in consultation with their Department of English academic advisor or the Director of Professional & Technical Writing. Courses include but are not limited to the following:
| 76-301 | Internship Please see the Department of English policy on Internship for Credit under "Other Programs/Opportunities." | var. |
| 76-306 | Editing and Publishing (instructor permission required) | Var. |
| 76-307 | Advanced Editing & Publishing (instructor permission required) | Var. |
| 76-314 | Data Stories | 9 |
| 76-354 | Watchdog Journalism | 9 |
| 76-366 | Grant and Proposal Writing | 9 |
| 76-368 | Role Playing Game Writing Workshop | 12 |
| 76-372 | News Writing | 9 |
| 76-375 | Emerging Technologies in Writing | 9 |
| 76-380 | Methods in Humanities Analytics | 9 |
| 76-388 | Coding for Humanists | 9 |
| 76-389 | Rhetorical Grammar | 9 |
| 76-391 | Document & Information Design | 9 |
| 76-393 | Narrative & Argument | 9 |
| 76-395 | Science Writing | 9 |
| 76-455 | The Pittsburgh Review of Books (PRoB) | 9 |
| 76-464 | Creative Nonfiction Workshop | 9 |
| 76-474 | Software Documentation | 9 |
| 76-481 | Introduction to Multimedia Design | 12 |
| 76-483 | Research Methods in Technical & Professional Communication | 9 |
| 76-487 | Information Architecture & Content Strategy Co-requisite course: 76-488 Information Architecture & Content Strategy Lab (3.0 units) | 9 |
| 76-488 | Information Architecture & Content Strategy Lab Co-requisite course: 76-487 Information Architecture & Content Strategy (9.0 units) | 3 |
| 76-494 | Healthcare Communications | 9 |
English Electives (3 courses)27 units
Complete three courses for a minimum of 27 units from any of the English Department’s offerings (with the exception of 76-270 Writing for the Professions, which is designed for non-majors), while adhering to the following specifics:
- One of the three English Electives may be at the 200-level; the remaining two English Electives must be at the 300- or 400-level.
- Two of the three English Electives must be courses designated as Text/Context Electives, which focus on the relationship between texts and their cultural and historical contexts.
Text/Context Electives
| Text/Context Electives | ||
| 76-203 | Literature & Culture in the 18th Century | 9 |
| 76-207 | Special Topics in Literature & Culture | 9 |
| 76-210 | Banned Books | 9 |
| 76-211 | Model Minorities?: Introduction to Asian American Studies | 9 |
| 76-217 | Literature & Culture of the 20th and 21st Century | 9 |
| 76-219 | Law & Blame | 9 |
| 76-221 | Books You Should Have Read By Now | 9 |
| 76-220 | Mystery! From Detective Fiction to True Crime | 9 |
| 76-230 | Literature & Culture in the 19th Century | 9 |
| 76-236 | CMU Prison Education Project: | 12 |
| 76-239 | Introduction to Film Studies | 9 |
| 76-241 | Introduction to Gender Studies | 9 |
| 76-242 | American Woman Writers | 9 |
| 76-244 | Immigrant Fictions | 9 |
| 76-245 | Shakespeare: Tragedies & Histories | 9 |
| 76-247 | Shakespeare: Comedies and Romances | 9 |
| 76-259 | Film History | 9 |
| 76-268 | Comic Books & Pop Culture | 9 |
| 76-278 | Japanese Film and Literature: The Art of Storytelling | 9 |
| 76-295 | Russian Cinema: From the Bolshevik Revolution to Putin's Russia | 9 |
| 76-296 | 20th Century Russian Masterpieces | 9 |
| 76-299 | 19th Century Russian Masterpieces | 9 |
| 76-312 | Crime and Justice in American Film | 9 |
| 76-314 | Data Stories | 9 |
| 76-317 | Contemporary American Fiction | 9 |
| 76-326 | Contemporary Global Fiction | 9 |
| 76-329 | Performing Race in Early Modern Drama | 9 |
| 76-337 | Intersectional Feminism | 9 |
| 76-339 | Topics in Film and Media | 9 |
| 76-341 | The Age of Jane Austen | 9 |
| 76-342 | Love: A Cultural History | 9 |
| 76-343 | Rise of the American Novel | 9 |
| 76-347 | Major Fiction | 9 |
| 76-348 | Adaptation: Fiction to Film | 9 |
| 76-350 | Critical Theories about Literature | 9 |
| 76-353 | Transnational Feminisms: Fiction and Film | 9 |
| 76-362 | Reading in Forms: Nonfiction | 9 |
| 76-363 | Reading in Forms: Poetry | 9 |
| 76-364 | Reading in Forms: Fiction | 9 |
| 76-367 | Fact Into Film: Translating History into Cinema | 9 |
| 76-370 | Independent Study in Literary and Cultural Studies (instructor permission required) | Var. |
| 76-376 | Crafting Race in 19th-Century Britain | 9 |
| 76-382 | Media: Past, Present, and Future | 9 |
| 76-392 | Special Topics in Literature & Culture | 9 |
| 76-401 | Hollywood vs. the World | 9 |
| 76-407 | Topics in Literary & Cultural Studies | 9 |
| 76-409 | History of German Film | 9 |
| 76-410 | The Long Eighteenth Century | 9 |
| 76-414 | Decolonial Imaginaries | 9 |
| 76-423 | Transnational Feminisms | 9 |
| 76-424 | Theories of Social Class | 9 |
| 76-429 | Introduction to Computational Humanities | 9 |
| 76-431 | Gender Play in Early Modern Drama | 9 |
| 76-434 | Literature & Social Change in the 19th Century | 9 |
| 76-439 | Seminar in Film and Media Studies | 9 |
| 76-442 | Black Lives in Pre-1900 Britain | 9 |
| 76-445 | Milton | 9 |
| 76-446 | Revenge Tragedy | 9 |
| 76-450 | Law, Culture, and the Humanities | 9 |
| 76-452 | Generations and Culture | 9 |
| 76-453 | Literature of Empire | 9 |
| 76-454 | Rise of the Blockbuster | 9 |
| 76-461 | Refugee Stories: Literature, Art and Film | 9 |
| 76-467 | Crime Fiction and Film | 9 |
| 76-468 | Space and Mobilities | 9 |
| 76-482 | Rise of the Art Film | 9 |
| 76-495 | Other People's Words: The History, Theory, and Practice of Interviews | 9 |
Double Counting
Students may double count up to two advisor-approved courses with other programs outside of the Department of English. Note: courses being used for the Dietrich General Education requirements do not have a double-counting limit.
Transfer Courses
Students may transfer up to two advisor-approved courses from other non-CMU programs/institutions toward the primary major in Professional Writing, with the exception of the Departmental Core Requirement course and the Professional Writing Core Requirement courses. If the two-course maximum is met, other related transfer courses will be considered for general education requirements and free electives for graduation. Please see the Dietrich College Advanced Standing and Transfer Credit Policy for more information.
Recommended Curriculum Pathway: B.A. in Professional Writing
This plan is the recommended pathway for completing the B.A. in Professional Writing in four years. While it is not required for students to follow this pathway precisely, it is highly recommended for students to do so, and we recommend students begin the major’s courses as early as possible. Students in Dietrich College may declare their primary major as early as their second semester. Students who have not declared their major in the Department of English may still take courses with us.
Students may also view the pathway for the B.A. in Professional Writing via the Stellic Degree Audit Application.
| First-Year | Second-Year | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | Spring | Fall | Spring |
| GEN ED: Foundations: Communication | GEN ED: Foundations: Contextual Thinking | GEN ED: Foundations: Computational Thinking | GEN ED: Disciplinary Perspectives: Logic/Mathematical Reasoning |
| GEN ED: Disciplinary Perspectives: The Arts / PW: Introductory Genre Writing Course (double-count) | GEN ED: Foundations: Scientific Inquiry | GEN ED: Foundations: Intercultural & Global Inquiry | 76-390 Style |
| GEN ED: Disciplinary Perspectives: Humanities | GEN ED: Disciplinary Perspectives: Social Sciences | GEN ED: Perspective on Justice & Injustice | PW: Text/Context English Elective #1 |
| GEN ED: Grand Challenge Seminar | 76-271 Introduction to Professional and Technical Writing | 76-300 Professional Seminar | Free Elective |
| GEN ED: Foundations: Data Analysis | Free Elective | Free Elective | Free Elective |
| Free Elective | |||
| Third-Year | ||
|---|---|---|
| Fall | Spring | Summer |
| 76-373 Argument | Open for course exploration, requirements for other majors/minors, study abroad, etc. | GEN ED: Experiential Learning |
| PW: Rhetoric Course | Open for course exploration, requirements for other majors/minors, study abroad, etc. | |
| PW: Advanced Writing/Rhetoric Course #1 | Open for course exploration, requirements for other majors/minors, study abroad, etc. | |
| PW: Text/Context English Elective #2 | Open for course exploration, requirements for other majors/minors, study abroad, etc. | |
| Free Elective | Open for course exploration, requirements for other majors/minors, study abroad, etc. | |
| Fourth-Year | |
|---|---|
| Fall | Spring |
| GEN ED: Disciplinary Perspectives: Additional Disciplines | PW: Advanced Writing/Rhetoric Course #4 |
| PW: Advanced Writing/Rhetoric Course #2 | PW: English Elective #4 |
| PW: Advanced Writing/Rhetoric Course #3 | Free Elective |
| PW: English Elective #3 | Free Elective |
| Free Elective | Free Elective |