Master of Arts English with a Concentration in Professional and Technical Writing (MA)
This concentration is designed to prepare students to expand and theorize their practices of workplace writing and professionalize in the fields of technical writing, professional or business writing, and user experience design. This is a fully online program.
This program is fully online, and all courses are delivered in the accelerated (8-week terms) asynchronous format.
The student must initially meet all general University admission requirements. For regular admission, students must generally have at least 24 undergraduate hours in English, or a closely related field, with a grade point average of 3.0 or better. However, students applying to the technical writing concentration may have little or no undergraduate course work relating to English, provided that they have an average of 3.0 or better in their undergraduate major.
Students applying to all concentrations must also, in addition to other admissions materials, provide:
- a 1-2 page single-spaced statement of purpose outlining the applicant’s research interests and goals for the program and past relevant academic and/or work experience that has prepared the applicant for graduate work in English studies
- an 8-12 page writing sample, either from previous coursework or the workplace, that demonstrates the applicant’s writing ability, analytical skills, and engagement with scholarly sources.
International students must submit scores from the TOEFL examination, a sample of scholarly writing, and three recommendations, at least one of which evaluates ability in English. For regular admission, students must score 230 on the computer-based TOEFL (the equivalent of 570 in the older, paper-based score scale or 80 on the TOEFL iBT). Students may be admitted provisionally with a TOEFL score of 213 (550 in the paper-based scale), but must attain the scores required for regular admission after 12 hours of graduate work.
Please note: Of the total 30 hours needed to graduate, no more than 12 hours can be at the 500 level.
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Core | ||
| ENGL 600 | Graduate Studies in English | 3 |
| ENGL 602 | Language in Communities | 3 |
| ENGL 662 | Cybercultures and Digital Writing | 3 |
| ENGL 685 | Writing Research Methods | 3 |
| Select one of the following: | 3 | |
| Graduate Internship or Project | ||
| Portfolio Preparation | ||
| Thesis Research | ||
| Concentration Requirements | ||
| ENGL 535 | Management Writing | 3 |
| ENGL 536 | Writing for the Government | 3 |
| ENGL 539 | Usability and User Experience | 3 |
| ENGL 684 | Grant Writing | 3 |
| Open Elective | 3 | |
| Total Credit Hours | 30 | |