Professional and Technical Writing: Advising for Majors and Minors
This page provides information to help you navigate the advising process. For example, here you can find cycles of when courses are offered, recommendations of when to take courses to complete your credential, and how to select elective courses to serve specific career paths.
When Courses Are Offered
It is important that students plan ahead when registering for courses. Because we cannot offer every course every semester, we maintain the schedule shown here.
Fall Courses | Winter Courses |
| RPW260 Intro to PTW RPW322 Instruction Writing | RPW260 Intro to PTW RPW320 Grant and Proposal Writing |
Note. We offer RPW300 Writing in the Professions and RPW304 Technical Report Writing during the Fall, Winter and Spring/Summer semesters.
SVSU Course Descriptions
SVSU makes available online the current Course Catalog and recent editions. To view the academic standards and practices that apply to your enrollment, or to view course descriptions, see [SVSU Course Catalogs, Course Descriptions 2010].
Recommended Degree Sequence
Students often ask when they should enroll in specific courses, and when they should pursue experiences relevant to the program but outside the curriculum. To assist with such questions, we developed the "Degree Schedule for PTW Majors," and the "Degree Schedule for PTW Minors."
These documents are available in portable document format (PDF), readable in Abobe Acrobat Reader or Apple Preview. If you do not have the latest version of Reader, you can downoad it for free from the Adobe.com website.
Career Pathways
Students are sometimes overwhelmed with too many possibilities for what they might do professionally with their degree in Professional and Technical Writing. To assist you in considering your future as a professional or technical writer, we developed the document Entering the World of Professional and Technical Writing: A Guide for Directing Your Undergraduate Experience.
This document is available in portable document format (PDF), readable in Abobe Acrobat Reader or Apple Preview. If you do not have the latest version of Reader, you can downoad it for free from the Adobe.com website.
Sample advising for specific career pathways
Entering the World of Professional and Technical Writing suggests to students which professional development opportunities are most important to them, based on their potential career interests. Here we offer a few samples of how individual students might customize their experiences at SVSU to best position themselves for a successful job search near the end of their undergraduate degree.
Trevor, interested in web design and usability studies
Trevor's interest in web design grew out of his experience in RPW285 Writing for Electronic Spaces. Upon discussing this with the program coordinator, Trevor was advised to pursue web-based projects in courses whenever relevant to the material presented. In addition, the Coordinator placed special emphasis on Trevor's experiences in RPW322 Instruction Writing, RPW386 Internship in PTW, and RPW481 Managing Document Design Projects. RPW322 offers study in usability testing, a growing concern for web designers. RPW481 offers opportunities to select and develop high-level projects that can be featured in a professional portfolio. An internship at a site where Trevor can engage in web design and usability testing would help him understand the demands of that work more clearly and completely. In addition, Trevor pursued a minor in Computer Information Systems from the Department of Computer Science, for the complementary knowledge it offered.
Angela, interested in publication management and design
Angela's interest in design began with her first experience in the PTW program, RPW260 Introduction to PTW. After completing an elective course in Graphic Design from the Department of Art, she consulted with the PTW program coordinator about how to position herself for work in publication design and management. Angela had already settled on a minor in Creative Writing, which offered inspiration for content development and design both. Angela secured an internship with a print production facility, where she learned about what happens with projects once they leave the designer's computer. She also pursued an additional internship and several side projects with clients that offered more opportunities to design documents for real audiences.
Sara, interested in journalism and video production
Sara was interested in journalism before enrolling at SVSU. Although the university does not offer a traditional Journalism degree, Sara learned through advising that PTW graduates had successfully entered careers in journalism in a variety of settings, including newspapers and magazines. In addition to enrolling in RPW262 Introduction to Journalism, Sara applied to be a staff writer for the campus newspaper, the Valley Vanguard, and secured an early internship with University Communications. A second internship with a campus publication, work in the Writing Center, and a second major in Communication proved to be a nice complement to her continuing studies in PTW, where RPW400 Editing, and RPW481 Managing Document Design Projects provided valuable professional development opportunities.
Jodi, interested in graduate studies in technical communication
Jodi added Professional and Technical Writing as a second major to Sociology. An interest in community action and in addressing challenging social problems lead her to work with faculty from both programs on projects that connected her with local social movements. After writing proposals to fund campus and local initiatives, completing an internship with a scholarly publication, and serving on a faculty search committee, Jodi began to consider advanced studies in Technical Communication. After discussion with the PTW program coordinator, she narrowed the list of schools for submitting applications to three.