Writing, Certificate

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Improve Your Job Prospects With Advanced Writing Skills

Enhance your writing ability and earn an important credential on your transcript with a writing certificate from the ÿ�մ��. With the nationwide demand for employees who have strong writing skills, the certificate can help you stand out to employers no matter what field you pursue.

The certificate requires a writing practicum of at least 30 clock hours. You have a number of options for fulfilling this requirement:

Compose a substantial creative work in an independent study with a faculty member
Complete a humanities/history internship that includes a substantial writing or editing component
Work as a peer consultant at the Writing Center
Engage in community service work that involves substantial writing or editing

Editors

Writers and Authors

News Analysts, Reporters, and Journalists

Public Relations Specialists

Technical Writers

$75,020 Median Salary

Editors

Employment of editors is projected to decline 2 percent from 2023 to 2033.

Despite declining employment, about 9,300 openings for editors are projected each year, on average, over the decade. All of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to other occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.

$73,690 Median Salary

Writers and Authors

Employment of writers and authors is projected to grow 5 percent from 2023 to 2033, about as fast as the average for all occupations.

ÿ�մ�� 15,100 openings for writers and authors are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.

$57,500 Median Salary

News Analysts, Reporters, and Journalists

Employment of news analysts, reporters, and journalists is projected to decline 3 percent from 2023 to 2033.

Despite declining employment, about 4,500 openings for news analysts, reporters, and journalists are projected each year, on average, over the decade. All of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to other occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.

$66,750 Median Salary

Public Relations Specialists

Employment of public relations specialists is projected to grow 6 percent from 2023 to 2033, faster than the average for all occupations.

ÿ�մ�� 27,100 openings for public relations specialists are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.

$80,050 Median Salary

Technical Writers

Employment of technical writers is projected to grow 4 percent from 2023 to 2033, about as fast as the average for all occupations.

ÿ�մ�� 4,100 openings for technical writers are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.

Program Details

Besides the writing practicum, the certificate includes nine credits of upper-level classes in writing (WRIT). You can choose from classes about narrative journalism, writing for civic literacy, arguing feminism, writing young adult fiction, creating graphic novels, technical writing, professional communication, copy editing, writing and producing electronic media, feature writing, and script writing, among many other subjects.

Upon completion of the Certificate students will be able to:

Understand the relationship between writing and thinking.
Understand that good writing is shaped by a directed purpose and shaped for a specific audience or multiple audiences.
Understand the connection between concrete and abstract expression and be able to execute this knowledge in writing or related media.
Read material as a training ground for developing ideas and thinking critically.
Effectively organize and structure a piece of writing with relevant support and evidence and express ideas with control and unity.
Value precise language and discriminate among shades of meaning vis a vis diction and syntax.
Learn, understand and apply the conventions of academic writing and understand how conventions work similarly in contexts outside of academe, for example the workplace.
Realize the importance of “voice” and “tone” in conveying a writer’s attitude in any piece of writing.
Reflect upon their own practices as writers and the relationship between various contexts for writing and related media, as well as upon the use of various genres given particular contexts or audiences.
Use concepts from the field of Composition and Rhetoric, and related fields, as tools for analyzing others’ texts and shaping their own, such as the distinction between higher order concerns (expression of ideas) and lower concerns (grammar and punctuation).
Revise their own work, and thoughtfully critique the work of others, at macro and micro levels.
Articulate how writing processes differ and are similar among academic contexts, and between school classroom contexts and other contexts as experienced in the practicum.
Are prepared for challenges outside of college classrooms requiring proficiencies such as collaborative and project-based work and communication in digital environments.

Ready To Apply?

Tuition

Tuition and fees for certificate programs are updated and approved each year in June. Review the current schedule to estimate your costs.

Tuition and Fee Schedule

How to Apply

It is encouraged to apply as early as possible. To apply:

Complete and submit an Online Non-Degree Application - select "Certificates".
Submit official transcripts.

Completed non-degree applications will be accepted until midnight the day prior to the start of classes each semester.

How to Apply

Admission Requirements

The program is open to all undergraduate students at UM-Dearborn as well as non-degree seeking students with or without college degrees.

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