Professional and Technical Communication Concentration

The Professional and Technical Communication (PTC) concentration provides graduate students with a strong theoretical background to pursue research in workplace writing and communication, as well as practical expertise in analyzing, creating, and revising genres in technical writing fields. The concentration provides additional education and training for students who are preparing for careers within the field of PTC, including the fields of Engineering, Business, Nursing, and Law that require facility with technical and scientific communication skills in business environments. Graduate students whose primary major is in the sciences would also benefit from the complementary communication and research strategies learned. Students seeking to pursue a Ph.D. will find this M.A. concentration to be a useful foundation.

We offer both a thesis and non-thesis option for the PTC M.A. 

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Curriculum

Core (9 credit hours)

• One 6000-level course in American Literature 
• One 6000-level course in British Literature
• ENGL 6000 

Content Courses in Professional and Technical Communication (15 total credit hours)

• PC 6030 (Core Issues and Research in Professional and Technical Communication)
• PC 6040 (Special Topics in Professional and Technical Communication and Industry) or
• PC 6050 (Advanced Topics in Technical Writing)

9 credit hours from the courses below*

• PC 5850 (Internship)
• PC 5940 (Technical Editing)
• PC 5970 (Professional Communication II)
• PC 5990 (Seminar in Professional Communication)
• Either PC 6040 or PC 6050 (PC 6040 may be taken twice, provided the content is different. PC 6050 may be taken only once.)
  *ENGL 6010 may be substituted for one of the 5000-level courses above.

For students who have taken any of the above courses at the 4000-level, two of the following courses may be substituted for two of the above 5000-level courses:

• ENGL 5411 Writing in the Professions
• ENGL 5421 Forms of Argumentation and Persuasion: Theory and Practice
• ENGL 5511 Introduction to Descriptive Linguistics
• ENGL 5531 Grammar and Language
• ENGL 5541 Topics in Linguistics/Language
• ENGL 5551 Introduction to Rhetoric: Theory and Practice
• ENGL 5561 American English

Thesis Option (6 credit hours)

• Two sections of ENGL 6990

Non-Thesis Option (9 credit hours)

• One section of ENGL 6890
• One section of PC 5850 (Internship)
• One additional graduate-level elective to be selected by student and advisor