Professional Writing B.S.

Program Mission

Oregon Tech's Professional Writing program (PWR) focuses on professional, technical, business, and scientific writing to prepare students for careers in technical, scientific, medical, government, non-profit, and business writing environments. Course instruction links theory to practice via courses in rhetoric and design, writing, digital literacy, style, multimedia composition and management, documentation development, usability testing, web writing, and publishing in print and electronic media. Courses introduce students to the procedures and practices that professional writers and editors use regularly.

The program rigorously trains students in the best practices common to all fields under its umbrella, including -- but not limited to -- training in structured authoring and layout software (e.g. MadCap Flare, Adobe InDesign), web design tools (e.g. Wordpress and foundational web-languages like HTML, JavaScript, PHP and SQL), business and management techniques (e.g. Lean) and more. Additionally, students are required to craft their own 33-credit-hour series of emphasis in technical electives, reflecting the specific writing field they intend to join or the practices they will need the most familiarity with.

Program Educational Objectives

1. Design and create documents appropriate for professional and consumer audiences using a variety of industry-standard tools.
2. Use accepted rhetorical, linguistic and design theories to craft user- and reader-centered documents.
3. Demonstrate professionally-appropriate practice in working with clients/stakeholders and teammates.
4. Demonstrate professionally-appropriate ethical reasoning, including awareness of intellectual property in the creation and management of documents.
5. Analyze their position within fields of publishing, technical communication, professional writing, and allied disciplines.
6. Manage the production of complex, large-scale projects and their related documentation.

Program Student Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the Professional Writing program, students should be able to:

1. Design and create documents appropriate for professional and consumer audiences using a variety of industry-standard tools.
2. Use accepted rhetorical, linguistic and design theories to craft user-and reader-centered documents.
3. Demonstrate professionally-appropriate practice in working with clients/stakeholders and teammates.
4. Demonstrate professionally-appropriate ethical reasoning, including awareness of intellectual property in the creation and management of documents. 
5. Analyze their position within the fields of publishing, technical communication, professional writing, and allied disciplines.
6. Manage the production of complex, large-scale projects and their related documentation.

Curriculum Map

The curriculum map for the Professional Writing program can be found on the catalog web page on the Oregon Tech website, www.oit.edu/catalog.