Why minor in professional writing?
Employment opportunities
Required courses
Advising
Recommended Electives
For more information

Why Minor in Professional Writing?

The Minor in Professional Writing is designed to increase students' writing skills and to provide writing experiences which will demonstrate those skills to prospective employers.

To a greater degree than many people realize, the ability to write well is an important component of success in many professions. Engineers, architects, doctors, and lawyers, for example, spend many hours each week writing.

The ability to communicate specialized information to a general audience is a highly marketable skill. For this reason, the Minor in Professional Writing is especially useful to students who combine it with a major in a technical or scientific field.

Who hires people who write well?

Business and industry need people who can write and edit stockholder reports, grant proposals, operating manuals and instructions, company newsletters, publicity, and advertising.

Magazines, business publications, and trade journals need writers who can explain scientific or technical concepts and specialized language to an average reader.

The government employs writers and editors to prepare training manuals, brochures, reports, and other communications in fields such as health, agriculture, the military, and space exploration.

Many companies hire consultants and instructors to identify communication problems and teach writing to company personnel.

What Courses Are Required?

Eastern's Minor in Professional Writing requires three specific courses in basic types of practical writing, one course in communications technology, an internship, and two other course electives. English 1001-C and English 1002-C are prerequisite to all English courses numbered above 2000. Also, reasonable competency in word processing is expected of students in the program.

Required courses (17 hrs.)

• English 3001 (Advanced Composition) (3 semester hours)
• English 3005 (Technical Report Writing)* OR Journalism 2101 (Newswriting I)* (3 semester hours)
• English 4760 (Writing for the Professions) (3 semester hours)
• English 4275 (Internship in English) or, with the approval of the English Department, an appropriate internship in the student's major field (4 semester hours)
• Industrial Technology 1364 (Communications Technology) (4 semester hours)

Four to six hours from:

• English 2901 (Structures of English)
• Journalism 3000 (Newswriting II)
• Journalism 3102 (Feature Writing)
• Administrative Information Systems 2610 (Business Communications)
• Management 3830 (Managerial Communications)
• Industrial Technology 1201 (Introduction to Desktop Publishing Technology)

Total 21-23 semester hours

*Either English 3005 or Journalism 2101 may also count in the optional 4-6 hours.

Who Supervises Students?

An adviser in the English department will work with each student in the program, in consultation with an adviser in the student's major field, to plan a program of course work and an internship experience tailored to the student's individual needs and interests.

Recommended Electives

By selecting additional electives, as well as by choosing among the optional courses for the hours required for the Professional Writing minor, students may enhance their communications skills or acquire new specialties. Recommended electives include:

Creative Writing

• English 2003 (Creative Writing: Poetry)
• English 2005 (Creative Writing: Drama)
• English 2007 (Creative Writing: Fiction)

Communication Skills

• Business Education 1110 (Keyboarding)
• Journalism 3301 (News Editing)
• Speech Communication 2001-C (Media, Society and the Individual)

Art and Graphics

• Art 1000 (Drawing I)
• Art 1110 (Design)
• Industrial Technology 1001 (Introduction to Computer-Aided Design/Drawing)
• Journalism 3001 (News Photography)
• Geography 3800 (Introduction to Cartography)

Analytic Skills

• Philosophy 1900 (Logic)
• English 3901 (Language and Linguistics)
• Mathematics 2250-C (Elementary Statistics)
• Sociology 3681 (Public Opinion and Propaganda)

Research Techniques

• Mathematics 2300 (Introduction to Computer Programming)
• Computer and Operations Management 2250 (Problem Solving with PL/1)
• History 2500 (Research Techniques and Sources)
• Political Science 2002 (Introduction to Methods and Sources of Political Research)

A Minor in Professional Writing offers...

...an individualized program, designed to meet each student's needs and interests.

...training and practice in the writing skills most employers seek.

...on-the-job writing experience through an internship in a business or professional situation.

The ability to write well opens many opportunities for challenging jobs and for professional advancement.

For further information and application materials, contact:

Dr. Dana Ringuette, Chair
Department of English
Eastern Illinois University
Charleston, IL 61920
(217) 581-2428
dringuette@eiu.edu