English Professional and Technical Writing Minor & Certificate

The English Professional and Technical Writing (PTW) program provides students with three options:

1. The Professional Writing Minor for All Non-English Majors
   Other students in the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, and students in the College of Business and the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences may select a Minor in Professional Writing by completing 24 credits in professional writing courses. Students may also include Professional Writing as part of a Distributed Studies  degree.
2. The Professional Writing Certificate for Unclassified Students
   Unclassified students and students with a baccalaureate degree may select a Certificate in Professional Writing by completing 25 credits in professional writing courses. The Program therefore makes available to those already involved in writing for business and industry the opportunity to further develop professional skills important to their careers.
3. The Professional Writing Emphasis for English Majors
   As is described under English, BA , English majors may select the Professional Writing Option. Please visit the English, BA page for complete details.

NOTE: All options require students to complete the Senior PTW Portfolio Assessment. Consult PTW Director, Alex Ilyasova, for details. kilyasov@uccs.edu. 719-255-4037. 

PTW Outcomes Statements

Research (critical thinking, reading, and writing)

Students will show they can

• Use research methods to gather information
• Evaluate, analyze, navigate and synthesize appropriate primary and secondary sources
• Identify reader/user/viewer expectations
• Interpret findings and articulate results
• Produce appropriate and ethical text and graphics for displaying research data and findings

Practices and processes

Students will show they can

• Conduct user/reader/viewer analysis
• Focus on a defined purpose
• Meet the needs of the readers/users/viewers
• Respond appropriately and ethically to different rhetorical situations
• Understand writing as a collaborative and iterative process of research, discussion, negotiation, writing, and editing
• Manage projects in stages
• Evaluate and use appropriate strategies for production, revision, editing, proofreading, and presenting

Knowledge of conventions and genres

Students will show they can

• Write in multiple genres
• Evaluate ethically how each genre shapes content and usability
• Control such features as tone, syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling
• Identify the main features and uses of writing in a specific field
• Document resources as defined by a specific field

Collaborative learning

Students will show they can

• Participate collaboratively with others in the iterative process of research, discussion, negotiation, writing, and editing
• Participate and communicate effectively in a community
• Integrate their own ideas with those from various stakeholders
• Balance the advantages of relying on others with the responsibility of doing their parts

Technological literacy

Students will show they can

• Critically and ethically choose from a variety of technologies in order to address specific rhetorical situations and a range of readers/users/viewers needs
• Engage in a critical perspective of technology, its uses and contexts
• Analyze technology as a physical tool, and as a socially constructed system
• Use various software for writing, editing, and designing