Professional Writing

This foundational course is designed as an introduction to professional writing genres, models, standards, and formats of the online Master of Professional Writing degree. The course features practical writing and editing experience in a collaborative work environment. The class will establish a basic level of writing skills among MPW students and will begin with the development, or enhancement, of students' skills in analysis, synthesis, summarizing, and expository writing. In the latter part of the course, students focus on the techniques that make professional writing flow and hold the reader's interest. A workshop approach helps beginning writers learn to craft their work so that it reads smoothly and communicates effectively. Topics include creating leads that command interest, developing a story idea without foundering, making graceful and unobtrusive transitions, enriching the theme, and perfecting the ruthless art of self-editing. Students write short essays and critique their own published work.

This course must be taken as each student's last course in the MPW program. This capstone course is a self-directed, guided independent practicum in which the student will produce a written project to the specifications of a "client" in one of the disciplinary areas of study. At the same time, students will have the opportunity to participate in a workshop-style program in which they will analyze the editorial and communication interests of various consumers of wrtiing services (corporate communication offices, magazines, online venues, etc.). The workshop will explore many areas of the business of being a writer and cover copyright and contracts, cover and query letters, standard business practices - and strategies for success.

This course gives students the confidence and skills to write speeches that will inform and captivate their audiences. With an interactive format taking students through a variety of techniques that will improve their writing skills, this course also offers the opportunity for specific skills to be learned, including grabbing your audience; writing great openings; how to structure you speeches; communicating technical information and facts; and writing a great finish.

This course teaches students how to prepare letter reports and technical reports about subjects that require technical explanations, diagrams, charts, and jargon understood by technical readers. In addition, this course teaches students how to present technical information to technical readers so they understand the concepts and can apply them in their work.

This course teaches students the rhetorical principles and writing practices necessary for producing effective business letters, memos, reports, and collaborative projects in professional contexts. All sections are offered in networked computer classrooms to ensure that students taking the course are prepared for the writing environment of the 21st century workplace. The course teaches the rhetorical principles that help students shape their business writing ethically, for multiple audiences, in a variety of professional situations.

This course focuses on the practice of writing about science, environment, medicine, and technology for audiences ranging from the general public to scientists and engineers. It starts with basic science writing for lay audiences, emphasizing organization and clear writing techniques and also explores problems of conveying highly complex technical information to multiple audiences, factors that influence science communication to the public, and interactions between scientists and journalists.

This course is concerned with the communication of financial information in writing: How should financial professionals construct documents? What are the writing techniques needed to make the numbers tell their own story? Topics include genres of financial writing (reports, presentations, correspondence), successful writing strategies (audience analysis, grammar usage, information gathering), organizing information, and using tables and charts.

This course explores how newspaper and magazine reporters approach writing stories for newspapers, magazines, and/or electronic media. The course focuses on developing necessary skills in journalism. Class time is devoted to such topics as interviewing, sourcing of stories, accuracy, fairness, voice and audience. Case studies examine professional ethics and the role of the journalist in framing public discourse. Finally, the course also explores the ways that online publishing is affecting what journalists write, how they write it, and how the public reads it.

This class will prepare students to enter these fields by teaching the strategies and skills needed to make compelling interactive experiences. Specifically, students will focus on developing their abilities to conceptualize, design, and create multimedia applications. Areas of focus will include: strategies for understanding and documenting audience needs and expectations; basics of effective user interface design; and typical process and artifacts involved with multimedia application development.

This course will provide an introduction to the technical skills needed for designing on-line content and interactive multimedia. Current multimedia tools for use in creating web-based products will be taught with ample opportunity for practice. Students learn authoring tools and multimedia techniques while covering topics, including non-text-based communication, integration of visuals, the animation of text and graphics, and digital video web-deployment.

A continuation of Web Design and Development I, this course will advance student knowledge and understanding of multimedia authoring tools.