Download - Introduction: What Is Professional Writing?
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What is Professional Writing?
Broad Definition of Professional Writing
Any form of written or oral communication other than art or scholarly writing. It is often referred to as workplace writing.
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Multimedia
Audio
Video
Interactive
Professional “writing” is created in all media forms and delivered in a variety of platforms.
Our professional writing courses will provide you with guided practice in producing these forms.
Upon successful completion of a course, you will have sample work that can be posted to an online portfolio to show potential employers.
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Examples of Professional Writing
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Professional Writing as a Career Choice
• copy writers develop marketing and advertising content,• public relations communicators manage brand image and
business communications,• editors review/revise the work of others and plan publication
content,• technical writers collaborate with other professionals to
create/revise client projects and translate technical information to lay audiences,
• multimedia specialists create web authored content in a variety of media and across a range of platforms.
• the median salary for these jobs as of 2014 was between $60K and $70K (payscale.com).
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At the University of Idaho
English Major
Literature Emphasis
Professional Writing
Emphasis
Creative Writing
Emphasis
Teaching Emphasis
Linguistics and Literacy
Emphasis
Students who major in English choose from five program emphases. Professional Writing is one of these.
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At the University of Idaho
English Minors
Literature Minor
Professional Writing Minor
Creative Writing Minor
TESLMinor
We also offer four minors in English, and Professional Writing is one of these.
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Professional Writing Courses at UI at the 200- and 300- levels
English 202 Intro to Professional Writing
English 313Business Writing
English 316Environmental
Writing
English 317Technical Writing
English 318Science Writing
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In English 202, you will…
1. Learn how the principles of rhetoric apply to workplace writing.
2. Treat writing as a problem-solving activity.3. Develop a set of transferable concepts for your
writing toolbox.
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Negative (typical) definitions of rhetoric:
• The use of distortion, misinformation, and outright lies to persuade an audience.
• Puffed-up, self-important, or empty speech - “mere rhetoric.”
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Our working definition of rhetoric:Crafting a message (in a wide variety of media and genres) to elicit a response from an audience.
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Treat Writing as a Problem-Solving Activity
The solution to a problem in professional writing is never the only possible one.
Writers must constantly interpret writing situations and weigh possible responses to effectively meet these situations. That means the situations and products are dynamic, not static.
Understanding how writing is a problem-solving activity will help you develop writing skills that transfer to new situations.
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Therefore, in the course, you will…• Study concepts that are transferable to many different
writing situations and apply these concepts to complete each project’s deliverable (i.e. end-product).
• Use these transferable concepts as sets of writing skills you are placing in a toolkit that you can draw upon after you leave the course to make effective choices in any writing situation. And the best friend in your skill-set tool box is rhetoric.