English: Concentration in Professional Writing and Rhetoric
Bachelor of Arts, Accelerated Master's, Minor
About this program
The Bachelor of Arts in English: Concentration in Professional Writing and Rhetoric prepares you to write clearly and effectively in workplace settings. You’ll build strong writing and communication skills, explore digital tools, and learn how to adapt your writing for different audiences. This program helps you create a portfolio and understand real-world expectations — useful in business, nonprofits, government, and many careers.
Program Curriculum and Requirements
Program Scope
Professional writers work in almost every field of industry and public life, including high-technology industries, business, government, research and nonprofit organizations. The work that PWR graduates go on to do might involve technical writing and documentation, editing, graphic and document design, training, research, information management, promotional writing, grant writing or other forms of proposal- and report-writing.
After completing the PWR program, you can begin your writing career with important advantages: an academic degree or certificate in the field, improved and focused skills, an understanding of professional expectations for writers, and a portfolio of relevant writing samples.
Program Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to differentiate how language use varies across the contexts and genres of professional writing and rhetoric, literature, and linguistics.
Students will be able to formulate and pursue methodologically sound lines of inquiry, effectively placing their ideas side by side the ideas of others, drawing persuasively on credible primary and secondary sources.
Students will be able to produce rhetorically effective texts across a range of digital, print, and multimedia formats.
Students will be able to carefully read and critically examine the ways in which culture and global context affect language, literature, and writing.
Students will be able to analyze language and text in relation to the historical and social contexts in which they are situated.
Students will be able to apply critical thinking, close reading, and rhetorical persuasion to engage productively and ethically in scholarly, civic, and professional communities.
Students in the Professional Writing and Rhetoric concentration will analyze workplace writing to understand and develop effective rhetorical strategies for a variety of professional writing contexts.
Students in the Professional Writing and Rhetoric concentration will produce persuasive texts using a broad range of genres, methods, and conventions for professional writers, considering the unique purposes and audiences of workplace writing.
SFSU Accelerated Bachelor's + Master's
Students in this program pursue a bachelor’s and master’s degree simultaneously This program allows students to earn graduate credit while in their junior and/or senior year, reducing the number of semesters required for completion of a master’s degree. Our MA English graduates are prepared for many career paths, including teaching in junior colleges, community colleges, and private high schools; pursuing a PhD, entering the field of publishing; writing for journals, magazines, and online publications; entering law school; and working for government agencies, foundations, and non-profits.
Minor in Technical and Professional Writing
The Minor in Technical and Professional Writing teaches you how to write clearly for the workplace. You’ll learn to create instructions, reports, and digital content for different industries. This program is a good fit if you want to add writing skills to a major in science, business, or technology. It helps you communicate ideas in ways others can use and understand, which is valuable in many careers.
Learn more about the Minor in Technical and Professional Writing