Undergraduate ProgramsProfessional Writing Minor

Spring 2023- Professional Writing Core Courses

Professional Writing: Digital Writing and Web Literacy

English Composition 130D / 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 2023- Professional Writing Electives in English or English Composition

Specialized Writing: Medicine and Public Health

English Composition 131C / Prof. Deuel

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.

Topics in Writing for Multimedia Environments

English Composition 133 / Prof. Manojlovic

Special topics in professional writing exploring current developments, issues, or debates within art, entertainment, social media, or video game industries.

Topics in Science Writing

English Composition 134 / Prof. Christensen

Special topics in professional writing exploring current issues, developments, or debates within specific field of science or technology.

Practical Writing and Editing

English Composition 136 / Prof. Hartenberger

Focus on developing grammatical precision and rhetorical range in professional writing, combined with experience proofreading and editing one’s own writing as well as that of others.

Writing for Public Speaking

English Composition 137 / Prof. Mattenson

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.

Topics in Journalism

Topics in Creative Writing
English Composition M138.1 / Prof. Kipen

Introductory workshop in genre(s) of instructor choice, that may include mixed genres, playwriting, screenwriting, literary nonfiction, or others. Enrollment in more than one section per term not permitted. May be repeated for maximum of 15 units.

Narrative Across Media

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

This course introduces students to basic concepts, theories, and methods in research on narrative across the media of fiction, nonfiction, fictional film, documentary film, videogames, graphic novels, and digital forms of narrative on and off social media. The class will explore storytelling situations, plot structure, character construction, fictionality and nonfictionality, cultural story templates, modes of reading/hearing narrative, image-text relations, and cross-media translation (text, film, games, Internet). It will survey different approaches to these issues, from structuralist and sociological approaches to narrative theory in the 1960s and 70s to recent ones that emphasize empirical study, quantitative tools, and digital media. Students will be encouraged to apply the theoretical and methodological tools to their own areas of interest and research.

This course counts as an elective for the Professional Writing Minor.

Careers in Humanities

English/Com Lit M191P / Prof. Macfadyen

“Careers in Humanities” challenges misassumptions regarding Humanities majors and their practical applications to life after graduation. In this course, students will explore a wide range of careers, with hands-on practice in crafting a personal professional narrative. Guest lectures will be given by UCLA professionals and alumni–all experts in career planning and local industries. Students will engage with workplace leaders, and simultaneously build a professional dossier–on paper or online–in preparation for life after UCLA with a humanities degree.