Professional and Technical Writing
Undergraduate Certificate
Quick Facts
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- Center for World University Rankings, 2024
#1
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Arizona's Public Universities
- Payscale, 2022
Communicate complex information and writing effectively and clearly in today's digital environments, workplaces and community organizations. The Undergraduate Certificate in Professional & Technical Writing will teach you to analyze and engage readers, design documents and web pages, and use a variety of genres and media. These skills complement your work in any major and are widely appealing to employers and graduate programs.
Jobs in technical writing are growing faster than the national average, and the median annual pay for technical writers in 2019 was $72,850, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Professional & Technical Writing Certificate will help you achieve your goals, whether to strengthen your writing skills, challenge yourself to learn new media and technologies, or make connections with businesses and communities. This certificate will signal to future employers that you have valuable writing skills and are prepared to contribute ethically to workplaces and organizations.
*Residents of some U.S. Territories may not be eligible. Please see our Eligibility & State Authorization page for more information.
The certificate consists of three courses. ENGL 313 is required and students may choose to take one introductory course, either ENGL 307 or ENGL 308.
Students must also choose one elective course. Students can also complete the entire certificate using just one textbook bundle (if ENGL 307, 308, and 313 are taken together).
Practice in writing business letters, reports and proposals.
This course examines the analysis and presentation of scientific and technical information.
An introduction to key concepts and practices of professional and technical writing.
Outcomes
Skills
Earning your Undergraduate Certificate in Professional and Technical Writing will build core skills, including:
- Accessible content design
- Collaboration
- Content strategy and management
- Critical thinking
- Copy editing
- Editing
- Ethical approach to writing
- Equity-centered approach to writing
- Project management
- Science and scientific communication
- Technical documentation
- User and usability research
Potential Career Paths
Graduates of the Undergraduate Certificate in Professional and Technical Writing program will be prepared to pursue careers in the following fields:
