Undergraduate ProgramsProfessional Writing Minor

Spring 2025- Professional Writing Core Courses

Professional Writing: Digital Writing and Web Literacy

English Composition 130A/ Prof. Juliano

Emphasis on writing for digital environments such as websites, blogs, newsletters, and social media. Common professional settings for these skills include journalism, political campaigns, Internet marketing, and corporate communication.

Professional Writing: Business and Entrepreneurship

English Composition 130B / Prof. Johnson

Emphasis on developing written, oral, and visual communication skills for entrepreneurial settings. Common tasks including pitching idea, seeking funding for startup, or promoting product or service.

Spring 2025- Professional Writing Electives in English or English Composition

Specialized Writing: Law & Politics

English Composition 131A/ Prof. Sussman

Advanced writing course designed to help students develop stylistic, formal, and argumentative sophistication in various rhetorical contexts, including different sections that emphasize rhetorical values of major professions and research areas.

Specialized Writing: Medicine & Public Health

English Composition 131C / Prof. Deuel

Specialized Writing: Travel Writing

English Composition 131E / Prof. Deuel

Professional Writing: Writing for Audio

English Composition 135 / Prof. Juliano

Emphasis on writing for listening audiences such as podcasts and radio, building brand awareness to reach them, and engineering clean audio. Common professional settings for these skills include audio journalism, political campaigns, Internet marketing, and corporate communication.

Practical Writing and Editing

English Composition 136/ Prof. Hartenberger

Emphasis on careful preparation, rehearsal, and delivery of professional presentations including design of effective visuals in variety of multimodal forms. Student performances videorecorded for extensive self, peer, and instructor feedback

Writing for Public Speaking

English Composition 136/ Prof. Mattenson

Life in Books: Memoirs in Reading and Writing

Variable Topics in Professional Writing
English 110V / Prof. Stephan

In this writing-intensive course, students will consider the art and craft of memoir writing, with a specific focus on memoirs about reading and writing. What happens when authors use their own lives as readers and writers as a frame for larger stories about being human? Who gets to tell these stories, and how? Students will engage with 20th- and 21st-century examples of the form by reading them critically, writing about them analytically, and using them as models for their own work. Constructive participation in peer workshops, substantial revision of their own work, and active consideration of the writing process will all be important aspects of the class. Authors may include Virginia Woolf, George Orwell, Mary Karr, Annie Dillard, Carmen Maria Machado, Alison Bechdel, Maggie Nelson, Joan Didion, Hilary Mantel, Elif Batuman, Alberto Manguel, Haruki Murakami, and Margo Jefferson. This course counts as an elective for the Professional Writing Minor.

English 110V qualifies as an elective for the English major and the Professional Writing Minor.

The course requisite is ENGL 4W. Declared Professional Writing minors who have completed an alternate Writing II course may contact the English undergraduate advising office via MyUCLA MessageCenter to request enrollment.

Topics in Creative Writing: Narrative Nonfiction
[APPLICATION REQUIRED]

English M138.2 / Prof. Jager

Course Description:

In this workshop devoted to narrative nonfiction, we will study short samples of the genre, and students will write their own pieces to be shared and discussed in class. Assignments will include first-person pieces (e.g., memoir), profiles based on interviews, and fact pieces or features incorporating library and internet research. The course is not limited to English majors and has enrolled many students from across the humanities as well as in the physical and social sciences.

How to Apply:

Enrollment requires a PTE, and interested students should submit (1) a 250-word personal statement about their writing goals and interests, (2) a list of ALL undergraduate courses taken so far, and (3) a 5-10 page double-spaced nonfiction writing sample. Please submit all applications via email to <ejager@humnet.ucla.edu>.

Acceptance Notifications:

Accepted applicants will be notified by email before the start of classes.

Unfortunately, due to the volume of submissions, the professor will be unable to provide feedback or suggestions on the students’ submitted work.

This class is an eligible non-fiction topic for the Professional Writing minor.

Westwind Journal

Undergraduate Practicum in English
English M192.1 / Prof. Wilson

This course is for the staff of Westwind, UCLA’s Journal for the Arts. If you are interested in joining the Westwind staff, please familiarize yourself with the journal at www.westwind.ucla.edu, and come to the first Winter meeting (time and day posted in the Schedule of Classes)!

Spring 2025- Professional Writing Extra-departmental Electives

Please consult the reference list of eligible extra-departmental electives here, then refer to the UCLA Schedule of Classes for availability.

Should you wish to petition for a course not listed above, contact the PWM advising team and be prepared to provide the course syllabus.

Spring 2025- Professional Writing Capstone Requirement

Professional Writing Capstone

English Composition M185

Topical writing workshop on rhetorical strategies useful in written and multimodal genres. Intended to provide students with opportunity for serious engagement with writing project in their minor specialization under close faculty supervision and in constructive writing group. Reading, discussion, oral presentations, rhetorical analysis, and development of professional portfolio. Students develop their capstone projects, including identifying appropriate models, generic expectations, and rhetorical choices.

The PWM capstone seminar, EngComp M185, is offered in the Spring quarter only. Spring 2025 degree candidates will be contacted by Sara Hosegera to arrange enrollment in EngComp M185.

SENIORS: Please click here to review the Winter 2025 PWM Capstone Workshop to learn how to prepare for EngComp M185.

If you will be graduating in Summer or Fall 2025, please contact Sara Hosegera at shosegera@humnet.ucla.edu to learn whether space is available in the Spring seminar.

Students who acquire an internship with professional writing duties in the junior or senior year may apply for ENGL 195CE capstone credit via the Center for Community Engagement. To learn about ENGL 195CE enrollment for the 24 – 25 academic year, consult the 195CE Quick Guide for AY 24.25.

Spring 2025 Courses