Professional Writing
Studying Professional Writing at Waikato teaches you high-level skills as a reader, writer and editor with excellent verbal, grammatical and analytical skills to excel your writing career.
The Master of Professional Writing offers a research-led and strongly practice-based qualification in professional and creative writing. The core paper is designed specifically to enhance the workplace readiness of graduates, and elective papers range across a variety of fields from creative writing to writing for promotional purposes and advertising, for digital media and for scholarly and professional publication.
Students have the opportunity to include a writing internship and all MPW students will be offered an on-campus professional writing mentor, who will provide professional advice and direct students towards on-campus writing opportunities. Candidates for the Creative Writing Thesis are selected on the basis of assessment of a portfolio of work; students accepted for the Creative Writing Thesis complete a book-length manuscript of publishable standard.
Key information
| Faculty: |
|---|
Study Professional Writing in these qualifications
Professional Writing as a specialisation of
Papers
Available Professional Writing papers
Prescriptions for the PGCert(ProfWrit), PGDip(ProfWrit) and MPW
To be eligible to be considered for enrolment in the MPW, a student must have completed either:
a) a bachelors degree (or equivalent) with at least a B grade average across the 300 level papers, or
b) a bachelors degree with Honours (or equivalent) with at least second class honours (second division).
Students must complete 180 points from approved 500 level papers, and either a 120 point thesis, a 90 point thesis, a 60 point dissertation, or a 30 point dissertation.
Students who are ineligible to continue with the Degree may be eligible to graduate with a Postgraduate Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate.
| Code | Paper Title | Occurrence / Location |
|---|---|---|
| ALED522 | Best Practice in the Writing Classroom | 18A (Online) & 18B (Online) |
| In this paper students explore writing discourses; analysing and critiquing a range of theoretical perspectives and teaching practices. Participants are required to reflect on their discursive practices and how these position them as teachers of writing. Current pedagogical research in terms of effective teaching and assessment pra... | ||
| APPL501 | Research Methods in Applied Linguistics | 18A (Hamilton) |
| The overall aim of this paper is to provide students with a critical awareness of a range of issues and skills associated with carrying out research in the area of applied linguistics. | ||
| APPL530 | Discourse Analysis and the Language Classroom | 18B (Hamilton) |
| The overall aim of this paper is to provide students with an awareness of a range of issues associated with the analysis and interpretation of text and discourse according to a variety of approaches, as well as an ability to apply a range of analytical approaches and assess the value of these in the field of second language teachin... | ||
| APPL571 | Research Writing for ESL Graduate Students | This paper will not be taught in 2018. |
| This paper will not be taught in 2018. | ||
| CWRT594 | Creative Writing Thesis | 18C (Hamilton) |
| This paper will provide students the opportunity to devise, carry out and revise an independent and original creative writing manuscript, while receiving supervision and peer feedback within a creative workshop environment. | ||
| CWRT900 | Creative Writing PhD Thesis | 18C (Hamilton) |
| No description available. | ||
| ENGL546 | Creative Writing: Writing and Embodiment | 18A (Hamilton) |
| A writing-intensive course focused on the ways in which 'embodiment' is key in generating vital characters, shaping dramatic narratives, and crafting resonant sentences aware of the sensory impact of language. | ||
| ENGL556 | Writing, Research and Revision | 18A (Hamilton) |
| This paper is designed for students who wish to produce any form of non-fiction writing designed for publication, whether in the form of academic research or other environments where writing skills are required. It will equip students with drafting, revising, editing, copy-editing and proof-reading skills and give them experience i... | ||
| MCOM514 | Promotional Writing | This paper will not be taught in 2018. |
| This paper will not be taught in 2018. | ||
| MCOM515 | Writing in Research: Communication with Stakeholders | This paper will not be taught in 2018. |
| This paper will not be taught in 2018. | ||
| MCOM516 | Writing in Leadership Communication | This paper will not be taught in 2018. |
| This paper will not be taught in 2018. | ||
| SMST501 | Integrating Theory and Research | 18A (Hamilton) |
| This paper is designed to provide an advanced understanding of screen research methods and outcomes. It identifies constraints and freedom in research and places a strong emphasis on explaining how research can be understood as an intellectual and theoretical activity. Students are required to develop and work on their own theoreti... | ||
| SMST506 | Writing for Web Series | 18B (Hamilton) & 18B (Online) |
| A workshop-based paper for students with some experience of scriptwriting which examines the creative, craft and industrial issues involved in writing a series of short audio-visual episodes for web distribution. | ||
| SMST507 | Scriptwriting | 18A (Hamilton) |
| This workshop based paper develops understanding and experience of script-construction processes and practices as well as script analysis. Students will produce scripts for possible future realisation in production. | ||
| WRIT501 | Writing for Publication | This paper will not be taught in 2018. |
| This paper will not be taught in 2018. | ||
| WRIT502 | Research in Fiction and Non-fiction | This paper will not be taught in 2018. |
| This paper will not be taught in 2018. | ||
| WRIT503 | Professional Writing Internship | 18C (Hamilton) |
| This paper allows students to gain professional writing experience in the workplace, under the guidance of an academic supervisor and the specialist supervision of a workplace mentor. | ||
| WRIT590 | Directed Study | 18A (Hamilton) & 18B (Hamilton) |
| This paper involves an independent but guided writing project on a topic of the student's choice. | ||
| WRIT591 | Dissertation | 18Y (Hamilton) |
| This paper will provide graduate students with the opportunity to devise, carry out and revise a writing-focused dissertation, under appropriate supervision and guidance. | ||
| WRIT592 | Dissertation | 18C (Hamilton) & 18Y (Hamilton) |
| This paper will provide students with the opportunity to devise, carry out and revise an extended writing-focused dissertation, under appropriate supervision and guidance. | ||
| WRIT593 | Professional Writing Thesis | 18C (Hamilton) & 18Y (Hamilton) |
| This paper will provide students the opportunity to devise, carry out and revise an independent thesis focussed on a specialised field of writing studies, under appropriate supervision and guidance. | ||
| WRIT594 | Professional Writing Thesis | 18C (Hamilton) & 18Y (Hamilton) |
| This paper will provide students the opportunity to devise, carry out and revise an extended and independent thesis focussed on a specialised field of writing studies, under appropriate supervision. | ||
Level 9
| Code | Paper Title | Occurrence / Location |
|---|---|---|
| CWRT900 | Creative Writing PhD Thesis | 18C (Hamilton) |
| No description available. | ||
“My degree helped me to get a foot in the door and secure my current role, as it showed that I had studied a range of papers relevant to the job I was applying for.”
Read stories from other students
Scholarships and prizes
Visit our Scholarship Finder for information about possible scholarships