PURPOSE
The professional writing concentration in English provides business, communication, journalism, sports writing, media writing, and creative writing instruction and allows students to explore career tracks in English and related fields. Students are also trained in critical thinking and analytical skills through the study of great works of literature. Students in the professional writing concentration are well-equipped to enter writing-intensive fields such as publishing, journalism, and marketing and to enter graduate school.
SKILLS AND CAREERS
The Emmanuel English professional writing concentration provides students with valuable, marketable skills such as:
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- Critical thinking
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- Analysis
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- Writing
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- Grammar and mechanics
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- Copy editing
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- Audience awareness
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- Media content creation
These skills will prepare you to enter fields such as:
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- Publishing
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- Journalism
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- Marketing
- Web content creation
COURSE SAMPLING
This course fosters creativity, learning by doing, thinking intuitively and associatively, encourages students to understand what makes art (specifically creative writing) and what differentiates it from other modalities for the sake of loving and understanding oneself better, loving and understanding others better, and loving and appreciating God more. Depending on the semester, writing genres may include fiction, poetry, memoir, screen/stage writing, or more.
This course offers a deep analysis of individual texts (both written and communicated orally) presented in various forms of media frequently experienced in contemporary life. Interpretation and deconstruction of these texts will include writing thesis-driven analytical essays examining the effects of the texts on an individual level. Students will also practice critical thinking and participate in discussions of the intellectual and spiritual implications of their interpretations of media messages. Prerequisite: Grade of “C” or better in EN 102.
Technical Writing focuses on the processes of developing field-specific technical information related to the student’s major and includes instruction in researching, drafting, editing, revising, and designing professional documents such as technical reports, proposals, manuals, brochures, resumes, and professional correspondence for specific audiences. Prerequisite: A grade of “C” or better in EN 102.
Students will examine several writing-intensive career possibilities and then craft forms of content that would be generated for particular media. The focus will be on experiential learning that engages students in the process of development, research, workshopping, feedback, and revision. Sample topics may include podcasting, culture journalism, media criticism, long-form journalism, devotional writing, social media, etc. Prerequisite: Grade of “C” or better in EN 102.
Students in this course will learn to proofread and edit both fiction and nonfiction texts. Students will learn the language and symbols of editing and proofreading and will practice editing for grammar, punctuation, syntax, audience, and AP editorial style. Students will also practice verifying facts, dates, and statistics and will apply ethical skills and libel standards to news writing. The course will include hands on assignments as well as a midterm and final testing major concepts from the course. Prerequisite: Grade of “C” or better in EN102.
This course emphasizes the composition of literary prose, including fiction, creative non-fiction, and drama, through all phrases of the writing process. The class would also help produce the Montage Literary Magazine. Prerequisite: A grade of “C” or better in EN102.
This course emphasizes the composition of poetry through all phases of the writing process, the characteristics of various poetic genres (including both open and closed forms), and poetic skills such as scansion and the ability to utilize various types of figurative language. This class would also help produce the Montage Literary Magazine. Prerequisite: A grade of “C” or better in at least one 200-level English course.
A study and application of multimedia-based presentations which focus on career-related situations. Emphasis is placed on both individual and group multimedia presentations. Students will integrate presentation software with video, sound, and graphics. Prerequisite: CM 130 and Junior or Senior standing.
This course will examine the role of public relations, social media, and marketing in Sports Communication. Students will learn how each level of sports (amateur, collegiate, professional) operates and the role of Sports Communication in American Society. This course will focus on the preparation of professional sports communication materials including press releases and game stories for internal and external audiences. We will also study the emergence of social media use in Sports Communication and techniques for managing crisis in Sports. This course will also include opportunities to meet and gain insight from several professionals in the field. Prerequisite: CM320 or permission of the instructor.
This is a course designed to teach the elements of the marketing function with emphasis placed on product, price, promotion, and distribution concepts. Market development teams are used on various cases and projects. Covered also is an overview of global marketing concepts and practices from a diverse global perspective. Prerequisite: Grade of “C” or better in MA 130 or a higher math.
