Professional Writing at TCNJ

Overview, Teaching Strategies and Client List, 1988-present


Overview

The Professional Writing component of The College of New Jersey is part of the The Journalism/Professional Writing Major of the English Department. We prepare students to enter the communications and media-related professions by providing both a theoretical grounding and practical experience in newspaper and magazine journalism, public relations, advertising and marketing communications. Whenever possible, students in the professional writing classes work collaboratively on projects with students in graphic design and television production.

Three groups of students take professional writing courses:

  1. Students majoring in journalism/professional writing, who are taking the courses as major requirements,
  2. Students minoring either in journalism or professional writing. Some of these students major in related fields, such as Communications Studies, Graphic Design, or Marketing. Other students are science majors who hope to write about science issues for audiences outside of their professional specialties. The professional writing minor offers a variety of electives, so that students may tailor the minor to complement their major, or to focus on particular career interests. For example, a psychology major interested in advertising might take classes in television production or marketing as electives that would count toward a professional writing minor.
  3. Students and professionals who take the courses as electives or for professional development purposes.

Teaching Strategies

There are two core professional writing courses: Introduction to Professional Writing, and Topics in Professional Writing. Both courses require students to study and solve commmunications-related problems for real clients. Intro students are often told that they function as creative end of a virtual communications consulting firm, while the Topics students constitute the Account Management department of the same firm. We sometimes deviate from the model. For example, the fall, 1997 Intro class, and one section of the fall, 1998 Intro class is functioning as a self-managed creative team, each with its own client.

Regardless of the premise, the course content of the intro class focuses upon acquiring and refining such skills as: writing memos, pitch letters and news releases, and creating direct mail packages, presentations, and web pages. The Topics students will generally be expected to use skills acquired in the introductory-level courses to craft mission statements, conduct a SWOT analysis for a client, and to propose and execute communications programs designed to enhance the client's competitive advantage.

In the Spring, 1999, semester, the Topics in Professional Writing class will be taught by an editor and a graphic designer from Bloomberg, L.P.. The course will serve as an introduction to both desktop publishing and financial reporting. Students will use PageMaker(tm) to create newsletters designed to teach novice reporters about the both financial markets and the economy. This will be the third time that the class has been offered in this way, and we expect to make it a regular part of the class schedule.


Cumulative Client List 1988-1998

Note: This is a list of clients serviced in class. It does not include companies and agencies for whom students have interned. However, that list would include such concerns as: MSNBC, The White House, and Educational Testing Service. For details on work performed for these clients, e-mail me. Some projects were performed under non-disclosure agreements.

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