ARCHIVED 2022-2023 Graduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Professional and Creative Writing
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Mission Statement
There is hardly an industry that could not benefit from hiring better writers. From business professionals seeking to strengthen their writing and communication skills to those pursuing an advanced English education, the online Master of Arts in Professional and Creative Writing is designed to enhance the writing, reading and critical thinking skills that will help writers be successful wherever they are.
The degree honors the entirety of the professional writer who aspires to write for internal and external audiences within and beyond the workplace. There is a strong emphasis on personal development and skill-enhancement that is applicable to multiple professions. Students will be able to build a graduate project or thesis around their passions, interests and professional goals and will receive exceptional faculty support tailored to their needs.
Master of Arts in Professional and Creative Writing
Graduate Certificates
MWRT 500 - Professional Writing and New Media 3.00 credit hours
Introduction to what professional writers do and how they do it, including a review of textual and visual rhetoric, inclusive of new media, and a discussion of ethical dilemmas faced by practitioners in the field. Students practice the necessary critical attitude, principles, tools and feedback to develop and edit their own high-quality professional documents and web presence.
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MWRT 501 - Introduction to the Writers’ Workshop 3.00 credit hours
Students learn the history, utility, and method of the graduate writers’ workshop as they begin workshopping their own work. The course covers best practices for establishing a sustainable and supportive community of writers while serving as a gateway experience for the MA in Professional and Creative Writing.
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MWRT 511 - Grant Writing 3.00 credit hours
Students practice the fundamentals of professional grant writing appropriate to a multitude of professional settings while identifying specific funding opportunities relevant to their own professional practice.
Prerequisite(s): MBUS 505 or MWRT 501 .
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MWRT 520 - Public Writing 3.00 credit hours
Students practice the skills required to reach the broadest possible audience with their professional and creative writing. Writers learn to contextualize themselves and their particular professional interests in the tradition of the public intellectual and rhetorician. Topics may include a representative cross section of popular professional writing, including but not limited science/technology writing, opinion and persuasive writing, travel/environmental writing and popular writing in history and the social sciences.
Prerequisite(s): MWRT 500 or MWRT 501 .
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MWRT 521 - Writing from Life 3.00 credit hours
Students learn to transform memorable and meaningful personal and professional experiences into compelling creative work. Attention is paid to the many ways in which the professional writer leverages autobiographical experience into writing for professional markets.
Prerequisite(s): MWRT 500 or MWRT 501 .
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MWRT 530 - Writing for Stage and Screen 3.00 credit hours
Students learn and practice genres intended for state and screens, such as Script/Screenwriting and Literary Adaptation.
Prerequisite(s): MWRT 501 .
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MWRT 610 - Preparing Book and Manuscript Proposals 3.00 credit hours
Students learn to construct compelling and convincing book and manuscript proposals for long-form submissions and to successfully pitch passion projects to industry gatekeepers ranging from editors to literary agents.
Prerequisite(s): MWRT 500 and MWRT 501.
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MWRT 611 - Publishing and Professional Writing Life 3.00 credit hours
Students explore and pursue professional outlets appropriate to their interests, ranging from calls-for-submission to other career-enriching opportunities for collaboration, outreach, and engagement. They learn the habits of successful writers, study freelance and entrepreneurial methods and establish a sustainable and satisfying writing practice.
Prerequisite(s): MWRT 500 and MWRT 501.
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MWRT 620 - Fiction Writing 3.00 credit hours
Students learn the fundamentals of effective fiction via the writing, editing, and workshopping of original imaginative narratives and via close reading for craft of the work of a diverse group of professional fiction writers.
Prerequisite(s): MWRT 500 and MWRT 501.
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MWRT 694 - Thesis 3.00 credit hours
Working closely with their faculty thesis advisor, students draft and revise their extended professional or creative writing thesis or project.
Prerequisite(s): Complete 27 credit hours in MWRT.
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