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  Contact
  Prof. Gerald Alred
  Curtin 566
  414.229.4569
  alred@uwm.edu

Undergraduate Program

Many students are curious about what Professional Writing is, exactly.

Professional Writing is not about learning how to write like a computer. It is about participating in the creation of books, websites, magazines, and journals. It is also about being involved with business correspondence, PowerPoint slides,
reports, proposals, white papers, and other workplace documents.

Here are just a few skills you will learn in Professional Writing:

  • Research (library and Internet searches, qualitative and ethnographic methods)
  • Audience, rhetorical, contextual, and ethical analysis
  • Planning and project management
  • Collaboration and other types of social interaction
  • Oral and written presentation of ideas
  • Technology (software, hardware, multimedia)
  • Document and Web site design
  • Editing and Publishing
  • Usability testing
  • Revision

PhD student conferencing with undergraduate student

PhD student Paul Dworschack-Kinter conferences with a student

The skills and valuable lessons taught in the Professional Writing field are applicable in any job. A degree in Professional Writing will help you communicate with clients, manage projects, and create designs that demonstrate your talents while representing your client. It is a versatile major, letting you be in control of where your degree can take you.

If many of these areas appeal to you, you should consider Professional Writing as your educational focus. This major is very applicable in the “real world”. Here is a list of professions that you can enter with a Professional Writing Degree:

  • Editor
  • Publisher
  • Copywriter
  • Website Designer
  • Writer / Free Lance Writer
  • Grant Writer
  • Journalist

We hope you will consider specializing in professional writing. We have much to offer and know that you, too, will have much to offer with a Professional Writing degree.

Follow these links for more information:
English Track G Major
College of Letters and Sciences Requirements
English Department Requirements
Schedule of Classes