Apr 20, 2024  
2020-2021 Graduate Catalog 
    
2020-2021 Graduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

English MA, Professional and Creative Writing Specialization


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The Professional and Creative Writing specialization provides students with the opportunity to practice writing in a wide variety of professional and creative genres. The program provides mentorship from award-winning writers working in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction; it also provides opportunities for students to hone their professional, rhetorical, and technical writing skills, using advanced research methods. Students develop individual courses of study, which culminate in a graduate-level portfolio of student writing. The program prepares students to begin writing-intensive careers, advance in the workplace, or prepare for further graduate programs; students awarded a teaching assistantship will also be prepared to teach at the college level. This specialization may be fully completed online.

Program Learner Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this program, students will be able to:

  • Demonstrate effective and meaningful workshop discussion skills.
  • Demonstrate the incorporation of critical mentoring and peer feedback in the development of professional-level final projects.
  • Demonstrate professional-level skills in writing and visual rhetoric through the creation of a web-presence for self-marketing.

English MA Core


The Department of English offers a comprehensive Master of Arts program with three disciplinary specializations: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), Literary Studies and Teaching, and Professional and Creative Writing. These disciplinary specializations share a set of core courses and electives and provide opportunities to study with a dual-modality cohort, allowing students to take shared classes both in-person and online. All three specializations offer a limited number of teaching assistantships on a competitive basis for resident students. Students with a teaching assistantship generally complete the program within 2 years, and those without an assistantship can complete the program in 4 quarters (10-15 credits per quarter).

Program Learner Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this program, students will be able to:

  • Demonstrate an understanding of the diverse global variations in writing, literature, language, and professional presentation in our changing culture.
  • Demonstrate professional-level writing skills by successfully meeting the rhetorical needs of situations requiring the application of a variety of genres and styles.
  • Demonstrate knowledge of a range of literary and professional theoretical perspectives, genres, conventions, projects, and forms.
  • Demonstrate their knowledge of scholarly research practices appropriate to the discipline of English studies.
  • Demonstrate their commitment to professional development.

Total Core Credits: 15


Professional and Creative Writing Specialization


Required Courses Credits: 8


Required Intro Course Credits: (3)


Select ONE of the following Literary Genre courses Credits: (5)


Department-Approved Electives Credits: 20


Select a minimum of 20 credits of department-approved electives. Up to two 400- or 500-level Literature courses may be counted for elective credit.

Final Portfolio Credits: 2


Total Credits: 45


College and Department Information


English Department  
College of Arts and Humanities  

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