Graduate Certificate (GradCert) in Writing Studies

Summary

Graduate certificates are intended to develop your knowledge and skills in a subject area that is different to your first degree's major. You may be eligible if you haven't studied for a degree before if you can demonstrate an interest in the subject area and a satisfactory academic ability. By choosing to study a graduate certificate you can quickly develop career competency in a single subject area.

A graduate certificate is a shorter version of a graduate diploma, is studied at undergraduate level, and can be completed in the equivalent of one trimester of full-time study.

Writing Studies

Do you love expressing yourself in words? Enjoy a learning environment in which you could explore your creativity as a poet or fiction writer. Acquire the skills in written communication that you can apply in business environments, or learn to write for digital media or for the screen.

Writing Studies at Waikato offers a writing-intensive learning experience that will enable you to grow as a writer no matter where your interest lies. It will give you the research skills needed to write convincingly about the past, or create a vivid sense of the contemporary world. It will develop the reading and analytical skills essential for effective writing.

You can structure your Writing Studies programme to suit your interests and needs. There are papers offered in:

• Creative writing
• Literary non-fiction, including food writing
• Business communication
• Professional speaking and speech writing
• Public relations writing
• The philosophy of language and communication
• Understanding the requirements of specific audiences and readers
• Science communication
• Writing for screen media
• Theories of reading
• Academic writing and research.

Writing Studies graduates seek employment opportunities working for newspapers and magazines, central and local government, schools, the media, theatres and publishing houses. Writing Studies also lends itself to a freelance career.

Career opportunities

• Copy Writer
• Digital and Broadcast Media Writer
• Journalist
• Literary Non-Fiction Writer
• Public Relations Practitioner
• Report Writer
• Speech Writer
• Teacher