Major U. S. and International Corporations have expressed the opinion that an essential element of short-term and long-term professional success is effective communication skills particularly in writing.  This 12 credit hour online certificate program is designed to train a national and global audience to enable individuals to obtain expertise in professional writing while they are fully employed.

Learn From the Experts

The required courses for this program will be taught by the faculty members of the English and Speech Communications Programs in the College of Liberal Arts, who have appropriate training in advanced and creative writing.

Online Delivery

The entire program is available online which will give students more flexibility.  Students can complete the program from their home and at their leisure.  All online courses are taught through Desire2Learn (D2L) program.  Please visit the D2L computer requirements page to check if your computer meets the minimum technical requirement. 

Custom Made Curriculum 

Recent research in the field of professional writing has indicated that employers and graduate programs see writing and technical communication as critical to ones professional and academic success.  Our certificate program in Professional Writing has a demand based curriculum which will train employees especially those in managerial positions and graduate students to acquire relevant skills and expertise in written communication.

Program Delivery

Courses in the Professional Writing Certificate are offered completely online using the Desire2Learn system.

Course Descriptions

ENGL 379    Technical Communication
Study of and practice in writing of a technical nature.

ENGL 401    Advanced Writing
Advanced Writing will give students the opportunity to strengthen and extend their writing skills and to make intellectual connections between their major field of study and the other fields of study they have encountered during their college education. The course will review primary writing techniques, but the emphasis will be allowing students to develop their own styles and voices. The course will add to the reading, writing, and thinking experiences accumulated in and outside the student’s major.

ENGL 455    Visual Culture
Study and practice in applying a rhetorical approach to the visual design of professional and technical documents.

WRTG 479    Professional Technical Writing
The course focuses on the advanced study and practice of technical writing, emphasizing the skills necessary in various professional environments. The course will cover the range of electronic forms of written communication as well as the conventions of professional writing.