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English Department
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Professional Writing
Open the doors to a range of exciting careers with a professional writing degree. You’ll be prepared with a strong technical foundation and communication skills, while also realizing your creative potential. As a confident and well-trained communicator, you’ll have an edge over your peers in the job market.
Career Potential
- Editor
- Journalist
- Web Designer
- Communications Manager
- Marketer
- Grant Writer
- Technical Writer
- Scientific Writer
- Medical Writer
- Creative Writer
What Will I Learn?
Professional writing offers a well-rounded liberal arts education with courses in rhetoric, revising and editing, technical writing, creative writing, and writing with new media. By choosing Professional Writing as a major, you will:
- Develop an awareness of the principles of rhetorical analysis and rhetorical composition.
- Produce, assess, and attune your own writing for different audiences and genres.
- Prepare and synthesize information for both experts and the general public in a variety of contexts, mediums, and technologies.
- Gain the ability to use writing ethically—to ask questions, find answers, and create meaningful change for both local and global communities.
- Think critically about what “writing” means and consider the historical, present, and future roles of writing in both the traditional classroom and outside of the academy.
Special Features
A professional writing degree provides a balance of wide-ranging writing experiences with the professional skills that will give you an edge in starting a career.
- Gain experience and make connections through program internships.
- Become a contributing editor to our national literary magazine.
- Attend writing retreats at SUNY Cortland's outdoor center.
- Perform at open mic readings.
- Engage in innovating technical and digital projects with local businesses and nonprofits.
Get Involved
College is more than a classroom. There are many ways to get involved: join a club, participate in the honors program or intern in a career field that interests you.
Student Clubs
Honor Societies
Sigma Tau Delta, International English Honor Society
Next Steps
