Professional Writing (PWRT1-GC)

This course introduces students to the theory, research and practice of professional writing by means of lectures, assigned readings, and writing workshops, and by means of the production of a range of professional documents. Students develop specific writing-focused skills, including the effective use of tables, charts, and graphs to convey information. Linguistic principles are applied to word choice, sentence creation, and paragraph construction. The course also focuses on mastery of non-writing skills that are essential to produce great professional writing, including how to conduct all necessary research, to consider audience expectations, to analyze how a general format will need to be adapted to specific purposes, and how to organize the hierarchy of information in a specific writing product. The course includes seven major writing assignments culminating in a major report presented online in PowerPoint.

This course grounds students in the principles of digital media production. The course focuses on how to create effective content as a writer, but also how to handle all the graphical, multimedia, hypertext, and interactive elements that are involved in digital platforms. Both commercial and professional applications will be considered, as well as the use of digital media writing in political campaigns. Internet marketing channels will be explored as parts of a multi-pronged marketing strategy governing the production of individual objects and copy employed as the expressive elements in Web site design. Students will get intensive practice in the writing of FAQ pages, home-page copy, newsletters, blogs, and informational Web sites and will learn to think critically as a content developer about issues of graphic design, site architecture, and editorial consistency.

The goal of this course is to develop students’ ability to communicate both within and outside of a business or other organization as both members and managers, including the ability to communicate in the organization’s voice. The course will emphasize the creation of traditional documents such as the memo, business letter, email message, request, reply, proposal, progress report, and major business report so as to inform and persuade. Students also will develop the ability to analyze such documents for the accuracy and integrity of their content. Finally, students will learn the basics of creating documents ready for presentation in the form of digital media.

This course builds understanding and skill in the type of storytelling that influences, informs, persuades, and convinces. Developing the ability to craft compelling narrative for target audiences across a range of documents is critical in the competitive world of professional communications. This includes the appropriate use of storytelling and narrative elements in writing for digital media and promotional copy (such as advertising and public relations pieces) as well as traditional corporate documentation (such as annual reports, policy guides, and dynamic stakeholder presentations). Using the literature of structural analysis, students will explore literary, corporate, and historic examples in contexts ranging from for-profit and nonprofits businesses, educational institutions, activist movements, and political organizations. In assignments focused on writing, revision, and critical reflection, students in this course learn to identify, craft, and strategically employ storytelling and narrative elements in their professional writing practices. Leveraging demographic and psychographic research techniques to understand target audiences’ needs and communication habits, students will engage proven methods of effective storytelling and narrative development to captivate and inform specific target audiences. Students will evaluate ways to ethically align the needs of their target audiences to best match the goals of their organizations. Finally, students will be able to clearly articulate the ways in which storytelling and narrative elements make digital communication strategies more memorable and effective.

This course focuses on the two related disciplines of style and rhetoric in an immediate and usable mode readily applicable to the student's work in other courses and projects throughout the program. While there will be some revisiting of classical Aristotelian rhetoric, emphasis will be on the mode of the contemporary organizational voice, its demands, ethics, forms, and applications. In addition, students develop the ability to analyze already existing media products for their rhetorical style, content, intent, and audience. This exploration includes the creation of documents for specified rhetorical purposes and other documents embedded in real-world functionality. Students acquire skills at analyzing audience need, and learn to skillfully shape their writing to persuade, inform, and influence. Manuals of style will be thoroughly consulted so that students develop the ability to use these modes in everyday professional discourse.

This course teaches students how to creatively develop presentation of content for specific audiences. Students develop analytic knowledge about how documents are presented, both in electronic and physical "print," as well as through media aids such as PowerPoint. While the emphasis is on actual document creation and presenting through various media, there will also be instruction on the social and semiotic dimensions of communications through these means. Practice will be aimed at different situations, audiences, and assignments and tasks to prepare the student for the world of professional design and presentation. Students also learn how writing can be effectively integrated into presentation design for greater impact and communication, including technical aspects of both print design and electronic/digital media. Students explore the elements of effective design in print and electronic platforms using charts, graphs, tables, and various images and even sounds and effects to create memorable products

As the production of new media is made more accessible through a plethora of new and emerging communication technologies, writers must understand how to structure and guide the “production of messaging” while carefully considering the impact on target audiences. In this course, we focus on the intersection of writing, media production, and creative cultures. Merging discussions of theory with applied practice, students gain experience producing content across a range of media deliverables. From conceptualizing, scripting/storyboarding, capturing, editing, and showcasing, students engage in assignments that focus on text and image in digital contexts, aural presentations, and short video production. Students will also consume and review a range of media assets as a way to continually inform their content creation practices. Students work to unpack the dynamism and complexity of the numerous spaces, contexts, and formats that shape language, storytelling, representation, identity, and meaning-making. In addition to weekly course activities that include reading the lectures in NYU Classes and reviewing the required resources, students will complete a variety of graded assignments. Embracing a workshop model, students will post work-in-progress drafts and give peer feedback across the semester. The culminating assignment of the course will be a short social issue media piece that will be part of an end of semester class showcase. There are no prerequisites for this course. It is understood that students will enroll in the course with varying degrees of media making experience. All students will be encouraged to experiment with new tools and apply writing and communication acumen to multimodal media projects. This is an elective course for the MS in Professional Writing degree program.

Students in this course learn about information architecture from two vantage points: 1) by practicing the techniques used in the creation of digital media (such as Web sites) to create the hierarchy of information all such media follows, and 2) by exploring and using traditional and classic information architecture as it is presented in extensive databases and through the tools (such as search engines) designed to navigate data. The goal is to provide users with the most facile experience in the location and employment of data. Students learn the basics of populating learning systems with content through the development of tree systems of categorized knowledge. They also learn to create templates, wireframes, sitemaps, flow charts and diagrams and page elements and to design Web elements used to organize large data sets.

This course is designed for students to broaden their understanding of professional communications, possibly develop a specialization in the area of the allied health professions. The material concentrates on the various types of documents, internal and external, required by the profession. The course is also intended as a primer for students interested in the healthcare professions per se who may be moving on to a professional career in that field. It is expected, however, that the technical and scientific nature of the course content will augment any pursuit of greater skill and knowledge in technical and informational writing in general. There will be consideration given to the public affairs dimension of health communications, as well as analysis and production of journalistic efforts aimed at health publications. Finally, the course is for those who in their professions are required to convey technical health information to hospitals, clinics, nonprofit agencies, government, and the public.

The purpose of this course is to take the student who already has some familiarity with writing copy for public relations, advertising, and Web site creation and developing those skills to the solidly professional level. First, the techniques of persuasion will be discussed and practiced, including motivational sequences, the "you" orientation, big ideas, and mass psychology. Next, students will embark upon the creation of a complete "press kit" which will include copy and graphic information as well as digital media designed to promote a product, service, or idea. The press kit will be reproducible in both digital online form and as hard copy. Methods of information dissemination, to individuals, and large and small groups, will be explored as well. Finally, students will explore a solid grounding in "new media" methods of promotion and persuasion such as promotional Web sites, blogs, social networking Web sites, and real-time bulletin boards such as Twitter.

The independent study course is a valuable method for students to pursue special interests in depth, under the direction of a faculty member. It is intended to advance the student’s knowledge and skills in ways clearly useful in professional writing settings. The course will focus on a significant contemporary question, issue, or concern in professional writing. It is the equivalent of a regular 3-credit elective course in the program, and contains a comparable quantity of academic and applied work. It can, for example, address pure research issues that potentially affect the theory and practice of professional writing; organizational, technological, or social challenges to the profession and possible practical innovations and solutions; or other issues. Students registering for this course meet with the Academic Advisor of the program to discuss and get approval for the planned independent study content and to select a faculty member qualified to direct the course. The faculty member will require a formal research proposal which includes a suitable bibliography consisting of a sufficient number of texts, including peer-reviewed and other academic papers. Student and faculty will establish a timeline for meetings and for individual assignments, and any other product or application. An academic research paper is required focusing on the significance and relevance of the study to professional writing, and highlighting the topical concern of the study. In addition, a student may propose to engage in a semester-long project demonstrating the professional application of the topic. Evaluation is based on meeting deadlines, stated expectations, and on the quality and quantity of the completed work. Students can take one Independent Study course during the duration of their degree.

This course has two primary foci: how to present technical information in forms readily useable to a broad audience of laypersons and professionals, and how to communicate to reach audiences with unequivocal meaning and intent. Students are expected to understand and appreciate these needs and be able to organize and manipulate information in a professional context using organized writing, graphic aids, and through the writing of abstracts, procedures, manuals, and white papers. Students will acquire the ability to convey technical concepts to a general audience of lay persons without reduction of the meaning and intent of the information. Within the technical context, students are expected to understand the principles of information technology as they apply to the presentation of concepts, ideas, procedures, and instructions.

This course offers specialized training in the complexities of professional, scientific and environmental writing. Students develop advanced skills in researching, interviewing, and writing scientific and environmental topics for a variety of formats. Through the production of press releases, policy statements, technical white papers, and reports, students learn to communicate scientific information clearly and accurately. A particular focus is the written communication of scientific materials and complex scientific and environmental issues for general audiences and policymakers. Both the Chicago and APA styles will be practiced. Students are required to complete twelve writing assignments and one final paper.

This course teaches the strategies and processes of writing effective research proposals as well as fundraising documents, including grant proposals. Students explore the elements and characteristics of a successful proposal, including information gathering, organization, and budget review. The basics of conducting needs assessments, establishing goals for funding, and writing proposals based on those needs and goals will be explored, as will tailoring proposals to the prospective fund source. The components of a successful fundraising campaign, including the use of new media and social networks, will also be examined and practiced. Participants complete twelve weekly written assignments, culminating in a fundraising plan.

This course is designed for students interested in advancing their ability to write within a professional financial context. It is expected that students will develop their ability to write in both a journalistic and a technical style. As part of this development, students will hone their skill in analyzing corporate literature, annual reports, financial prospecti, and other documents generated in the financial world. Financial strategy will be explored through corporate literature and objective journalism from the financial publications. Topics are introduced using articles and business cases as well as major investigative journalism and situations from the textbook. Students are expected to complete at least one major report on an approved topic and to provide a formal presentation with media to the online class. Students will become familiar with the financial markets, corporate communication, and the terminology of the global marketplace.

In today's data-driven world, professional writers are often tasked with critically reviewing,curating, and summarizing research findings across a range of documents for external and internal audiences. Likewise, professional writers are often asked to partner with research teams and data scientists to work on effective messaging of important findings for expert and novice audiences. In this course, students will become critical reviewers of research while they develop the skills to be ethical and persuasive writers of formal research documents. Focused on qualitative methods for research in the social sciences, students will learn to write about and with research in clear and effective ways. Though students will not be gathering data in this course, they will complete weekly graded assignments and activities, culminating in a final research proposal. In small groups, students will also build presentations of their research proposals for a virtual showcase at the end of the semester. This is an elective course in the MS in Professional Writing program.

Persuasive Public Policy Writing will help students learn how to use their writing to effect tangible change focusing on political and social movements. The course explores the complexities of public policy writing in today's digital and social media-driven society. At its core, persuasive writing relies on techniques and strategies that inspire and motivate public action. Students will practice and develop the skills to accurately and clearly explain public policy information across various formats and topics. In addition to analyzing compelling narratives in public discourse, students will craft evidence-based content for general audiences, experts, activists, and policymakers. Students will become comfortable supporting and debating topics using research, data, and subject matter expert opinions. A background in public policy is unnecessary for this course, but a willingness to learn about multiple perspectives to shape compelling narratives is essential.

This program offers a unique pairing of a thesis and an e-portfolio. Both products work together to create a significant body of work spanning the needs of the professional environment and the requirements of the academic system of evaluation. Students contract with a faculty adviser in the first or second semesters, indicating a concentration in a particular discipline of professional writing (e.g. medicine, digital media, finance, grants, business), or a combination of disciplines. The portfolio will contain documents and other media demonstrating the student's understanding of the principles, concepts, styles, formats, and content of the chosen concentration. While the portfolio will develop during the entire experience in the program, the thesis is a culminating study reserved for the final semester (Fall 3) of the student's experience. Students are required to take only two electives during the ultimate term to provide for time to work, under the guidance of an advisor, on the thesis. The thesis will demonstrate the theoretical knowledge behind the portfolio and bridge the portfolio with course work and other products from the online courses. The thesis will be in the form of a major report and will range from 40-60 pages single spaced.

The Internship gives students the opportunity to apply course work to the professional writing field in a supervised environment. Placements are in organizations where professional writing is required, or where skills from the course of study are practiced, such as writing for digital media or developing presentations or grant writing. The student and the work are evaluated by the hosting organization and the supervising faculty. During the six-week placement, students report each week to the faculty member in the form of a narrative description, with analysis of tasks performed and knowledge gained, showing the continuity and contextualization of those accomplishments. At the end of the internship, the student writes a formal report tying the experience into the relevant literature. This report may include supporting documents or other products created during the Internship which may be added to the student’s e-portfolio.

The Directed Study allows students to apply course work to a formal project of study, approved by a faculty member and with a specified outcome or product. The criterion for a successful directed study will be the practice or analysis of professional documents and products that deepen and expand understanding of the discipline. A student making this choice may arrange with his or her employer to complete a special project, or may work independently to create a product relevant to that student’s specialization or area of interest. During the six-week study the student will report each week to the supervising faculty member on progress toward the established goals of the proposal. The study culminates in a report accompanying the project, and may include specific writing documents or other products associated with the report.