Overview
The Public and Professional Writing (PPW) program is designed to help students learn to write, edit, and design electronic and paper documents for businesses, organizations, and institutions. Successful PPW majors demonstrate many kinds of knowledge and skills valued in the field. As a PPW major, students analyze existing works—from web sites, manuals, and policies to grant proposals, creative nonfiction essays, podcasts, and video essays—as well as produce their own original materials in these and other genres for their professional portfolio.
Specifically, successful PPW majors will:
• produce clear, effective, well-edited writing that serves the needs and interests of various audiences and publics;
• learn to adapt to working environments that are changing rapidly—especially in terms of information technology;
• develop a robust understanding of visual rhetoric and the ability to use visual techniques to enhance the effectiveness of documents;
• analyze and write meaningfully about data drawn from various fields and sources;
• explore writing in both traditional and emergent genres;
• develop a specialty in a specific field or type of working environment in which they plan to put PPW knowledge and skills to use.
Majors in PPW enjoy successful careers as professional and creative writers, editors, document developers, and educators. Our graduates work as professional and technical writers at Ohio companies like Radcom and Rockwell Automation; as grant writers at regional nonprofits like Beatitude House and Ohio Association of Foodbanks; as marketing and public relations specialists around the nation; as teachers at high schools and universities; and as trainers and consultants in the field. Many graduates have continued their studies in graduate programs in Rhetoric and Composition and Creative Writing as well.
The Bachelor of Arts degree in Public and Professional Writing requires 60 semester hours, distributed as follows:
| COURSE | TITLE | S.H. |
|---|---|---|
| UNIVERSITY REQUIREMENT - STUDENT SUCCESS | ||
| YSU 1500 | Success Seminar | 1-2 |
| or SS 1500 | Strong Start Success Seminar | |
| or HONR 1500 | Intro to Honors | |
| General Education Requirements | ||
| ENGL 1550 | Writing 1 | 3-4 |
| or ENGL 1549 | Writing 1 with Support | |
| ENGL 1551 | Writing 2 | 3 |
| CMST 1545 | Communication Foundations | 3 |
| Any GER Math (MATH 2623 or 2623C preferred) | 3-5 | |
| Arts & Humanities (6 s.h.) | 6 | |
| Natural Sciences (2 courses, 1 with lab) (6-7 s.h.) | 7 | |
| Social Science (6 s.h.) | 6 | |
| Social and Personal Awareness (6 s.h.) | 6 | |
| Foreign Language Requirement | ||
| FNLG 1550 | Elementary Foreign Language (or FNLG 1505) | 4 |
| FNLG 2600 | Intermediate Foreign Language (or FNLG 1506) | 4 |
| I. REQUIRED CORE COURSES (27 s.h.) | ||
| ENGL 3744 | Writing with Data | 3 |
| ENGL 3745 | Writing for Online Media | 3 |
| ENGL 3743 | Introduction to Public, Professional and Technical Writing | 3 |
| ENGL 3751 | Rhetoric and Argument | 3 |
| ENGL 3752 | Ethnographic Writing | 3 |
| ENGL 4845 | Grant Writing | 3 |
| ENGL 4846 | Visual Rhetoric | 3 |
| ENGL 4849 | Copyediting | 3 |
| ENGL 4899 | Public and Professional Writing Senior Project | 3 |
| II. WRITING AND LANGUAGE STUDY (15 s.h.) | ||
| 15 s.h. of 3000- or 4000-level courses from those listed below, 3 hours of which must be PPW | 15 | |
| PPW | ||
| Nonfiction Narrative Writing | ||
| Writing in the Health Science Professions | ||
| Writing and the Public Sphere | ||
| Public and Professional Writing Internship | ||
| Journalism | ||
| Magazine Publishing | ||
| Editorial and Opinion Writing | ||
| News Content Creation 1 | ||
| News Reporting | ||
| American Media: History, Principles and Practices | ||
| News Reporting 2 | ||
| Communication Law | ||
| Creative Writing | ||
| Fiction Writing Workshop | ||
| Poetry Writing Workshop | ||
| Screenwriting | ||
| Linguistics | ||
| Principles of Linguistic Study | ||
| Sociolinguistics | ||
| Advanced Linguistics | ||
| English Grammar | ||
| Selected Topics in Discourse | ||
| Communication Studies | ||
| Intro to Media Relations Campaigns | ||
| Gender Communication | ||
| Interviewing | ||
| Media Analysis | ||
| III. MINOR | ||
| Take any available minor (12 s.h. minimum) | 12-19 | |
| IV. Electives to reach 120 hours | 20 | |
| Total Semester Hours | 120-131 | |
| Year 1 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Fall | S.H. | |
| YSU 1500 | Success Seminar or Strong Start Success Seminar or Intro to Honors | 1-2 |
| ENGL 1550 or ENGL 1549 | Writing 1 or Writing 1 with Support | 3-4 |
| FNLG 1550 | Elementary Foreign Language | 4 |
| Arts & Humanities | 3 | |
| Any GER Math (MATH 2623 or MATH 2623C preferred) | 3-5 | |
| Elective 15xx / 26xx | 3 | |
| Semester Hours | 17-21 | |
| Spring | ||
| ENGL 1551 | Writing 2 | 3 |
| CMST 1545 | Communication Foundations | 3 |
| FNLG 2600 | Intermediate Foreign Language | 4 |
| Social Sciences | 3 | |
| Social & Personal Awareness | 3 | |
| Semester Hours | 16 | |
| Year 2 | ||
| Fall | ||
| ENGL 3743 | Introduction to Public, Professional and Technical Writing (Now: "Intro. to Public, Prof., and Tech Writing") | 3 |
| ENGL 3744 | Writing with Data (Now: "Writing from Data") | 3 |
| Minor course (1 of 6) | 3 | |
| Writing and Language Study (1 of 5) | 3 | |
| Natural Science | 3 | |
| Semester Hours | 15 | |
| Spring | ||
| ENGL 3745 | Writing for Online Media (Now: "Writing for Online Media") | 3 |
| ENGL 3751 | Rhetoric and Argument (Now: "Rhetoric and Argument") | 3 |
| Minor course (2 of 6) | 3 | |
| Natural Science (Lab) | 4 | |
| Elective 15xx/26xx | 3 | |
| Semester Hours | 16 | |
| Year 3 | ||
| Fall | ||
| ENGL 4846 | Visual Rhetoric | 3 |
| Writing and Language Study (2 of 5) | 3 | |
| Minor course (3 of 6) | 3 | |
| Arts & Humanities | 3 | |
| Social & Personal Awareness | ||
| Semester Hours | 12 | |
| Spring | ||
| ENGL 3752 | Ethnographic Writing | 3 |
| ENGL 4849 | Copyediting (Now: "Copyediting") | 3 |
| Writing and Language Study (3 of 5) | 3 | |
| Minor course (4 of 6) | 3 | |
| Elective 15xx/26xx | 3 | |
| Semester Hours | 15 | |
| Year 4 | ||
| Fall | ||
| ENGL 4845 | Grant Writing | 3 |
| Writing and Language Study (4 of 5) | 3 | |
| Minor Course (5 of 6) | 3 | |
| Elective (15xx/26xx) | 3 | |
| Elective (37xx/48xx) | 3 | |
| Semester Hours | 15 | |
| Spring | ||
| ENGL 4899 | Public and Professional Writing Senior Project (Now: "Public and Professional Writing Senior Project") | 3 |
| Writing and Language Study (5 of 5) | 3 | |
| Minor course (6 of 6) | 3 | |
| Elective 15xx/26xx | 3 | |
| Elective 37xx/48xx | 3 | |
| Semester Hours | 15 | |
| Total Semester Hours | 121-125 | |
Upper-division hours = 48
Learning Outcomes
The English Department has established the following learning outcomes for students completing the professional and technical writing major:
- PPW majors will WRITE documents to meet the demands, purpose, and interests of a specific client and audience.
- PPW majors will DESIGN documents to meet the demands, purpose, and interests of a specific client and audience.
- PPW majors will REFLECT on and REVISE their documents’ writing and design using concrete criteria set by a specific client and audience.
- PPW majors will DELIVER ORAL PRESENTATIONS of their documents’ writing and design using professionally designed visual aid.