We have designed this program to provide advanced post-baccalaureate training in the communication skills that are in daily demand among engineers, scientists, finance persons, and other professionals at work in business, industry, and government.
The Professional Writing Certificate program is designed to provide post baccalaureate education in communications skills that are in daily demand among engineers, scientists, finance experts, and other professionals at work in business, industry, and government. All the hours taken to obtain the certificate can also be used to fulfill the requirements for an M.A. in English at NAU, as well as the Professional Writing emphasis in the Master of Administration degree offered by NAU Graduate College. The Professional Writing Certificate is offered completely online.
Note: For this certificate program, students must apply to Graduate admissions for acceptance into NAU prior to registering for courses.
In addition to University Requirements:
Students may be able to use some courses to meet more than one requirement. Contact your advisor for details.
| Minimum Units for Completion | 18 |
| Additional Admission Requirements | Required |
| Fieldwork Experience/Internship | Optional |
Purpose Statement
The Professional Writing Certificate program will help you to create excellent workplace documents such as project proposals, grant proposals, reports, and emails. It will also help you to implement best practices in creating user-facing documents such as product and service descriptions, help files, and instruction manuals. Your participation in our courses will increase your skills in audience awareness, document design, document project management, and editing. These skills are important for anyone who writes at work and can prepare you for a career or help you to advance in your current career as an administrative professional, grant proposal writer, technical writer, technical editor, or any other type of professional writer in many careers such as project management, program management, and non-profit, research, government, and corporate communications.
Student Learning Outcomes
Students completing the Certificate in Professional Writing will have mastered the following bodies of knowledge and related skills (specific courses for each outcome shown in parentheses):
Bodies of Knowledge Mastered
Individual program admission requirements over and above admission to NAU are required.
The NAU graduate online application is required for all programs. Admission to many graduate programs is on a competitive basis, and programs may have higher standards than those established by the Graduate College.
Admission requirements include the following:
Visit the NAU Graduate Admissions website for additional information about graduate school application deadlines, eligibility for study, and admissions policies.
Ready to apply? Begin your application now.
International applicants have additional admission requirements. Please see the International Graduate Admissions Policy.
Take the following 18 units:
Select from the following, with the approval of your advisor (18 units):
This certificate may be pursued and completed concurrently with a degree program or as a stand-alone certificate. Under both circumstances, federal financial aid can be used for this certificate.
Be aware that some courses may have prerequisites that you must also successfully complete. For prerequisite information, click on the course or see your advisor.