If you are interested in the certificate in PTW, please contact Dr. Rick Mott (rick.mott@eku.edu).
The certificate in Professional and Technical Writing (PTW) at EKU is unique in Kentucky because of its:
- Brevity: students earn the CPTW by taking only 6 classes.
- Breadth: classes are spread across 3 departments in 2 colleges and offer a comprehensive background in the fundamental skills required of professional and technical writers.
- Depth: in addition to learning fundamental writing and communication skills, CPTW students learn advanced visual design skills, international business communication approaches, and successful job search strategies.
- Awards: CPTW students have won the August and November cover design contests at the international journal Technical Communication for the past 4 years (2019 – 2022).
English majors at EKU enjoy an advantage: because 3 of the 6 PTW classes are offered by the English department, English majors can “double dip” by earning 9 credits toward their major while completing the CPTW.
The 6 required classes include:
- ENG 300 Introduction to Technical and Professional Writing
- ENG 400 Advanced Technical Writing and Document Production
- ENG 500 Visual Rhetoric
- BEM 202 Information Gathering
- BEM 203 Introduction to Media Writing
- CCT 310 International Business Communication
The certificate in Professional and Technical Writing (PTW) is designed for students from a wide variety of majors (e.g., the Sciences, Engineering, the Humanities, etc.) who wish to improve their writing and communication skills and improve their job prospects and/or document those skills (in certificate form) for present/future employers.
With an emphasis on improving their writing, students pursuing a certificate in PTW will learn how to communicate effectively – using text, speech, visual design, and interactive theory – in several multimedia formats, for technical, professional, and general audiences in regional, national, and international contexts.
Upon completion of the PTW, students will have learned first how to effectively gather, organize, and analyze pertinent information for a professional project, and then how to compose, revise, and present the results to the intended audiences across all industries.