About the Program
The professional writing major includes strands in technical writing and writing and publishing. It is a good major for students who love to write and who enjoy organizing and presenting information in multiple media. The professional writing major is noted for cultivating expertise in writing for the digital workplace; in teaching and researching multimedia writing, visual rhetoric, usability, and emergent technologies; in print and digital publishing; and for emphasizing collaboration, community service, and open-source development and documentation. Skills learned include the ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing; to edit, revise and design professional documents; to analyze, interpret, and present data; to present information clearly and creatively; and to understand how people use writing to teach, delight, and persuade. Students may focus on writing for the arts or writing for industry, and they must choose a minor that will give them additional expertise.
Professional writing offers two major scholarships annually to undergraduates, each currently worth $5,000, and focused on Technical Writing and Writing and Publishing.
All professional writing majors have opportunities to work with journals and magazines published in the English Department and two scholarly presses.
The Purdue Exponent student newspaper provides ample opportunity to hone journalism skills and get published on a regular basis. Professional writing majors often work as interns or in part-time positions with the newspaper.
Please visit Professional Writing for more information.
Degree Requirements and Supplemental Information
The full Program Requirements for 2016-17 Professional Writing include all Supplemental Information and selective lists of those categories which a student must fulfill in order to earn their degree. These are intended to be printer-friendly, but include less descriptive course detail.
Please see below for program requirements and the necessary degree fulfillments.
English-BA
PRWR
120 Credits
2.5 GPA in courses is required for prerequisite and background section
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