Certificate in Professional Writing and Editing Description

The Certificate in Professional Writing and Editing provides graduate students with course work in nonfiction writing in specific genres, current writing practices and theories of writing in organizational settings, research methods in professional writing, and nonfiction literature.

Application Requirements

Applicants must be currently admitted to graduate study or approved for enrollment through Extended Studies. Because only 6 hours of extended studies credit may be applied toward the Certificate, students who initially take courses in the certificate program through Extended Studies should apply for admission to the program after the completion of 6 credits of course work, at the latest. Other students are also strongly urges to apply after completing 2 certificate courses. Completion of course work is not in itself a guarantee of admission to the Certificate. Applicants must submit an analytical writing sample of at least 1,000 words, a goal statement, two letter of recommendation, and a portfolio of their writing or editing.
The Certificate may be pursued concurrently with any of several degree programs in English and elsewhere in the College of Arts and Sciences. Part of the work toward the certificate may be applicable to these degrees.

Potential Audience

The Certificate can be accomplished by any graduate students currently enrolled at GMU who is interested in tailoring her or his graduate work toward a career involving substantial writing for a professional or general audience. (Students currently enrolled in other MA of MFA degrees in English may be drawn to this certificate work focused explicitly on nonfiction writing in their professional work after completing the degree.) The certificate may also be appealing to people who are not enrolled in other graduate degree programs yet are seeking to improve their skills and knowledge in professional writing. It offers less intensive work than the MA in Professional Writing and Editing (18 hours vs. 30 hours) and thus may attract students who want to hone their writing skills and knowledge yet who do not feel a need for the full degree.

Need for the Certificate Program

The Certificate Program offers people in the Northern Virginia area an alternative to the only other program currently offered in Northern Virginia-the University of Virginia's extension program, a stand-alone program that does not offer the quality of courses that GMU offers. Because our certificate program would be linked through its course offerings to other MA programs in literature, the teaching of writing and literature, and professional writing and editing, and to the MFA program in Creative Nonfiction, it may also serve as a means of introducing these programs to more students.
Certificate Requirements
Certificate candidates must complete 18 hours of English graduate courses, earning a grade of "B" or better in each, distributed according to the plan below and chosen from the following courses: English 503, 504, 505, 506 (Research of Narrative Writing), 513, 565, 611, 612, 613, 616, 660, and 685.